# Outrageous Moments of Good Actors Over-acting **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 14, 2007, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outrageous-moments-of-good-actors-over-acting/395861 "2007-03-14T07:02:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![tiger\_lily](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/96bed5/32.png) [@tiger\_lily](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tiger_lily)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outrageous-moments-of-good-actors-over-acting/395861/21 "2007-03-14T17:41:16Z")
[QUOTE=kushiel] Oh God, I watched that movie and wondered who the hell the poor schmuck playing the villain was. Then I found out it was Jeremy Irons and I was in shock. I mean, he’s an accomplished actor - not a bad fantasy caricature. [/QUOTE] In that vein, how about Tim Curry as the Lord of Darkness in _Legend_? ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outrageous-moments-of-good-actors-over-acting/395861/22 "2007-03-14T18:17:35Z")
[QUOTE=N9IWP] Jeremy Irons in Dungeons And Dragons Brian [/QUOTE] And Eragorn. It seems he just loves to ham it up in bad Fantasy movies. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outrageous-moments-of-good-actors-over-acting/395861/23 "2007-03-14T18:31:13Z")
[QUOTE=jacob wrestling] Jack Nicholson in _The Departed_. During the “rat” scene, he was practically a cartoon. [/QUOTE] What’s!!! The rat scene was the best part of this overacted role because then, at least, he was making a cartoon of something else, instead as overacting “HIMSELF”!!! But I was going to nominate him anyway. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outrageous-moments-of-good-actors-over-acting/395861/24 "2007-03-14T18:33:25Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny Hildo] Holy fuck, have you SEEN Rod Steiger in The January Man? The director should have said, “Rod, you’re at about a 400. We’re gonna need you at a 7.” [/QUOTE] [QUOTE=DataZak] I nominate Rod Steiger as well but for _Amytiville Horror_. Not everytime he’s onscreen but the scene where he tried to convince the other priests the house is _eeeeeeeviiiillllllllll_. [/QUOTE] You can pretty much pencil in any Steiger performance after he won an Academy Award for **In the Heat of the Night.** Before that, he was actually quite good (e.g., see his performances in **Dr. Zhivago** and as a Holocaust survivor in **The Pawnbroker** ). Unfortunately, winning an Oscar seemed to do something to him. His performances became increasingly hammy and heavy-handed until he virtually became a joke. (However, to be fair, Steiger later admitted he suffered from chronic depression and that he thought it adversely affected the quality of acting.) [QUOTE=CalMeacham] Richard Burton is often cited as egregious in this regard, especially in The Exorcist II [/QUOTE] Burton clearly had talent but I think at a certain point in his career he decided he really didn’t give a damn anymore and stopped trying to give an good performance. He figured that even if he just growled and over-ennunciated his lines, they were still going to give him a big fat paycheck. Also, don’t underestimate the role Burton’s alcoholism played in diminishing his effectiveness as an actor. [QUOTE=ArchiveGuy] [Pacino’s] still great now (Glengarry Glen Ross, The Insider, Donnie Brasco, Insomnia) but he has also become somewhat of a caricature of himself–though nowhere in the same league that DeNiro has. Still, it doesn’t help that Pacino’s Oscar was for something as bad as Scent. Still, I was going to enter this thread to cite Devil’s Advocate a ridiculous movie that’s saved by Al’s tremendous appetite for the scenery–a perfectly appropriate route to take given his material and co-stars. [/QUOTE] In terms of overacting, Pacino’s quite a bit different than Steiger and Burton because he’s clearly camping it up and enjoying himself (especially in **The Devil’s Advocate** ). He knows when to turn it on and turn it off. ---
**Author:** ![PoorYorick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@PoorYorick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PoorYorick)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outrageous-moments-of-good-actors-over-acting/395861/25 "2007-03-14T22:41:59Z")
[QUOTE=NDP] You can pretty much pencil in any Steiger performance after he won an Academy Award for **In the Heat of the Night.** [/QUOTE] I can’t remember if the little seen _The Loved Ones_, based on the Evelyn Waugh novel, was made before of after _In the Heat of the Night_. However, remembering Steiger singing “Mama’s little baby loves shortnin’ bread” as a mama’s boy just makes me cringe. ---
**Author:** ![ryobserver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@ryobserver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ryobserver)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2007, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outrageous-moments-of-good-actors-over-acting/395861/26 "2007-03-14T23:36:53Z")
So far we’ve only had male overacting. Faye Dunaway in \*\*Mommie Dearest \*\*proved actresses can also chew the scenery and swallow it whole. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/outrageous-moments-of-good-actors-over-acting/395861.md?page=1)