Phillip Seymour Hoffman is truly wonderful, along with most of the P.T. Anderson Troupe (i.e. Phillip Baker Hall, Ricky Jay, William H. Macy, Alfred Molina, etc.)
But I must throw in Peter Lorre, John Cazale, and Willem Defoe. Speed 2 was not worth the celluloid one frame of that movie was printed on, but good ol’ Willem was having the time of his life.
Jack Elam. Nobody more quirky.
Anthony Hopkins. Especially his movies in the 1970s like “Magic”. He’s also continued playing weird characters in the 1990s (aside from Lecter) like Prof. Van Helsing in “Dracula” and Titus Andronicus in “Titus”.
Boris Karloff (when not playing the Monster).
Peter Lorre.
Crispin Glover was the first that came to mind…there’s Max Perlich. who has played some quirky characters in Drugstore Cowboy, Rush and Gummo.
Wow, I agree with all the excellent choices made so far.
Still, in oder to round out the list you’d have to include:
Bruce Dern and
James Woods
I agree with those already posted, especially Hoffman.
Let’s not forget Nicolas Cage, Randy Quaid, and Edward Norton.
Quirky actresses:
Molly Shannon is the best – esp. as Santa’s blinddate in *Santa Clause 2 *.
Joan Cusak also exudes a unique quirkiness of her own, as well as Tina Fey – both of whom are excellent actors, but unfortunately aren’t seen in many roles.
Winona Ryder has a quirkiness of her own too, as does the queen of quirk – Janeane Garofalo – both of whom hit their mark in the paean to all things quirky – Reality Bites.
Quirky actors:
Ben Stiller IMO, reigns supreme as the god of quirk;
Owen Wilson exudes quirky charm from every pore of his body. This man is truly hilarious!
Todd Louiso of High Fidelity* fame who also played Chad, the “childcare technician” in Jerry Maguire is a real up-and-coming quirky type.
Love Buscemi and Walken.
I’ll add Frank Langella, creepy even in light comedies, and Charles Grodin.
And don’t forget his most well-known role of Die Hard.
Christopher Lloyd is the Grand Old Man of quirk roles, from Reverend Jim (Taxi) to Doc Brown (Back to the Future Series) to the title character’s demented Civil War enthusiast grandpa on Malcolm in the Middle. Oddly, one of his few mainstream roles was as an armed robber mentoring younger quirk icon Steve Buscemi in TWENTY BUCKS.
Probably the richest quirk actor is fellow TAXI alum Danny DeVito, who absolutely perfected the evil troll supporting character in ROMANCING THE STONE, TWINS, THROW MAMA FROM THE TRAIN, GET SHORTY and so many other non-starring but fantastic performances. I’m surprised he has never been nominated for an Oscar.
You know, I have to agree with most of these, but I have a few I’d like to throw out, too:
Stephen Root - From Milton Waddams in “Office Space” to his role in “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” And let’s not forget his voicing the role of Bill Dautrive on “King of the Hill.” Root is quickly becoming on of my favorite character actors of all time.
Richard Gleason - Richard Vernon in “The Breakfast Club.” Need someone to play an asshole? Gleason’s your guy.
The other one I want to mention is no longer with us: JT Walsh. Probably my favorite character ever.
Harry Dean Stanton, and Tracey Walter. Both fit the bill perfectly, and they were great in Repo Man.
Not only that but he’s a nice guy; he just endowed a $250,000 scholarship fund for the arts at the University of Florida. “That was some mighty fine pickin’ and a sangin’…”
Dennis Hopper and Gary Oldman.
But I think Christopher Walken probably walks away with the most quirky roles. Just saw him last night as a psychotic mouse killer in Mouse Hunt.
How could you list these without naming Jimmy James from Newradio, one of the greatest TV comedies ever?
PS right at this very moment, I can hear my roomie using a vibrator on his girlfriend.
I would respectfully disagree. If you need someone to play an asshole, you should consider William Atherton . To wit :
[ul]
[li] asshole reporter in Die Hard I & II[/li][li]asshole bureaucrat in Ghostbusters[/li][li]asshole University professor in Real Genius, and these are only from the top of my head[/li][/ul]
Although I would have to admit that Gleason is also a strong contender.
I’m a :wally:; it’s PAUL Gleason.
And I didn’t mention Jimmy James because I was drawing a blank on his name. But, as I said, Root’s a favorite of mine. I just picked up O,BWAT? and Office Space on DVD, mostly because of his performances.