# Silent roles, in post-silent era movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 17, 2003, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silent-roles-in-post-silent-era-movies/155709 "2003-02-17T20:41:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silent-roles-in-post-silent-era-movies/155709/1 "2003-02-17T20:41:08Z")
How many significant movie characters can you think of who don’t speak? Silent movies don’t count. I’m thinking of things like… 1. Jane Wyman in “Johnny Belinda” 2. Holly Hunter in “The Piano” 3. Harpo Marx in almost everything ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silent-roles-in-post-silent-era-movies/155709/2 "2003-02-17T20:55:41Z")
Mel Brooks’ _Silent Movie_ wasn’t technically a silent movie since it did have a piece of dialogue. So Brooks, Delauise, Newman, Reynolds, and Baxter, to name just a few in that movie. Burt Lancaster’s sidekick in all of his swashbucklers played a mute. ---
**Author:** ![SC\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@SC\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SC_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silent-roles-in-post-silent-era-movies/155709/3 "2003-02-17T22:05:27Z")
Unfortunately, Silent Bob doesn’t count for the purposes of this, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silent-roles-in-post-silent-era-movies/155709/4 "2003-02-17T22:17:47Z")
Teller, in “Penn and Teller Get Killed.” Gort, in “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” King Kong. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silent-roles-in-post-silent-era-movies/155709/5 "2003-02-17T22:31:53Z")
Buster Keaton frequently made silent cameos in talking pictures, IIRC. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silent-roles-in-post-silent-era-movies/155709/6 "2003-02-18T01:46:38Z")
Jackie Gleason played a mute in _Gigot_ and in my mind did it masterfully. Alan Arkin played a deaf/mute man in _The Heart is a Lonely Hunter_. He did a masterful job also. I was dating a girl at the time who worked with the hearing impaired and she said he nailed the character. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silent-roles-in-post-silent-era-movies/155709/7 "2003-02-18T01:55:38Z")
Samantha Morton’s character in _Sweet and Lowdown_. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 18, 2003, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/silent-roles-in-post-silent-era-movies/155709/8 "2003-02-18T13:37:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ethilrist \* > \*\*Teller, in “Penn and Teller Get Killed.” > \*\* Actually, Teller did speak at the end of the film. How about Richard (Jaws) Kiel in **The Spy Who Loved Me** and **Moonraker**? Also, Oddjob had no lines in **Goldfinger**. It’s been awhile, but didn’t Liv Ullman remain mute throughout **Persona**? I’m also pretty sure there were mute actors in Bergman’s **The Silence** And there’s also Louis Malle’s **Black Moon**. I don’t believe there was any dialog in the film.