# The Character Actor Challenge! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 18, 2000, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-character-actor-challenge/14017 "2000-02-18T21:19:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**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 20, 2000, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-character-actor-challenge/14017/21 "2000-02-20T04:15:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Er, I think that’s Joan Greenwood. Oops. Charlotte played hillbilly parts, then. M. Emmett Walsh – Various cop roles. I recall he was in BLADE RUNNER Elisha Cook – usually played tough guys. Very memorable as Wilmer the Gunsel (which doesn’t mean what you think it means 🙂 ) in THE MALTESE FALCON, and also in THE BIG SLEEP. John Fiedler – the only white actor in the original Broadway cast of A RAISIN IN THE SUN. Small, mousey man with a squeaky voice, best known as Mr. Peterson in THE BOB NEWHART SHOW, but with very many TV guest appearances – STAR TREK, BONANZA. Simon Oakland – heavyset guy. Was Kolchak’s boss in THE NIGHT STALKER. I think he was also the psychiatrist in PSYCHO. Here are a few to identify: S. Z. “Cuddles” Sakal Eugene Palette Zasu Pitts Donald Meek Everett Sloane John Cazale Helen Broderick * * * “What we have here is failure to communicate.” – Strother Martin, anticipating the Internet. [www.sff.net/people/rothman](http://www.sff.net/people/rothman) ---
**Author:** ![kawliga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea666f/32.png) [@kawliga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kawliga)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2000, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-character-actor-challenge/14017/22 "2000-02-20T08:58:00Z")
S.Z. Sakall - Elderly Middle European character actor in old Warner Brothers pictures. Eugene Pallette - Fat, gravel-voiced actor. Friar Tuck to Errol Flynn’s Robin Hood. Zasu Pitts - comedienne, always seemed frightened or on the verge of tears. Donald Meek - Little, bald, soft spoken actor. The traveling salesman in STAGECOACH. Everett Sloane - Mr. Bernstein in CITIZEN KANE. John Cazale - Fredo Corleone and Sal in DOG DAY AFTERNOON. Helen Broderick - All I know is that she was the mother of Broderick Crawford. ---
**Author:** ![kawliga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea666f/32.png) [@kawliga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kawliga)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2000, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-character-actor-challenge/14017/23 "2000-02-20T09:09:00Z")
Anybody know these names? Basil Radford Naunton Wayne Bernard Punsley James Finlayson Bob Steele Al Bridge Andrew Robinson ---
**Author:** ![WallyM7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5e925/32.png) [@WallyM7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WallyM7)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2000, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-character-actor-challenge/14017/24 "2000-02-20T11:04:00Z")
Basil \*Rathbone?\ If that’s who you mean, he starred as Sherlock Holmes and was also in several fang fests. British, classicaly trained. Bob Steele, acted strictly in B westerns until the fifties. Starred in a few. Was a “genuine” cowboy before going to La La Land. Jack Elam Ed Platt Dan Duryea Elisha Cook Jr. Sheldon Leonard Jeff Morrow Dean Jagger Edmund O’Brien Gloria Grahame Mercedes McCambridge Jane Darwell Lee Grant Nancy Kulp Julie Adams Carolyn Jones Faith Domergue * * * ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2000, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-character-actor-challenge/14017/25 "2000-02-20T11:19:00Z")
Andrew Robinson: “You just gotta ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well? Do ya, Punk?” He’s also Garak in _Deep Space Nine_. * * * **-PIGEONMAN-** [The Legend Of PigeonMan](http://www.hotkey.net.au/~guanolad/pigeonman/) - **Shadow of the Pigeon** - Weirdo of the Night ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2000, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-character-actor-challenge/14017/26 "2000-02-20T11:21:00Z")
Wait - Ed Platt? That’s the Chief from _Get Smart_. ---
**Author:** ![WallyM7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5e925/32.png) [@WallyM7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WallyM7)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2000, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-character-actor-challenge/14017/27 "2000-02-20T15:39:00Z")
Bingo! Now,what about the others? * * * ---
**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 20, 2000, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-character-actor-challenge/14017/28 "2000-02-20T16:32:00Z")
Basil Radford/Naughton Wayne – two actors who worked together, usually playing British upper class twits (long before Monty Python). The characters are based on those they played in THE LADY VANISHES. Bernard Punsley – one of the Dead End kids, though I don’t know which one. James Finlayson – Silent comic, usually a foil for Laurel and Hardy. Tall and bald. Andrew Robinson – Didn’t he play the Cardassian tailor in DS9? Jack Elam – Many westerns, first a villain, later as comic relief. Most memorable in SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF, and starred in the TV series THE TEXAS WHEELERS. Dan Duryea – song and dance man, later starred in TV’s THE GOVERNOR AND JJ. Sheldon Leonard – the architypal gangster henchman, later a TV producer (I SPY). Probably best known in IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, where he’s the owner of the bar in the world where George was never born. Jeff Morrow – action actor of the 50s. Also star of TV’s COMBAT (or was it THE GALLANT MEN? I get them confused). Dean Jagger – various roles. Won a supporting actor Oscar. Edmund O’Brien – Heavy-set type. Best film role was probably the FBI agent in WHITE HEAT. Gloria Graham – Blonde actress. Got a pot of hot water in the face in a gangster film whose name escapes me. Ado Annie in OKLAHOMA Mercedes McCambridge – the voice of the demon in THE EXORCIST. Made various westerns in the 50s. Jane Darwell – British matronly type. Last role was the woman feeding the birds in MARY POPPINS. Lee Grant – Top actress of the 50s. Can’t think of a film just now. Nancy Kulp – Robert Culp’s sister. Best known role was the banker’s secretary in TV’s THE BEVERLY HILLBILLIES. Carolyn Jones – Morticia in the original Addams family TV show. Had various movie roles, including a bit part in THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH. * * * “What we have here is failure to communicate.” – Strother Martin, anticipating the Internet. [www.sff.net/people/rothman](http://www.sff.net/people/rothman) ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2000, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-character-actor-challenge/14017/29 "2000-02-20T16:41:00Z")
M. Emmet Walsh: I remember him most from his role as a detective in The Coen brothers’ first movie, “Blood Simple.” Elisha Cook Jr.: The only reason his name rings a bell is that I think he might have had a small part in Rosemary’s baby (I have no idea why I remember that though.) ---
**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 21, 2000, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-character-actor-challenge/14017/30 "2000-02-21T02:21:00Z")
Here’s a few more to identify: Clarence Kolb Roberts Blossom Philippe Noiret Gunnar Bjornstrand Ralph Bellamy Lionel Stander Dave O’Brien Margaret O’Brien Vicky O’Brien Lyle Talbot Billy Gilbert Alison Skipworth Marie Dressler (an easy one) Guy Kibbee * * * “What we have here is failure to communicate.” – Strother Martin, anticipating the Internet. [www.sff.net/people/rothman](http://www.sff.net/people/rothman) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2000, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-character-actor-challenge/14017/31 "2000-02-21T03:00:00Z")
I should know some of those - Lyle Talbot sounds familiar. Oh wait, that’s because those are two names of Bert’s goldfish from Sesame Street. Sorry. Anyway, Lionel Stander is Max from _Hart to Hart_. Ralph Bellamy is _Sir_ Ralph Bellamy now. But that’s all I know. * * * **-PIGEONMAN-** [The Legend Of PigeonMan](http://www.hotkey.net.au/~guanolad/pigeonman/) - **Shadow of the Pigeon** - Weirdo of the Night ---
**Author:** ![sorrel554](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@sorrel554](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sorrel554)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2000, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-character-actor-challenge/14017/32 "2000-02-21T03:27:00Z")
Margaret O’Brien–wasn’t she Tootie in **Meet Me In St. Louis**? I think most of her roles were as the requisite precocious, cute little girl. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2000, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-character-actor-challenge/14017/33 "2000-02-21T05:55:00Z")
Okay, nobody else wants to do Billy Gilbert. Fat guy with a rubber face and mustache.He appeared in a bunch of one-reelers in the 30’s and 40’s. His trademark was a “wind-up” sneeze that took 30 seconds to develop. He lives on today as one of the seven dwarves in the Disney’s “Snow White.” Guess which one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-character-actor-challenge/14017.md?page=1)