# The most intelligent/clever/cunning actor (20th Century)... who? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 21, 2004, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-intelligent-clever-cunning-actor-20th-century-who/246437 "2004-05-21T21:32:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-intelligent-clever-cunning-actor-20th-century-who/246437/21 "2004-05-24T15:40:34Z")
> [@Sam Stone](#): > > Bill Cosby has a Ph.D. A very small question…The Cos received his doctorate in Education. I always thought that was called an Ed.D., although U.Mass, where he got it from, might treat it differently. Anybody know? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2004, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-intelligent-clever-cunning-actor-20th-century-who/246437/22 "2004-05-24T19:04:33Z")
The character actor H[Harold Gould](http://imdb.com/name/nm0332390/) (one of those “that’s what’s his name” actors- he often plays a Jewish retiree and or dirty old man, though I’ve seen him play a mob boss and a senile grandpa as well- he may be best known from his recurring role as Rose’s boyfriend Niles on _The Golden Girls_ [he originally appeared on the show as another boyfriend of Rose]) also has a Ph.D. (Drama). He taught at Cornell for several years and didn’t really become a full-time professional actor until he was in his fifties (though he had lots of bit parts before then, but _The Sting_ is what put him on the map). [Wayne Rogers](http://imdb.com/name/nm0737257/), most famous for playing Trapper John on the TV version of M_A_S_H_ and for the shortlived show _House Calls_, quit the former at the height of its success because he was furious over a “morals clause” in his contract that the studio would not strike. (He’s straight and at the time was happily married but felt his private life was nobody’s business but his own- the clause stated he could be fired if he was involved in any form of public immorality). While walking away from a hit show over a matter of principal might not sound terribly bright, he apparently is; he’s one of the richest actors in show business with a personal worth estimated in the low 9 figures (that’s the $100,000,000+ range) from his incredibly business sense. He still acts once in a blue moon but mainly he’s a businessman and a business manager for other actors. [Marty Ingels](http://imdb.com/name/nm0408733/) , the on-again/off-again husband of Shirley Jones and easily one of the most annoying and cloying and fingers-on-a-chalkboard comedians this side of the late (?) Andy Kaufman, traded his very faded career as a talk-show guest and game show panelist and Vegas hack comic for an extremely lucrative career as an agent. Originally he was seen as a golddigger for marrying Shirley Jones (she was working and he was “puttering around” with his agent biz) but soon he was far more money than she was managing such stars as Orson Welles and John Ritter. (He and his far classier wife have been married for many years but are constantly separating, sometimes very publicly squawking.) I know some former students of John Astin who claim he is an exceptionally intelligent man and that his intellect may have hampered his career. He’s currently a professor at his alma mater Johns Hopkins. ---
**Author:** ![CalH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3ab097/32.png) [@CalH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalH)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2004, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-intelligent-clever-cunning-actor-20th-century-who/246437/23 "2004-05-25T23:22:24Z")
> [@](#): > > Shouldn’t a belief in Scientology automatically disqualify you from this list? Why should it? [serious Q] ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2004, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-intelligent-clever-cunning-actor-20th-century-who/246437/24 "2004-05-25T23:40:18Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Hedy Lamarr is credited (rightly or wrongly) with being one of the inventors of radar, which would imply there were some intellectual blips radiating from her. It really tells you something about me that the first thing that entered my head when I read this was, “Wow. All those brains, and he was such a great straight man with Tim Conway, too!” :smack: ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2004, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-intelligent-clever-cunning-actor-20th-century-who/246437/25 "2004-05-25T23:42:21Z")
> [@CalH](#): > > I don’t think Matt Damon is so smart either. I mean he’s definately brighter than Ben Affleck (at least in his interviews he comes across that way) but that’s hardly much of a compliment. I think Ben Affleck is a phenomenal interview – some real wit shines through, that makes any of his appearances more entertaining than the usual “my movie opens Friday” fluff. So I’ll nominate him for this list. ---
**Author:** ![CalH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3ab097/32.png) [@CalH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalH)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-intelligent-clever-cunning-actor-20th-century-who/246437/26 "2004-05-26T00:09:18Z")
You’re kidding right? B Affleck - funny he may be. Witty he ain’t. His jokes consist of bad hair duds and making fun of Damon’s “good looks”. His interview with James Lipton didn’t exactly prove me wrong - though it _was_ entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-intelligent-clever-cunning-actor-20th-century-who/246437/27 "2004-05-26T01:12:18Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > It really tells you something about me that the first thing that entered my head when I read this was, “Wow. All those brains, and he was such a great straight man with Tim Conway, too!” > > :smack: That’s _Hedley!!!_ 🙂 Richard E Grant is right sharpish; he’s published two books, one an autobiography/film diary that is brill (_With Nails_), and the other a funny satire about Hollywood (_By Design_). ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-intelligent-clever-cunning-actor-20th-century-who/246437/28 "2004-05-26T02:24:04Z")
[Edward Norton](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001570/bio) graduated from Yale and speaks some Japanese. And he only makes good movies (‘Death to Smoochy’ WAS good!!!) ---
**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:** [May 26, 2004, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-intelligent-clever-cunning-actor-20th-century-who/246437/29 "2004-05-26T02:29:18Z")
drm writes: \> According to a number of things I’ve read (and this) James Woods has an IQ of \> 180. I don’t believe this for a second. It’s hard to even measure an I.Q. above 160. Only about one person in 31,000 has an I.Q. of 160 or greater, so it’s hard to calibrate an I.Q. test that supposedly measures an I.Q. of that level. Even if you gave the test to 100,000 people, only 3 or 4 of them would be expected to have an I.Q. of 160 or greater. Only about one person in 20,000,000 would be expected to have an I.Q. of 180 or greater, so it’s essentially impossible to even calibrate such an I.Q. test. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-intelligent-clever-cunning-actor-20th-century-who/246437/30 "2004-05-26T03:01:34Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > He still acts once in a blue moon but mainly he’s a businessman and a business manager for other actors. And he looks like he’s related to the George Bushes. This isn’t a good picture, but: [http://www.bestcareanywhere.net/Rogers.htm](http://www.bestcareanywhere.net/Rogers.htm) If ever they do a movie about a Bush, he’s the guy. ---
**Author:** ![leander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bcef8e/32.png) [@leander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leander)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-intelligent-clever-cunning-actor-20th-century-who/246437/31 "2004-05-26T03:12:46Z")
> [@AugestWest](#): > > While I don’t know much else about Tom Cruise’s background, I do know about his family. He comes from a fairly affluent background. His family owns a medium sized Louisville law firm that specializes in representing creditors in bankruptcy proceedings. There’s some money in the family. I don’t know whether he had any Hollywood connections when he entered the business. But I doubt that he had to wait tables to make the rent. Interesting speculation. From Leonard Maltin’s Bio: "Overcoming a difficult childhood-during which his family moved at least a dozen times, his parents divorced, and his father died of cancer-the young, dyslexic Cruise spent a year at a Franciscan monastery before deciding that acting was his true calling. " Also, from [here](http://tomcruise.populli.org/bio.shtml:) > [@](#): > > At 18, he left Glen Ridge and moved to New York, supporting himself by working as a bus-boy, a porter in an apartment block and a table-cleaner at Mortimer’s restaurant. In the evenings he took drama classes, auditioning for TV ads whenever possible. He looked good, he had that winning smile, but he was never hired. Casting directors always described him as “too intense”. Feeding on hot dogs and rice, he lived, he now says, “like an animal in the jungle”. Oh, and if you didn’t notice, I’d nominate Tom as well. He may not be the best actor, or the smartest, but he certainly qualifies in many of the catagories of the OP. He is also know as one of the most intense, hardest working actors around. And alongside Paula Wagner, he has carved out one of the most amazing careers around. I’d also nominate that “other” Tom. Hanks was in so many awful films in the eighties, who would have thought that he’d become one of the most lovable, affable, applauded actors in the last fifteen years. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-intelligent-clever-cunning-actor-20th-century-who/246437/32 "2004-05-26T03:14:37Z")
> [@CalH](#): > > You’re kidding right? B Affleck - funny he may be. Witty he ain’t. His jokes consist of bad hair duds and making fun of Damon’s “good looks”. His interview with James Lipton didn’t exactly prove me wrong - though it _was_ entertaining. I’ll give Ben a few bonus points, though, because he is bilingual. He never needs an interpreter for his interviews on Spanish language TV shows. ---
**Author:** ![CalH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3ab097/32.png) [@CalH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalH)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-intelligent-clever-cunning-actor-20th-century-who/246437/33 "2004-05-26T16:35:45Z")
Yeah well Hans speaks [five](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000185/bio). I’m starting to really like this guy. ---
**Author:** ![CalH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3ab097/32.png) [@CalH](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalH)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2004, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-intelligent-clever-cunning-actor-20th-century-who/246437/34 "2004-05-26T16:53:18Z")
Yeah I’d also heard about Tom’s early years waiting (or cleaning, can’t remember) tables, so found what **AugestWest** said puzzling. I can’t say I’m an expert on his biography though -so I just took his word for it. One thing that’s getting on my nerves about Hans. It says [here](http://www.gmrmedia.com/dolph/dolph-in/weds.html) that Dolph, 33, met his wife Annette who is 25 - two years ago (this article is dated 1994). The thing is, from my earlier link (among the ones **tremorviolet** also supplied) it says he was born in 1957 (though he claims a birthyear of 1959). This in 1994 would make him 37 no? Even if you adjust his birthyear to 1959 he still turns out to be 35. Although then again it _does_ say that they met two years ago. This would make him 33 when he met Annette. But they still bungled in his _false_ birthdate. Shouldn’t _Hello_ at least get this right? And the article is still misleading with respect to age. It should actually read, “Dolph, _then_ 33, met…” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-most-intelligent-clever-cunning-actor-20th-century-who/246437.md?page=1)