# Ugliest actress committed to film **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 16, 2003, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-actress-committed-to-film/155403 "2003-02-16T06:37:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lauramarlane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a5b964/32.png) [@lauramarlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lauramarlane)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-actress-committed-to-film/155403/21 "2003-02-16T18:46:54Z")
I would have said Amy Sedaris from Strangers With Candy ([http://www.comedycentral.com/tv\_shows/strangerswithcandy/index.jhtml](http://www.comedycentral.com/tv_shows/strangerswithcandy/index.jhtml)) until I actually saw pictures of what she really looks like without the wig and makeup([http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/PersonDetail/personid-77584](http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/PersonDetail/personid-77584)) wow, what a difference! But as Jeri Blank, I think she could win Best in Show. ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-actress-committed-to-film/155403/22 "2003-02-16T19:17:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rmbnxs \* > \*\*but for my money the ugliest woman ever to appear in a major motion-picture is without a doubt **Sandra Bernhard**. If she were a dog she’d still be considered ugly. \*\* Thirded ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-actress-committed-to-film/155403/23 "2003-02-16T19:36:47Z")
IIRC, John Waters went out of his way to find the ugliest woman he could to play Hatchetface. He got what he was looking for all right. For actresses who aren’t _supposed_ to be ugly, it’s gotta be Martha Plimpton. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-actress-committed-to-film/155403/24 "2003-02-16T19:44:50Z")
Nancy Culp, best known for playing Miss Hathaway on The Beverly Hillbillies. I once saw a studio “glamor” shot trying to make her look good and it was so pathetic it was funny. ---
**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 16, 2003, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-actress-committed-to-film/155403/25 "2003-02-16T20:39:34Z")
It’s no contest: [Marie Dressler](http://www.silentsmajority.com/FeaturedStar/dressler.htm). Simple reason: despite being an unattractive woman, she was still a major star, one of the top box office attractions in her day and an Oscar winner (and she died while at the top of her fame). Further, she was beloved by everyone, both in Hollywood and in the audience. She was also willing to risk her Broadway career to help create the Stage Actors Guild. Marie had everything – talent, class, and courage. All she lacked was beauty, and she did quite fine without that. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-actress-committed-to-film/155403/26 "2003-02-16T23:17:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rmbnxs \* > \*\*Liza Minelli and Shelley Duvall are good choices, but for my money the ugliest woman ever to appear in a major motion-picture is without a doubt **Sandra Bernhard**. If she were a dog she’d still be considered ugly. The woman who played the psychologist in _An Unmarried Woman_ deserves to be nominated as well. \*\* Nobody even approaches Sandra B’s hideosity. hrh ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-actress-committed-to-film/155403/27 "2003-02-16T23:23:36Z")
Most homely male actor is, of course, [Vincent Schiavelli](http://us.imdb.com/EGallery?source=granitz&group=1739&photo=VincentSch_Kahn_721292_400.jpg&path=pgallery&path_key=Schiavelli,+Vincent) hrh ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-actress-committed-to-film/155403/28 "2003-02-16T23:23:42Z")
The woman in “Throw Mama From the Train” was pretty bad. At least at the age she played that role. For just plain “ain’t-never-gonna-be-pretty” genes, I gotta go with one of my very favorite actresses and voiceover talents, \*\*[Linda Hunt](http://dune.ghanima.org/imgs/mapes.jpg) \*\* Any white woman who can win an Oscar for playing an odd-looking Asian man just by going without makeup isn’t gonna be winning any beauty contests. But I would watch her and listen to her forever. Great actor. ---
**Author:** ![lout](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a6a055/32.png) [@lout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lout)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2003, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-actress-committed-to-film/155403/29 "2003-02-16T23:25:17Z")
She may be stupid and bitchy (I have no idea), but how can anyone possibly say that Catherine Zeta-Jones is ugly? ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-actress-committed-to-film/155403/30 "2003-02-17T02:09:26Z")
\*\*Homer \*\* I never knew that that man, vincent schiavelli, had a name. He’s been around fooorever. I’ve always referred to him as \*\*John Big Boo-tay \*\* in my mind. \*\*Linda Hunt \*\* may be unattractive, but she has a golden voice that is in alot of commercials. ---
**Author:** ![typhoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed8c4c/32.png) [@typhoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typhoon)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-actress-committed-to-film/155403/31 "2003-02-17T03:46:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by raisinbread \* > \*\*Catherine Zeta Jones and Julia Roberts. \*\* Are you sure your penis is working properly? ---
**Author:** ![vertigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/3ec8ea/32.png) [@vertigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vertigo)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-actress-committed-to-film/155403/32 "2003-02-17T04:39:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by raisinbread \* > \*\*Catherine Zeta Jones and Julia Roberts. \*\* Sounds like sour grapes… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Fibber\_McGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a6a055/32.png) [@Fibber\_McGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fibber_McGee)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-actress-committed-to-film/155403/33 "2003-02-17T04:47:45Z")
Hmmm, why do I find myself thinking back on that classic _Twilight Zone_ ep _Eye of the Beholder_? ---
**Author:** ![prisoner6655321](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f8ce5/32.png) [@prisoner6655321](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/prisoner6655321)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-actress-committed-to-film/155403/34 "2003-02-17T05:32:30Z")
Have to agree that Tori Spelling #1, Sandra Bernhard #2, and Shelly Duvall #3, are tops in this category. But I’d like to nominate a #4: Uma Thurman. Sure she has a body, but the face! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![HelloKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecccb3/32.png) [@HelloKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelloKitty)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-actress-committed-to-film/155403/35 "2003-02-17T06:58:20Z")
Anyone remember the woman who played the title character in **Throw Momma from the Train**? Not a pretty picture… ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-actress-committed-to-film/155403/36 "2003-02-17T08:22:24Z")
I fourth (fifth? sixth?) Sandra Bernhardt and third the sour grapes/penile dysfunction of even thinking Catherine Zeta Jones deserves to be anywhere near this list. ---
**Author:** ![stylize](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@stylize](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stylize)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-actress-committed-to-film/155403/37 "2003-02-17T08:32:53Z")
Ileana Douglas: Ugly and annoying That girl from Welcome to the Dollhouse. I know that was the point of that movie but there really is no hope for her. Lili Taylor always looks rough. Camryn Manheim ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-actress-committed-to-film/155403/38 "2003-02-17T13:42:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RealityChuck \* > \*\*It’s no contest: [Marie Dressler](http://www.silentsmajority.com/FeaturedStar/dressler.htm). \*\* Marie Dressler was the actress I first thought of before I opened this thread. I was watching _Dinner at Eight_ not too long ago, and thought, _What a magnificently ugly woman!_–with the emphasis on ‘magnificent.’ I’ve only seen a few of her movies, but she always seems to have such dignity, grace, and humor. You simply don’t see actresses like that, with faces like that, in similar roles today. ---
**Author:** ![EyeballBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecc23a/32.png) [@EyeballBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EyeballBoy)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-actress-committed-to-film/155403/39 "2003-02-17T14:33:49Z")
Kathy Bates? Camryn Manheim? The mind boggles. These are two gorgeous women, though I suppose some people just have no appreciation for their particularly abundant body type. Even so, for the aesthetically deprived, ‘ugliest actress committed to film’? Even Julia Roberts and Uma Thurman, while far from attractive IMHO, cannot compete to the title of ‘ugliest actress committed to film’. Ugliest, people. While there are many character actresses that are quite average, or fail to comply with Holywood beauty standards, even on the side of homeliness, I am sure there are grotesque unbeauties out there waiting to be discovered in the vaults of silver screen history. _cough_butIgottaagreewithJuliaRobertsreallyhorsefacedanyone?_cough_ I kid. I kid. ---
**Author:** ![pilot141](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e0b2c6/32.png) [@pilot141](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pilot141)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2003, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-actress-committed-to-film/155403/40 "2003-02-17T15:27:22Z")
Mentioned twice, named once already in this thread: [Anne Ramsey](http://www.dougmacaulay.com/kingspud/sel_by_actor_index_2.php?actor_first=Anne&actor_last=Ramsey) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-actress-committed-to-film/155403.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugliest-actress-committed-to-film/155403.md?page=3)