# What performance defines "scene-stealer" for you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 19, 2012, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248 "2012-03-19T19:24:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Critical1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Critical1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Critical1)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/41 "2012-03-20T07:25:56Z")
the bad guy in “Rob Roy” most of my other ones have already been named. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/42 "2012-03-20T08:05:26Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Eli Wallach stole every scene he was in in **The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly**. Damn right. When I see him in other roles, even from the same era, I have to remind myself it’s the same guy. Still alive at 96. I’ll add John Lithgow in **The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai** and **The World According to Garp**. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/43 "2012-03-20T08:54:19Z")
Jack Nicholson stole **Easy Rider**. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/44 "2012-03-20T09:05:53Z")
Ben Kingsley as Don Logan in _Sexy Beast_. Astonishing performance. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/45 "2012-03-20T09:18:41Z")
How about [Gary Oldman in True Romance](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXUcVuAWEOU)? Or, [Dennis Hopper AND Christopher Walken in . . . True Romance](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqccyUpnZwA)? ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/46 "2012-03-20T12:32:07Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Ben Kingsley as Don Logan in _Sexy Beast_. Astonishing performance. Oh yes, never has _stillness_, creeped me out so much. Just waiting for the next explosion meant I could never settle. Sir Ben utterly nailed that part. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/47 "2012-03-20T12:46:22Z")
Tom Cruise as Les Grossman in _Tropic Thunder_. There were a lot of memorable characters in that movie, but he blew them all away. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/48 "2012-03-20T13:11:47Z")
Disney’s _Aladdin_ may as well have just been called _Genie_. Legend has it that Robin Wlliams wouldn’t stay on script, and they eventually just let him riff and then animated the character to fit. Whether you like Williams’s schitck or not, he arguably stole the whole film. ---
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/49 "2012-03-20T13:18:24Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I’m not sure I agree with the definition of scene stealer being used here. This is what I’ve been thinking; how can Alec Baldwin steal a scene of him doing a monolgue? Was it in fact Jack Lemmon’s scene, over at the coffee machine, going, “Uh, what?” ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/50 "2012-03-20T13:23:21Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > I’ve said this before, but Robert Carlyle on Once Upon A Time can just be standing there during a scene waiting for someone else to stop talking, and I have a hard time focussing on that conversation. Even in a movie full of good characters excellently acting, his Begbie in Trainspotting steals it. ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/51 "2012-03-20T13:27:29Z")
Hard to look past Ben Foster in “3:10 to Yuma” when thinking about scene stealers, he was brilliant in that movie, very chilling. Its proper scene stealing too. How can Johnny Depp steal scenes in Pirates when many of the bloody scenes focus on him in the first place? How can Eli Wallach steal scenes when he is one of the title characters? Foster on the other hand was simply a henchman, a background character who drew the eye through sheer menace. ---
**Author:** ![Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@Long\_Time\_First\_Time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Long_Time_First_Time)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/52 "2012-03-20T13:39:33Z")
Michael Keaton as “Bill Blazejowski” in Night Shift. I once read that it was supposed to be a minor character, but the part kept getting larger because of the way he stole the movie. ---
**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:** [March 20, 2012, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/53 "2012-03-20T13:51:46Z")
Playing a hammy actor suddenly called upon to lead a real rescue mission, Vincent Price in _His Kind of Woman_ picks up and bodily carries off the whole second part of the film, stealing it away from Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, and Raymond Burr. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/54 "2012-03-20T16:09:07Z")
Gary Oldman once more in “The Fifth Element.” ---
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/55 "2012-03-20T16:17:08Z")
I guess there is some disagreement over what ‘scene-stealer’ means. Sometimes hard to separate from “actor who you can’t take your eyes off of when they’re onscreen no matter how big or small the part.” ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/56 "2012-03-20T17:08:09Z")
Michael Badalucco as George Nelson (NOT BABYFACE!) in O Brother, Where Art Thou? ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/57 "2012-03-20T17:41:38Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > Jack Nicholson stole **Easy Rider**. Amen. IMO he’s the only good thing about that movie. Thought so in '69, still think so. My entry for this thread: David Carradine in “Long Riders”. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/58 "2012-03-20T17:51:50Z")
It has been opined (and I agree completely, though I can’t recall the source) that Maggie Smith has stolen virtually every scene in every movie she’s ever been in. The woman is astronomically talented. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/59 "2012-03-20T18:00:54Z")
> [@Kizarvexius](#): > > It has been opined (and I agree completely, though I can’t recall the source) that Maggie Smith has stolen virtually every scene in every movie she’s ever been in. The woman is astronomically talented. She’s good in _Murder By Death_, but I think Peter Falk steals it. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248/60 "2012-03-20T18:28:40Z")
> [@Mrs.Cake](#): > > Elsa Lanchester petty much walked off with any scene in which she appeared in _Bell, Book, and Candle_. Of course, dust motes can steal a scene from Kim Novak, but it’s a little tougher to steal from Hermione Gingold and Jack Lemon. Not to mention Jimmy Stewart, Ernie Kovaks, and Piewacket. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-performance-defines-scene-stealer-for-you/616248.md?page=4)