# What’s the least dignified scene you’ve ever seen a respected actor do? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 18, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-least-dignified-scene-you-ve-ever-seen-a-respected-actor-do/529517 "2010-02-18T20:03:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-least-dignified-scene-you-ve-ever-seen-a-respected-actor-do/529517/61 "2010-02-20T14:10:22Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > [Jon Voight in Karate Dog](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hywK7SsqE8Y). Nuff said. this wins. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-least-dignified-scene-you-ve-ever-seen-a-respected-actor-do/529517/62 "2010-02-20T14:19:09Z")
Josh Brolin in _W_ played George W. Bush. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-least-dignified-scene-you-ve-ever-seen-a-respected-actor-do/529517/63 "2010-02-20T15:02:15Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Josh Brolin in _W_ played George W. Bush. No! THIS wins! I have been racking my brain trying to think of some actor who never did a dignified scene in any movie for his (or her) entire career and the best I can think of so far is the Three Stooges. That can’t be right, though: there must be somebody even worse. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-least-dignified-scene-you-ve-ever-seen-a-respected-actor-do/529517/64 "2010-02-20T18:00:46Z")
> [@Waenara](#): > > As long as we’re nominating Helen Mirren, what about [Shadowboxer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadowboxer). > > Technically might not fit with the OP since I haven’t actually seen it. But even reading a synopsis and hearing about it from someone who did see it makes me wish I could bleach my brain. God… just reading the plot synopsis makes you want to run for the hills. ---
**Author:** ![Lethal\_Babydoll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3be4f8/32.png) [@Lethal\_Babydoll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lethal_Babydoll)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-least-dignified-scene-you-ve-ever-seen-a-respected-actor-do/529517/65 "2010-02-20T18:02:18Z")
Olivier as Zeus in “Clash of the Titans” ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2010, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-least-dignified-scene-you-ve-ever-seen-a-respected-actor-do/529517/66 "2010-02-20T18:19:03Z")
George Kennedy in Bolero. He was a driver for Bo Derek . He must have made a lot of money. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-least-dignified-scene-you-ve-ever-seen-a-respected-actor-do/529517/67 "2010-02-21T10:12:39Z")
> [@E-Sabbath](#): > > John Gielgud, Peter O’Toole, Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren. Can’t remember any particular scene because we couldn’t make it 20 minutes in, but O’Toole was in _Thomas Kinkade’s Christmas Cottage_. All I remember is one part where Peter O’Toole looks like he’s watching someone skullfuck a Smurf. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-least-dignified-scene-you-ve-ever-seen-a-respected-actor-do/529517/68 "2010-02-21T10:53:41Z")
Wow, you guys have really got to start giving some summaries instead of just assuming everyone is familiar with any movie that you’ve seen. What’s the Deliverance scene about? ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-least-dignified-scene-you-ve-ever-seen-a-respected-actor-do/529517/69 "2010-02-21T16:05:27Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > Wow, you guys have really got to start giving some summaries instead of just assuming everyone is familiar with any movie that you’ve seen. What’s the Deliverance scene about? [Plot Summary for Deliverance (1972)](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068473/plotsummary) covers the high points. This is from the IMDB front page: =================================================== User Reviews (Review this title) 73 out of 113 people found the following review useful. Nightmarish!!, 18 January 2004 Author: Coventry from the Draconian Swamp of Unholy Souls Deliverance is the fascinating, haunting and sometimes even disturbing tale by James Dickey, turned into a brilliant movie by John Boorman. It’s about four businessmen, driven by manhood and macho-behavior, who’re spending a canoeing weekend high up in the mountains. Up there, they’re faced with every darkest side of man and every worst form of human misery…poverty, buggery and even physical harassment! These four men intended to travel down the river for adventure and excitement but their trip soon changes into an odyssey through a violent and lurking mountain-land, completely estranged from all forms of civilisation. All these elements actually make Deliverance one of the most nightmarish films I’ve ever seen. Just about everything that happens to these men, you pray that you’ll never find yourself to be in a similar situation. Pure talking cinema, Deliverance is a very important movie as well. John Boorman’s best (closely followed by Zardoz and Excalibur) was - and still is - a very influential film and it contains several memorable scenes that already featured in numberless other movies. Just think about the terrific “Duelling banjos” musical score and, of course, the unforgettable homosexual “squeal like a pig” rape scene. All the actors deliver (haha) perfect acting performances. Especially Jon Voight. A must see motion picture!! ================================================= I can attest to being horrified at the humiliation that Ned Beatty’s character (not to mention the actor himself) was put through. I can also attest to never having felt as much catharsis as when Burt Reynolds’s arrow pierced the rapist’s neck! Grim movie! Back when Jon Voight was about the age to be siring Angelina three years later! ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-least-dignified-scene-you-ve-ever-seen-a-respected-actor-do/529517/70 "2010-02-21T16:05:29Z")
> [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](#): > > Can’t remember any particular scene because we couldn’t make it 20 minutes in, but O’Toole was in _Thomas Kinkade’s Christmas Cottage_. All I remember is one part where Peter O’Toole looks like he’s watching someone skullfuck a Smurf. I take it back, you win. I saw a clip of that scene, and he really does look like he’s viewing some kind of David Lynchian horror. He’s actually watching Jared Padalacki cry. > [@Rigamarole](#): > > Wow, you guys have really got to start giving some summaries instead of just assuming everyone is familiar with any movie that you’ve seen. What’s the Deliverance scene about? Whoosh? I’ll assume not. Deliverance is a movie from the 70s, which famously features a scene where a man is stripped to his tighty-whities and made to get down on all fours, “squealing like a piggy,” for a bunch of inbread hilbillies, who then rape him. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-least-dignified-scene-you-ve-ever-seen-a-respected-actor-do/529517/71 "2010-02-21T19:13:03Z")
> [@Waenara](#): > > As long as we’re nominating Helen Mirren, what about [Shadowboxer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadowboxer). > > Technically might not fit with the OP since I haven’t actually seen it. But even reading a synopsis and hearing about it from someone who did see it makes me wish I could bleach my brain. Another Mirren one- I could have done without Eric Stoltz’s bare ass between Helen Mirren’s legs in THE PASSION OF AYN RAND. And I coulda also done without seeing the Roy Orbison tattoo on Henry Winkler’s ass in THE WATERBOY. Ewww! ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-least-dignified-scene-you-ve-ever-seen-a-respected-actor-do/529517/72 "2010-02-21T19:16:29Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > John Boorman’s best (closely followed by Zardoz and Excalibur) That reminds me- while Sean Connery has indeed done his share of crap, nothing is a mindf\*\*king as ZARDOZ! But the greatness of THE MAN WHO WOULD BE KING still makes all the combined crap of Caine & Connery worth it! ---
**Author:** ![myriad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@myriad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myriad)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-least-dignified-scene-you-ve-ever-seen-a-respected-actor-do/529517/73 "2010-02-21T22:22:18Z")
In “At Play in the Fields of the Lord”…I can’t remember the scene exactly, but at one point she runs up to a tree completely naked and has some sort of hysterical fit. Made me cringe. Kind of similar to Oprah Winfrey when she falls down in the street with her dress hiked up over her waist in “Color Purple” Re: the Viggo scene in the shower: this is a bit off topic but I’ve always wondered about this. If anyone saw Viggo in “The Indian Runner” they will know what the definition of “showing the world your SHORTcomings” is - that (little–haha) scene effectively ended my crush. But here’s the thing…in “Eastern Promises” he actually looked, well…normal. Average. Certainly much less embarrassing than IR. I’ve always wondered how that can be. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Hen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Small\_Hen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Hen)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-least-dignified-scene-you-ve-ever-seen-a-respected-actor-do/529517/74 "2010-02-21T22:50:57Z")
> [@myriad](#): > > In “At Play in the Fields of the Lord”…I can’t remember the scene exactly, but at one point she runs up to a tree completely naked and has some sort of hysterical fit. Made me cringe. > > Kind of similar to Oprah Winfrey when she falls down in the street with her dress hiked up over her waist in “Color Purple” > > Re: the Viggo scene in the shower: this is a bit off topic but I’ve always wondered about this. If anyone saw Viggo in “The Indian Runner” they will know what the definition of “showing the world your SHORTcomings” is - that (little–haha) scene effectively ended my crush. But here’s the thing…in “Eastern Promises” he actually looked, well…normal. Average. Certainly much less embarrassing than IR. I’ve always wondered how that can be. 😕 Showing and growing? A cold set? ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-least-dignified-scene-you-ve-ever-seen-a-respected-actor-do/529517/75 "2010-02-21T23:03:24Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > First scene that came to MY mind was Frank Langella wearing an open bathrobe and running in slo-mo towards the camera, showing us his bouncing nutsack, in Lolita. > > I’m sitll traumatized. That’s the one I came in to mention. I don’t remember Peter Sellers doing anything similar in the earlier version, but even if he had, it wouldn’t have been as disconcerting. You’d expect something like that from a character played by Sellers. 🙂 Then there’s Jobeth Williams in _Teachers_, running down a hall at school and ripping open her blouse – bony ribcage, no bra (but it’d have been just as embarrassing if she hadn’t been flat chested). ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2010, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-least-dignified-scene-you-ve-ever-seen-a-respected-actor-do/529517/76 "2010-02-21T23:15:51Z")
> [@myriad](#): > > Re: the Viggo scene in the shower: this is a bit off topic but I’ve always wondered about this. If anyone saw Viggo in “The Indian Runner” they will know what the definition of “showing the world your SHORTcomings” is - that (little–haha) scene effectively ended my crush. But here’s the thing…in “Eastern Promises” he actually looked, well…normal. Average. Certainly much less embarrassing than IR. I’ve always wondered how that can be. 😕 \*“Do women know about shrinkage?” “What do you mean, like laundry?” “No…” “Like when a man goes swimming… Afterwards…” “It shrinks?” “Like a frightened turtle.” “Why does it shrink?” “It just does.” “I don’t know how you guys walk around with those things.” \* - George, Elaine and Jerry, in “The Hamptons” ---
**Author:** ![myriad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@myriad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myriad)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-least-dignified-scene-you-ve-ever-seen-a-respected-actor-do/529517/77 "2010-02-22T00:09:33Z")
…shrinkage…but this was like major weird small, okay. It looked like a little boy’s - hard to explain - but with the “cold shrinkage” usually the whole thing is sort of shrunken and…soft. In the scene, he actually sort of jumps up and down (or some such movement) and his little guy looks…firm, but…TINY. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-least-dignified-scene-you-ve-ever-seen-a-respected-actor-do/529517/78 "2010-02-22T02:03:51Z")
When I saw the title of this thread, I immediately thought of Mickey Rooney as the fumbling, buck-toothed Japanese photographer in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”. (Apologies if my search of the thread missed a previous mention). I second John Wayne in “The Conqueror”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-s-the-least-dignified-scene-you-ve-ever-seen-a-respected-actor-do/529517.md?page=3)