In the past few days I’ve seen several movies and TV shows that featured WilliamSanderson, the actor best known for playing the metatron of the ultimate whitetrash trio Larry, Darryl & Darryl. I started thinking of actors who’ve actually had careers playing whitetrash* characters. A few:
Dennis Burkley- obese actor who usually sports a scraggly beard and among hundreds of other appearances acted opposite Redd Foxx in the short-lived Sanford and gave a surprisingly good dramatic turn as the biker with a severe speech impediment in Mask.
Lanny Flaherty- thin sallow faced actor with a greasy ponytail who played Drew Barrymore’s drunken father in Home Fries and similar characters in a growing number of other appearances.
Susan Tyrell- the Mother Goddess of whitetrash performers, San Francisco born Tyrrell’s performances include Johnny Depp & Ricky Lake’s grandmother in Cry Baby and recurring character Sconset Sal on the regrettably long-lived Wings (where she uttered a great line while picking a vermin off of her clothes: “Hey there little feller… I ain’t the Holly-day Inn!”). (Sadly she suffered a major career and financial setback when a recent illness forced the amputation of her legs, though she seems to be making a comeback as she has some credits since the operation.)
Can you think of other “whitetrash” niche actors? Any guesses as to who some of the pioneers of this genre are? (Marjorie Main comes to mind, not so much for Ma Kettle as for some of her “mountain women” performances.)
*Note to overly sensitive politically correct Dopers: as a one-generation-removed-from-tin-roofs Alabamian who’s related to himself on both sides of the family, once shared a house with a calf, ate more than one animal that had a personal name and whose favorite play-places as a kid were in the archipelago of junked DeSotos and Impalas surrounding my home, I’m close enough to the food chain to be able to use the term.
What, this far and nobody’s mentioned Angelina Jolie? White-trash-made-good? She looks more than capable of gutting a hog with one hand without dropping her beer or taking her eyes off the Winston, er, Nextel Cup, honey.
Billy Bob Thornton, William Sanderson, Mickey Roarke, Steve Buscemi, and Dennis Burkley are the ones I think of first.
But I have a special regard for Scott Wilson. I actually think he is one of the most criminally unknown actors of his generation, though he has done distinctive roles in very well known films. I don’t think he is necessarily “white trash”, though his roles in “In Cold Blood” (co-starring with Robert Blake, who now that I think of it, is perhaps the ultimate in white trash) and as the prisoner in the film “In the Heat of the Night”.He is still very active as a character actor.
William Sanderson immediately came to mind when I saw this thread.
I have a warm place in my heart for Chris Cooper. He’s just spiffy.
Just saw a film with the wonderfully hunky and “down home” Fred Ward. He doesn’t always play country boys, but when he does, he’s perfect. (He was the dad in “Sweet Home Alabama” and I just saw him play a loveable hick in “Big Business.”)
Okay, listen up. Once upon a time on a planet called “Earth” there existed a thing called “more than 20 years ago” …
Michael J. Pollard was always my fave. “Bonnie and Clyde”, “Little Fauss and Big Halsy” and an especially memorable but small role in “The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming!” A walking bag of filth but completely likeable.
But for all time lifetime potrayal of poor white trash, it starts and ends with Marjorie Main and Percy Kilbride. If you don’t know who they were, you are not qualified to post in this thread.
I just love this guy. I haven’t seen him as anything other than Cousin Wash in
*O Brother Where Art Thou, * but is there a more quintessential white trash role than Cousin Wash?
Also, Roseanne, Dan, Darlene, Becky, D.J., Jackie, and all the others (especially some of the supporting characters), were the quintessential white trash family, even though I love the show and they weren’t from the south.
