# Your Favorite Character Actors (pre-poll data gathering)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actors-pre-poll-data-gathering/649364
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [February 5, 2013, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actors-pre-poll-data-gathering/649364 "2013-02-05T04:38:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2013, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actors-pre-poll-data-gathering/649364/1 "2013-02-05T04:38:13Z")
The current thread [Actors you will always associate with one role](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=681077) gave me this idea for an offshoot.
I’d like to build a poll of SDMB’s favorite character actors and the roles most associated with them.
Getting some names that people recognize and whose work they are familiar with is a needed first step toward that goal.
Just list those character actors you know and like.
Any number is okay.
Here’s a start:
Jack Elam
Strother Martin
Richard Jaeckel
Ben Johnson
Buddy Ebsen
Elisha Cook Jr.
Ward Bond
Lee J. Cobb
Gregory Itzin
M. Emmet Walsh
Neville Brand
Most of my list are older (and mostly dead) guys. Newer ones would be a great addition.
Add any criteria to the thread’s purpose as you see fit. Let’s make it a good list.
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### Author:  [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2013, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actors-pre-poll-data-gathering/649364/2 "2013-02-05T04:58:36Z")
Dan Hedaya
Harry Dean Stanton
Joe Don Baker
Philip Baker Hall
Bruce McGill
And the most prolific, Željko Ivanek
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### Author:  [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2013, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actors-pre-poll-data-gathering/649364/3 "2013-02-05T05:12:40Z")
Strother Martin
Ben Johnson
Harry Dean Stanton
All already mentioned.
Michael Gambon
Brian Cox
Gary Oldman
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### Author:  [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2013, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actors-pre-poll-data-gathering/649364/4 "2013-02-05T05:19:37Z")
IMDb has all sorts of lists of these people to assist in jogging your memory. A case in point is [Best “supporting” actors](http://www.imdb.com/list/h_02-q29pMQ/).
Do let’s include the women, too!
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### Author:  [@Beastly\_Rotter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beastly_Rotter)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2013, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actors-pre-poll-data-gathering/649364/5 "2013-02-05T05:29:26Z")
James Cromwell.
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2013, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actors-pre-poll-data-gathering/649364/6 "2013-02-05T05:32:01Z")
[Hey, it’s that guy!](http://www.fametracker.com/hey_its_that_guy/index_ip.php)
(The site is defunct, but it’s still a good list).
Oh, and Ron Perlman. Always Ron Perlman.
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2013, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actors-pre-poll-data-gathering/649364/7 "2013-02-05T05:49:26Z")
J.T. Walsh
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2013, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actors-pre-poll-data-gathering/649364/8 "2013-02-05T06:24:19Z")
Mark Williams
Jim Broadbent
David Jason
Eddie Marsan
Steve Coogan
Bill Nighy
Mark Strong
Stephen merchant
Richard E Grant
Richard Griffiths
Tim Curry
Wallace Shawn
Ray Walston
Charles Durning
John Goodman
Maggie Smith
Kathy Najimy
Mary Wickes\*
Pam Ferris
Kathy Burke
Olivia Colman
\*Looking up the cast of _Sister Act_
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### Author:  [@Batsinma\_Belfry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batsinma_Belfry)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2013, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actors-pre-poll-data-gathering/649364/9 "2013-02-05T06:30:49Z")
[J. K. Simmons](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0799777/?ref_=sr_1)
[Dale Dickey](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0225460/)
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### Author:  [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2013, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actors-pre-poll-data-gathering/649364/10 "2013-02-05T08:11:01Z")
Steve Buscemi
Walter Brennan
Lee Van Cleef
Eli Wallach
Robert Morley
Peter Lorre
Claude Rains
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### Author:  [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2013, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actors-pre-poll-data-gathering/649364/11 "2013-02-05T10:04:12Z")
Bill Paxton
Tony Mordente
Robert Strauss
Tucker Smith
Rita Moreno
Maggie Smith
Donald O’connor
George O’hanlon
Danny Aiello
Johnathan Pryce
Sammy Davis Jr.
Joe Spinel
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### Author:  [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2013, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actors-pre-poll-data-gathering/649364/12 "2013-02-05T12:57:08Z")
We need some bad guys:
Chistopher McDonald
William Atherton
Clancy Brown
Michael Ironside
James Rebhorn
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2013, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actors-pre-poll-data-gathering/649364/13 "2013-02-05T13:48:46Z")
> [@Bill\_Door](#):
>
> We need some bad guys:
Don’t forget Bruce Davison.
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### Author:  [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2013, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actors-pre-poll-data-gathering/649364/14 "2013-02-05T13:59:27Z")
Stephen Tobolowsky
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### Author:  [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2013, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actors-pre-poll-data-gathering/649364/15 "2013-02-05T14:05:04Z")
David Strathairn
Robert Knepper
Walton Goggins
Tommy Flanagan
John Carroll Lynch
It’s hard to think of women in this category, for some reason.
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### Author:  [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2013, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actors-pre-poll-data-gathering/649364/16 "2013-02-05T14:05:32Z")
Wilford Brimley
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### Author:  [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2013, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actors-pre-poll-data-gathering/649364/17 "2013-02-05T14:07:23Z")
Don’t forget my favorite: **Burt Mustin**.
If you don’t know the name, you surely know [the face](http://image2.findagrave.com/photos250/photos/2005/257/5436_112681841189.jpg).
mmm
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### Author:  [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2013, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actors-pre-poll-data-gathering/649364/18 "2013-02-05T14:25:04Z")
William Fichtner
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2013, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actors-pre-poll-data-gathering/649364/19 "2013-02-05T14:37:25Z")
G.W. Bailey
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### Author:  [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2013, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-character-actors-pre-poll-data-gathering/649364/20 "2013-02-05T14:40:50Z")
I was just thinking about this guy, one of my favorite character actors, after recently seeing him in Ulzana’s Raid and Tom Horn. Among many others he was also in Spartacus, Monte Walsh, The Cowboys, Papillon, Blazing Saddles, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Roots, Comes a Horseman and The Natural. Know him?
[Richard Farnsworth](http://www.google.com/#hl=en&sugexp=les%3Bcpsugrpq1high&gs_rn=2&gs_ri=hp&cp=11&gs_id=v&xhr=t&q=richard+farnsworth&es_nrs=true&pf=p&tbo=d&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&oq=richard+far&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.41867550,d.b2U&fp=f21c24f9a03c4e53&biw=1124&bih=827)
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