# Your favorite performances by character actors **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 25, 2013, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-performances-by-character-actors/651358 "2013-02-25T16:31:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-performances-by-character-actors/651358/1 "2013-02-25T16:31:48Z")
Voting is still underway at [Your Favorite Character Actor – Final Poll](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=683040) (This poll will close on 04-22-2013 at 01:32 AM). But it may be soon enough to use the names on that list to help locate your favorite performances by these and other character actors. If you need to refresh your memory on roles these people have had, visit [Internet Movie Database](http://www.imdb.com/) and check out what they’ve done. As I mentioned in [the OP to **Your Favorite Character Actors (pre-poll data gathering)**](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=15971890&postcount=1) > [@](#): > > I’d like to build a poll of SDMB’s favorite character actors and the roles most associated with them. So please provide a list of your favorites, any number you wish, by any actor(s) you wish, and we’ll see which performance rise to the top. Maybe we can get enough for a poll. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-performances-by-character-actors/651358/2 "2013-02-25T16:33:56Z")
Sarah Hunley’s role as blowsy drunk Juanita in Del Shores’s “Sordid Lives” (and more of same in the short-lived television series of the same name) cracks me up to pieces every time I watch it. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-performances-by-character-actors/651358/3 "2013-02-25T16:49:57Z")
Timothy Spall as Mr. Venus, The Articulator, in the BBC production of Our Mutual Friend. It was a great character in the book, and his performance was spot-on and even better. “If you was brought to me loose in a bag…” ---
**Author:** ![Barrett\_Bonden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5e9695/32.png) [@Barrett\_Bonden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrett_Bonden)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-performances-by-character-actors/651358/4 "2013-02-25T18:01:09Z")
Peter Boyle in _Young Frankenstein_. I think I’ve said before: every time I watch, I truly believe he is a reanimated corpse that has recently learned to tap dance. ---
**Author:** ![Troutsqueezer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Troutsqueezer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troutsqueezer)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-performances-by-character-actors/651358/5 "2013-02-26T06:09:45Z")
William H. Macy, especially as Tick Tock McCloughlin in Seabiscut. ---
**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 26, 2013, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-performances-by-character-actors/651358/6 "2013-02-26T12:53:51Z")
Edmund Gwenn in just about anything, but I’ll go with the obvious: **Miracle on 34th Street** , though **Mr. 880** and **Them!** are close. Jay Tarses in **Teen Wolf**. The only thing in the movie worth watching; every line he says is a gem. I assume he wrote them himself – he wrote TV shows for Bob Newhart and Carol Burnett. Dwight Frye in both **Frankenstein** (and **Bride of Frankenstein** ). He created the concept of Igor, the mad scientist’s assistant (though his characters were named Fritz and Karl). Jack Oakie in **The Great Dictator**. It takes a lot to upstage Chaplin in his own film. Claude Rains in **Casablanca**. He got all the good lines. At the same time, the movie is character actor paradise; S. Z. Sakall is also wonderful. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-performances-by-character-actors/651358/7 "2013-02-26T13:01:27Z")
For serious acting, Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub in _Big Night_. For ridiculous acting, Stanley Tucci and Fiona Shaw in _Undercover Blues_. Some extremely well-chewed scenery. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-performances-by-character-actors/651358/8 "2013-02-26T13:42:16Z")
I’d better mention this one before it gets swept aside in the flood: Strother Martin in _Cool Hand Luke_. Another playground for character actors, including Dennis Hopper, Harry Dean Stanton and one we have yet to mention (that I saw): [J.D. Cannon (1922–2005)](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0134201/?ref_=tt_cl_t3) Strother was also instrumental in the success of _Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid_. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-performances-by-character-actors/651358/9 "2013-02-26T14:30:54Z")
Bruce Dern in The Cowboys. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-performances-by-character-actors/651358/10 "2013-02-26T14:52:01Z")
Roy Poole as Stephen Hopkins in _1776_. It’s a movie filled with excellent performances, too. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-performances-by-character-actors/651358/11 "2013-02-26T15:00:39Z")
Ben Johnson and Cloris Leachman both from _The Last Picture Show_. George Kennedy from _Cool Hand Luke_. Harry Dean Stanton from _Paris, Texas_. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-performances-by-character-actors/651358/12 "2013-02-26T15:01:41Z")
Peter Lorre as Dr. Einstein in _Arsenic and Old Lace_ ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-performances-by-character-actors/651358/13 "2013-02-26T15:02:32Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > For serious acting, Stanley Tucci and Tony Shalhoub in _Big Night_. I wouldn’t consider them character actors. They’re A-listers, and that movie made them so. They were character actors in _Quick Change_, and quite amazing. M. Emmet Walsh in _Blood Simple_. Mike Starr in _Dumb and Dumber_. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2013, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-performances-by-character-actors/651358/14 "2013-02-26T15:38:35Z")
Elisha Cook Jr. will always be the little Reb that Jack Palance gunned down in _Shane._ ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2013, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-performances-by-character-actors/651358/15 "2013-02-28T17:25:43Z")
Peter Lorre as “Dr. Einstein” in _ **Arsenic and Old Lace** _. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2013, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-performances-by-character-actors/651358/16 "2013-02-28T17:32:10Z")
Dammit, I searched for “petr” instead of “peter” and missed **Mrs. Cake** ’s post. Oh well, he deserves to be nominated twice for it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2013, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-performances-by-character-actors/651358/17 "2013-02-28T18:44:02Z")
Love these pics. Strother Martin in anything, but Cool Hand Luke especially. Another, but this doesn’t meet the criteria, Jack Nicholsen as Eugene O’Neill in Reds. Rutger Hauer in Blade Runner Anthony Hopkins was mostly a character actor until after The Silence of the Lambs. John Cazale in both Godfather movies, but in II he was even better. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2013, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-performances-by-character-actors/651358/18 "2013-02-28T19:04:25Z")
Jack Elam as “Jake” in\* Support Your Local Sheriff \*, as demonstrated by the following exchange between him and Jason McCullough (James Garner) as they panned for gold in a stream: Jason McCullough: Well, do you see anything? Jake: No. What are we lookin’ for? Jason McCullough: What are we lookin’ for? We’re lookin’ for nuggets, a vein, the mother lode! Jake: What’s the mother lode? Jason McCullough: I’m beginning to get the horrible feelin’ you know even less about gold mining than I do, Jake. Jake: Course I don’t know anything about gold mining! Jason McCullough: Well, what do you think I brought you along for? I thought everyone around here knew about mining. Jake: Well I don’t! I might be able to give you a few tips about shoveling horse… working around the stable, but I don’t know nothing about huntin’ gold. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2013, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-performances-by-character-actors/651358/19 "2013-02-28T19:16:06Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > M. Emmet Walsh in _Blood Simple_. Second this! Also, Warren Oates and Ben Johnson in _The Wild Bunch_ (along with Bo Hopkins, Strother Martin, Dub Taylor, and L. Q. Jones). _The Wild Bunch_ may have the greatest collection of character actors ever! ---
**Author:** ![denquixote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9bd4f/32.png) [@denquixote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/denquixote)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2013, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-performances-by-character-actors/651358/20 "2013-03-01T12:05:48Z")
Chief Dan George in “Harry and Tonto.” Shelly Winters in a number of movies but especially “Blume In Love.” Walter Matthau in “Lonely Are The Brave.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-performances-by-character-actors/651358.md?page=2)