Ward Bond
Steve Buscemi
Richard Farnsworth
Billy Green Bush
Bo Hopkins
Richard Jaeckel
Ben Johnson
Giovanni Ribisi
Harry Dean Stanton
David Strathairn
Yeah, getting to 25 was doable, but 15 was tough and cutting #11, Eli Wallach was brutal. I found myself having to choose between like actors; Buscemi and Roth, Bond and McLaglen, Jaeckel and Ray, etc. Some favorite actors mentioned, like Gene Hackman, I’d really put in a different category.
The list of unique names, along with their IMDb pages, will be updated periodically and reposted. This ought to assist anybody having trouble making up a Top Ten list.
Just a bit of trivia: if we were to stop right now and use this thread’s responses as a guide to the ultimate poll, these actors who have received multiple mentions would be who we would have to choose from:
The latest count of unique names is 44, and I’d like to hear from you about how the poll(s) should be created. I don’t think a March Madness approach (like the one in Little Nemo’s “Top Song of the 70s” elimination) would work here, but I’m not sure what else would.
Is “SDMB’s Favorite Character Actor” even what we want to find?
Please check the links to IMDb on the latest batch to be sure I have gotten the actor you meant. I don’t know some of them by name and some pages have no pictures to go by.
Slim Pickins
Chill Wills
Michl Asher
Walter Brennen
Peter Lorie
Sidney Greenstreet
Jay Silverheels
Alan Hale Sr.
Butterfly McQueen
Margaret Dumont (d)?
Lionel Barrymore
Ben Johnson
Richard Jackel
Zazu Pitts
Jack Elam
Woody Strobe
Key Luke
“Big Boy” Williams
Margaret Hamilton
??? Stone (the one who played Andy Hardy’s dad)
Sorry I got carried away. I figured 20 is better than none and I just kept having more and more pop in my head. I know I slaughter some names. Also (for justification of putting too many) I felt some of mine may not have fallen into the “character actor” status. Some like Barrymore, Lorie and Brennen were stars in their own rights.
Not to worry about “too many” TV time and the thing about “character actor” versus “star” is whatever you want it to be. Since this thread is about picking names for a poll where voters will determine the SDMB choice(s) if a name gets votes it’s okay by me. If not, no harm done.