Great character actors.

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Pretty good list here at IMDB

A couple contemporary actors not yet mentioned (I think)

F. Murray Abraham

Will Patton

Terence Stamp

William Fichtner

Harry Dean Stanton

Brian Cox

Ian Holm

James Rebhorn

Chris Cooper

David Paymer

Scott Glenn

Brad Dourif

Zeljko Ivanek

Sam Elliott
 
O_P_T said:
Pretty good list here at IMDB

A couple contemporary actors not yet mentioned (I think)


Harry Dean Stanton


Scott Glenn


Sam Elliott
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Harry Dean Stanton was great. There was just something about that guy that was simultaneously hateable and likable. (Why do we use the "e" in the first one and not in the second one? - random thought)

Scott Glenn, I loved that guy. I thought he was extremely sexy because he always played a bad guy in that quiet kind of way. Until he played the good guy in Silence of the Lambs, but I still loved him.

Oh, Sam. Sam, that voice. Not a particularly great-looking guy that had a quiet style of acting that screamed volumes.
 
PatsFanLisa said:
Harry Dean Stanton was great. There was just something about that guy that was simultaneously hateable and likable. (Why do we use the "e" in the first one and not in the second one? - random thought)

Scott Glenn, I loved that guy. I thought he was extremely sexy because he always played a bad guy in that quiet kind of way. Until he played the good guy in Silence of the Lambs, but I still loved him.

Oh, Sam. Sam, that voice. Not a particularly great-looking guy that had a quiet style of acting that screamed volumes.
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One of my favorite bits by Sam

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hL82JEQhYAo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Edit:

This is the full scene

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/nD42HP-cn8M" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
AllWorldTE said:
Good timing. Here's Strother and Lee playing Grover Dill to Lee Marvin's Scut Farkus.
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There are three kinds of people in this world: bullies, toadies and the nameless rabble of victims.

Far as the topic goes, if I need a guy to play a President or CEO of a corporation, I'm calling Jeff Daniels' agent.
 
A great character actor from Hollywood's Oater days... Goggle-eyed Jack Elam.
 
Danny Trejo.

He's such a good character actor that sometimes they give the character entire movie franchises, lol (Machete, if you haven't seen them).
 
Annihilus said:
Danny Trejo.

He's such a good character actor that sometimes they give the character entire movie franchises, lol (Machete, if you haven't seen them).
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DANNY TREJO, YES!!!! Machete is one of the all-time great movies!
 
Just thought of one of the great recent ones.

Benicio Del Toro

Usual Suspects
Traffic (Oscar)
Sin City
Che

Just a really cool style.


Cheers, BostonTim
 
bideau said:
J.K. Simmons.

Until he won an Oscar for Whiplash (tremendous movie), he was one of those actors who you see and wonder what else he's been in because he looks so familiar.
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Good call. He got tons of supporting roles after Oz.
 
bideau said:
J.K. Simmons.

Until he won an Oscar for Whiplash (tremendous movie), he was one of those actors who you see and wonder what else he's been in because he looks so familiar.
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Mark_Henderson said:
Good call. He got tons of supporting roles after Oz.
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He also did a great job as Dr. Emil Skoda on Law and Order: SVU.
 
Someone mentioned J.T. Walsh - one of the great actors that played exclusively supporting roles and usually stole the scenes he was in.

Jack Warden - played scores of strong supporting roles for decades, loved him as Newman's law associate in the Verdict & the crazy judge in And Justice for All

John Cazale (Fredo Corleone) - appeared in 5 movies, all of which were nominated for Best Picture - Godfather, Godfather II, The Conversation, Dog Day Afternoon, The Deer Hunter. Then died young of cancer. HBO had a great documentary about him. He was from Revere and was engaged to Meryl Streep when he died.

Michael Madsen - Mr. Blonde from Reservoir Dogs. A long career of tough guy supporting roles.

Ileanna Douglas - She was the woman Deniro beat up in Cape Fear & Matt Dillon's sister in To Die For, (small role in Goodfellas) - long career of supporting roles.

Luis Guzman - Pudgy Mexican guy (Carlito's Way, Traffic, Boogie Nights) - Decades as a unique guy in supporting roles.

Giancarlo Esposito (the guy that owned Pollos Hermanos in Breaking Bad) - Decades playing quirky supporting roles, was in all of Spike Lee's early movies.

John Vernon (Dean Wormer in Animal House) - Long career, all tough guy supporting roles (the mayor in Dirty Harry)

Murray Hamilton (the Mayor in Jaws, Mrs. Robinson's husband in The Graduate) - Long career, all supporting roles, nearly always a corrupt/debauched authority figure

Peter Lorre - Kind of the original Steve Buscemi, might have his picture in the dictionary for character actor


Put too much thought into this, but I'm into movies.
 
Mark_Henderson said:
Someone mentioned J.T. Walsh - one of the great actors that played exclusively supporting roles and usually stole the scenes he was in.

Jack Warden - played scores of strong supporting roles for decades, loved him as Newman's law associate in the Verdict & the crazy judge in And Justice for All

John Cazale (Fredo Corleone) - appeared in 5 movies, all of which were nominated for Best Picture - Godfather, Godfather II, The Conversation, Dog Day Afternoon, The Deer Hunter. Then died young of cancer. HBO had a great documentary about him. He was from Revere and was engaged to Meryl Streep when he died.

Michael Madsen - Mr. Blonde from Reservoir Dogs. A long career of tough guy supporting roles.

Ileanna Douglas - She was the woman Deniro beat up in Cape Fear & Matt Dillon's sister in To Die For, (small role in Goodfellas) - long career of supporting roles.

Luis Guzman - Pudgy Mexican guy (Carlito's Way, Traffic, Boogie Nights) - Decades as a unique guy in supporting roles.

Giancarlo Esposito (the guy that owned Pollos Hermanos in Breaking Bad) - Decades playing quirky supporting roles, was in all of Spike Lee's early movies.

John Vernon (Dean Wormer in Animal House) - Long career, all tough guy supporting roles (the mayor in Dirty Harry)

Murray Hamilton (the Mayor in Jaws, Mrs. Robinson's husband in The Graduate) - Long career, all supporting roles, nearly always a corrupt/debauched authority figure

Peter Lorre - Kind of the original Steve Buscemi, might have his picture in the dictionary for character actor


Put too much thought into this, but I'm into movies.
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Great list, Mark. +1

Cheers, BostonTim
 
I'm going to add a guy that you might never have heard of but he's been in the following movies: Nick of Time, Independence Day, Ghosts of Mississippi, Air Force One, Thirteen Days, Iron Man, Eagle Eye, Ted (I and II), The November Man and a ton of TV shows including The Practice, The Event, Law and Order and 24. He was also the father in Life Goes On.

His name is Bill Smitrovich. He's always a cop or military guy.

He actually served in the Army with a good friend of mine.
 
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