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Essential Character Actors
this is a work in progress (and currently male only), please check back later for updates
During the studio era, character actors were common (and respected), much more so than today. Whether it was MGM, Warner Bros. or you name it, each company had some stock players that were excellent supporting players, whether they were typecast or not. Sometimes, it was directors (e.g. like John Ford, later copied by Clint Eastwood) who chose to employ the same personnel in picture after picture of their movie portfolios. In any case, there are some faces that every film fan should recognize, because they were prolific or otherwise unforgettable (in no particular order) great character actors:
- Walter Brennan - the granddaddy of character actors actually won three Best Supporting Actor Academy Awards out of his three Oscar nominations in that category.
- Franklin Pangborn - specialized in playing befuddled hotel concierges
- Guy Kibbee - his puffy smiling face contributed to the affable roles he usually played
- John Qualen - played virtually every kind of foreign immigrant part there was
- James Gleason - older gentleman, thin, usually wisecracking, what a character!
- Thomas Mitchell - did play meatier roles at time, won a Supporting Oscar for Stagecoach (1939)
- J. M. Kerrigan - can be confused for Kibbee, he's kind of the Irish version of him;-)
- Allen Jenkins - often played street smart New Yorkers with a gift for jargon and slang
- Harry Hayden - a father, a priest, or other authority figure; often trustworthy
- C. Aubrey Smith - renowned, distinguished British actor, father or authoritarian (trusted) figure
- Porter Hall - quirky, sometimes with a twitch, played funny or evil characters equally well
- Charles Lane - perhaps the most prolific of all character actors. Is there a movie he's not in?
- Cliff Clark - almost always a beefy police officer
- Fred Clark - mustache, bald, sometimes an official who's been proved to be wrong
- Ward Bond - one of Ford's regulars, appeared in more John Wayne films than any other too
- Barton MacLane - played figures of authority, police detectives, not always on the up and up
- Charles Dingle - another who can be confused with Kibbee
- Byron Foulger - think of the guy who sweeps up after Rocky and Bullwinkle at the end of their show, the mustached sanitation worker; played administrators, accountants, bureaucrats, etc. who twisted their facial hair between their fingers
- Eric Blore - a dependable manservant, easily confused by his employers; goes off, does what he'd told only to return and find out that circumstances have changed and, unfortunately, he then has to expend more effort doing just the opposite
- Edward Everett Horton - appeared in a lot of comedies (e.g. with Fred Astaire and others), oftentimes a theater producer (or a would-be one)
- Alan Hale - big, affable, laughing, and loud, besides being the Skipper's (from TV's Gilligan's Island) father, he's best known as Errol Flynn's sidekick
- Hobart Cavanaugh - can easily be confused for Byron Foulger
- Mischa Auer - often played eccentric foreign actors, those able to use their "foreign-ness" to scam Americans
- William Frawley - went on to fame on TV
- Reginald Owen - British, in some biopics, oftentimes humorous, distinctive voice
- William Demarest - ditto; started out as one of director Preston Sturges's group
- Charles Halton - wears glasses, the person I was thinking of when I wrote the above about Foulger
- Donald Meek - appropriate surname for the parts this bald, short, older gentlemen played
- John Litel - tall, dependable lawyer or those type of roles
- Frank McHugh - one of the Irish mafia (in movies with Pat O'Brien & James Cagney), with a wisenheimer laugh that was perfect for providing comic relief
- Nat Pendleton - played big, dim-witted characters (ex-football players in the mob?) like bouncers exceptionally well
- Edward Brophy - not always credited, bald, grinning, sometimes flustered
- Eddie Albert - though he was the leading man on TV's Green Acres, in movies he was frequently a piano playing sidekick (received two Supporting Actor Oscar nominations)
- Edward Arnold - serious, gruff, father or other (frequently flawed) man in charge, business owner, etc.
- Charles Coburn - a likeable father figure, excelled in comedies with Jean Arthur (one Academy Award out of three Supporting Actor nominations)
- Ned Sparks - cigar chomping, sometimes, wry and/or sarcastic scene stealing, everytime!
- Roscoe Karns - the reporter that needs a story?
- Irving Bacon - tall, almost lanky, service industry personnel (e.g. behind the counter or manservant)
- Ian Wolfe - so very recognizable and prolific, bald headed with a large nose; played butlers domestically or abroad, and/or other officials etc.
- Harry Davenport - this veteran, unlike Walter Brennan (and some of these others), never received any recognition; played a lot of wise older relative in a big wealthy family roles
- S. Z. Sakall - the man with the squeezable cheeks, a cuddly immigrant with a unique take on the English language
- Elisha Cook Jr. - played quirky characters with an edge, opened his mouth in surprise
- Grant Mitchell - another dependable, father-like figure, often in comedies
- Eugene Pallette - frog voiced, barrel chested, height challenged actor who was a staple in comedies
- Henry O'Neill - grey haired father figure who appeared in so many films
- Lewis Stone - think Henry O'Neill;-) Actually, seems to have appeared in as many films as Charles Lane because Stone's career begun in the silent era; played Andy Hardy's dad
- Selmer Jackson - tall, grey haired, frequently uncredited background actor in a position of authority, within a company or the government
- Henry Stephenson - tall, old grey haired gentleman with impeccable manners making him ideal for wise wealthy father roles
- Rhys Williams - large bald, not always trustworthy
- Henry Daniell - a good villain, not always trustworthy, British, cultured, educated characters
- Guinn Big Boy Williams - probably not an essential, but he did appear in a lot of films as a laborer, prisoner, big strong not too sharp mug
- Willie Best - a face (and dated characteristics) that everyone should recognize
- Jerome Cowan - a lawyer, a friend, not the one the woman chooses (much like Ralph Bellamy?)
Who did I forget?
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