Poll: Call This Guy's Agent
Character actors who could be depended upon to play the character in a film that was a tad bit off-center, or was playing with a deck that was a card short or had a joker in it. Discuss the poll here. If you were a casting director, whose agent would you call first.
Vote:
-
Will Geer
While best know as the grandfather in The Waltons television series, his movie roles ranged from playing Wyatt Earp to an Indian Chief to a convict to a lawyer....none of which resembled anything smacking of type-casting. -
Harry Dean Stanton
Possibly the King of Quirkey Characters, most of which had quirks within quirks, and most of which were shuffled off to Buffalo about half-way through the film. -
Clifton James
Blustery and his opinions wre usually out-of-sync with what was going on, but plugged right on in a damn-the-torpedos appointed course. -
Peter Lorre
Okay, name another Hungarian actor who could get away with playing an Asian detective. -
Strother Martin
He never had a communications problem, albeit those around him didn't always gets his message. -
Elisha Cook Jr.
His alligator-mouth usually overloaded his hummingbird-butt but he was the master of the brazen-bluff...even after his pair-of-treys hand had had been called. -
Henry Brandon
His quiet under-playing of such diverse characters, ranging from Nazi-inspired rulers of African jungles to Fu Manchu to a Kiowa war chief just added to their menace. -
John Qualen
No matter how small the role and accent-present, he had the ability to bring a (usually unwritten ) depth to his characters. -
Malcolm Atterbury
A late-comer to films, he could play killers, sheriffs, gangsters, priests, politicians and doctors, sans chewing the scenery or bumping into the furniture, in a presence-noted manner. -
Lionel Atwill
No surprises regarding the intent and purpose of his characters , but using a wooden arm as a pegboard for darts puts him on this list. -
Joseph Wiseman
KIng of the Unhenged. Period. -
Donald Pleasence
King of the Disconnected. Period. -
Royal Dano
If Jeff Corey is not available , call Royal Dano's agent. -
Jack Elam
Need a dog-kicking henchman? Get Elam. Need a klutzy sidekick in an A-feature western. Get Elam. -
John Carradine
Could swing from the highest mountain (Grapes of Wrath) to the bottom of Gower Gulch (Billy the Kid vs. Dracula). -
George Macready
Get Macready. Make sure he brings his all-purpose cane. -
Nehemiah Persoff
An Italian gangster, a Jewish father and the voice of a papa mouse? Get this guy. -
George E. Stone
Stoolies, weazels, gabby cabbies or a cross-dressing sidekick, Stone left nothing unturned. Plus he was real short and short-leading men didn't have to stand on a box to look him in the eye. -
M. Emmet Walsh
Very few actors could play a guy who hates oil-can displays at a service station. -
Dub Taylor
Not hard to find an actor who can play a redneck, but hard to find a redneck-actor who can play a redneck who hates tattoos. "Cannonball" Taylor could. -
Norman Fell
A BA degree in drama from Temple University and then studying drama with Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg didn't hurt him any. -
John Marley
Get me that guy who played a dead man and didn't crack up while Lee Marvin sang Happy Birthday to him. -
Henry Jones
Owner of one of the two saddest faces in films...the other one belonged to Droopy the Dog. -
Dwight Frye
King of the Geeks. -
L.Q. Jones
The names you never remember with faces you never forget list was created for Beamont's Justin McQueen. -
Dabney Coleman
Coleman's characters did not recognize nor practice political correctness. -
Jeffrey Jones
Unlike Ferris, the Principal from Hell never took a day off. -
Charles Durning
A supporting-cast member who was capable of carrying the film on his own. -
Wilford Brimley
Brimley and another former-stuntman friend Richard Farnsworth, made a bit they had been doing for years---hummimg Name That Tune---and made it one of the many highlight scenes in "The Natural." -
Martin Balsam
Won best-supporting actor Oscar for "A Thousand Clowns (1965)". -
Barry Corbin
Still working now after 40-plus years as one of the best good-ol'-boys even when his good ol'boy shows up with an agenda that may not be good. -
Jeff Corey
King of the Whining Losers. -
Wallace Shawn
Do not, under any circumstances, try to outwit him. He can read your mind. -
John Fiedler
Want diversity...try Juror No. 2, Lawyer Dagget and Piglet. -
Harry Morgan
Don't play movie trivia with Colonel Potter.