[2008 edit]

1. Warren Oates
2. G.D. Spradlin
3. Richard Widmark
4. Ned Beatty
5. Slim Pickens
6. Harry Dean Stanton
7. M. Emmet Walsh
8. William H. Macy
9. Philip Seymour Hoffman
10. Ed Lauter

i gotta go with Don Knotts

Walter Brennan
George Cleveland
Slim Pickens
Denver Pyle
Jim Davis

Call me an idiot, but what is a "character actor?" Is that different from a regular actor?

Steve Buschemi

An actor who very rarely lands a starring roles in a movie.

Character actors are seen in many movies -- almost exclusively in "bit" roles. Everyone recognizes their faces, but not their names...


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Character_actor

Jack Elam

Slim Pickens
Dub Taylor
Ben Johnson
Jack Elam
Harry Dean Stanton
Warren Oates
Denver Pyle

Steve Buschemi

John Carradine
Strother Martin
Andy Devine
oh and Pat Hingle
http://www.dougmacaulay.com/kingspud/sel_b...tor_last=Hingle

Slim Pickens

does Rip Taylor count?

Jim Varney

Christopher Walken. He's usually not the lead, but always memorable.

jason lee

Honorable Mention (in no particular order):

• Madeline Kahn
• Illeana Douglas
• Joan Cusack
• Noah Emmerich
• Bruno Kirby
• John C. McGinley
• David Strathairn
• Sterling Hayden
• Dan Hedaya
• Lee J. Cobb
• Strother Martin
• Claude Rains
• John Turturro
• Scatman Crothers
• Steve Buschemi
• Michael Rooker
• Chris Cooper
• Tracey Walter
• Gary Oldman

Joe Pesci

An actor who plays a character is a character actor.......not really.

A character actor is someone who plays a role other than a leading role (Star).

Michael Rooker was a character actor in Mississippi Burning.

Supporting role as opposed to starring roles is another way to put it.

Don Knotts
Norman Fell (Three's Company landlord)
Clifton James
R. Lee Ermey (Gny. Sergeant in Full Metal Jacket)

Or, someone who always plays a particular type of character, like Jean Reno, the french guy in Mission Impossible.

Oh yeah. Jean Reno.

Right.

jack elam
dub taylor
slim pickens
gabby hayes
alan rickman
steve buscemi
jonah hill
seth rogen

William B. Davis AKA The Cigarette Smoking Man in X-Files.......and other minor roles.....

Ward Bond
Claude Rains
Sydney Greenstreet
Victor McLaglen

I liked Mark Wahlberg in The Departed and Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men. Benicio del Toro is always a great character actor as well.

Robert Duvall

this thread began and ended with Steve Buscemi

Jean Reno is great. He was awesome in the Professional. I like Steve Buscemi, but he is not my favorite. Seems like the character actors in the old movies had more character.

wilford brimley
richard farnsworth (loved him in "the natural")
jack elam (rio lobo, the best!)
alan rickman (sigh...)
patrick wayne
christopher george
marty feldman (igor in young frankenstein)

oh geez!! how could i forget:

glenn corbett
ben johnson, one of the best character actors ever

JT Walsh

http://movies.infinitecoolness.com/12/negotiator13.jpg

Favorite Role: Lt. Markinson in A Few Good Men

Lane Smith

http://j.bdbphotos.com/pictures/H/8L/H8H1Q8_large.jpg

Favorite Role: District Attorney Jim Trotter III in My Cousin Vinny


May they both rest in peace.

Great character actors

And in the movie Saving Silverman

when i think of michael rooker i think of chocolate covered pretzels. nasty!!

g.w. bailey

A Texan.....Rizzo on MASH....good one....

^ Port Arthur ... classmates of Janis Jopin and Jimmy Johnson at Thomas Jefferson High School.

That was a good graduating class....How about R. Lee Ermy??? I think he's from Pt. Arthur as well....correct me if I'm wrong.....

Paul Dooley....see if anyone remembers him......

^ Hyannisport Presidents' radio announcer in Slap Shot:
The fans are standing up to them. The security guards are standing up to them. The peanut vendors are standing up to them. And by golly, if I could be down there, I'd be standing up to them!



..and the father in Breaking Away

Good one...I was watching Breaking Away when I thought of this....he also played Cardassian Obsidian Order Head Enabrain Tain in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine......

...and Molly Ringwald's father in Sixteen Candles

Barry Corbin
JT Walsh
Slim Pickens

I miss Dark Skies....that was a great show.....

^ his character Charles Bushman in "Sling Blade" was one of my favorite.

and someone correct me if I'm wrong but I think he died before its release.

I don't remember seeing a bad performance from Walsh....

He died in 1998, so he was alive when Sling Blade was released......

He died before the release of his last two movies....The Negotiator and Pleasantville.....

Your right, I dont' know what I'm thinking.

He was a great actor.

ryan stiles
diedrich bader

James Earl Jones