Ah the character actor. These gents will never run out of work in cinema. Sure some may get the chance to be leading men, but they will never be a true “star”. That’s perfectly fine by me. Stars come and go, but character actors always stay around, and achieve their own type of stardom. Even if it’s just among a few people, in this age of the internet, those few people with the proper resources could introduce this person to many many others.
My list includes some well known character actors, and some that may just elicit a “huh?”. More than likely the latter is one of those guys that you’ve seen a million times, but didn’t know his name. So take a look at my list, then head over to IMDB and type in these names you don’t know. You may finally be able to put a name to a face. Yes, I want to be one of those guys who promotes the talents of an actor that he has followed for a long time. Some of these gents may also no longer be with us, so sad as that may be, it’s a joy to still be able to discover their greatness that was. This is also by no means a complete list. I may add to it at a later time.
Don Calfa
Clu Gulager
Marc Lawrence
Ray Wise
Kevin Tighe
Strother Martin
L.Q. Jones
Thom Matthews
James Karen
Ted Raimi
Mark Boone Junior
Joe Spinell
Peter Stormare
John Heard
Chris Mulkey
Terry O’Quinn
Doug Hutchison
David Hess
Christopher Lee
Gregory Hines
Lance Henriksen
Bill Paxton
Frank Vincent
Bruce Campbell
Dan Hedaya
Vernon Wells
Dennis Farina
Brian Thompson
George Kennedy
Geoffrey Lewis
Anthony James
M.C. Gainey
Jack Noseworthy
Andrew Divoff
Kurtwood Smith
Everett McGill
Charles Napier
M. Emmett Walsh
Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa
James Remar
James Hong
Victor Wong
Clarence Williams III
Alfred Molina
Anthony Zerbe
Pepe Serna
Pat Hingle
Patrick Kilpatrick
Ed Lauter
Tony Todd
William Sanderson
Robert Englund
Tracy Walter
Larry Drake
It’s a long list, and it’s not even complete, but these are just some of the character actors that I believe deserve a mention. Later I’ll do a follow up blog on some of these actors that are sure to boggle peoples minds. Feel free to comment in my thread on the message boards in so I can have an idea of who I should do the follow up article on.
Rene’s song of the day: “How Deep Is Your Love” by The Bee Gees