#Character Actor

[thelonelyqueenofthenight]

Bill Cobbs was one of Hollywood’s most prolific character actor. He appeared in both film and television and stole every scene that he appeared in.

Born Wilbert Francisco Cobbs on June 16, 934 in Cleveland,Ohio. He passed away on June 25, 2024, at the age of 90 years young.

Before acting he in the United States Air Force as a radar technician. In 1970, at the age of 36, he left for New York to seek work as an actor. He supported himself with a multitude of jobs as he worked towards his dream, his big break.

Thank you for sharing your talent with us, Mr. Bill Cobbs.

Rest in peace

[glennk56]

E.E. Bell in the 2020s.

E.E. Bell portrait

E.E. Bell in AJ and the Queen with RuPaul in 2020.

E.E. Bell in The Swing of Things in 2020.

E.E. Bell portrait

E.E Bell in Babylon in 2020.

[xxautumnivyxx]

Second practice session on area51 DigiLegs stilts. Finally able to get practice in little by little for a future costume build.

[citizenscreen]

Gale Gordon (February 20, 1906 – June 30, 1995)

[hellyeahgeorgekennedy]

Remembering actor George Kennedy on what would have been his 100th birthday. Born February 18th, 1925.

Happy Birthday George!

[lol-jackles]

Hello! I read a great deal of your posts and found all of them interesting. The ones analysing spn, Walker, The Boys, etc. Some about Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki caught my attention, as you talked about being a character actor or a personality actor (did I get it right?)

Could you please expand a little more about these kind of actors and their features?

Thank You so much!

A character actor turns himself into the character. 

A personality actor turns the character into himself. 

Think of the difference between Daniel Day Lewis and Tom Cruise.   Daniel Day Lewis has created a diverse range of distinct characters.  Tom Cruise is Tom Cruise in most of his movie roles.

I've said Jared is a character actor trapped in a leading man role because traditionally "character actor" and "supporting actor" were seen as interchangeable.  A leading man is supported by a cast of colorful characters often performed by character actors who have skills to play almost any role due to their ability to transform into variety of characters.  It's the character in each film or tv show that predominates, not the actor or the actor's own personality. That's why audiences often recognize character actors without being able to name them.

Personality actors are usually (not always but usually) the leading man because they are playing to a type that has been established as the thing that they can do and only they can do in their way.    While it may or may not be like their private personality, that's what it appears to be to the general audience and why they get labeled as “personality actors" or "typecasted".  None of us expect Dwayne the Rock Johnson to do any character acting, we just pay to watch him to do stuff that's exciting or funny.   At the same time Dwayne has a compelling personal style that audiences love to watch on screen. It’s one of the reasons why people tend to enjoy personality actors because they’re not subtle.  Tom Cruise’s characters’ meltdowns arem,always just as enjoyable as the film itself.  Jensen’s acting is not subtle and that’s okay.

In contrast the character actors are creating a personality for the role rather than slotting their own personality into a role.  It's why Jared was usually tasked with playing not!Sam characters on Supernatural because he can excise his own and Sam's personality out of Meg, Lucifer, Soulless, Ezekiel, Gadreel, and Justin and give them different personalities.  For example, in the beginning of season 6, Jared wasn't just acting as a Soulless Sam, he's acting as Soulless Sam faking being the real Sam for Dean and there were several times when Soulless Sam almost, but not quite convincingly pulled it off for Dean and the audience.  As someone who did theater arts during my misspent youth, I don't even know how I would approach that kind role.

Jensen is a personality actor, he's been successfully playing Dean Winchester since Days of Our Lives and it made him a multimillionaire in his 30s, so I never begrudge him for sticking to the archetype.  Nonetheless this style of acting was meant for lead roles and I believe this was the main reason why his fans are such unmitigated assholes for 20 years because he was stuck in supporting roles (even on Supernatural) until The Countdown, which they celebrated as Jensen's “employment era" at age 46.

You can read more about the acting stuff here and here.

[seph7]

J.T. Walsh Roles - Scumbag Scale Edition!

Let's face it, he played a lot of 'scumbag' characters, so I thought I'd collate where I would place some of them on a scale of worst to... least worst!

Starting with who I think was the best of a bad bunch - Ins. Terence Niebaum - The Negotiator (1998). Niebaum took bribe money to help cover up some dirty cops stealing from the collective police pension fund.

Next, Martin Swayzak - Backdraft (1991). Shut down some fire stations, reducing the numbers of paid firefighters, meaning fewer available fighters which resulted in some unnecessary deaths. Again, I think there was money involved.

Then we have Sgt. Maj. Dickerson - Good Morning, Vietnam (1987). A man wound so tight that Robin Williams' character described him as 'in more dire need of a blowjob than any man in human history'. He was just an overall arsehole and his commanding officer called him mean and shipped him off to Guam!

Now we're getting to the larger ego characters - Charles F. Drucker - Crazy People (1990). A man with command and charisma, and very little moral compass as he takes advantage of mentally ill patients who are making him money with their 'honest ads' campaign and getting very little in return.

It was scary how well he was able to play creepy characters, and Cake - Persons Unknown (1996) was definitely a bit of a creeper! Seemed to be playing all angles at once, even going so far as to attempt to assault a woman in a wheelchair.

I wasn't sure where to put Danforth Keeton III - Needful Things (1993) initially, but, he does have a terrible gambling addiction and kills his wife... He's a fabulous character though! This first scene is my favourite!

On the face of it, Wayne Brown - Red Rock West (1993) doesn't seem too terrible, but he does plot to have his wife murdered and did embezzle $2 million...

Lt. Quinn - Black Day Blue Night (1995) starts off by appearing to be chasing down a bunch of bank robbers, only for it to be discovered that he was one of them and has been stiffed of his share! Uses anyone and everyone to track down the money, killing multiple people along the way... Definitely a dirty cop!

Stephen Seldes - Defenseless (1991) starts off as a businessman who unknowingly lets out a building to an adult entertainment company who hires underaged girls to star in their films. It is quickly discovered that not only did he know about the company, he was taking money directly from them and was grooming and pimping out his own underage daughter. Definitely up there in the scumbag rating!

Lt. William Eyler - Gang in Blue (1996) was scummy on a whole other level. He actually starts a baseball team with his partner at some point in the late 60's, early 70's called The Phantoms, using it as a cover to hide racist extracurricular activities against people of colour. His entire department is part of the club and falls under FBI investigation.

Second to last, we have Charles Bushman - Sling Blade (1996). A seemingly sex-obsessed murderer who loves nothing better than to tell anyone who will listen about his exploits before he was caught. The only reason he isn't number one scumbag is largely down to whether any of the stories he told were genuinely true, or if they were embellished...

And, our number one scumbag is... Warren 'Red' Barr - Breakdown (1997). Do we really need to say why?! Kidnapping, extortion, theft, murder... You begin to wonder if there was anything he wouldn't do! He has very few redeeming features, other than the fact that his son seems to idolise him... Which, given what he was spending his time doing, wasn't exactly a good thing...

[shyshyaaaaaa]

sammy sam sam sammer mcsammy sam samerson

and donna

[alanshee-keeper-of-realms]

Okay but with Villians land being announced I think it'd be funny if they brought Miklos to the parks as the technical leader of them to be the opposite of Mickey.

Number 1 kids confusion just like his storyline wait that isn't Mickey? Oh its a villian doppelganger?

Number 2 in the same vein easier for kids to know who's boss like they know Mickeys the leader for their little minds Miklos would end up as Mickeys antithesis, he's the one keeping the villians in check however still getting up to trouble himself cause he ain't Mickey

Number 3 again cause he ain't Mickey they can do a lot more especially around Halloween time maybe as a 'trick' they swap the character actors with the tell being Grey somewhere for the kids to spot,

Like I think it'd be a blast and funny but I don't picture them actually getting smart and having ideas like this, just relying on the old villians that everyone knows.

[my-sacred-art-2]

Robert Mitchum (American, Aug. 6, 1917 - July 1, 1997), as William Tabeshaw in Till the End of Time, 1946, dir. Edward Dmytryk.

Supper at Emmaus, 1601. Caravaggio (Italian, Sep. 29, 1571 - July 28, 1610).

thanks @deforest

[glennk56]

Dennis Burkley in the 1980s (Part 3)

Dennis Burkley, in 1987 was in 4 major motion pictures. He appeared in Malone with Burt Reynolds.

He appeared with Madonna in Who’s That Girl.

He appeared with Kevin Costner in No Way Out.

And he appeared in Pass the Ammo with Bill Paxton.

He also appeared in an episode of Outlaws in 1987.

In 1988, he was in an episode of Bustin’ Loose. And the TV Movie? (only 30 minutes) Life on the Flipside, seems more like a failed pilot.

In 1989, Dennis Burkley made 2 more movies. Fletch Lives with Chevy Chase.

And An Innocent Man with Tom Selleck.

He also made another appearance as Tiny in Who’s the Boss.

[xxautumnivyxx]

Learning unusual talents for the sake of cool costume builds is a whole other level sometimes.

[citizenscreen]

Eugene Pallette, born on July 8, 1889 #botd

[hellyeahgeorgekennedy]

George Kennedy in a 1970 press photo.

[oldshowbiz]

BONERZ