Lou Frizzell
(1920 - 1979)| Some of the great character actors we know much too little about, such is the case of this wonderfully watchable thespian who built up a great body of work and left us much too soon. Lou Frizzell is p ...Click on photo to read biography |
Paul Dooley
(1928 - )| This jovial looking actor was a solid character performer who could play the neighbor next door or a conniving villain and anything in between. He is most likely best remembered for his terrific role ...Click on photo to read biography |
Billie Whitelaw
(1932 - )| She is a very striking looking actress and can give you the "willies" or make you feel calm, or even enamored of her on film. I most remember her from her absolutely chilling role in "The Omen" as a g ...Click on photo to read biography |
Burl Ives
(1909 - 1995)| He was not only a great character actor but also one of the most talented musicians and singers in the world. His honey smooth singing voice had long been admired before we ever witnessed his immense ...Click on photo to read biography |
Beah Richards
(1926 - 2000)| Pictured here as she looked in the 1967 film "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" as Sidney Poitier's character's mother, she was actually a star of the stage rather than a film actor. This delightful actre ...Click on photo to read biography |
Spring Byington
(1886 - 1971)| Although she became best known for playing a mother-in-law, she could play other roles as well, but it was quite difficult to imagine her playing an evil role. Aunts, grandmothers, mothers, matrons, m ...Click on photo to read biography |
Sam Elliott
(1944 - )| If you wanted to define the word "macho" just find a film or TV program with Sam Elliott in it and observe. He is the epitome of macho. Tall, dark and lanky with a rugged but handsome looking face of ...Click on photo to read biography |
Richard Mulligan
(1932 - 2000)| One of those actors who can put the "character" in character actor was Richard Mulligan. Although he was very good in other roles, he will always be remembered as the daffy, eccentric Burt Campbell on ...Click on photo to read biography |
Ann Doran
(1911 - 2000)| One of the most prolific and durable character actresses who had appeared in over 500 films and numerous television series and projects over an eight-decade career was another who was not known by nam ...Click on photo to read biography |
Wes Studi
(1947 - )| Like Graham Greene, not only is he one of the best Native American actors, he is one of the finest actors in the world. He has created many memorable roles, most notably as the vengeful Magua in 1992' ...Click on photo to read biography |
Frank Lovejoy
(1912 - 1962)| My memories of Frank Lovejoy and the characters he played are of a person very much in control, laid back, cool, calm and collected. I'm sure he played a few temperamental, volatile, explosive charact ...Click on photo to read biography |
Forrest Tucker
(1915 - 1986)| If ever there were a face reminiscent of a barroom brawler, it was that of Forrest Tucker. He just had that pugnacious, troublemaking look. He was a master character actor; best suited for westerns bu ...Click on photo to read biography |
Franchot Tone
(1905 - 1968)| Franchot Tone was a sort of enigma. He first played more debonair, leading role types but gradually became cast as the friend of the hero, a G.I., or other "ordinary" types, even later he was cast as ...Click on photo to read biography |
Bert Remsen
(1925 - 1999)| His was another of those faces you've seen a million times but never knew or remembered his name. I always remember that cheeky smile on his face, whether a wide smile or just a gentle one. He was mos ...Click on photo to read biography |
Jack Kruschen
(1922 - 2002)| He was another of those jolly old elf types, most often smiling mischievously with twinkling eyes. Although he was a terrific dramatic actor, the roles he is probably best remembered for are the light ...Click on photo to read biography |
Fred Clark
(1914 - 1968)| No tribute to great character actors would be complete without the inclusion of this very familiar face. Dour, sassy, short-tempered, feisty, bold, cranky, all terms to describe the demeanor of charac ...Click on photo to read biography |
Jack Warden
(1920 - 2006)| By the raspy, gruff voice, the stocky build, his square face and pugnacious nose you can tell he's a tough guy. He was born to play authoritative, irascible, bossy types and that was his forte. He is ...Click on photo to read biography |
Tantoo Cardinal
(1950 - )| Not only is she perhaps the best Native-American actress around today, but she also ranks among the upper echelon of all working actresses. Most of her portrayals have been of women of quiet inner-str ...Click on photo to read biography |
Edie McClurg
(1951 - )| One of the most recognizable character actresses working today is Edie McClurg. Just mention of her name conjures up an image of this energetic little actress with that wonderful, gargly high-pitched ...Click on photo to read biography |
Stepin Fetchit
(1902 - 1985)| No character actor has had as many ups & downs as Stepin Fetchit. He was a pioneering black actor but was ostracized for a time by the black community for his portrayal of the lazy, shiftless black ch ...Click on photo to read biography |
Jack Weston
(1925 - 1996)| Everything about Jack Weston was recognizable to millions of movie and television fans the world over, from his chubby, smiling face, his stocky frame, his twinkling eyes, his bald pate to that tenori ...Click on photo to read biography |
Marie Windsor
(1922 - 2000)| She was a star of B-movies and film noir; not such a dubious distinction as many of these films have become classics. She was a blonde bombshell, voluptuous, demure, seductive and sexy. She was most o ...Click on photo to read biography |
Leo Gordon
(1922 - 2000)| Movies would be lost without the classic villains created by many of our great character actors. One of the truly great portrayers of villains in the movies was Leo Gordon. He was adept at utilizing a ...Click on photo to read biography |
Jerome Cowan
(1897 - 1972)| There is a type of character actor that one might classify as an urbane sophisticated gent. They all pretty much look very similar; tall, slim, dashingly debonair, impeccably dressed and almost always ...Click on photo to read biography |
Eddie Quillan
(1907 - 1990)| Eddie Quillan was "born in a trunk" and born to be a performer. He was a most prolific actor whose face was recognizable from the 1920s thru the 1980s. He played the "comic relief" in films and on TV. ...Click on photo to read biography |
Sig Ruman
(1884 - 1967)| One of the great character actors of all time, he was familiar to movie audiences from the 1920s thru the 1960s and is still enjoyed today in many film classics. He excelled at playing over-the-top vi ...Click on photo to read biography |
Bruce Cabot
(1904 - 1972)| He was a rugged, brawny he-man type if ever there was one. Generally these types start out as heroes and as time wanes dissolve into heavies and thugs on screen. Why this happens is an enigma, but it ...Click on photo to read biography |
Tom Fadden
(1895 - 1980)| He was a very familiar face in many films; classic films among them. A tall, lanky man with wavy hair, a long face and expressive eyes, he always appeared to me as a country bumpkin type…a sort of cro ...Click on photo to read biography |
Edith Evans
(1888 - 1976)| Although one of the grand ladies of the stage, she was also a very fine character actress in films. Tall, thin and gangly with a homely face, a robust voice but with an aristocratic air about her, she ...Click on photo to read biography |
Russell Simpson
(1880 - 1959)| His was a face that popped up in many an old movie, usually in a crowd of townspeople in a drama or western. His roles were small but his face and voice were quite memorable. A deceptively tall man at ...Click on photo to read biography |
Roy Dotrice
(1923 - )| He was best known for two similar roles, one on television, and the other in an Academy Award winning Best Picture. He played Father on the TV series “Beauty and the Beast” and also Mozart’s Father in ...Click on photo to read biography |
Frank Finlay
(1926 - )| Always serious and somber-faced, he most often portrayed authoritarians: priests, military officers, teachers, professors and famous personalities. One of his best roles was as Jacob Marley’s ghost in ...Click on photo to read biography |
Colleen Dewhurst
(1926 - 1991)| She was a joy to watch and elevated the films and TV series she appeared in to a higher level. She was robust and full of life and this came across in her performances. She was a stocky but graceful w ...Click on photo to read biography |
David Huddleston
(1930 - )| I liked David Huddleston the first time I saw him on television back in the 1970s. He had an amiable air about him and was believable in every part he played, as he is to this day. A tall, hefty, robu ...Click on photo to read biography |
Christopher Lloyd
(1938 - )| If you compiled a list of the Top 10 current Best Character Actors, Christopher Lloyd would be right up there high at the top of the list. He has created some of the most memorable characters in the h ...Click on photo to read biography |
Joseph Schildkraut
(1895 - 1964)| One of an actor’s best tools are his eyes. Not even body English or the voice can convey emotion as powerful as the eyes can. Spencer Tracy, Olivier and Alec Guinness were masters of expression using ...Click on photo to read biography |
Jay.C. Flippen
(1899 - 1971)|
He fell into the “gruff but lovable tough guy” category like so many other stocky actors. Of course, Jay C. Flippen was one of the most recognizable actors in this category. W ...Click on photo to read biography |
Nora Marlowe
(1915 - 1977)| Nora Marlowe was a terrific character actress and like thousands of her fellow actors, very little was written about her and photos of her are rare and hard to come by, yet no work on great character ...Click on photo to read biography |
Barbara Pepper
(1915 - 1969)| She was very similar in stature to Nora Marlowe and she played similar type roles. Barbara Pepper had her own style, as do most great character actors. She had been acting since the 1930s and was a pe ...Click on photo to read biography |
John Hurt
(1940 - )| Another of the very serious school of actors, John Hurt is a marvelous actor to observe. He can be warm and tender, almost heartbreaking and then again he can portray the most malevolent, despicable v ...Click on photo to read biography |
Gale Gordon
(1906 - 1995)| He was the perfect foil for many a comedian or comedienne and a master of the slow burn. He could remain cool on the outside while his blood boiled on the inside in the many roles he played. He worked ...Click on photo to read biography |
Dr.Haing.S. Ngor
(1950 - 1996)|
This physician turned actor gave a remarkable performance in his film debut in “The Killing Fields”, earning a well-deserved Oscar as Best Supporting Actor. In portraying j ...Click on photo to read biography |
Anne Haney
(1934 - 2001)| Here is one delightful actress that does not receive the accolades due her. She adds sugar and spice to every role she portrays yet few know her name or anything else about her. She is very similar in ...Click on photo to read biography |
Clive Swift
(1936 - )| Although he made very few films, of those he appeared in he made a memorable impression on me. He seemed the epitome of a British working class man or soldier to me. He looked very British. In recent ...Click on photo to read biography |
Victor Jory
(1902 - 1982)| Up to the time of his death in the 1980s, Victor Jory was one of the most recognizable actors around. He was a solid working actor who occasionally had a starring role but he was basically a character ...Click on photo to read biography |
Alice Nunn
(1927 - 1988)| Too many of the great character actors are used so sparingly that we are often denied of their talent. Such is the case with this fabulous character actress whose few appearances were so memorable tha ...Click on photo to read biography |
John Lithgow
(1945 - )| Although he has achieved stardom of a sort, John Lithgow is basically a character actor. He can play lead roles but is best in character parts. He is equally adept at comedy and drama and can play ser ...Click on photo to read biography |
George Bancroft
(1882 - 1956)| Anyone who watches the old black & white movies on cable TV on AMC or TCM will recognize this magnificent face. George Bancroft only appeared in a little over 60 films but these were memorable films, ...Click on photo to read biography |
Thurston Hall
(1882 - 1958)| Another very familiar face in films was that of Thurston Hall’s. He looked like a Thurston Hall too, very distinguished, authoritarian and important looking. He was perfect for portraying a bank presi ...Click on photo to read biography |
Peter Ustinov
(1921 - 2004)| One of the world’s most beloved actors and a star in every sense of the word, he was primarily a character actor. He could carry a lead role with ease but excelled at playing fascinating characters of ...Click on photo to read biography |
Maury Chaykin
(1949 - )| Maury Chaykin is fast becoming one of the greatest character actors of the latter 20th and 21st centuries. He is today’s version of Charles Laughton and plays quite similar types although I’d venture ...Click on photo to read biography |
Bonnie Bartlett
(1929 - )| She is a very engaging character actress who has grown on the American public mostly through her TV appearances on such popular shows as “St. Elsewhere” and more recently “Once and Again.” She has the ...Click on photo to read biography |
William Daniels
(1927 - )| I first saw William Daniels on a really funny TV series parodying the Batman/Superhero trend of the 1960s. The show was “Captain Nice” and Daniels was the star. The show was created and written by Mel ...Click on photo to read biography |
Eugene Roche
(1928 - 2004)| A familiar face in films of the 1970s and 80s was Eugene Roche and, although he was often cast in the role of sadistic killers and evil characters, I remember him best for his portrayal of good guys; ...Click on photo to read biography |
Josef Sommer
(1934 - )| Josef Sommer is quite a versatile actor who could play any role. Although he didn’t look villainous he was able to play some of the most vile, conniving villains in filmdom. He was quite adept at thes ...Click on photo to read biography |
James Rebhorn
(1948 - )| Another terrific character actor that every movie-goer will recognize as one of the great villains is James Rebhorn. He is quite similar in style and role to Josef Sommer; a cunning and sly villain wh ...Click on photo to read biography |
Harry Townes
(1914 - 2001)| One of the busier actors in television and movies was Harry Townes, a familiar face in the 1950s and 1960s especially. He was a frequent guest on TV series of that era and well into the 1980s. He coul ...Click on photo to read biography |
Wallace Ford
(1898 - 1966)| With one of the longer acting careers in Hollywood, Wallace Ford starred in more than 200 films and was a veteran character actor for over 30 years. He started out playing sidekicks and other good-nat ...Click on photo to read biography |
Kenneth Tobey
(1919 - 2002)| Any movie or TV fan over age 30, especially any ‘child of the 50s’, should be very familiar with this face, which still pops up once in awhile. Kenneth Tobey not only played the lead in some classic B ...Click on photo to read biography |
Arthur Hill
(1922 - 2006)| This solid, dependable character actor is most often described as soft-spoken, mannered and introspective in the roles he portrays. Best suited for “good guy” roles he had the talent for any type role ...Click on photo to read biography |
Joan Plowright
(1929 - )| Although her beginnings were as a classical actress of the British stage and a Shakespearean actor as well, she has become one of the Top 5 character actresses in the world. She excels at portraying k ...Click on photo to read biography |
Roy Roberts
(1906 - 1975)| One of the entertainment business’ busiest actors was Roy Roberts who was reported to have appeared in over 900 productions during a 40 year career. As I was watching the film classic “Chinatown” with ...Click on photo to read biography |
Colin Blakely
(1930 - 1987)| Another chameleon-like actor of the British stage, Colin Blakely was difficult to categorize as he was versatile enough to play any role. The first time I noticed his talents was in the made for TV pr ...Click on photo to read biography |
Esther Dale
(1885 - 1961)| One of the grand dames of the American cinema, she was a familiar face in films of the 1930s, 40s & 50s. She was most often seen as a stern authoritarian type, such as a head nurse, a domineering moth ...Click on photo to read biography |
Lionel Atwill
(1885 - 1946)| Although he fell into the category of the suave and sly, sophisticated mustachioed villain, of which there were many, he overcame that with fine performances to establish his name in film. Slicked dow ...Click on photo to read biography |
Charles Napier
(1936 - )| A familiar face that’s been popping up in a lot of recent movies is that of big and burly Charles Napier. His stocky physique, square, prominent jaw, searingly intense eyes and wavy reddish-brown hair ...Click on photo to read biography |
Rita Johnson
(1913 - 1965)| She was the “menacing blonde” sometimes known as “the other woman”, a floozy, a blonde bombshell. In many films she was ‘trouble’ to the hero or his significant other but in the latter part of her sho ...Click on photo to read biography |
Jay Robinson
(1930 - )| The following two actors highlighted their careers by playing Roman aristocrats and emperors so well that they set a standard. By far one of the saddest stories of all character actors was Jay Robinso ...Click on photo to read biography |
Frank Thring
(1926 - 1994)| The second great portrayer of ancient Roman aristocrats was Frank Thring. So memorable in “Ben Hur” as Pontius Pilate and in “King of Kings” as Herod Antipas that you felt he was descended of ancient ...Click on photo to read biography |
Henry Armetta
(1888 - 1945)| One of the old-timer character actors of the early sound era, he created the role of the perplexed, excitable Italian/European immigrant. A very stocky, squat little man with dark curly hair, big roun ...Click on photo to read biography |
Barry Corbin
(1940 - )| The next three actors are a trio I often confuse with one another. They are similar in girth, looks, voices and roles they play...well, to me anyway. Each is a very talented character actor and all ha ...Click on photo to read biography |
James Karen
(1923 - )| Although James Karen looked similar to Dana Elcar and especially Barry Corbin, it was mostly the face and the similarity of the voices. Karen was slightly leaner than both Elcar and Corbin. He was mor ...Click on photo to read biography |
Dana Elcar
(1927 - 2005)| Dana Elcar is probably best remembered for his many TV appearances, especially on the TV series "MacGyver." He has appeared on just about every TV series imaginable over his long, 45 plus years, caree ...Click on photo to read biography |
Jim Backus
(1913 - 1989)| One of the truly great and most memorable of all character actors, he was known to some as the father of James Dean in “Rebel Without a Cause”, to others as Judge Bradley Stevens on “I Married Joan”, ...Click on photo to read biography |
Hayden Rorke
(1910 - 1987)| A very solid character actor and a very familiar face, he is best remembered for his role as the psychiatrist Dr. Bellows, an Air Force officer, on the TV series “I Dream of Jeannie.” Tall, well postu ...Click on photo to read biography |
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