#22: Who’s the best character actor* of all time, and which movie convinced you?
LC sparked our last fight about non-linear storylines. Tarantino represented well, so did Christopher Nolan and Michael Gondry, but it was Jimmy himself in Pulp Fiction who took home the prize - along with a nice oak bedroom set - giving Jen W the right to ask:
Who’s the best character actor* of all time, and which movie convinced you?
*Character Actor : Specializes in playing unique, offbeat, or colorful characters in supporting roles.
The Rules:
Post your answer as a comment. Make it clear that this is your official answer, one per member.
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Defend your answer in the comments and fight it out against other MFC members’ answers for the rest of the week.
Whoever gets the most likes on their official answer comment (and only that comment) by Friday night wins the fight. You may like (heart, whatever) as many answers as you want.
The winner gets the honor of posting the next question the following Saturday.
In the case of a tie, the member who posted the question will decide the winner.
Notes:
Only movies will qualify (no TV shows, or documentaries); however, films that air on television or streaming (BBC films, a stand-alone mini-series) will qualify.
Your answer can be as off-the-wall or controversial as you’d like. It will be up to you to defend it and win people to your side.
Fight it out.
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I'm going to go with Thomas Mitchel. You know him as Scarlett's dad in Gone With The Wind, Uncle Billy in It's A Wonderful Life, the drunkard D.C. reporter in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington etc...He always stole the scenes he was in and brought additional depth to the characters he interacted with and provided some much needed levity in certain films.
The one I most remember though is from It's a Wonderful Life. There are two scenes in particular:
1) When he stumbles drunk into trash cans off-screen. It was actually a mistake. A set tech dropped something and the mics picked it up. Mitchel saved the take by quickly hollering, "I'm all right. I'm aaaaall right."
2) When he gets to act as a foil by which George can vents his frustrated dark side. He yells at Uncle Billy, "One of us is going to prison and it ain't me!!" It's the first time in the movie where we really get to see George loose his cool.
Ward Bond was in a gazillion classics and old Westerns. But my favorite scene of his is in It's a Wonderful Life where he plays Bert the Cop, and he sings with Ernie the cabbie (yeah, that's where Sesame Street got "Bert and Ernie" from) outside the house where George and Mary are having their honeymoon dinner.