Author Topic: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....  (Read 11629 times)

Offline Sheyne

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Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« on: May 23, 2006, 05:40:57 am »
 G'day..

I have been contributing like mad to the chemistry threads and I thought it was time I started one about those great supporting players in movies - you know those ones that may sometimes steal the thunder of the two leads by playing a small, but unforgettable part? Most times you remember it cause they make you laugh, but it could also be cause of something important they contribute to the plot.  Either way, they're the ones you really remember from movies.  I'm keen to know what makes all of you tick.

Some examples to kick us off:

Brad Bird (Edna "E" Mode) in "The Incredibles"
Michael J Fox (Lewis Rothschild) in "The American Presiden" (or Martin Sheen for that matter, they're both very good)
Gloria Foster (the Oracle) in "The Matrix" (just LOVED that scene)
Bronson Pinchot (Serge, the swishy art gallery attendant) in "Beverly Hills Cop"
Julianne Moore (Dr Anne Eastman) in "The Fugitive" (great scene with Tommy Lee Jones)

I got heaps more but I want to hear from you guys too..
Chut up!

Offline ednbarby

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #1 on: May 23, 2006, 09:20:51 am »
Ooh.  I love it.

Of course Michelle, Anne, Roberta and Kate
Ralph Fiennes and Ben Kingsley in "Schindler's List"
Steve Buscemi in "Fargo"
The entire cast of "The Usual Suspects" (Ed particularly liked Pete Postelthwaite, I, Benicio Del Toro and Kevin Pollack)
Zooey Deschanel in "The Good Girl"
John C. Reilly in "Chicago"
Klaus Maria Brandauer in "Out of Africa"
Jeff Daniels in "Terms of Endearment"
Catherine Keener in "Capote"
James Gandolfini in "The Mexican"
Denholm Elliot in everything he ever did, but particularly "Breaker Morant"
Chris Cooper in everything he's ever done, but especially "Sea Biscuit" and "October Sky"
Sir John Gielgud in "Arthur" ("On the other hand, go screw yourself."  One of the best lines and deliveries of one ever)
Paul Scofield in "Quiz Show"
Helen Mirren in "The Madness of King George" (if you don't consider her a lead)
Billy Connoly in "Mrs. Brown"
Patricia Clarkson in "The Station Agent"
James Belushi in "About Last Night"
Casey Affleck in "Good Will Hunting"
Judi Dench, Imelda Staunton, and Geoffrey Rush in "Shakespeare in Love"
Dennis Quaid in "Breaking Away"
Mickey Rourke in "Diner"
Billy Crudup in "Almost Famous"
Hugh Laurie in "Sense and Sensibility"
Haley Joel Osment in "The Sixth Sense"
Bryan Brown in "The Thornbirds"
« Last Edit: May 23, 2006, 09:24:29 am by ednbarby »
No more beans!

vkm91941

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #2 on: May 23, 2006, 10:06:02 am »
another good thread!  Here area few thoughts for your consideration



Julia Roberts in Grand Champion
Hattie McDaniel  in Gone with the Wind
Viggo Mortensen in Witness
Robert Duvall in The Godfather
John Malkovich  in Places in the Heart
Josh Lucas and Eric Balfour in Secondhand Lions
Angela Lansbury  in Gaslight
Eve Arden in  Mildred Pierce
Garrett Hedlund in Troy
Vincent Price in The Song of Bernadette
Maggie Smith in Washington Square
Klaus Brandauer  in Out of Africa
Montgomery Cliff in Judgment at Nuremburg
Victor Buono  in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
James Cromwell  in Babe
Peggy Cass  in Auntie Mame
Peter Ustinov in Logan’s Run
Michael Clarke Duncan  in The Green Mile
Tom Conti in Shirley Valentine
Beah Richards  in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Tim Roth  in Rob Roy
Dan Aykroyd  in Driving Miss Daisy
Michael J. Pollard in Bonnie and Clyde
Eileen Brennan in Private Benjamin
Joan Allen  in The Crucible
Ioan Gruffudd in Wilde
Jack Wild in Oliver!
Quinn Cummings in The Goodbye Girl
Brad Dourif  in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
John Hurt in Alien
Alfre Woodard in Passion Fish
John Lithgow  in The World According to Garp
Gary Sinise  in Forrest Gump
Joan Cusack  in - In and Out
Lynn Redgrave  in Gods and Monsters
Julie Walters  in Billy Elliot
Judi Dench in Chocolat
Maggie Smith in Gosford Park


moremojo

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #3 on: May 23, 2006, 10:33:45 am »
Here are twelve of my favorites. I defer to the good old IMDb for character appellations, titles, and dates. Listed in the order by which they came to mind:

Vivian Pickles as Mrs. Chasen in Harold and Maude (1971)
Murray Melvin as Rev. Samuel Runt in Barry Lyndon (1975)
Ruth Gordon as Minnie Castevet in Rosemary's Baby (1968)
Marcel Levesque as Oscar Mazamette in Les Vampires (1915)
Roy Kinnear as Mr. Henry Salt in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Marion Eaton as Woman on Bus in The Whole Wide World (1996)
Chunibala Devi as Indir Thakrun in Pather Panchali (1955)
Lesley Manville as Lucy Gilbert in Topsy-Turvy (1999)
Seena Owen as Princess Beloved (Attarea) in Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages (1916)
Akim Tamiroff as 'Uncle' Joe Grandi in Touch of Evil (1958)
Aleksandra Peregonets as Ihoshka, Aelita's maidservant maid of mars in Aelita (1924)
Mathilde Nielsen as Old Victor's wetnurse in Du skal aere din hustru (1925)

Topsy-Turvy and Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages are probably both best approached as ensemble pieces, so starring versus supporting roles are probably not very useful distinctions regarding these two films, but Lesley Manville and Seena Owen were two performers with whom I was especially taken in both respective works.

Cheers,
Scott
« Last Edit: February 15, 2008, 07:48:14 pm by moremojo »

slayers_creek_oth

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #4 on: May 23, 2006, 01:35:02 pm »
Here are a few to me..

Rupert Everett in My Best Friend's Wedding
Ian McKellen in The Da Vinci Code
Cuba Gooding Jr. in Jerry MaGuire
Freddie Highmore in Finding Neverland

rtprod

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #5 on: May 23, 2006, 03:22:10 pm »
Laura Dern in Mask

Jackie Burroughs in Lost and Delirious

Grace Zabriskie in An Officer and a Gentleman

Virginia Madsen in The Rainmaker

Brooke Smith in The Silence of the Lambs

Cate Blanchett in The Shipping News and The Man Who Cried

Annette Bening in Postcards from the Edge

Sandy Dennis in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Anna Faris in Lost in Translation

Anna Paquin in The Piano

Priscilla Barnes in The Crossing Guard

Demi Moore in St. Elmo's Fire

Diane Ladd in Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose

Ashley Judd in Smoke

Juliette Lewis in Cape Fear

Beatrice Straight in Network

Joan Allen in Manhunter and The Notebook

Stockard Channing in Grease

Rosie Perez in Fearless

Marlene Dietrich in Judgement at Nuremberg and Touch of Evil

Laura San Giacomo in Sex, Lies and Videotape

Kathleen Turner in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Cameron Diaz in My Best Friend's Wedding

Miranda Richardson in Damage

Susannah York in They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

Joan Cusack in Men Don't Leave

Marcia Gay Harden in Mystic River

Uma Thurman in Henry and June

Laurie Metcalf in Internal Affairs

Brad Pitt in Thelma and Louise

Winona Ryder in Lucas

Amy Madigan in Field of Dreams

Brooke Shields in Pretty Baby

Julianne Moore in The Hand that Rocks the Cradle (crap, sorry)

(the late) Katrin Cartlidge in Naked

Justin Henry in Kramer vs. Kramer

Alison Elliott in The Wings of the Dove

The city of Los Angeles in Chinatown

The city of San Francisco in Vertigo

Janeane Garofalo and Angela Bassett in everything they do...

and Charleton Heston in Bowling for Columbine

« Last Edit: May 23, 2006, 03:43:28 pm by rtprod »

slayers_creek_oth

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #6 on: May 23, 2006, 03:32:29 pm »

slayers_creek_oth

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #7 on: May 23, 2006, 03:38:53 pm »
Chris Cooper in American Beauty

Chris Cooper in Jarhead


Offline Lumière

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #8 on: May 23, 2006, 03:41:02 pm »
I agree with some entries here...Here are 2 more:

Rowan Atkinson in Maybe Baby
'The Tent' in Brokeback Mountain (the lucky bastard! ;) )


slayers_creek_oth

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #9 on: May 23, 2006, 03:56:02 pm »
'The Tent' in Brokeback Mountain (the lucky bastard! ;) )

ROFLOL.....

Offline JennyC

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #10 on: May 23, 2006, 03:56:56 pm »
LOL

rt's The city of Los Angeles in Chinatown and The city of San Francisco in Vertigo

And Lucise's 'The Tent' in Brokeback Mountain

Do they qualify as supporting actor/actress?  Guess so since the title is "Supporting Players"  ;D

Offline serious crayons

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #11 on: May 23, 2006, 03:59:47 pm »
Chris Cooper in American Beauty

Chris Cooper in Jarhead



Chris Cooper in Adaptation

rtprod

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #12 on: May 23, 2006, 04:06:29 pm »
How about Kim Novak stealing Vertigo from herself when her alter ego emerges in the film's second half? 

Now THAT is a good one.

rt

slayers_creek_oth

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #13 on: May 23, 2006, 04:08:10 pm »
Chris Cooper in Adaptation

Lets just say Chris Cooper is a force.... :)

Offline Sheyne

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #14 on: May 23, 2006, 04:53:35 pm »

I can't believe I forgot this one in my original list:

Geoffrey Rush as Walsingham in "Elizabeth"  wow.....
Chut up!

slayers_creek_oth

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #15 on: May 23, 2006, 04:56:18 pm »
Geoffrey Rush in Shakespeare in Love

Offline delalluvia

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #16 on: May 23, 2006, 08:20:20 pm »
Val Kilmer in Tombstone.

Offline Sheyne

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #17 on: May 24, 2006, 02:28:48 am »

Never saw that one, Del, was it any good? Or was Val good?  I've seen lots of films that are pretty ordinary overall but have one or two outstanding players that sometimes make your admission price worth parting with.  I've never seen Tombstone, but I am curious.


Steve Buscemi in "The Wedding Singer"

Mandy Patinkin in "The Princess Bride"
Chut up!

Offline j.U.d.E.

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #18 on: May 24, 2006, 05:53:22 am »
Yes, I like too:
Ralph Fiennes and Ben Kingsley in Schindler's List
Chris Cooper in everything he's done
Patricia Clarkson in The Station Agent
Montgomery Cliff in Judgment at Nuremburg
Michael J. Pollard in Bonnie and Clyde
Ioan Gruffudd in Wilde
Gary Sinise  in Forrest Gump
Joan Cusack in In and Out
Stockard Channing in Grease
Laurie Metcalf in Internal Affairs
Justin Henry in Kramer vs. Kramer

Some others: (not all 'unforgettable', but I like)
Toni Collette in About a Boy
Wes Bentley in American Beauty
Patrick Bauchau in everything mostly
Paul Regina in The Anniversary Party (and most of his other films)
Hart Bochner in Apartment Zero
Lothaire Bluetau in Bent
Ron Eldard in everything mostly
Peter Sarsgaard in Boys Don't Cry
Jack Davenport in The Talented Mr Ripley
Jason Isaacs in everything mostly
The Volleyball in Cast Away.. just kiddin'
Samantha Morton in Enduring Love
Jeremy Northam in A Fatal Inversion
Everybody in Warriors - poignant!

But there are many more!

~ j U d E
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Offline ednbarby

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #19 on: May 24, 2006, 09:32:37 am »
Mandy Patinkin in "The Princess Bride"

Oh.My.God.  I cannot believe I forgot this one.  I know you and I have rapped about him in this (and in general) before.  He so totally stole this movie as far as I'm concerned.  And is not the fencing scene the most cleverly-scripted and choreographed scene ever filmed?  I could watch just that scene again and again.

Inigo: Do you think you could speed it up a bit?

Westley: Sorry to disappoint you, but you'll just have to wait.

Inigo: I hate waiting.

---------

Inigo: You seem like a nice fellow.  I hate to kill you.

Westley: You seem like a nice fellow.  I hate to die.

--------

Inigo: I admit it - you are better than me.  But there is something I have not told you...

Westley: Which is...?

Inigo: I am not left-handed.

-------

Inigo:  Who ARE you?

Westley: No one of consequence.

Inigo:  But I MUST know.

Westley: Get used to disappointment.
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Offline Sheyne

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #20 on: May 24, 2006, 04:48:33 pm »

YES, Barb..  He was the only really "genuine" character in the movie, if you know what I mean?  The others looked largely like they were play-acting.

Mandy gives his heart and his soul and you see it in his eyes. He's just a wonderful, wonderful actor..
Chut up!

Offline delalluvia

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #21 on: May 24, 2006, 09:29:11 pm »
Never saw that one, Del, was it any good? Or was Val good?  I've seen lots of films that are pretty ordinary overall but have one or two outstanding players that sometimes make your admission price worth parting with.  I've never seen Tombstone, but I am curious.

'Tombstone' is good enough for a rental.  It's a popcorn movie.  Just above TV movie level due to the violence.  Val just steals the show.  You are hanging on his every word, wondering what he might say or do next.

Quote
Steve Buscemi in "The Wedding Singer"

Mandy Patinkin in "The Princess Bride"

GREAT ones Sheyne!!

Inigo Montoya:  There's that word again.  I do not think it means what you think it means.

You might as well say Steve Buscemi in anything he comes out in. 

That reminds me, John Goodman in 'The Big Lebowski'.

Um, can I say Johnny Depp in 'Once upon a Time in Mexico'?  I think he was a co-star, not the headliners who were Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayak.  Johnny just stole that movie.  He was like Val Kilmer.  You were just waiting on him to breathe.


Offline Sheyne

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #22 on: May 26, 2006, 04:53:32 am »

LOL... Del, you had me laughing with that Princess Bride line.. he's magic in that movie.. Steals the show!

Thanks for your Tombstone recommendation.  Might check it out over a glass of wine tomorrow night.

Thanks mate.

I do agree about Steve Buscemi. I watched - and still watch - Armageddon for HIS performance in it.  Him and Owen Wilson.  The others were just blah....
Chut up!

slayers_creek_oth

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #23 on: July 04, 2006, 07:50:54 pm »
I just thought of a couple and i'm not sure if they have already been mentioned but if so they're worth repeating...

Ben Kingsley in Schindler's List
Jack Nicholoson in Terms of Endearment

Offline Sheyne

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #24 on: July 04, 2006, 08:44:47 pm »

You realise I now HAVE to add:

Parker Posey in Superman Returns.
Chut up!

slayers_creek_oth

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #25 on: July 05, 2006, 02:12:12 am »
You realise I now HAVE to add:

Parker Posey in Superman Returns.

Good eh?

Offline Sheyne

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #26 on: July 05, 2006, 04:55:13 am »

Chris, she practically stole the whole show..  :laugh: :laugh:

Practically.... not quite..  ;)
Chut up!

Offline cmr107

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #27 on: July 07, 2006, 07:57:16 pm »
Heath was great in A Knight's Tale, but I thought Paul Bettany completely stole every scene he was in.

Offline fernly

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #28 on: July 07, 2006, 08:33:21 pm »
and another rave for Joan Cusack - this time in Grosse Pointe Blank
on the mountain flying in the euphoric, bitter air

slayers_creek_oth

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #29 on: July 10, 2006, 02:11:17 am »
Now after seeing it I can say...

Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost

Offline Ellemeno

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #30 on: July 10, 2006, 03:59:27 am »
Heath was great in A Knight's Tale, but I thought Paul Bettany completely stole every scene he was in.

Why, how dare you.....wait, you're completely right.  :)

Joan Blondell in Desk Set
Graham Greene in Dances with Wolves
just about everyone in the 2001 Ocean's Eleven

Offline Sheyne

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #31 on: July 10, 2006, 08:33:03 am »
and another rave for Joan Cusack - this time in Grosse Pointe Blank

Here here!! I love that woman!  :D

Great flick too.
Chut up!

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #32 on: July 10, 2006, 11:02:47 am »
Angela Lansbury  in Gaslight
Eve Arden in  Mildred Pierce

Thanks for those, Victoria!

On the subject of Gaslight, one might also add Dame Mae Whitty (the "diggy biscuit" lady).

Thanks for Joan Bondell, Clarissa.

Mandy Patinkin in The Princess Bride? For weeks afterward, the friend I saw it with and I greeted each other with:

"My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

I'll add Alan Hale, the sidekick in most of Errol Flynn's movies (e.g., Little John in The Adventures of Robin Hood).

Eeek, why didn't I check out this thread a l-o-o-o-n-g time ago!  :laugh:
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Offline MaineWriter

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Re: Those Unforgettable Supporting Players....
« Reply #33 on: July 10, 2006, 02:27:31 pm »
Justin Bartha as Riley Poole in National Treasure. He was priceless. One of my favorite lines:

"It's a big blue-ish green man... with a strange-looking goatee... I'm guessing that's significant."
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