Greatest character actor ever?

[Ace of Knaves]

Well yea in JFK you couldn't really tell it was him. But trust me, watch The Firm, it's one of his first films. Insane performance.

 

[gwynplaine]

Sir Alec Guiness.

 

[Jack O Lantern]

Just to repeat what others have said

A character actor is someone who goes from supporting role to supporting role, not actors who play different parts well.

Johnny Depp, Ed Norton, and others mentioned in this thread are LEADING MEN they're not character actors.

 

[Bobber]

John Cazale

 

[Ghostvirus]

William H. Macy, Paul Giamatti, Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

Jim Broadbent, Robert Carlyle.

 

[gwynplaine]

John Cazale

. I mentionned him on Page 1 as i also believe he is one of, if not the greatest character actor ever.

 

[signalman]

Sydney Greenstreet.
Ben Johnson.
Harry Carey.
Thelma Ritter.

 

[DavidTyler]

I listed the definition of 'Character Actor' before I saw that someone else did. I deleted my long winded explanation but let me just reitterate:


If they're leading men, they are not character actors.


Having said that ... I want to throw Jeffrey Demunn into the mix.

He's been in so many things but you'd barely know him. The posters here would probably remember him best as George Reeves' agent in 'Hollywoodland'.