Great post, Mark! I can't say that I really know or love character actors, with the exception maybe of Margo Martingale who delights me in any show, movie, or play (and is always a sign that it will be a solid production). I saw Thomas Jay Ryan as Serebriakóv last month and he really stole the show with a funny, nuanced and poignant performance.
Thank you so much for this article!!! My dad got my into character actors, and I love them all. There are two great documentaries on them, "That Guy......Who was in that thing", and "That Gal......Who was in that thing", and you'll see every phenomenal currently living character in them.
As far as Ed Begley, Jr. and James Karen, they both appear on "Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast" each in two-hour interviews, and let me tell you, Ed has some great stories and is hilarious!!!
My favorite character actor of all time is, without a doubt, the late Kenneth McMillan, a man who most famously played Rhoda's boss in "Rhoda", yet appeared in dozens of films including the original "Dune". This guy appeared in all the classic NYC movies like "The Taking of Pelham 123", "The Pope of Greenwich Village", and others. Like all great character actors, he never appears to be acting in anything he ever did - he BECAME the character.
So, one day I was poking around the internet looking for anything related to Kenneth McMillan, and I came across a YouTube documentary on his entire show business career done by a guy, Bill Scurry, who probably like me just worships him and did it as a tribute. So, I post it on the official Facebook website for "Gilbert Gottfried's Colossal Podcast" because all those show biz nerds will love it like me, I figure. And, they do. Then one of the guys in the comments tells me how much he loved the documentary on Kenneth McMillan, and he shared it with Kenneth McMillan's daughter, and she was so happy, because her dad had died at only 56, and she had never seen this documentary on him before.
Anyway, check out Begley and Karen on Gilbert, and that great doc on Kenneth McMillan, still there on YouTube.
Great post, Mark! I can't say that I really know or love character actors, with the exception maybe of Margo Martingale who delights me in any show, movie, or play (and is always a sign that it will be a solid production). I saw Thomas Jay Ryan as Serebriakóv last month and he really stole the show with a funny, nuanced and poignant performance.
Mark,
Thank you so much for this article!!! My dad got my into character actors, and I love them all. There are two great documentaries on them, "That Guy......Who was in that thing", and "That Gal......Who was in that thing", and you'll see every phenomenal currently living character in them.
As far as Ed Begley, Jr. and James Karen, they both appear on "Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast" each in two-hour interviews, and let me tell you, Ed has some great stories and is hilarious!!!
My favorite character actor of all time is, without a doubt, the late Kenneth McMillan, a man who most famously played Rhoda's boss in "Rhoda", yet appeared in dozens of films including the original "Dune". This guy appeared in all the classic NYC movies like "The Taking of Pelham 123", "The Pope of Greenwich Village", and others. Like all great character actors, he never appears to be acting in anything he ever did - he BECAME the character.
So, one day I was poking around the internet looking for anything related to Kenneth McMillan, and I came across a YouTube documentary on his entire show business career done by a guy, Bill Scurry, who probably like me just worships him and did it as a tribute. So, I post it on the official Facebook website for "Gilbert Gottfried's Colossal Podcast" because all those show biz nerds will love it like me, I figure. And, they do. Then one of the guys in the comments tells me how much he loved the documentary on Kenneth McMillan, and he shared it with Kenneth McMillan's daughter, and she was so happy, because her dad had died at only 56, and she had never seen this documentary on him before.
Anyway, check out Begley and Karen on Gilbert, and that great doc on Kenneth McMillan, still there on YouTube.
Glenn