Thelma Ritter is always a joy to watch as well as listen to as no one can quite deliver swifter deadpan humor like this lady-“We’ve become a race of peeping toms” from Alfred Hitchcock’s Read Window 1954
Walter Baldwin is the lovable Orvy who might move a little slow in jail but brightens up the place in Robert Siodmak’s darkly powerful Cry of the City starring Richard Conte
Barbara Nichols getting pigeonholed all her career as the lovable blonde bombshell bimbo is just deliciously sympathetic in the hostile & darkly satirical noir masterpiece The Sweet Smell of Success 1957
Michael Dunn adds another layer of insight & exemplary character acting in the intensely dramatic social commentary Ship of Fools directed by Stanley Kramer.
Betty Garde is truly an unsung character actor- here she gives a very compelling performance as Kitty Stark a woman who’s gotten used to life without men in John Cromwell’s prison noir sensation- Caged (1950)
Anita Sharp-Bolster nearly steals the show in the dark suspense thriller The Two Mrs. Carrolls starring Barbara Stanwyck and Humphrey Bogart as a deranged painter. Christina the maid adds much comic relief with her acerbic puss!
Franz Kortner’s Anzelmo also known as Dr. Oracle is a mysterious and conniving villain who tries to run circles around poor John Hodiak who has lost his memory in Joseph L. Mankiewicz Somewhere in the Night 1946.
Jay C. Flippen always seems to be the guy who got a mug only a mother could love. And in Nicholas Ray’s masterpiece They Live By Night, his T-Dub is a pretty intimidating fellow!
Arthur Kennedy lends his acting depth to this powerful drama by Upton Sinclair co-starring Jean Simmons and Burt Lancaster as Elmer Gantry. Report Jim Lefferts is the clear voice that cuts through the malarkey as the moral compass
This has been a little bit of love to these fabulous character actors who make the cinematic world go round!-Your Ever Lovin’ MonsterGirl
2 thoughts on “10 More Neglected Characters of Classic Film”
GREAT choices, Jo! So glad you included Michael Dunn and Betty Garde.
Joey, I especially liked for pick of Michael Dunn, so good in both SHIP OF FOOLS and NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY! I especially love SOMEWHERE IN THE NIGHT; strange little noir, yet compelling and poignant. Ah, John Hodiak, we hardly knew ye! Hugs to you and Wendy from all of us here at Team Bartilucci HQ, as always!
GREAT choices, Jo! So glad you included Michael Dunn and Betty Garde.
Joey, I especially liked for pick of Michael Dunn, so good in both SHIP OF FOOLS and NO WAY TO TREAT A LADY! I especially love SOMEWHERE IN THE NIGHT; strange little noir, yet compelling and poignant. Ah, John Hodiak, we hardly knew ye! Hugs to you and Wendy from all of us here at Team Bartilucci HQ, as always!