Who doesn’t love a good character actor sighting? Also known as a “that guy”, a character actor raises the level of any movie he or she appears in; if I see a Stephen Tobolowsky or a Bruce Altman in a film, I know it’s at least a base level of a good production.
Sometimes, when the character actor is a little deeper in the that-guy barrel, like a W. Earl Brown, a viewer can be forgiven for being distracted until they remember where else they saw him. “Wasn’t he the bartender in Deadwood?” (By the way, he was also Cameron Diaz’ brother in There’s Something About Mary if you’re looking for a guy with range.)
Usually, these actors are a spice or a garnish to a great meal of a movie. But other times, given a chance to shine, people like Kathryn Hahn or David Thewlis flat out steal the picture.
Here is a celebration of five great ones. At times, they got to have a bigger part, and all five of these can do legit drama but each has been absolutely hilarious. Let’s start the roll call.
Peter Macnicol
Best Known For: Take your pick among Ally McBeal, Grey’s Anatomy, or early-career co-star of Sophie’s Choice.
My Favorites: He started as a young innocent in film, parallel to a solid Broadway career. I first loved him in a wildly underrated Ghostbusters 2 where he achieves funny accent nirvana as Janosz Poha. He’s got one scene as a hotel clerk in Cheers in a Season 11 episode “Look Before You Sleep” that I will never forget. As great as his whole career is, his greatest achievement might be the foulest, greatest dealer of obscene insults in Veep, which is really saying something (“you sentient enema!”)
David Paymer
Best Known For: One of the two Ben & Jerry characters in City Slickers or the brother and only good part of Billy Crystal’s next movie, Mr. Saturday Night.
My Favorites: His first movie was The In-Laws with Alan Arkin and Peter Falk – and he went on to play a great light-comedy Jew for most of his career. He’s part of the inner circle in The American President and ends up as a great antagonist as a producer in Quiz Show. I think St. Elsewhere and State And Main are his best work, except the top spot goes to his recurring role as Larry’s publicist in The Larry Sanders Show where he carved out one of the oddest catchphrases in history, “I’m wetting myself.”
John C. McGinley
Best Known For: Maybe for sheer viewership numbers, Dr. Perry Cox on Scrubs.
My Favorites: He seemed to have a great role in just about every Oliver Stone movie; and he particularly carried Talk Radio as the radio producer. He had some funny little moments I liked in Wagon’s East and Battle of the Sexes and ultimately has had a great career. But since my clips are all about comedy gold here, it doesn’t get better than being one of the two Bob’s in Office Space:
Bob Balaban
Best Known For: Christopher Guest movies and Wes Anderson movies – or two-hander scenes with François Truffaut in Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
My Favorites: His career is pretty unbelievable, including directing a forgotten gem of a movie called Parents. His first two movies were Midnight Cowboy and Catch-22. He co-wrote the Robert Altman movie Gosford Park and was great in it. Oft confused for fellow “that guy” Charles Martin Smith, I’ve gotta single out his work in Altered States, Prince of the City, the best part of Woody Allen’s decent Alice, a great short one as a film producer on a Season 1 West Wing. He played real TV network executive Warren Littlefield in The Late Shift and the fictionalized version on Seinfeld as Russell Dalrymple. But for the comedy spot here, it’s gotta be something from the Christopher Guest canon:
Philip Baker Hall
Best Known For: Video porn producer Floyd Gondolli in Boogie Nights.
My Favorites: Top of my head favorites: Starring as Nixon in an acting clinic of Secret Honor, the handwriting expert in Zodiac, city councilman in the “Woody Gets An Election” episode of Cheers, Dennis Farina’s consiglieri in Midnight Run, and Don Hewitt in The Insider. Then there’s the P.T. Anderson movies. He co-stars in Hard Eight, heavy in Magnolia, and in Boogie Nights, he might have the greatest two scenes in cinema history. With all of that said, my clip needs to be as Bookman on a Seinfeld:
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