Best Performances in Smaller Parts
There are no small parts, only small actors. This list is meant to compile actors that gave break out performances with not a lot of screen time.
List activity
175 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
7 people
- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Veteran actor and director Robert Selden Duvall was born on January 5, 1931, in San Diego, CA, to Mildred Virginia (Hart), an amateur actress, and William Howard Duvall, a career military officer who later became an admiral. Duvall majored in drama at Principia College (Elsah, IL), then served a two-year hitch in the army after graduating in 1953. He began attending The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre In New York City on the G.I. Bill in 1955, studying under Sanford Meisner along with Dustin Hoffman, with whom Duvall shared an apartment. Both were close to another struggling young actor named Gene Hackman. Meisner cast Duvall in the play "The Midnight Caller" by Horton Foote, a link that would prove critical to his career, as it was Foote who recommended Duvall to play the mentally disabled "Boo Radley" in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). This was his first "major" role since his 1956 motion picture debut as an MP in Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), starring Paul Newman.
Duvall began making a name for himself as a stage actor in New York, winning an Obie Award in 1965 playing incest-minded longshoreman "Eddie Carbone" in the off-Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's "A View from the Bridge", a production for which his old roommate Hoffman was assistant director. He found steady work in episodic TV and appeared as a modestly billed character actor in films, such as Arthur Penn's The Chase (1966) with Marlon Brando and in Robert Altman's Countdown (1967) and Francis Ford Coppola's The Rain People (1969), in both of which he co-starred with James Caan.
He was also memorable as the heavy who is shot by John Wayne at the climax of True Grit (1969) and was the first "Maj. Frank Burns", creating the character in Altman's Korean War comedy M*A*S*H (1970). He also appeared as the eponymous lead in George Lucas' directorial debut, THX 1138 (1971). It was Francis Ford Coppola, casting The Godfather (1972), who reunited Duvall with Brando and Caan and provided him with his career breakthrough as mob lawyer "Tom Hagen". He received the first of his six Academy Award nominations for the role.
Thereafter, Duvall had steady work in featured roles in such films as The Godfather Part II (1974), The Killer Elite (1975), Network (1976), The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976) and The Eagle Has Landed (1976). Occasionally this actor's actor got the chance to assay a lead role, most notably in Tomorrow (1972), in which he was brilliant as William Faulkner's inarticulate backwoods farmer. He was less impressive as the lead in Badge 373 (1973), in which he played a character based on real-life NYPD detective Eddie Egan, the same man his old friend Gene Hackman had won an Oscar for playing, in fictionalized form as "Popeye Doyle" in The French Connection (1971).
It was his appearance as "Lt. Col. Kilgore" in another Coppola picture, Apocalypse Now (1979), that solidified Duvall's reputation as a great actor. He got his second Academy Award nomination for the role, and was named by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most versatile actor in the world. Duvall created one of the most memorable characters ever assayed on film, and gave the world the memorable phrase, "I love the smell of napalm in the morning!"
Subsequently, Duvall proved one of the few established character actors to move from supporting to leading roles, with his Oscar-nominated turns in The Great Santini (1979) and Tender Mercies (1983), the latter of which won him the Academy Award for Best Actor. Now at the summit of his career, Duvall seemed to be afflicted with the fabled "Oscar curse" that had overwhelmed the careers of fellow Academy Award winners Luise Rainer, Rod Steiger and Cliff Robertson. He could not find work equal to his talents, either due to his post-Oscar salary demands or a lack of perception in the industry that he truly was leading man material. He did not appear in The Godfather Part III (1990), as the studio would not give in to his demands for a salary commensurate with that of Al Pacino, who was receiving $5 million to reprise Michael Corleone.
His greatest achievement in his immediate post-Oscar period was his triumphant characterization of grizzled Texas Ranger Gus McCrae in the TV mini-series Lonesome Dove (1989), for which he received an Emmy nomination. He received a second Emmy nomination and a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in Stalin (1992), and a third Emmy nomination playing Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in The Man Who Captured Eichmann (1996).
The shakeout of his career doldrums was that Duvall eventually settled back into his status as one of the premier character actors in the industry, rivaled only by his old friend Gene Hackman. Duvall, unlike Hackman, also has directed pictures, including the documentary We're Not the Jet Set (1974), Angelo My Love (1983) and Assassination Tango (2002). As a writer-director, Duvall gave himself one of his most memorable roles, that of the preacher on the run from the law in The Apostle (1997), a brilliant performance for which he received his third Best Actor nomination and fifth Oscar nomination overall. The film brought Duvall back to the front ranks of great actors, and was followed by a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nod for A Civil Action (1998).
Robert Duvall will long be remembered as one of the great naturalistic American screen actors in the mode of Spencer Tracy and his frequent co-star Marlon Brando. His performances as "Boo Radley" in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962), "Jackson Fentry" in Tomorrow (1972), "Tom Hagen" in the first two "Godfather" movies, "Frank Hackett" in Network (1976), "Lt. Col. Kilgore" in Apocalypse Now (1979), "Bull Meechum" in The Great Santini (1979), "Mac Sledge" in Tender Mercies (1983), "Gus McCrae" in Lonesome Dove (1989) and "Sonny Dewey" in The Apostle (1997) rank as some of the finest acting ever put on film. It's a body of work that few actors can equal, let alone surpass.Robert Duvall has made a career out of making smaller roles into unforgettable ones, but without a doubt, he made the largest supporting contribution as Lieutenant Colonel Bill Kilgore in "Apocalypse Now." In fact, I'd have to say that the movie feels empty after Bobby makes his appearance in this film. At least for me, the rest of the movie was spent waiting for Kilgore to show up.
The scene to watch: From "Charlie don't surf" to an admiration for the smell of napalm in the morning, Kilgore's solitary scene is one that stands tall while bullets are whizzing past.- Actor
- Writer
- Stunts
Edward Montgomery Clift (nicknamed 'Monty' his entire life) was born on October 17, 1920 in Omaha, Nebraska, just after his twin sister Roberta (1920-2014) and eighteen months after his brother Brooks Clift. He was the son of Ethel "Sunny" Anderson (Fogg; 1888-1988) and William Brooks Clift (1886-1964). His father made a lot of money in banking but was quite poor during the depression. His mother was born out of wedlock and spent much of her life and the family fortune finding her illustrious southern lineage and raising her children as aristocrats.
At age 13, Monty appeared on Broadway ("Fly Away Home"), and chose to remain in the New York theater for over ten years before finally succumbing to Hollywood. He gained excellent theatrical notices and soon piqued the interests of numerous lovelorn actresses; their advances met with awkward conflict. While working in New York in the early 1940s, he met wealthy former Broadway star Libby Holman. She developed an intense decade-plus obsession over the young actor, even financing an experimental play, "Mexican Mural" for him. It was ironic his relationship with the bisexual middle-aged Holman would be the principal (and likely the last) heterosexual relationship of his life and only cause him further anguish over his sexuality. She would wield considerable influence over the early part of his film career, advising him in decisions to decline lead roles in Sunset Blvd. (1950), (originally written specifically for him; the story perhaps hitting a little too close to home) and High Noon (1952).
His long apprenticeship on stage made him a thoroughly accomplished actor, notable for the intensity with which he researched and approached his roles. By the early 1950s he was exclusively homosexual, though he continued to hide his homosexuality and maintained a number of close friendships with theater women (heavily promoted by studio publicists).
His film debut was Red River (1948) with John Wayne quickly followed by his early personal success The Search (1948) (Oscar nominations for this, A Place in the Sun (1951), From Here to Eternity (1953) and Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)). By 1950, he was troubled with allergies and colitis (the U.S. Army had rejected him for military service in World War II for chronic diarrhea) and, along with pill problems, he was alcoholic. He spent a great deal of time and money on psychiatry.
In 1956, during filming of Raintree County (1957), he ran his Chevrolet into a tree after leaving a party at Elizabeth Taylor's; it was she who saved him from choking by pulling out two teeth lodged in his throat. His smashed face was rebuilt, he reconciled with his estranged father, but he continued bedeviled by dependency on drugs and his unrelenting guilt over his homosexuality.
With his Hollywood career in an irreversible slide despite giving an occasional riveting performance, such as in Stanley Kramer's Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), Monty returned to New York and tried to slowly develop a somewhat more sensible lifestyle in his brownstone row house on East 61st Street in Manhattan. He was set to play in Taylor's Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967), when he died in the early morning hours of July 23, 1966, at his home at age 45. His body was found by his live-in personal secretary/companion Lorenzo James, who found Clift lying nude on top of his bed, dead from what the autopsy called "occlusive coronary artery disease." Clift's last 10 years prior to his death from his 1956 car accident were called the "longest suicide in history" by famed acting teacher Robert Lewis.As Rudolph Peterson in "Judgment at Nuremberg," Montgomery Clift gave a riveting, nuanced performance that put a human face on the victims of Nazi persecution against those they deemed "mentally deficient."
The scene to watch: Rudolph Peterson is only in one scene, and that's what makes this performance so staggering. Montgomery Clift milks every moment of his witness testimony with the skill of a gifted practitioner.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Sir Robert's career fell into two distinct parts. In the '60s, he was widely regarded as the heir of Laurence Olivier. But, after his departure from Britain's National Theatre in 1970 and the breakup of his marriage with Maggie Smith three years later, he suffered a slump made worse by heavy drinking. In the '90s, the Royal Shakespeare Company invited him to play first Falstaff in "Henry IV" and then Lear in "King Lear", and this re-established Stephens's career. He was knighted early in 1995.There is no short of wonderful performances in Kenneth Branagh's adaptation of Shakespeare's "Henry V," but Robert Stephens excels as Auncient Pistol, one of Falstaff's mourning chums.
The scene to watch: Hal wraps himself in a cloak and speaks with the men of his camp without them knowing they are talking to their king. Pistol's range of emotions here is surprising. He seems angry, anguished, awed, brave, challenged, cowed, drunk, hopeful, loyal, and terrified all at once. Not bad for what probably accounts for a three minute scene.- Xian Gao was born in Xian, China. He is known for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Fighter (2007) and The Legend (1993).As Master Bo in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," Xian Gao represents the warrior who should have the birthright and training to be great, but he turns out to be a buffoon that is tied up by his own side to keep him from getting in the way during battle. Indeed, his own weapon is often his worst enemy in a fight. And as contrast, it is his reluctant decision to choose a love affair with May that truly separates him from the cold romance of Li Mu Bai and Yu Shu Lien.
The scene to watch: It takes a great kung fu master to be able to be as inept as Master Bo, and Xian Gao demonstrates his skill especially during the battle between the Jade Fox and Inspector Sai, May, and himself. - Actor
- Director
- Soundtrack
Hugh Quarshie was born on 22 December 1954 in Accra, Ghana. He is an actor and director, known for Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999), Highlander (1986) and Nightbreed (1990). He is married to Annika Sundström.This Royal Shakespeare Company alum brought "Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace" it's one shot at having a Han Solo-esque character. Not only was Hugh Quarshie's Captain Panaka not a Jedi warrior, he really didn't seem all that thrilled to have their order on his ship. He gave Qui-Gon Jinn dirty looks, and really didn't seem to trust them at all. Truly, he seemed prepared to make grounded decisions and back them up with his blaster. Unfortunately, due to a dispute of some kind, Hugh Quarshie did not reprise his role in the later episodes, replaced by Jay Laga'aia's Grygar Typho.
The scene to watch: While escorting Queen Amidala from a battle deluged Naboo, the queen is firing her tiny weapon and hitting her mark, while Panaka, with his Magnum-sized blaster, can't seem to hit the broad side of a barn.- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Zoe Lister-Jones is an actor, writer, and producer who stars opposite Colin Hanks in Life in Pieces (2015) for CBS. She can also be seen in the HBO project Confirmation (2016) opposite Kerry Washington for director Rick Famuyiwa. Zoe wrote/executive produced/starred in the Fox Searchlight feature, Lola Versus (2012). Zoe also co-wrote, produced and starred in the indie comedy, Breaking Upwards (2009), which was distributed by IFC Films in 2010. Zoe's film Consumed (2015) premiered at the LA Film Festival in June, 2015. She most recently wrote/directed the independent feature Band Aid (2017) which premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival."Lola Versus" hasn't exactly registered with the critics, but even the harshest voices have to agree that the acting is solid all the way across the board. Buried within a mountain of fantastic characters is Lola's best friend, Alice, the off-off-off-OFF-Broadway actress that is trying so hard to survive in a city that values style and pseudo-substance. She's full of one-liners and witty observations.
The scene to watch: When Lola sees Alice for the first time in two weeks, she shows up with a spray tan and can't wait to tell everyone she just got back from a vacation she never took.- Actress
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Producer
Jessica Campbell was born on 30 October 1982 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. She was an actress and producer, known for Election (1999), In the Best Interest of the Children (1992) and Junk (2002). She was married to Daniel Papkin. She died on 29 December 2020 in Portland, Oregon, USA."Election" is a cult classic that focuses on a student body presidential election. As with most great satire, there are moments of extreme clarity that remind us of the real world in which the craziness is overlaid. This movie is about ambitious politicians, but it's dropped down into the familiar world of the average high school. While Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon) and Paul Metzler (Chris Klein) represent broad caricatures, Jessica Campbell's Tammy Metzler looks and acts like an actual student, like someone you might have gone to school with.
The scene to watch: Her speech in the school assembly is priceless. I wish she had been my friend back in the day!