Last of the great Character actors.
by evanairwolf | created - 04 Jul 2017 | updated - 14 Feb 2023 | PublicR.I.P Richard Anderson, Harry Dean Stanton, Rance Howard, William Phipps, Charles Tyner, Robert Dix, Dewey Martin, Richard Erdman, Seymour Cassel, Shane Rimmer, Anthony James, Richard Heard and Wilford Brimley.
1. Norman Lloyd
Actor | Dead Poets Society
Norman Lloyd was born Norman Perlmutter in Jersey City, New Jersey, to Sadie (Horowitz), a housewife and singer, and Max Perlmutter, a furniture store manager. His family was Jewish (from Hungary and Russia). He began his acting career in the theater, first "treading the boards" at Eva Le Gallienne...
Age 102
2. Joe Turkel
Actor | The Shining
Joseph Turkel was an American character actor. He is known for his roles in Stanley Kubrick's films The Killing, Paths of Glory, and The Shining, and as Dr. Eldon Tyrell in Blade Runner. He also had roles in three of Bert I. Gordon's films. Joseph Turkel was born in Brooklyn on July 15, 1927, to ...
3. L.Q. Jones
Actor | The Edge
This tall, sandy-haired, mustachioed actor from Texas, born Justus McQueen, adopted the name of the character he portrayed in his first film, Battle Cry (1955). Jones, with his craggy, gaunt looks, first appeared in minor character roles in plenty of WWII films including The Young Lions (1958), The...
Age 89
5. Don Collier
Actor | Tombstone
Don Collier made over 200 credited movie and television appearances. He performed with John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Anthony Quinn, Dean Martin, Tom Selleck, James Arness, and even Elvis Presley. His first role was as an extra in 1948 in the western Massacre River (1949). This was followed by two ...
Age 88
5. Lou Cutell
Actor | Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
Lou Cutell was born on October 6, 1930 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989), Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985) and Wedding Crashers (2005). He died on November 21, 2021 in the USA.
6. James Sikking
Actor | The Pelican Brief
James B. Sikking was born on March 5, 1934 in Los Angeles, California, the son of Unity ministers. Best known for his yeoman work as hard-charging, hardheaded SWAT leader Lt. Howard Hunter on the classic 80's police drama Hill Street Blues (1981), he received the name James Barrie Sikking as J.M. ...
8. Dabney Coleman
Actor | WarGames
For decades, Dabney Coleman has often appeared as a smarmy, selfish, nervous person, often with money, who is mostly out for himself. He did such a good job in this type of part that he's made a career of it in film.
Dabney Wharton Coleman was born in Austin, Texas, to Mary Wharton (Johns) and ...
8. William Smith
Actor | Any Which Way You Can
William Smith was probably best known for his portrayal as "Falconetti" in Rich Man, Poor Man (1976). He first came to the screen as a child actor in films such as Going My Way (1944) and The Song of Bernadette (1943), before entering the service during the Korean War, where his fluency in foreign ...
10. M. Emmet Walsh
Actor | Blood Simple
Wonderfully talented, heavyset character actor (from New York, but regularly playing Southerners) M. Emmet Walsh has made a solid career of playing corrupt cops, deadly crooks, and zany comedic roles since the early 1970s.
Michael Emmet Walsh was born in Ogdensburg, to Agnes Katharine (Sullivan) and...
Age 82
10. Joe Don Baker
Actor | GoldenEye
Tall, broad shouldered character actor with Texan drawl first appeared in support in several Western vehicles both on TV and the cinema in the mid 1960s. Got himself noticed playing Steve McQueen's younger brother in Junior Bonner (1972), and then scored the lead role of Buford Pusser (!) in the ...
Age 81
11. Anthony Zerbe
Actor | The Omega Man
Hailing from Long Beach, California, talented character actor Anthony Zerbe has kept busy in Hollywood and on stage since the late 1960s, often playing villainous or untrustworthy characters, with his narrow gaze and unsettling smirk. Zerbe was born May 20, 1936 in Long Beach, and served a stint in...
Age 81
12. Matt Clark
Actor | The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension
Born In Washington, D.C., Matt grew up in Arlington, VA, the son of Frederick W. Clark, a boat builder and cabinet maker, and Theresa (Costello) Clark, owner and director of a private school in Arlington. Following a two-year stint in the army, Matt attended George Washington University, but ...
Age 80
13. Jerry Hardin
Actor | Big Trouble in Little China
A highly engaging, charismatic, and reliable character actor with a long and distinguished career spanning half a century, Jerry Hardin has been gracing both the big and small screen, and stage, with many enjoyable performances, highlighted by a relaxed and pleasing Southern twang. Born November 20...
14. James Hong
Actor | Everything Everywhere All at Once
James Hong was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. He studied civil engineering at the University of Minnesota, but at some point along the way became interested in acting. He graduated from the University of Southern California and practiced for 1½ years as a road engineer with the County of Los ...
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