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Post by topbilled on Aug 27, 2023 16:15:32 GMT
I thought I'd make a list of ten, though there are probably a hundred I could include!
10. Macdonald Carey...remembered for his lead role on the soap opera Days of Our Lives, he was a fine actor who excelled at playing villains in films like BRIDE OF VENGEANCE and COPPER CANYON.
9. Jocelyn Brando...overlooked maybe because of her more famous brother, but she's always a strong performer, even in mediocre supporting roles. Some of her work on television westerns in the 1960s is quite remarkable. Whenever I see her name in the cast, I know I won't be disappointed.
8. Ossie Davis...never gave a bad performance. Consistently good in so many things, for so many years.
7. Josephine Hutchinson...she blends in so well, in almost any film or TV show episode she does, it's easy to lose sight that there's a very accomplished actress before our eyes. Love her performances in SOMEWHERE IN THE NIGHT and MIRACLE IN THE RAIN.
6. Kenneth More...one of Britain's finest lead actors of the 1950s and 1960s. Why he isn't lauded more is a mystery to me.
5. Marjorie Rambeau...I challenge you to tell me one film where her presence does not elevate the proceedings. One of the more skilled actresses of her generation, unfairly overlooked.
4. John Carroll...appeared in films at MGM and Republic during the 1940s and 1950s. John Carroll was known for his philanthropic work off screen, and for being one of Hollywood's true nice guys. On camera, he was usually seen as a 'poor man's Clark Gable.' There are a few Republic noir entries where he's cast as a bad guy, and he does a fantastic job playing cads.
3. Kathleen Harrison...my favorite British character actress. Even better than Margaret Rutherford (whom I also like).
2. Chester Morris. Nobody ever says 'I'm going to watch a Chester Morris movie.' But maybe they should. He made a lot of great ones.
1. Lilli Palmer...a personal favorite of mine. She gives a fun performance as a lively showgirl in A GIRL MUST LIVE (1939); is superb as an invalid in BEWARE OF PITY (1946); offers valued support in the noirs BODY AND SOUL (1947) and THE LONG DARK HALL (1951); is delightful in the romcom BUT NOT FOR ME (1959); and is pitch perfect as a woman at a concentration camp who gets executed in THE COUNTERFEIT TRAITOR (1962). She really could do it all, and she had hit films in Hollywood, Germany and Britain.
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Post by intrepid37 on Aug 27, 2023 16:35:45 GMT
Jocelyn Brando...overlooked maybe because of her more famous brother, but she's always a strong performer, even in mediocre supporting roles. Some of her work on television westerns in the 1960s is quite remarkable. Whenever I see her name in the cast, I know I won't be disappointed.
Always exactly right in all her roles. A lot of acting talent in that family.
She suffered from extreme alcoholism (as their mother had done) which surely served to hold back her career. |
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Post by Fading Fast on Aug 27, 2023 16:57:45 GMT
Great list, at least the eight of the ten that I know just upon reading their names.
I echo Intrepid37's comment on Ms. Brando as well.
I'd like to add Juano Hernandez to the list. He blows me away in every single thing I've ever seen him in, yet his name almost never comes up. To be sure, part of that is because he was black at a time when roles for blacks were limited, but somehow, he found several interesting roles to play that, for the most part, were not stereotypical ones.
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Post by topbilled on Sept 5, 2023 14:35:36 GMT
Jocelyn Brando...overlooked maybe because of her more famous brother, but she's always a strong performer, even in mediocre supporting roles. Some of her work on television westerns in the 1960s is quite remarkable. Whenever I see her name in the cast, I know I won't be disappointed.
Always exactly right in all her roles. A lot of acting talent in that family.
She suffered from extreme alcoholism (as their mother had done) which surely served to hold back her career.
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Post by nipkowdisc on Sept 7, 2023 1:19:05 GMT
Kenneth More is great in the best film ever made about the titanic sinking A Night to Remember....but an underrated performance? how about Howard Morris as sex-crazed Schmidlapp in Jerry Lewis' Way...Way Out. couldn't find any images of him as Schmidlapp so here he is as the hilariously irrepressible Ernest T. Bass.  |
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Post by intrepid37 on Sept 7, 2023 3:13:49 GMT
couldn't find any images of him as Schmidlapp so here he is as the hilariously irrepressible Ernest T. Bass. View AttachmentHoward Morris. A wonderful supporting player type. |
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Post by I Love Melvin on Sept 7, 2023 21:56:03 GMT
I always enjoy seeing Florence Bates. She was an actor like Charles Coburn (He'd be another one I love seeing.) who came to acting late in life. Hitchcock basically plucked her from obscurity to play Joan Fontaine's flinty employer in Rebecca (1940) and, boy, did she nail it. She often played grande dames but she went against type in The Moon and Sixpence (1942), enthusiastically playing an ex-patriot-gone-native in Tahiti.   I usually record movies from TCM and watch them later but last night I sat down to watch I Could Go on Singing (1963), part of Dirk Bogard's stint as Star of the Month. I was again impressed by the terrific supporting work of Aline MacMahon, one of my favorites from over the years. She played a concert singer's (Judy Garland) personal assistant, someone simultaneously meant to be in the background but also vital to day-to-day functioning, which was exactly how she herself approached the role, a picture of selfless, level-headed competency. It was so great seeing how beautifully she'd aged, considering that she'd been around since the Gold Diggers days. Love her. And in Gold Diggers of 1933.  |
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sme
New Member
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Post by sme on Sept 8, 2023 3:03:08 GMT
Would Richard Barthelmess be considered underrated? Or merely largely forgotten? I've always enjoyed him. Same for Herbert Marshall.
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Post by I Love Melvin on Sept 8, 2023 13:16:46 GMT
I thought I'd make a list of ten, though there are probably a hundred I could include!
10. Macdonald Carey...remembered for his lead role on the soap opera Days of Our Lives, he was a fine actor who excelled at playing villains in films like BRIDE OF VENGEANCE and COPPER CANYON.
I recently watched Odongo (1956), which was shown in August as part of Rhonda Fleming Day for Summer Under the Stars, with Macdonald Carey as her co-star. I'm ashamed to say that my first thought was: Really? He gets the girl in a Rhonda Fleming movie? I was also expecting some kind of gaudy jungle epic, but I was wrong on both counts. Carey played a dealer in exotic animals for zoos (Iffy, I know, but he worked hard to keep them out of the hands of poachers.) and Fleming was an American vet who came to Kenya to work for him. It's a legitimate adventure drama, with minimal romantic nonsense, though the subplot of the boy Odongo, who worked for Carey and who had a special understanding of the animals, was played somewhat for humor and pathos. Carey gave a really solid performance and earned Rhonda's respect and, eventually, love. He earned my respect too and I was sorry to have underestimated him. ![]()  |
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Post by jamesjazzguitar on Sept 8, 2023 18:48:14 GMT
I thought I'd make a list of ten, though there are probably a hundred I could include!
10. Macdonald Carey...remembered for his lead role on the soap opera Days of Our Lives, he was a fine actor who excelled at playing villains in films like BRIDE OF VENGEANCE and COPPER CANYON.
I recently watched Odongo (1956), which was shown in August as part of Rhonda Fleming Day for Summer Under the Stars, with Macdonald Carey as her co-star. I'm ashamed to say that my first thought was: Really? He gets the girl in a Rhonda Fleming movie? I was also expecting some kind of gaudy jungle epic, but I was wrong on both counts. Carey played a dealer in exotic animals for zoos (Iffy, I know, but he worked hard to keep them out of the hands of poachers.) and Fleming was an American vet who came to Kenya to work for him. It's a legitimate adventure drama, with minimal romantic nonsense, though the subplot of the boy Odongo, who worked for Carey and who had a special understanding of the animals, was played somewhat for humor and pathos. Carey gave a really solid performance and earned Rhonda's respect and, eventually, love. He earned my respect too and I was sorry to have underestimated him. ![]() Well at least Carey fit the role in this film. I recently saw Carey playing an Indian on Wagon Train and while he gave it a go, he was so miscast that it is hard to watch. Here he is married to an Indian, played by Joy Page (best known as the young married woman in Casablanca). Now Joy Page had enough of a look to play her part (her father was Mexican American), but Carey, with the long hair, looked more like a San Fran hippie than an Indian. |
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Post by NoShear on Sept 9, 2023 16:27:44 GMT
With your Odongo post, I Love Melvin, and your "San Fran hippie" comparison, jamesjazzguitar, I thought of Sepiatone's digger he wrote of donning in the San Francisco Diggers period...
Where are you, Sepiatone??
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Post by Broadway on Sept 12, 2023 15:59:59 GMT
I usually record movies from TCM and watch them later but last night I sat down to watch I Could Go on Singing (1963), part of Dirk Bogard's stint as Star of the Month. I was again impressed by the terrific supporting work of Aline MacMahon, one of my favorites from over the years. She played a concert singer's (Judy Garland) personal assistant, someone simultaneously meant to be in the background but also vital to day-to-day functioning, which was exactly how she herself approached the role, a picture of selfless, level-headed competency. It was so great seeing how beautifully she'd aged, considering that she'd been around since the Gold Diggers days. Love her.I really like Aline MacMahon as well, but I have not seen any of her later films. Thanks for pointing this one out. I will have to watch I Could Go on Singing, now! |
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Post by jamesjazzguitar on Sept 12, 2023 16:04:06 GMT
I usually record movies from TCM and watch them later but last night I sat down to watch I Could Go on Singing (1963), part of Dirk Bogard's stint as Star of the Month. I was again impressed by the terrific supporting work of Aline MacMahon, one of my favorites from over the years. She played a concert singer's (Judy Garland) personal assistant, someone simultaneously meant to be in the background but also vital to day-to-day functioning, which was exactly how she herself approached the role, a picture of selfless, level-headed competency. It was so great seeing how beautifully she'd aged, considering that she'd been around since the Gold Diggers days. Love her.I really like Aline MacMahon as well, but I have not seen any of her later films. Thanks for pointing this one out. I will have to watch I Could Go on Singing, now! One very good later film MacMahon is in, is the Jimmy Stewart western The Man from Laramie (1955). She has a supporting role as an independent woman living alone on a ranch. When I first saw the film, it took me a while to connect the dots: That this was the same actress I had seen in so many 30s WB musicals, comedies and other films. |
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Post by jamesjazzguitar on Sept 12, 2023 16:17:50 GMT
Hopefully this actress isn't underrated by fans of American studio-era films, but I want to give a shout out to Phyllis Thaxter. What a fine actress! Often, she would play a woman that was attractive "enough" but not beautiful or sexy. Sometimes there was a female costar that was those things. E.g. The Breaking Point with Patricia Neal. Thaxter's scenes with John Garfield in this gritty noir are first rate.
Other films where Thaxter played this type of woman are Blood on the Moon - a western noir. In this film it is Robert Preston that is the one that says he loves her,but is really just using her insecurity. She then continued similar roles in two Wagon Train episodes.
Thaxter was in many other films like: The Sea of Grass, The Sign of the Ram, Act of Violence, No Man of her Own, Come Fill the Cup, Springfield Rifle, and Woman's Prison. She ended her film career in 1978's Superman playing Ma Kent.
Always a solid performer that cared more about the performance than showing off.
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Post by I Love Melvin on Sept 12, 2023 17:45:23 GMT
Hopefully this actress isn't underrated by fans of American studio-era films, but I want to give a shout out to Phyllis Thaxter. What a fine actress! Often, she would play a woman that was attractive "enough" but not beautiful or sexy. Sometimes there was a female costar that was those things. E.g. The Breaking Point were Patricia Neal. Thaxter's scenes with John Garfield in this gritty noir are first rate. Other films where Thaxter played this type of woman are Blood on the Moon - a western noir. In this film it is Robert Preston that is the one that says he loves her,but is really just using her insecurity. She then continued similar roles in two Wagon Train episodes. Thaxter was in many other films like: The Sea of Grass, The Sign of the Ram, Act of Violence, No Man of her Own, Come Fill the Cup, Springfield Rifle, and Woman's Prison. She ended her film career in 1978's Superman playing Ma Kent. Always a solid performer that cared more about the performance than showing off. I love Phyllis Thaxter. She was in one of my favorite movies of the 1960's, The World of Henry Orient (1964), playing the mother of one of the two teenage stars. After having lost her husband she's raising her daughter in an unconventional household with her best friend, played by Bibi Osterwald, giving the daughter a much more stable home life than the other teenage girl, who has a more traditional but less attentive family. The comfortable family vibe Thaxter and the others give off is wonderful.  ![]() ![]() |
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