Here at the Scene Stealers corner of Movie FanFare, we try to pay tribute to that large group of often-unsung supporting actors and actresses who rarely received star status or got their name above the title, but still achieved popularity and garnered fans through their performances….
Read more →Character Actors
Mantan Moreland: Funny Man in an Unfunny System
Despite being trapped in stereotypical roles in ’30s and ’40s Hollywood, his comic gifts managed to shine through. Our latest Scene Stealer is actor Mantan Moreland, who also made a name for himself in the world of vintage all-black cinema.
Read more →Edward Arnold: The Big Screen’s Toughest Tycoon
One of the most imposing character players of Hollywood’s golden age, this ursine, accomplished thespian played his share of cold-hearted businessmen, crooked politcos and legendary historical figures in the course of a quarter-century on the screen. Born to the slums of…
Read more →Edna May Oliver: Queen of the Old Maids
From prim and proper spinsters to wise-cracking schoolmarms, Edna May Oliver had a storied career as one of Hollywood’s most popular character actresses in the ’30s and ’40s. The sour-faced star of Little Women and David Copperfield is today’s Scene Stealer.
Read more →S.Z. Sakall: Call Him “Cuddles”
Suppose for a moment you were an actor. What would you do if, in the opening credits of what’s arguably the biggest film you’ll ever be in, the studio misspelled your name? Would you get flustered and sputter to yourself in…
Read more →Catherine O’Hara: More Than Kevin’s Mom
Last week on this site an article examined the career of SCTV regular-turned-movie dad Eugene Levy, so now let’s turn to a look at his distaff counterpart, a gifted comic actress from the Great White North who’s also gone on to big-screen…
Read more →Eugene Levy: Canadian Comic, American (Pie) Dad
The world of cinema has given audiences a goodly number of touching father-son moments over the years, from Mickey Rooney as typical teenager Andy Hardy and Lewis Stone’s as his wise pop, Judge Hardy, in the 1930s- ’40s MGM series, to the…
Read more →Richard Ney: From Hollywood Babylon to Wall Street Jungle
Guest blogger Bob Campbell writes: Actor Richard Ney tried to warn us about the shortfalls of stock short-selling when he abandoned a 25 year Hollywood career to become a best-selling author of books critical of Wall Street obfuscation and greed….
Read more →Thomas Mitchell: It’s a Wonderful Career
It’s an impressive body of work that most actors would love to have on their resumé: Gerald O’Hara, Vivien Leigh’s troubled father, in Gone with the Wind; Clopin, 15h-century Paris’ “King of the Beggars,” in The Hunchback of Notre Dame; Mr….
Read more →Una O’Connor: Sharp-Tongued Screen Servant
She was Maid Marian’s lady-in-waiting, met the Invisible Man and the Frankenstein Monster, and worked with the likes of Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford and Billy Wilder. She was rubber-faced character actress Una O’Connor, our latest Scene Stealer,
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