Any movie buff has a long list of favorite character-actors, those venerable performers who are usually relegated to a supporting role but often steal the scene (if not the entire film itself). The really prolific ones usually get plenty of opportunities to headline a project, but these efforts usually come with smaller budgets and smaller exhibition runs – this being, in part, because of the definition of a character-actor as someone who does not have the marquee value to open a big film. This is a shame, really, because can you imagine how much more interesting some of the blockbusters would be if the studio would take a chance on somebody other than the likes of Will Smith or Tom Cruise to headline them? With this in mind I decided to look at five of my favorite contemporary character actors, listed by age, to see how they’ve fared so far.

Harry Dean Stanton (Born 1926)
IMDB Stats: 163 credits to his name as actor.
Highlights from off-the-beaten track: Two-Lane Blacktop (1971), Cockfighter (1974), Wiseblood (1979), Repo Man (1984), Inland Empire (2006).
Highlights from the mainstream: Cool Hand Luke (1967), Godfather: Part II (1974), Alien (1979), The Rose (1979), Escape from New York (1981), Pretty in Pink (1986), Wild at Heart (1990), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), The Straight Story (1999), The Pledge (2001).
Liabilities: Young Doctors in Love (1982), I Want to Live (1983), UFOria (1985), Alien Autopsy (2006),
Shining moment as the lead star: Paris, Texas (1984).
Oscar nods: Criminally, none!

Rip Torn (Born 1931)
IMDB Stats: 176 credits to his name as actor (many skewing toward TV work.)
Highlights from off-the-beaten track: The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976), Coma (1978), Robocop 3 (1993), and Canadian Bacon (1995).
Highlights from the mainstream: Men in Black (1997), Wonder Boys (2000) and Men in Black II (2002).
Liabilities: Freddy Got Fingered (2001, and which I must confess I have not seen and must acknowledge that my assistant says Rip Torn is hilarious in it), Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004). Also: giving Nick Nolte a run for his money in the “worst mug shot” department (in 2004 the actor was charged with a DWI, but was later found not guilty).
Shining moment as the lead star: Payday (1973) – a great movie about a country-western singer who lives on pills and on the edge. (See the recent DVD review on the TCM site.)
Oscar nods: Nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Cross Creek (1983), he lost out to Jack Nicholson for his role in Terms of Endearment (1983).

Christopher Walken (Born 1943)
IMDB Stats: 108 credits to his name as actor.
Highlights from off-the-beaten track: The Anderson Tapes (1971), The Happiness Cage (1972), Brainstorm (1983), Wild Side (1995), The Addiction (1995), Scotland, Pa (2001).
Highlights from his mainstream work: Annie Hall (1977), The Deer Hunter (1978), Heaven’s Gate (1980), The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), Batman Returns (1992), Wayne’s World 2 (1993), True Romance (1993), Pulp Fiction (1994), Catch Me If You Can (2002).
Liabilities: The Country Bears (2002), Gigli (2003), Balls of Fury (2007), and a distinct speaking style that rearranges punctuation and makes him one of the most impersonated voices in Hollywood, which is not a bad thing, per say, it just makes him an easy target for jokes. Kevin Spacey is well known for his great imitations, in general, but especially for his channeling of Christopher Walken:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eb_32VGYUR0

Anyone who’s seen him in the famous “cowbell” on Saturday Night Live knows he has a good sense of humor. He’s also got killer dance moves and is known for sneaking them in wherever he can. It was certainly genius casting to put him in the Fatboy Slim video for Weapon of Choice:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMZwZiU0kKs

Shining moment as the lead star: The Dead Zone (1983), King of New York (1990). I guess some might add Communion (1989) to the list, but it’s certainly not as commanding of a film as the other two.
Oscar nods: Won the award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for The Deer Hunter (1978), and was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Catch Me If You Can (2002).

William H. Macey (Born 1950).
IMDB Stats: 114 roles as actor.
Highlight from off-the-beaten track: Somewhere in Time (1980)
Highlights from his mainstream work: Fargo (1996), Boogie Nights (1997), Wag the Dog (1997), Pleasantville (1998), Magnolia (1999), Jurassic Park III (2001), Seabiscuit (2003).
Liabilities: Foolin’ Around (1980), The Boy Who Loved Trolls (1984), Being Human (1993).
Shining moment as the lead star: Edmond (2005). “Shining” might not be the right world to describe his role in this strange and unsettling film by Stuart Gordon, especially since it ends with Macy sporting a really bad bald-wig. But the film did premiere at the Telluride Film Festival. Gordon and Macey must have hit it off because they team up again on the pending House of Re-Animator (2008).
Oscar nods: Nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for Fargo (1996).

Philip Seymour Hoffman (Born 1967).
IMDB Stats: 47 roles as actor.
Highlights from off-the-beaten track: Happiness (1998), Punch-Drunk Love (2002).
Highlights from his mainstream work: Scent of a Woman (1992), Boogie Nights (1997), The Big Lebowski (1998), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Almost Famous (2000), Mission Imossible III (2006), Charlie Wilson’s War (2007).
Liabilities: In this category I’ll nominate My Boyfriend’s Back (1993) and Patch Adams (1998), but otherwise this young turk has a rising star that already calls into question whether he can still be referred to as a character-actor, as witnessed by his ability to steal a scene from Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks.
Shining moment as the lead star: Love Liza (2002), Capote (2005). Tempting to put him down for here for The Savages (2007) and Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007), but those were shared bills.
Oscar nods: Won the award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for Capote (2005) and is nominated for a Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in the up-and-coming awards ceremony for Charlie Wilson’s War (2007). He’s already regarded as a cross-over actor and we can probably expect to see him get top billing soon in big budget films.

My apologies to other personal favorites that I didn’t get to this time, like Steve Buscemi, Crispin Glover, Richard E. Grant, Michael Ironside, Gary Oldman, Joe Pantoliano, Kevin Spacey, and M. Emmet Walsh. They are certainly not forgotten.