The Golden Eras Character Actors
by starsofheaven-dow | created - 12 Aug 2013 | updated - 12 Aug 2013 | PublicSome of the famous character actors and actress of the Golden Era. Character Actors are usually side character important to the plot be it Comic relief or the parent everyone wished they had. will add more later
1. Barry Fitzgerald
Actor | The Quiet Man
One of Hollywood's finest character actors and most accomplished scene stealers, Barry Fitzgerald was born William Joseph Shields in 1888 in Dublin, Ireland. Educated to enter the banking business, the diminutive Irishman with the irresistible brogue was bitten by the acting bug in the 1920s and ...
Top O' The Morning, The Quiet Man, Going My Way and Bringing Up Baby ( An Irish Gentleman who kissed the Blarney Stone )
2. Frank Morgan
Actor | The Wizard of Oz
Jovial, somewhat flamboyant Frank Morgan (born Francis Wuppermann) will forever be remembered as the title character in The Wizard of Oz (1939), but he was a veteran and respected actor long before he played that part, and turned in outstanding performances both before and after that film. One of ...
The Wizard Of Oz, The Broadway Melody of 1940 and Naughty Marietta ( The man with great ideas till someone asks him if the idea was his )
3. Walter Brennan
Actor | The Westerner
In many ways the most successful and familiar character actor of American sound films and the only actor to date to win three Oscars for Best Supporting Actor, Walter Brennan attended college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, studying engineering. While in school he became interested in acting and ...
The Westerner, Rio Bravo, Singing Guns and Red River
( the old codger who knows more than most but rarely asked )
4. Louise Beavers
Actress | Imitation of Life
1930s and 1940s film actress Louise Beavers was merely one of a dominant gallery of plus-sized and plus-talented African-American character actresses forced to endure blatant, discouraging and demeaning stereotypes during Depression-era and WWII Hollywood.
It wasn't until Louise's triumphant role in ...
Holiday Inn, Tammy and The Bachelor and For The Love Of Mary
( Usually the Cook or the Maid )
5. Thelma Ritter
Actress | Rear Window
Thelma Ritter appeared in high school plays and was trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. In the 1940s she worked in radio. Her movie career was started with a bit part in the 1946 Miracle on 34th Street (1947). In the movie she played a weary Xmas shopper. Her performance in the short ...
Rear Window, The Mating Season, Daddy Long-legs and Pick Up On South Street ( the mother figure)
6. Thomas Mitchell
Actor | Stagecoach
Thomas Mitchell was one of the great American character actors, whose credits read like a list of the greatest American films of the 20th century: Lost Horizon (1937); Stagecoach (1939); The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939); Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939); Gone with the Wind (1939); It's a ...
Destry, It's A Wonderful Life, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, Stage Coach and Only Angels Have Wings ( the friend that tries to help but fouls himself up )
7. Harry Davenport
Actor | Gone with the Wind
Character fame on film came quite late for long-time stage actor Harry Davenport at age 70, but he made up for lost time in very quick fashion with well over a hundred film roles registered from the advent of sound to the time of his death in 1949. Beloved for his twinkle-eyed avuncular and/or ...
The Cowboy and The Lady, Lucky Partners, The Bachelor and The Bobby-Soxer and Farmers Daughter
( Usually Plays Grandpa or the Judge )
8. George 'Gabby' Hayes
Actor | Randy Rides Alone
American character actor, the most famous of Western-movie sidekicks of the 1930s and 1940s. He was born May 7, 1885, the third of seven children, in the Hayes Hotel (owned by his father) in the tiny hamlet of Stannards, New York, on the outskirts of Wellsville, New York. Hayes was the son of ...
Tall In The Saddle, In Old Oklahoma and Albuquerque (The talkative old sidewinder that every cowboy needs)
9. Chill Wills
Actor | Giant
Colorful character actor of American Westerns. Named "Chill" as an ironic comment on his birth date being the hottest day of 1902. A musician from his youth, he performed from the age of 12 with tent shows, in vaudeville, and with stock companies. While performing in vaudeville in Kansas City, he ...
That Wonderful Urge, The Man From The Alamo, Mclintock and Francis the Talking Mule Series (usually the over worried friend or the voice for Francis)
10. Edgar Buchanan
Actor | Shane
At the age of seven, he and his family moved to Oregon. After studying at the University of Oregon, he followed in his father's footsteps and became a dentist, graduating from North Pacific Dental College. From 1929 to 1937, he practiced oral surgery in Eugene, Oregon. He then moved his practice to...
The Sheepman, Texas and Petticoat Junction
( A slow moving gent who knows more than most... at times )
11. Billie Burke
Actress | The Wizard of Oz
Billie Burke was born Mary William Ethelbert Appleton Burke on August 7, 1885 in Washington, D.C. Her father was a circus clown, and as a child she toured the United States and Europe with the circus (before motion pictures and after the stage, circuses were the biggest form of entertainment in the...
Topper, Topper Returns, Topper Takes a Trip and Merrily We Live
( The original Dumb Blond ) a great actress
12. Eric Blore
Actor | Sullivan's Travels
Born in London, Eric Blore came out of college and started his working life as an insurance agent. But while touring in Australia he took an interest in the stage and theater. He gave up his insurance job and turned to acting after returning to England. With his elfish long, straight nose, ...
Top Hat and Shall We Dance
( the confused proprietor or butler )
13. Edward Everett Horton
Actor | Arsenic and Old Lace
It seemed like Edward Everett Horton appeared in just about every Hollywood comedy made in the 1930s. He was always the perfect counterpart to the great gentlemen and protagonists of the films. Horton was born in Brooklyn, New York City, to Isabella S. (Diack) and Edward Everett Horton, a ...
Top Hat, Shall We Dance and Arsenic and Old Lace
( The dignified gentleman who thinks he has the right answer for every problem only be shocked that it was the wrong answer)
14. William Demarest
Actor | Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
A stocky, serious-looking character, Carl William Demarest started off in vaudeville in 1905 along with two older brothers. At one time he also performed in a stage act with his wife Estelle Collette (billed as 'Demarest and Collette') and then moved on to Broadway. He entered movies in 1926 and ...
That Darn Cat, My Three Sons, Excuse My Dust, All Through The Night and Along Came Jones
(Everybody's worried uncle. He had a corner on Murphy's Law. )
15. Gene Lockhart
Actor | His Girl Friday
Gene Lockhart was born on July 18, 1891, in London, Ontario, Canada, the son of John Coates Lockhart and Ellen Mary (Delany) Lockhart. His father had studied singing and young Gene displayed an early interest in drama and music. Shortly after the 7-year-old danced a Highland fling in a concert ...
His Girl Friday, Inspector General and That Wonderful Urge
16. Walter Slezak
Actor | Lifeboat
Tall, portly Viennese character actor Walter Slezak simultaneously pursued two different careers after his arrival in America in 1930: one, as a star of musical comedy on the stage, and another, as a portrayer of villains, impish rogues or pompous buffoons on screen.
Walter was born in May 1902 in ...
Bedtime For Bonzo, People Will Talk and Once Upon A Honeymoon
(The Villian or The Buffoon)
17. Roland Young
Actor | Topper
Fondly remembered for his many deceptively meek, erudite characters played on film -- think Cosmo Topper, of the screwball classic Topper (1937) -- this short (5'6"), balding, highly distinguished actor was born in London, England on November 11,1887, to an architect and his wife. Young was ...
Topper, Topper Returns, Philadelphia Story and Wedding Rehearsal.
( The uncertain speaker trying to get out trouble not of his making looking more guilty by the minute )
Tell Your Friends