CDIH

For starters, this guy rules

one that always stuck out for me was the very first time I saw Don Cheadele(sp?). He was playing a supporting role to Denzel washington in a very good film "Devil in a blue dress". It was a throwback detective story to the classic detective films of the 40's. I liked the movie but the thing that impressed me most was Cheadeles character, I had never seen him before and believe that was his first role, it was kinda like seeing Edward Norton for the first time in primal fear, you just knew this was gonna be someone big eventually.

Cheadele plays Denzels good friend who just happens to be completely psychotic and basically just kills people for pure enjoyment or cause they inconvenience him some how.

There are plenty other great and more famous ones but this was a pretty obscure one for me.

He played Mouse, which was a nice role. Mosely's novels fans love Mouse, and he's in a lot of them. Pure psychopath who happens to be friends with the main character. Cheadle played it well.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Brandt in The Big Lebowski was great. But before that, one of his first big supporting roles was in Boogie Nights

Jack Black in Bob Roberts.

But none are as good as Brian Cox. Who has played great supporting role after supporting role for years.

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Yeah Brian Cox is a very good supporting actor, I am loving him in Deadwood this season.

This is going back to BG (before galt watched films). But I always though the greatest supporting actor was Walter Brennan, he was never a leading man and was never the star of any of his films but he was pure magic in every supporting role he played (thats why he won 3 supporting actor oscars). My favorite Brennan supporting role was as the drunk gimp sidekick to Bogart in 'To have and have not'.

More modern day actor, I love James Cromwell. He's been in a bunch of movies, he usually plays the authorative figure (usually an irish douchebag). He was awesome in L A Confidential and I loved him as Hearst in RKO 281, which was a very good HBO movie about the trials of making Citizen Kane.

Cromwell is a great choice.

i always loved Marty Feldman in Young Frankenstein



but my fave, besides Brian Cox, of great supporting actor:

Robert Duvall.

I was thinking Duval myself. I watched the first 2 Godfathers for the 80000th time last night and every time I watch I always feel that Duval stands out. No one else would have made that role what it was.

One of my favorites has always been Tom Skerrit. May sound stupid, but he was greta in Top Gun and one of my favorite movies, A River Runs Through It.

Ed Harris as well, apollo 13, glen gary glen ross, state of grace, and on and on. He has had some starring roles but for the majority he's usually supporting cast material. My favorite performance from Harris is probably in 'The Rock'.

Which brings up another great supporting actor, David Morse, I loved him in Green Mile and The Rock. He has a great presence about him, very intimidating and authorative but at the same time he just comes off very cool.

GonzoStyle Wrote:Ed Harris as well, apollo 13, glen gary glen ross, state of grace, and on and on. He has had some starring roles but for the majority he's usually supporting cast material. My favorite performance from Harris is probably in 'The Rock'.

Which brings up another great supporting actor, David Morse, I loved him in Green Mile and The Rock. He has a great presence about him, very intimidating and authorative but at the same time he just comes off very cool.

I liked him when he was on TV. A couple of years ago he did a show called hack where he was a renegade cabbie. It was based in Philly and it was a decent show.

I gotta give some love for my man Alan Rickman. I don't know if I've seen a bad film with him in it. Even in robin hood he was far away the best character in the movie. He can play comedy(dogma), action(die hard), he's good for the times he's been in the harry potter films, "Something the Lord made" was a great film that he was a major part of. He is just someone that I know when I see him I'm gonna get a good performance

There's a few others in Apocalypse Now that are amazing but I'd say Kilgore is my number two:

joe pantoliano has always been my favorite. he can play creepy, or goofy, or just a plain jackass so perfectly.

gary oldman. he overacts a lot but i always love him in movies.

Other than Apoc Now, another flick Dennis Hopper is phenomenal in is River's Edge. One of his co-stars in that, Crispin Glover, is another awesome character as well as in Back to the Future and probably a bunch of others I can't think of. But anyway Dennis Hopper rules:

rivers edge is a great movie

i dont really think of guys like hopper as supporting actors, even in supporting roles they steal movies. if i had to pick second tier actors that i think excel at supporting id say...

tim olyphant
william h macey
tim roth
chloe svigney
francis mcdormand

i looooove timothy olyphant. he was always playing the same type of character until deadwood really. but i always liked him in whatever role he was playing which is usually a total asshole.

keysers penis was good in that whole FBA, Anthony, Spaz episode

my left nut was great in the supporting role

While I can not argue the greatness of some of the supporting actors you guys have mentioned, Cheadle, Hoffman, Duvall, Hopper, Joey Pants, William H. Macy ... all brilliant actors, I have to say I am appalled that you all seem to be leaving out some of the great supportings / "character" actors.

Folks like Steve Buschemi, Paul Giamatti, Tom Sizemore, even Michael Madsen.... ok that one might be a reach.

It's a shame that only your true "movie buffs" respect these folks the way they should be.

so you's a movie buff, eh?

it's a matter of opinion and tastes, I have never been that big a fan of buscemi. Mike Madsen is brilliant but I dont look at him as a supporting actor, Giamatti's done like 2 and a half movies and Tom Sizemore is the one I shall concede to you but I already mentioned David Morse and to me they are almost the same person.