Lately I've been appreciating a lot of actors who had perfectly solid careers and even in a few cases headlined some big hits but they never quite fully made the leap for character actor to movie star, even though they arguably could.
A lot of this comes down to luck -- the right role in the right movie has made a huge difference for many actors. If Al Pacino, Robert Duvall and James Caan hadn't all landed choice roles in The Godfather they could have easily been relegated to supporting actor status for the rest of their careers.
Here are few actors I've been thinking are worth more love than they have historically gotten:
Ronny Cox - A bit of an unsung legend. He first came to most audiences attention as the ill-fated and ironically most humane hero of Deliverance. But my favorite parts of his are even less showy. I have always loved his Lt. Bogomill character in the Beverly Hills Cop movies. He plays beautifully off of Eddie Murphy and just seems like a cool guy you'd love to hang out with. He also is great as a villain in both Robocop and Total Recall. He oozes gravitas.
Paul Le Mat - This actor is probably best known for his cool guy role in the classic American Graffiti, but his best work came seven years later in the wonderful slice of life comedy Melvin and Howard, directed by Jonathan Demme. He's incredibly touching and likable in that movie and I'm not sure why he never became more of thing -- perhaps poor movie choices like horror shlock like Puppet Master.
Nancy Allen - While she may best be remembered as Robocop's sidekick partner, I love her because of her brief period as Brian De Palma's muse and go-to leading lady. She nearly stole Carrie away from Sissy Spacek and then gave two back-to-back wonderful performances in Dressed to Kill (as a hooker with a heart of gold) and Blow Out (as... kind of a hooker with a heart of gold?). She pops up now and then (see her cameo in Out of Sight) but she's due for a Tarantino-esque resurrection.
William Devane - The angular Brahmin-y actor is best known for his work on television but he was a striking presence in the movies, particularly in the mid-70s. He is the best part of Alfred Hitchcock's final film Family Plot. And he's a terrific bad guy in the underrated classic Marathon Man. But 1977's Vietnam war veteran revenge thriller Rolling Thunder (apparently a Tarantino favorite) where he plays a mentally unstable man pushed to the brink.
Jason Miller - A playwright as well as an actor, the late Jason Miller only had one major movie role that caught on with audiences -- his stellar performance as Father Damian Karras in The Exorcist. He beat out bigger name stars for the role, which scored him an Oscar nomination and cinematic immortality but for some reason he never really capitalized on that movie's phenomenal success an actor, although he does turn up in a memorable cameo in the underrated Exorcist III.
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio - Maybe it was because her name is such a mouthful or maybe it's just the prejudice against women in the industry, but somehow one of the most promising leading ladies of the 80s and early 90s faded into obscurity. She first turned heads with her over the top (and probably a little racist) portrayal of Tony Montana's sister in Scarface, but the real breakthrough was her terrific, Oscar-nominated turn opposite Paul Newman and Tom Cruise in The Color of Money. She got more mainstream exposure in The Abyss and Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, but she's just nowhere to be found now.
Albert Hall - Speaking of industry bias, this powerful actor almost certainly would have had a more prolific career had he been white. Re-watching Apocalypse Now recently I was struck by how effortlessly he took command of every scene and how authentic his acting was. Clearly, Spike Lee took note of his indelible presence, casting him over a decade later in a pivotal role opposite Denzel Washington in 1992's Malcolm X. Still, he deserved a lot more starring role opportunities.
Tuesday Weld - In many ways Weld resembles the prototypical Hollywood leading lady -- blonde, beautiful, buoyant -- but she was anything but. I fell in love with her off the strength of her performance in Thief opposite James Caan, where she more than held her own. But her best star performance, in my opinion, comes in the dark, dark comedy Pretty Poison, where she turns the her superficial image on its head.
Vonetta McGee - This gorgeous late actress (who coincidentally really resembles an ex of mine) is best known for her work in blaxploitation movies, but she has a much more eclectic than that. She was the love interest in the classic spaghetti western The Great Silence, she also turned up as Clint Eastwood's feisty leading lady in the 1975 film The Eiger Sanction. And film buffs will remember her from her small but still cool part in Repo Man.
Karen Allen - For most moviegoers, she will always be Marion Ravenwood, the first and still the best of Indiana Jones' female co-stars in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Her appearance in the much maligned fourth film was a nice nod but she deserved better. She had effortless luminous quality in movies like Scrooged, National Lampoon's Vacation and especially Starman, a touching underrated romance with her and Jeff Bridges.
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