# Supporting actors whose names you can never remember



## Dirty Martini (Jul 11, 2004)

Let's hear it for the unsung hero of British TV drama, the supporting actor without whom no BBC whodunnit or episode of Inspector Morse would have been complete. And whose name no one knows.

Nos. 2 and 3 have sadly passed away, no doubt 'resting' between roles as Mullins the caretaker and Major Sefton-Thomas (ret.) respectively in the great Coach and Horses in the sky.

So, what are their names, and have you got any more to add to the list?


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## DaveCinzano (Jul 11, 2004)

good thread 

no idea who 1 or 2 are, but likesay, you _know_ you've seen them in _something_...

3 is just a red cross though...


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## Dirty Martini (Jul 11, 2004)

Aw, I was thinking you'd know if anyone   

I know 'em, but only by getting lucky with the name of something they were in and looking at the cast list on imdb.

Their names are ...

(pops out for dinner)


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## baldrick (Jul 11, 2004)

nice thread idea, but if you can't remember their names, then how are people supposed to reply?!


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## Dirty Martini (Jul 11, 2004)

I do know them though 1. Is Paul Brooke 2. Bryan Pringle 3. Robert Vernon

No one else knows is all. They're on everything, or were, and no bugger knows their names. Good actors, though, if you want a 'type'   

There've got to be more. Who are they?


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## Mrs Magpie (Jul 11, 2004)

Dirty Martini said:
			
		

> So, what are their names, and have you got any more to add to the list?


Ace would love this thread.........


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 18, 2004)

just watched 'manhunt: search for the night stalker' (actually a fairly decently-played and plotted tvm on the investigation into the california night stalker murders of richard ramirez in the mid-80s, kind of up there with 'the f.b.i. murders'), and one of the cops was played by richard jordan...






now, as you can see, he is incredibly familiar, yet i barely recognise any of his credits on imdb - go figure...


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## upsidedownwalrus (Dec 19, 2004)

What about the guy who plays Ned in Groundhog Day?  He seems to get these supporting actor roles in literally dozens of films and going back years too - last week I watched Mississipi Burning where he plays a KKK leader.  He's actually quite a decent actor really, the main reason he never got anywhere was he just looks too geeky.  I suppose that's an indictment on the shallowness of Hollywood.

Also, the guy who plays the psychologist in The Mask, and the school teacher in Ferris Bueller's Day off.  He's funny as fuck.


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 19, 2004)

RenegadeDog said:
			
		

> the school teacher in Ferris Bueller's Day off.  He's funny as fuck.



ah, jeffrey jones, yeah! he was great in the johnny depp/tim burton headless horseman thing, fuck, what was it called?


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## easy g (Dec 19, 2004)

sleepy hollow...


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## ernestolynch (Dec 19, 2004)

Until he got done for kiddy fiddling. Watching Rooney in Ferris has never been the same. He was in Deadwood recently.


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 19, 2004)

ernestolynch said:
			
		

> Until he got done for kiddy fiddling.


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## upsidedownwalrus (Dec 19, 2004)

bristle-krs said:
			
		

> ah, jeffrey jones, yeah! he was great in the johnny depp/tim burton headless horseman thing, fuck, what was it called?



That film was Sleepy Hollow

But I'm not talking about Rooney the psycho headteacher, but about the  teacher with the really droll voice.  He was hilarious as the psychologist in The Mask.  "Mr Ipkiss I must warn you I don't deal personally with really sick people..."


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## DaveCinzano (Dec 19, 2004)

RenegadeDog said:
			
		

> That film was Sleepy Hollow
> 
> But I'm not talking about Rooney the psycho headteacher, but about the  teacher with the really droll voice.  He was hilarious as the psychologist in The Mask.  "Mr Ipkiss I must warn you I don't deal personally with really sick people..."



aha - sorry, haven't seen 'the mask'.

ben stein appears to be his name:


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## DaveCinzano (Aug 5, 2005)

*this thread deserves to live!*

ron silver
jerry orbach (r.i.p.)
paul guilfoyle
mark harmon
giancarlo esposito
luis guzman
brad dourif
david morse
michael j pollard
michael badalucco
stephen tobolowsky

with varying degrees of recognition, but all fine jobbing actors


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## EatMoreChips (Aug 5, 2005)

ernestolynch said:
			
		

> Until he got done for kiddy fiddling.



Ah, that explains why his TV commercials disappeared then... although I have to say I never heard anything about it. Are you quite sure?


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## EatMoreChips (Aug 5, 2005)

bristle-krs said:
			
		

> ron silver
> jerry orbach (r.i.p.)
> paul guilfoyle
> mark harmon
> ...



And where would straight-to-video sci-fi movies be without that lot, eh? Especially Brad Dourif.


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## FiFi (Aug 5, 2005)

bristle-krs said:
			
		

> ron silver
> jerry orbach (r.i.p.)
> paul guilfoyle
> mark harmon
> ...



Jerry Orbach, was a very good actor (mainly known from "Law and Order"),and I believe he did most of his best work on the stage.

And for some reason I can put a face to the name "Mark Harmon". Can't think why! maybe I had a crush on him at some point in the dim and distant past!


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## Donna Ferentes (Aug 5, 2005)

Who's the chap who played the pathologist in _Inspector Morse_? I saw him at the Royal Opera House recently and had to think for ages before I remembered where I'd seen him before.


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## DaveCinzano (Aug 5, 2005)

peter woodthorpe?






seems he died 51 weeks ago.


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## Donna Ferentes (Aug 5, 2005)

Don't think so. Shortish chap. Unless I'd seen him in something else entirely. Maybe I'm turning into my gran. "What did I see him in....it was that programme, you know, the one with the other man in it..."


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## FiFi (Aug 5, 2005)

Donna Ferentes said:
			
		

> Don't think so. Shortish chap. Unless I'd seen him in something else entirely. Maybe I'm turning into my gran. "What did I see him in....it was that programme, you know, the one with the other man in it..."



LOL

I'm starting to do this too


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## marty21 (Aug 6, 2005)

i endured a bobby darin movie last week, i knew it was going to be bad, because as the credits came up, i didn't recognise any of the support actors (apart from a co-star leslie nielson)

if the support didn't want a part of the film, it's gonna suck  ,


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## Groucho (Aug 6, 2005)

There was that one who was absolutely fantastic in the thing with the wotsit, you know who did that excellent turn with the thingamajig that time. 

The other appearances were always a bit of a let down after that and you got the impression that a fine tallent had been wasted.


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## DaveCinzano (Aug 6, 2005)

ronny cox




a martinez





michael gross


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## Johnny Canuck3 (Aug 6, 2005)




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## Johnny Canuck3 (Aug 6, 2005)




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## oooomegrapes (Aug 6, 2005)

the bloke who was the bellboy in 'some like it hot' who said the infamous line.......'thats the way i like 'em, big n sassy'

went on to be a big baddy

anyone know?

(that was BIG BADDY, not to be confused with 'big daddy' who shouldnt be confused with 'giant haystacks')

thank you please


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## DaveCinzano (Aug 13, 2005)

FiFi said:
			
		

> Jerry Orbach, was a very good actor (mainly known from "Law and Order"),and I believe he did most of his best work on the stage.



the l&o franchise draws a lot of its cast (principal and supporting) from broadway, because it's shot on location in nyc, with many actors ending up in multiple roles (even some of the leads). 

didn't orbach do a film/stage thing with pacino? that one that didn't ever get aired?


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## Ryazan (Aug 13, 2005)

Ronny Cox.

Robocop and Total Recall.  Saturday afternoons aged 10.....


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## DaveCinzano (Aug 13, 2005)

Ryazan said:
			
		

> Ronny Cox.



see 5 posts above yours


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## Mrs Magpie (Aug 13, 2005)

This thread is driving me mad...I keep picturing the stalwart supporting actors of British Films and cannot for the life of me think what they're called...
AAARRRGGGHHH!


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## Ryazan (Aug 13, 2005)

I know.  I was in reference to it smartarse.  Just mentioning his films, the genius of Verhoven.

Robocop was one of the best satires of corporate greed and social decay of the 80's.


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## DaveCinzano (Aug 13, 2005)

Mrs Magpie said:
			
		

> This thread is driving me mad...I keep picturing the stalwart supporting actors of British Films and cannot for the life of me think what they're called...



like who?


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## jeff_leigh (Aug 14, 2005)

That guy who was in Memento, he played a guy who lost his memory and his wife was a Diabetic and ended up giving his wife too much insulin and killing her, seen him on the TV recently on CSI or Law and Order


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## DaveCinzano (Aug 14, 2005)

guy pearce?

anyway, here's one: 

max perlich







saw him last night in 'georgia', never seen it before, but it was rather good, with jennifer jason leigh the fucked up younger sister of c&w star mare winningham, and perlich rather spiffing as jjl's chap.

he also was in 'rush' with jjl, and 'drugstore cowboy', 'blow', big budget dogs like 'cliffhanger' and 'maverick', he was in 'homicide: life on the street' and featured in the pilot of 'the shield', he was even in 'ferris bueller's day off', susanna hoffs vehicle 'the allnighter' and arliss 'pvt cowboy' howard's not-quite post-'full metal jacket' breakthrough movie, 'plain clothes'...

big up the max!


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## jeff_leigh (Aug 14, 2005)

bristle-krs said:
			
		

> guy pearce?



no he was the main star in memento, i'm talking about when pearce remembers he worked for an Insurance company and this guy had lost his memory and was trying to claim medical insurance for his condition, middle aged guy going bald


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## DaveCinzano (Aug 14, 2005)

back to dirty martini's original premise, uk tv drama stalwarts...

geoffrey hutchings - most recently niticable as screw's husband bobby hollamby in 'bad girls'... spotted him as a bank cashier in 70s series 'raffles' the other day, he's also served time in 'casualty', 'holby city', 'kavanagh q.c.', 'the royal', 'heartbeat', 'juliet bravo', 'cracker', 'midsomer murders', 'bergerac', 'peak practice' etc etc

he was also the father of the schoolgirl john cleese gets to drive him in 'clockwise'...


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## Melinda (Aug 14, 2005)

This thread is ace.  There is an actor who I always notice when he pops up in movies. I remember watching him in a movie when I was a kid but couldnt remember it.   I knew it was named after an unusual animal or something.  So I was like  Dragonhead...  Donkeyhead...  Then I remembered I saw him in  Friends and Deep Blue Sea, and went straight to imdb. The movie was ZEBRAhead and the actor is Michael Rapaport!


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## DaveCinzano (Aug 14, 2005)

jeff_leigh said:
			
		

> no he was the main star in memento, i'm talking about when pearce remembers he worked for an Insurance company and this guy had lost his memory and was trying to claim medical insurance for his condition, middle aged guy going bald



gotcha...

*scratches head*

i can picture him right now 

usually plays slightly anal people...


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## DaveCinzano (Aug 14, 2005)

...in fact i've already mentioned him (post #15) - stephen tobolowsky!


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## tobyjug (Aug 14, 2005)

Johnny Canuck2 said:
			
		

>




Jack Elam


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## jeff_leigh (Aug 14, 2005)

bristle-krs said:
			
		

> ...in fact i've already mentioned him (post #15) - stephen tobolowsky!



yeah thats him, remember this scene in Memento:

Sammy Jankis: [after being electrocuted] What the fuck? 
Doctor: It's a test, Sammy. 
Sammy Jankis: [flipping him the bird] Test this, you fucking quack!


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## tonywild2001 (Aug 14, 2005)

Is this the right place to ask questions ? Like does anyone know the name of the actress who plays Trisha Taylor in Eastenders ?


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## DaveCinzano (Aug 14, 2005)

tonywild2001 said:
			
		

> Is this the right place to ask questions ? Like does anyone know the name of the actress who plays Trisha Taylor in Eastenders ?



cathy murphy


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## haggy (Aug 14, 2005)

warren oates and dean stockwell and michael j pollard are my faves.  i love these guys, but whenever they turn up i wriggle for half hour trying to remember their names...


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## jeff_leigh (Aug 14, 2005)

i used to always confuse Frank Vincent ( the guy who always seems to get battered by Joe Pesci) and Dennis Farina (the guy Travolta smacked in Get Shorty)


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## nino_savatte (Aug 14, 2005)

Sam Kydd: unsung hero of British screen


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## marty21 (Aug 14, 2005)

harry andrews...


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## tonywild2001 (Aug 14, 2005)

Cheers


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## Mrs Magpie (Aug 14, 2005)

nino_savatte said:
			
		

> Sam Kydd: unsung hero of British screen


I could have named him, no probs....


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## AverageJoe (Aug 15, 2005)

How about this guy? 93(!) films including From Dusk Til Dawn, all the Spy Kids films, Desperado, Heat, and Con Air. Surely the ultimate supporting actor!

 Danny Trejo


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## AverageJoe (Aug 15, 2005)

How did I manage to kill this thread...?


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## isvicthere? (Aug 15, 2005)

Um, you know, er.... that bloke, um..... wossisname?


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## Major Tom (Aug 15, 2005)

Can't remember his name - but I saw him once in Charing X Station right after I'd seen him in a Ken Russel's "Lair of the White Worm" 






			
				Dirty Martini said:
			
		

>


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## DaveCinzano (Jun 26, 2012)

Major Tom said:


> Can't remember his name - but I saw him once in Charing X Station right after I'd seen him in a Ken Russel's "Lair of the White Worm"
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Paul Brooke - who is still alive, it seems


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## bluestreak (Jun 26, 2012)

that fella.  you know the one, who was in all the films, the one with the nose.  and the bird with the teeth.  i saw her in all sort of things.  she's great.  is she alive?


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## bluestreak (Jun 26, 2012)

also, fine archival bump Cinzano.


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## DaveCinzano (Jun 26, 2012)

bluestreak said:


> that fella.  you know the one, who was in all the films, the one with the nose.  and the bird with the teeth.  i saw her in all sort of things.  she's great.  is she alive?



Yootha Joyce?


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## DaveCinzano (Jun 26, 2012)

bluestreak said:


> also, fine archival bump Cinzano.



If the quality is on the 746th page of 746 pages, then to the 746th page ye shall go.


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## zoooo (Jun 27, 2012)

There's a bloke who looks like an older, American Simon Pegg. He's always the bad guy. He's in EVERYTHING.










Look at his Simon Pegg face.


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## The Octagon (Jun 27, 2012)

David -something


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## The Octagon (Jun 27, 2012)

Morse.

David Morse


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## DaveCinzano (Jun 27, 2012)

I love finding a good David Morse TV movie when I'm flicking through the multichannel daytime hours, it's like finding an uneaten biscuit down the side of the sofa.

He was fab in the _Brotherhood Of The Rose_ mini-series.


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## tim (Jun 27, 2012)




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## Orang Utan (Jun 27, 2012)

Ed Lauter:




http://m.imdb.com/name/nm0491590/


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## SpookyFrank (Jun 28, 2012)

James Cromwell






He's in every film ever made and I still had to look up his name on IMDB.


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## DaveCinzano (Jun 28, 2012)

I always have trouble distinguishing James Cromwell from Jack Watson and Donald Moffatt.


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## cypher79 (Jun 28, 2012)

zoooo said:


> There's a bloke who looks like an older, American Simon Pegg. He's always the bad guy. He's in EVERYTHING.
> 
> Look at his Simon Pegg face.


 
how did you find pics of him if you dont know his name?


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## krtek a houby (Jun 28, 2012)




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## zoooo (Jun 28, 2012)

cypher79 said:


> how did you find pics of him if you dont know his name?


Ha. I remembered he was in The Negotiator, and looked through the imdb cast list for his pic. So yes, for that moment I found out his name. But within moments forgot it again. As it should be.


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## QueenOfGoths (Jun 28, 2012)

DaveCinzano said:


> I always have trouble distinguishing James Cromwell from Jack Watson and Donald Moffatt.


They are rather similar, especialy Donald Moffatt and James Cromwell


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## Orang Utan (Jun 28, 2012)

Cromwell is sterner than Moffatt. Never confused them myself.


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## youngian (Jul 8, 2012)

Raymond Huntley- the upper class Sam Kydd


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## DaveCinzano (Sep 19, 2014)

Orang Utan said:


> Cromwell is sterner than Moffatt. Never confused them myself.



Well, he is in that particular photograph; but, you know, they are _actors_.


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## billy_bob (Sep 19, 2014)

Another day, another inexplicable bump.

Probably not that obscure, but this is who I thought of. Always the hayseed, never the hero:







And her:






For some reason I always thought this was JoBeth Williams but Google has other ideas.  It took some circuitous searching through episode descriptions of Frasier to get a pic.  Anyone name her without the help of imdb?


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## mentalchik (Sep 19, 2014)

dunno but she does kinda look like John Lithgow in drag...........


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## T & P (Sep 19, 2014)

This bloke is known in my household as 'Poor Man's Michael Ironside'. He's been in many minor films, lots of them being made for TV. His name is Miguel Ferrer, apparently.








And then of course there is the Asian-American bloke who's been in a million films, many of them big Hollywood hits such as Die Hard or Lethal Weapon, and who apparently has a cult following. Can never remember his name (it is Al Leong)


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## DaveCinzano (Sep 19, 2014)

T & P said:


> This bloke is known in my household as 'Poor Man's Michael Ironside'. He's been in many minor films, lots of them being made for TV. His name is Miguel Ferrer, apparently.



He's the son of José Ferrer, himself rather famous in his day!


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## billy_bob (Sep 19, 2014)

T & P said:


> This bloke is known in my household as 'Poor Man's Michael Ironside'. He's been in many minor films, lots of them being made for TV. His name is Miguel Ferrer, apparently.



Played one of the best secondary characters in Twin Peaks, the gloriously abrasive FBI forensics man Albert Rosenfield.
_"Mr. Horne, I realize that your position in this fair community pretty well guarantees venality, insincerity, and a rather irritating method of expressing yourself. Stupidity, however, is not necessarily a inherent trait, therefore, please listen closely. You can have a funeral any old time. You dig a hole, you plant a coffin. I, however, cannot perform these tests next year, next month, next week or tomorrow - I must perform them now. I've got a lot of cutting and pasting to do, gentlemen, so why don't you please return to your porch rockers and resume whittling."_


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## SpookyFrank (Sep 20, 2014)

T & P said:


> This bloke is known in my household as 'Poor Man's Michael Ironside'. He's been in many minor films, lots of them being made for TV. His name is Miguel Ferrer, apparently.



Was he Albert Rosenfield in Twin Peaks? That guy was was great.

"Please return to your porch rockers and resume whittling."

e2a: Ha! Someone else quoted the exact same bit I did


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## SpookyFrank (Sep 20, 2014)

mentalchik said:


> dunno but she does kinda look like John Lithgow in drag...........



Now you've said that I can't not see it 

e2a: I saw an episode of Third Rock From The Sun the other day, for the first time in years. It really was garbage wasn't it? Apart from the theme tune of course.


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## DotCommunist (Sep 20, 2014)

I had a thing for sally


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## billy_bob (Sep 20, 2014)

SpookyFrank said:


> Was he Albert Rosenfield in Twin Peaks? That guy was was great.
> 
> "Please return to your porch rockers and resume whittling."
> 
> e2a: Ha! Someone else quoted the exact same bit I did



You must be the doppleganger billy_bob, posting from the Black Lodge.


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## cypher79 (Sep 20, 2014)

This guy:-






Apparently he's called M.C. Gainey.


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## DaveCinzano (Sep 20, 2014)

cypher79 said:


> This guy:-
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I _totally_ blame him for speed garage


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## 8den (Sep 20, 2014)

upsidedownwalrus said:


> That film was Sleepy Hollow
> 
> But I'm not talking about Rooney the psycho headteacher, but about the  teacher with the really droll voice.  He was hilarious as the psychologist in The Mask.  "Mr Ipkiss I must warn you I don't deal personally with really sick people..."



You are referring to Ben Stein, who directed and produced a horrible documentary in defense of creationism. 




My favourite perfectly obscure actor is Oliver Platt. Never heard of him. He is simply joyous in every film/tv show he is in.


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## hot air baboon (Sep 20, 2014)

...here's a face that no 1970's - 80's ITV tough nut drama would be complete without...either 2nd villain or supporting cop....







...it is, _of course_....Nick Brimble...


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## youngian (Sep 20, 2014)

Sunday afternoon would never be complete without dad asking if Sam Kydd was in this film.



hot air baboon said:


> ..Nick Brimble...



He was also the plonker who sticks unplugged flexes into sockets with match sticks


George Sewell who almost became a big TV star but then reverted to being a wasisname in every programme in the 80s and 90s





One of the great wonders of the web is that you never have to pain yourself asking if that's thingybob from wasitcalled.

And its always good to see a solid whatisname become a star, William H Macey springs to mind.


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## Sirena (Sep 20, 2014)

youngian said:


> Sunday afternoon would never be complete without dad asking if Sam Kydd was in this film.
> .



Sam Kydd was in 232 films and 'countless' television programmes.  

Sam Kydd spotting is a good game....


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## Dr_Herbz (Sep 20, 2014)

That guy in Doctor Who with Clara


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