It's been a bad week for The Legion of "Hey, It's That Guy!" Character Actors. We lost two, Leonard Stone and Sid Melton, who, between them, must have been in half the TV shows and movies in the second part of the 20th Century.
From the Los Angeles Times: "PASSINGS: Sid Melton, Leonard Stone"
From the London Daily Mail: "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory Actor Leonard Stone Dies Aged 87"
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The Legion of "Hey, It's That Guy!" Character Actors seems to be getting smaller all the time. Are there any working actors/actresses under the age of 75 who even qualify for membership anymore?
Guys like Stone and Melton were, in their own way, kind of a comforting presence on the TV screen when I was a kid.
I always remember Leonard Stone rather infamously as playing one of the WORST characters to ever appear on LOST IN SPACE (and that's really saying something), with his role as "Farnum B." a showman who turned up in not one but 2 of the very WORST episodes ever in the run of the show, both in the 3rd season. (Trust me, these were far, far worse and more unwatchable than the more well-known "Great Vegetable Rebellion" with Stanley Adams.)
So imagine my surprise many years later to find out what a really good actor he could be. I saw him in a 2nd-season NIGHT COURT where he played a Russian arms negotiator (playing opposite Gordon Jump's U.S. arms negotiator), and he put in a very layered, believable, likable performance. (The show had not yet gotten as idiotic in style as it later became.)
I don't know about anyone else, but for me it would be Dylan Baker. Maybe Ed Lauter - thank goodness he barely comes in under 75. Certainly Stephen Tobolosky. Until his long run on Scrubs I would have put John C. McGinley on the list. David Paymer?
Most definitely David Paymer. I'd also add Bill Smitrovich.
Michael Rooker, perhaps?
And certainly Pruitt Taylor Vince.