The best Western Character actor?
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drschnk — 16 years ago(July 21, 2009 09:03 PM)
Jack was the best who can forget his line in THE TWILIGHT ZONE episode "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up" but don't forget Strother Martin.
It seems that in every great western of the late 50's/ early 60's, any band of outlaws worth its salt would always consists of (one or more) Jack Elam, Lee van Cleef, Robert J. Wilke, or Strother Martin (and usually lead by the great Lee Marvin). -
andybriers1969 — 10 years ago(January 30, 2016 02:23 PM)
loving this thread. great to see people on here who love westerns as much as i do and also love the character actors who more often than not are critical to wether a film is watchable or not .for jack elam and ben johnson were both brilliant in their roles as a supporting actor.in his early westerns elam, along with lee marvin, was seriously scary.his character would think nothing of shooting an unarmed man in the back.elam also had depth beyond the baddie,hilarious in later films(support your local sheriff/gunfighter and rio lobo to name 3)and if you get a chance look out for dragoons wells massacre where he got a rare chance to play a sympathetic character.the one thing i fear is that in a few years time the like of elam,johnson,brennan,buchanan,pickens and all the other great western character actors that have given me so much pleasure over the years,will be forgotten just as have many silent film stars have been forgotten today.
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Boliwill — 16 years ago(April 01, 2010 01:45 PM)
This old geezer tried to start a fight with me back in the mid 1990s,I told him back 30 or 40 years ago he might have been "Hell" but now he was just an ol fart who had been drinking a bit too much,he cussed me as I walked away,I really do like him in the old westerns though.
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OldTymer72 — 13 years ago(June 25, 2012 03:01 AM)
just saw him in a tool time episode and it strikes what a cool guy he was. The opening scene with him and a fly in Once upon is cinema magic. I need to see more of him other than cannonball run - what's worth my time with this guy?
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vestdennis — 12 years ago(February 23, 2014 02:56 PM)
Just saw him on an episode of The Rifleman where he gets gunned down by John Anderson (another classic Western character). Jack had that real scary, mean b68look- maybe slightly crazy at times.
Love him in just about anything. One of the most under-appreciated actors of the past 50 years. -
Byrdz — 10 years ago(August 26, 2015 08:03 AM)
One of my regrets in life is intending to write to Jack Elam after he was in that series with Lonnie Anderson and telling him how much I enjoyed his work through the years. I never did get around to it. =( I am a major follower of character actors and he was high on my list of folks to watch for. Especially liked the early really nasty guys and also the Support Your Local character. Nice to be able to still see him now and then in the westerns being re-run.