Some Comic Actors Who Excelled in Dramatic Roles

The craft of acting, at its best (something your narrator makes no claims to having fully mastered) requires that the performer be able to carry off both comedic and dramatic roles. That said, we tend to think of certain actors and actresses as either comedic or dramatic, probably because they have already excelled in those roles throughout their past experience.

Every once in a while, we are treated to a great performance when the actor has left his or her comfort zone and crossed over to the other side...by which I mean a different acting environment, not the grim reaper.

In this essay, I will list half a dozen actors at whom we had been accustom to laughing, until they surprised us with something serious-sometimes very serious.

I typically cop out and arrange my lists in chronological order to avoid making comparative judgments of meritorious items, but this time, I am going to put it on the line and give you my six favorite transitions in reverse order of what I perceive to be their quality. Bear in mind, even the initial, sixth-place entry represents a powerful performance.

At some point before too much sand has passed through the glass, I will look at the other end of the spectrum: dramatic actors who have done well in a comedy. First things first, though. Here are my present-day half-dirty dozen, or whatever.

Jackie Gleason in The Hustler

I had occasion to mention this movie favorably in an otherwise-unfavorable article about My Biggest Movie-Going Disappointments. In that part of the article, I chiefly dealt with the leading actors, Paul Newman and George C. Scott, but Gleason excelled as Newman's pool-shooting opponent, Minnesota Fats.

Much of Gleason's performance in that movie came out, not in whatever dialogue he was given, but his intense concentration and reaction to the skills of his young opponent. In a way, that was somewhat related to his best comedic role, Ralph Kramden from The Honeymooners, where he would constantly set himself up to be the butt of wisecracks from his friend, Norton (Art Carney) or his wife, Alice (Audrey Meadows).

Gleason had done some dramatic work prior to this movie, and he would later turn in another excellent stint in an otherwise mediocre movie titled Requiem for a Heavyweight (as the title character's cynical manager). In fact, before I saw Gleason in The Hustler, I got a foretaste of what he could do in a somewhat dramatic role when I saw the show, Take Me Along on Broadway. In that show, Gleason, as the leading man, plays a hard-drinking, fun-loving, but delusional character named Sid Davis (whose "fun" moments were very much in keeping with Gleason's past work). He ultimately comes to the realization that he must finally choose between the bottle and the woman he loves, who has run out of patience with him.

Getting back to Gleason's superb reactive performance in The Hustler, it brings to mind a fact of the performing art that a number of its would-be practitioners often lose track of: if you are visible to an audience, you are always acting, whether you are running your mouth or not. In any case, Jackie Gleason received a well-deserved Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in this film.

Madeline Kahn in Paper Moon

Most people who follow entertainment news and history know that, in this film, Tatum O'Neal, who was leading man Ryan O'Neal's real-life as well as on-screen daughter, became the youngest person to win an Oscar, for Best Supporting Actress. It so happened that one of Miss O'Neal's competitor's that year was Madeline Kahn, who got a nomination for her role as Ryan O'Neal's girlfriend, Trixie, in that same movie.

While most of the actors I am considering in these turnabout roles did them fairly late in their careers, Ms. Kahn took this rare dramatic part early on, in 1973. The thing is, I didn't get around to seeing the movie until much later, after I had seen her zany performances in a number of Mel Brooks comedies, not the least of which was Young Frankenstein.

Madeline Kahn was a beautiful and talented actress, who, nevertheless, always seemed to get cast in the role of the really bitchy woman. Still, there is no question that she played the role to the hilt. That was true in her dramatic stint in Paper Moon, just as it was in most of her comedies. In fact, what helped her get the part of Trixie in this movie was that she had recently turned in a splendid performance as O'Neal's nagging, aggravating fiancé in the comedy, What's Up, Doc?.

Although I did not think too much of the show, I was glad to see her finally get to play a nice person in Bill Cosby's follow-up sitcom venture, Cosby, before ovarian cancer took her life.

Rosie O'Donnell in A League of Their Own

This excellent sports movie, dealing with the ladies' professional baseball teams that came about during World War II, stars Tom Hanks and Geena Davis, but Rosie O'Donnell, a former stand-up comic and comedic actress, turned in excellent work in a supporting role as the socially awkward third baseman of the Rockford Peaches team.

Just as the aforementioned Jackie Gleason reached a point when he no longer wished to be seen as a buffoon (which caused him to turn down an offer to play the role of some guy named Archie Bunker), I think Ms. O'Donnell may have reached a point where she no longer would want to be cast in such a vulnerable role. Still, it is worth seeing this film for her performance, among a number of other well-played characters.

Rodney Dangerfield in Natural Born Killers

Rodney Dangerfield was a real card, right? The guy who got no respect was a successful and very funny stand-up comic and a top-notch supporting actor in a number of comedies. In Natural Born Killers, a film full of bad, scary people, he may have been the worst and the scariest.

The leads in the film are Woody Harrelson and Juliet Lewis, as the homicidal title characters, while Dangerfield plays the role of Lewis's sexually abusive father.

A father who violates his daughter is always a truly repellent notion, but it is at least comprehensible (though, let me emphasize, never forgivable) in the case of a step-father with his step-daughter. After all, the two are no biological relation. When a natural father does such a thing to his natural daughter, it just boggles the mind. To add another layer of repulsion to the situation, Dangerfield's portrayal shows a man who, not only has no remorse whatsoever about his deeds, but actually has a sense of entitlement.

A number of people may be turned off by this film because, as its title implies, it is a non-stop kill-fest throughout. Still, I think even the most squeamish viewers would have been glad to see Rodney Dangerfield's character join the ever-growing list of victims.

It may have taken a measure of courage for such a well-liked comic to take on the role of such a ghastly character, but Dangerfield took the challenge and played it to the hilt.

Jack Lemmon in The Days of Wine and Roses

Sandwiched between great comedic performances in films like Mr. Roberts, The Apartment and the hilarious Some Like it Hot, beforehand, and Irma La Douce and The Great Race afterward, was Jack Lemmon's stunning dramatic performance as the alcoholic, Joe Clay, in The Days of Wine and Roses.

Lemmon won two Oscars for his work in supporting roles in two of the comedies he did, but did not win a leading actor award for this, the greatest role of his long and distinguished career, in my opinion.

Of course, these awards depend a great deal on the quality of the competition in any given year. Both Lemmon and his co-star Lee Remick would be nominated for Academy Awards for their work in this film, but the only Oscar the movie won was for Best Original Song. Surely, you know the song (by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer), but, if you do not, here it is.

Jack Lemmon would go on to do other serious roles as well, and do them very well, but none so brilliantly as this one.

Gig Young in They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

For almost all of his long, only-slightly-above-average career (although he did get a Supporting Actor Oscar nomination in 1951), Gig Young was chiefly a 2^nd banana and sidekick in a number of bland comedies. He worked enough so that, by the time this movie came along, in 1969, people had heard of him, but he was not all that big a star.

They Shoot Horses, Don't They? was a very disturbing film, but, for all that, was one of the great movie dramas of the decade. The setting is one of those horribly exploitative dance marathons that came about during the Great Depression, when poverty gripped society in a manner far more terrible than today's hard times.

As you might suppose, a dance marathon is an affair where couples dance, virtually non-stop, until there is only one couple left. The contest allows for some side entertainments and very brief respites that only serve to prolong the agony for the longest-lasting contestants.

As you might also suppose, such a spectacle could become very dull, very soon. It was Gig Young's role as the MC to liven up the proceedings in whatever way he could. He very effectively rotated between the hardest cynicism and the most frenzied attempts at ballyhoo to keep interest in the prolonged contest alive. The former comedy side-kick played every aspect of his character brilliantly in this harsh, ugly, but fascinating film. He absolutely deserved the Supporting Actor Oscar he won for the role.

A few years ago, I got the opportunity to play a carnival barker in a show that was also set in the Depression. Right away, my mind turned to Young's dynamic performance in this movie, and I improvised the same rallying cry he had used to lure in the suckers: "Yowza! Yowza! Yowza!"

I have listed these six films because they all contain the phenomenon I sought to write about: actors stepping out of their element. I should also point out, they are all excellent films, and, if there are any among than number you have not seen, you should avail yourself of the opportunity. I'm sure you will be glad you did.

Sources

The listed films

Wikipedia
YouTube