[Lost, perverted, re-posted…and the piece isn’t all that great to begin with….sorry for the loss of the comments]
I’m trying to assemble a list of supporting actors who lucked into exactly the right role and then marshalled their gifts and delivered knockout, ace-level performances…but only once.
Not that they lacked (or lack) for talent or haven’t had successful careers since, but delivering just so with a performance that really lights up a film….that’s a much rarer thing.
It may sound brusque or cruel to say that for some this kind of performance comes only once in a lifetime, but unfortunately…
Nobody worked more regularly in features and TV than John McIntire (Wagon Train, The Virginian), but if you ask me his only truly memorable role was as Sheriff Al Chambers in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. Partly because Mcintire played the part exactly right. Had it not been for an interior, three-minute dialogue scene in this 1960 thriller, McIntire would barely be on the radar today.
Take Dallas Roberts‘ low-key but authoritative performance as Sam Phillips in James Mangold‘s Walk_the_Line (’05)…a truly great moment in a first-rate musical biopic, but Roberts hasn’t been that lucky since.
26 years ago the late, great Nicky Katt gave a perfectly perverse performance as Stacy the hitman in Steven Soderbergh‘s The Limey….his three or four scenes rivalled Terence Stamp‘s in terms of sheer stuck-to-the-ribs longevity.
And never forget Gladys George‘s wordless emoting in that reading-the-citation-letter scene in The Best Years of Our Lives.
Who else? Which others? I’m not talking about supporting actors who nailed one perfect scene (that’s a separate thing), but whose one, single, diamond-bullet performance really hit home and will probably never be forgotten. But also can’t be repeated.