35. James Cromwell
If you need an old guy, and I mean any old guy, be he naughty or nice, go with Cromwell. He can be the kindliest pig-tender or the cruelest police chief (if anyone ever asks you if you’ve told anyone else about your lead on a big case, say “YES!”). And you gotta love him for sticking around for all four Nerd films. That’s just…dedication. That’s what that is.
Check out: L.A. Confidential, The Green Mile, Babe, Babe: Pig in the City (Seriously, it’s awesome!), Star Trek: First Contact, RKO 281, I Robot, Revenge of the Nerds
Trivia: Far as I know, he’s the only man to be in both Babe and The Babe.
34. R. Lee Ermey
His definitive role in Full Metal Jacket alone puts him on this list, but his ability to parlay that into many other roles, including one of the best police chiefs ever in Se7en, bumps him up here. Actually, picking up a ringing phone in that movie, saying “This isn’t even my desk!” and hanging up also puts him on this list. Furthermore, see him play one of the most tragic, most flawed figures (in a movie full of flawed, despicable characters) in the tour-de-force Mississippi Burning. And with all that, he can still take time out to make fun of his military persona in the Toy Story films.
Check out: Se7en, Full Metal Jacket, Toy Story 1 & 2, Dead Man Walking, Mississippi Burning
Trivia: Had a bit part in that other Vietman flick, Apocalypse Now.
33. Jim Broadbent
The comic relief? Sure, if you wanna take him at his zaniest in Moulin Rouge! (emphasis theirs). But you’ve also got the corrupt-beyond-belief Boss Tweed in Gangs of New York or the dry-as-vermouth bartender in The Crying Game. You’ve also got a surprise Oscar-winner on your hands in Iris. And any time you have a large, ensemble British cast, you can pretty much bet he’ll be there. I think it’s in his contract at this point.
Check out: Brazil, Moulin Rouge!, Richard III, The Gathering Storm, Topsy-Turvy, Gangs of New York, The Crying Game, Iris, Little Voice, Bridget Jones’s Diary
Trivia: I swear he looks just like Colin Mochrie’s cousin or something. Okay, that’s not trivia, but look!
Am I right or what?
32. Maggie Smith
It doesn’t get classier than Dame Maggie Smith. It doesn’t get wittier than her in Gosford Park, and it doesn’t get more perfect in casting than her as Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter films. And don’t even get me started on A Room with a View.
Check out: Harry Potter flicks, Richard III, A Room with a View, Gosford Park, Murder by Death, Ladies in Lavender, Tea with Mussolini, California Suite, Clash of the Titans (just for fun)
31. Ian Holm
I do not have time, I simply do not have the time to tell you how many good movies this guy has been in and how freakin’ incredible he was in all of them. I just don’t have that kind of time. I’d be here all night. Let me tell you one. Sam Mussabini in Chariots of Fire. Un-fuck-believable. Best mentor figure. The Yoda of running. Compare that to Ash in Alien. Can’t be the same guy. Compare THAT to Fluellen in Henry V. Compare THAT to Mitchell in The Sweet Hereafter. I’ve gotta stop. He’s like fuckin’ M&M’s, I can’t mention just one.
Shit, I ain’t even got to Lord of the Rings yet.
Check out: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Alien, Brazil, Garden State, Henry V, The Sweet Hereafter, The Aviator, Chariots of Fire, Big Night, The Madness of King George, The Fifth Element, From Hell, eXistenZ, A Life Less Ordinary
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