Who was the greatest British character actor?

Oops. I put George Sanders twice! Replace him with Malcolm McDowell.

Edward Fox?

James Fox?

John Hurt?

Julian Glover is in every major franchise-

Harry Potter

Star Wars

Game of Thrones

Indiana Jones

Doctor Who

James Bond

I don’t know any of these names.

I know Malcolm McDowell

Laurence Olivier

I wouldn't call most of these people character actors, given that they mostly played first and second leads. Postlethwaite and Hyde-White, okay. But what a weird selection in any case.

R6 I always felt they got Wilfrid Hyde-White when they couldn't get George Sanders.

Where is Tim Curry?

R8 Good suggestion! I told you I couldn't add everybody!

Denholm Elliott.

Alec McCowen

Ralph Richardson.

No love for Michael Gough?

Ralph "God" Richardson.

R12 and R14 There is a great album of him reciting William Blake! Give it a listen!

Alec Guinness. He may have played leads, but those were all character roles.

George Sanders for his velvet tone, filled with whimsy and menace.

It was Rex Harrison for any flatulence-dependent role.

r11 Cute and gay! Good choice!

Charles Laughton

R19 I wish he was in more films. I've only seen him in a few movies here and there. I did get the chance to see his recitation of the Gospel of Mark live. What a performance!

Peter Sellers

Sir Alec Guinness for the win.

Another vote for Laughton, McCowen, Sellars, the Fox Brothers, Hurt

Honourable Mention:

Dickie Attenborough (before he took up directing)

John Williams

^^^ SellErs ^^^

Agree with R22, Peter O'Toole and Robert Shaw.

Love Hopkins too

Donald Wolfit

Martyn Green

Max Adrian, if Irish counts as British

Jim Broadbent is in everything.

Donald Wolfit was Peter O'Toole's mentor.

My James Mason story. In the late 60s. I went to see 'If' at a movie theatre in Lausanne, Switzerland. In line behind me was James Mason accompanied by a very attractive girl in her 20s, wearing a mini-skirt. I'd never thought about Mason or found him attractive but in person he was very hot for an older man. Very handsome.

I sat down in the theatre and eventually Mason and girlfriend came and sat next to me. He spent the whole movie with his hand under her skirt fingering her while she moaned. Very distracting.

What about Alan Rickman? He wasn't exactly a leading man type, but he had a knack for stealing the show

R29 James Mason was attractive in that debonair and class league.

Alec Guinness is my choice. He could play anything from broad comedy to drama, and could even make a mark in little-remembered science fiction movies.

But when I saw the question, I immediately thought of Jim Broadbent. So among modern actors, he'd be my choice.

Wilfrid Lawson.

R32 My favorite Guinness performance is in Murder by Death. At the end, they all start accusing him of being different people. He acts like the person and then quickly changes to another. He pulls it off so well.

The room is full of legends- Peter Sellers, David Niven, Elsa Lanchester, Peter Falk, James Coco, Maggie Smith, Eileen Brennan, James Cromwell, yet Guinness steals the show!

[quote]I sat down in the theatre and eventually Mason and girlfriend came and sat next to me. He spent the whole movie with his hand under her skirt fingering her while she moaned.

Mason was still channelling his inner Humbert Humbert some years after 'Lolita.' Admittedly though the girl was in her 20s.

[quote]Guinness steals the show!

Always recall how in a big scene for the original brilliant TV 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy', Hywel Bennett was so nervous about acting with Guinness he needed not a little brandy to calm his agitation. AG is of course effortlessly flawless in TTSS - a great TV work stuffed with fine character actors of a certain era.

Alec McCowen was SO good in Hitchcock's "Frenzy."

Donald Wolfit is not a character actor. He is a Shakespearean thespian who appeared in very few films. He was a transitionary figure.

He's the George H.W. Bush of the acting.

John Gielgud

Alex McCowen was awesome (and openly gay)

John Gielgud always played John Gielgud.

James Mason had bone structure to die for.

No. It was his eyes.

R40, no, he didn't

Ian McKellen

Derek Jacobi

If this is how he eats an ice cream...

Did the British tabloids ever out McCowen? They outed Nigel Hawthorne in their customary disrespectful way.

Claude Rains

Brilliant in everything.

R46 And that's why Hawthorne lost the Oscar. Still pisses me off.

[quote]They outed Nigel Hawthorne in their customary disrespectful way.

Hawthorne's career had a big very deserved Indian Summer, which meant he was a prime scalp for vile homophobic hacks. I recall one sneering piece in The Sunday Times about NH and his partner which defied belief. Delighted he was Knighted.

R49 the nineties were Nigel's decade- Demolition Man, the Madness of King George, Richard III, Twelfth Night, Amistad, The Object of My Affection, Madeline, The Winslow Boy, and Tarzan.

He is the best British character actor of the 1990's.

This reminded me to look up Michael Gambon, still alive at 81, but he stopped stage acting at age 74 when he couldn't remember his lines and has done smaller film roles since. He had a very particular style and presence, but I always liked him, and where the more had some dimension he could be exceptionally good.

Alec Guiness or Olivier.

Most of these guys primarily played leading man roles.

Henry Daniell

Robert Coote

Mr. Bean

Denholm Elliot

OP, you need to clean up your definitions if you want a sensible debate.

First of all, Rex Harrison was a star rather than a 'character actor'.

He may have been balding but some self-oppressed women considered him to be sexy.

He was always on the top of the credits from the 1940s until the end. He always played roles close to his own character. He was limited and couldn't do Shakespeare. He styled himself on Gerald Du Maurier and wanted everything to be relaxed and comfortable.

[quote] James Mason accompanied by a very attractive girl in her 20s, wearing a mini-skirt.

That dolly bird was raised in house next door to the local football field and the sound of neanderthal grunting occurred daily. Her father was a publican and some might say she was as rough as guts.

But James married her and that may have been one of the very many bad decisions he made in his career. Poor James was an introspective masochist.

[quote] Wilfrid Hyde-White

He was nobody for most of his life put he produced this cutie—

Edmund Gwenn

C. Aubrey Smith

Wilfrid Hyde White never knew what was going on - he only read his own lines in the script.

Maurice Evans

If Rex Harrison is not a character actor, than neither is James Mason, Alec Guinness, or Laurence Olivier.

New poll:

R46 We have a Datalounger who conversed with McCowen.

Denholm Elliot not on the list.

But of all of those on the list, I find Terrence Stamp to be the most intriguing. He had leading man looks but excelled as character actor. He should’ve won an Oscar for his turn in Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert.

[quote] But what a weird selection in any case.

Yes indeed, R7.

This weird selection ignores the cultural differences between Britons and Americans. And the difference between genuine actors and movie stars who stand in front of a camera. And the difference between people of integrity and people who will appear in trash for money.

R36, my favorite parts of Frenzy were when she was feeding him. They were both great.

Another actor not on the list us the always fantastic Richard E. Grant. He can play any sort of characters but IMO excels in playing character who’s a bot on edge.

R26 You must be English.

No American would know Martyn Green apart from audio recordings and Donald Wolfit only appeared in a few known movies. He only got his biggest movie role when the drunkard Robert Newton was hospitalised three weeks before filming.

R71 Who got what role?

[quote]Alec McCowen was SO good in Hitchcock's "Frenzy."

McCowen was brilliant in Personal Services with Julie Walters.

[quote] McCowen was brilliant…

He looked very sad and haggard in all his movie appearances. I'm surprised the Americans put him on a contract.

That's the original Hyacinth's Rose on the left at r73.

Alec McCowen had those unfortunate lizard-like nostrils which distract us from whatever he was doing.

He should stay on stage.

R75 Yep, Shirley Stelfox. Who was also excellent in Personal Services.

Alastair Sim

[quote] Alec Guiness

R52 Alec Guinness

[quote] Claude Rains … Brilliant in everything.

But not very good in keeping a wife. But then Isabel did commit adultery with another man.

Albert Finney.

I’m ignoring this character actor thing though because most aren’t

Harry Andrews

Recently watched Harry Andrews as the gay brother in 'Entertaining Mr Sloane.' He stole most scenes, even those with Peter McEnery wearing tight white underpants.

Sir Cedric Hardwicke

[quote] Sir Cedric Hardwicke

Yes, I think I like him too.

I read his memoir and I think we need to differentiate his career pre-1940 and post-1940. His early career was bound up with the London stage and the 'public-intellectual' known as George Bernard Shaw. He got his knighthood for premiering those Shavian plays.

He made two major films demonstrating his abilities to convey strength. One is the prophetic 'Things To Come' with its brilliant musical score. The other was as Claude Frollo, where he was chillingly masterful barking out orders while wearing a wig, a rather fetching hat with some drapery hanging over his shoulders.

His career was downhill from 1940.

Alan Rickman

Rex Harrison would hit you if you called him a character actor when he was pre-70 or so, but he was nasty anyway.

Alec Guinness and Charles Laughton were leading character men usually. John Mills went between leading and character man roles. Sydney Greenstreet is another great character actor.

[quote] Rex Harrison …was nasty anyway.

If you seek for nastiness and if it excites you so to especially mention it here so very, very long after his demise then I guarantee you will find it wherever you look..

Others enjoyed his easy charm.

[quote] Who was the greatest British character actor?

Sydney Greenstreet, R88, appeared in NO British films.

But he was British.

Some rather good entries here, but how about David Niven? I should think he fits the bill as both a strong character actor, as well as a male lead. I thought Americans adored Niven. Perhaps I was wrong?

Yes, you are wrong, R92.

He was a 'lounge lizard' in the style of the late Gerald du Maurier. He had NO vocal ability nor any sense of characterisation.

He was on Samual Goldwyn's payroll and so English producers put him in English films hoping to get Goldwyn to distribute their product in the US market.

He was epicene. He was passive and knew how to support real stars and genuine actors.

OP Are you blind?!

Sexy Rexy a CHARACTER ACTOR???!!!

He was one of the great romantic leading men of his generation.

Trevor Howard of BRIEF ENCOUNTER??!!

Terence Stamp of FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD???!!!

Get some specs and watch some films made before 1980.

You can start with THE GHOST AND MRS MUIR.

^*Oh, and James Mason doesn't belong on that list, either.

Alastair Sim

John Mills

And the alphas and omegas . . .

Ralph Richardson and Alec Guiness

[quote] Wilfrid Hyde-White

I guarantee you would have never heard of W H-W if that drunkard Peter O'Toole played in MY Fair Lady as he was asked.

You cannot even name a film in which Wilfrid Hyde-White appeared prior to 1964!

He used to be skinny before he bloated up in the Lotus Land of sun, sex and sleaze.

Charles Laughton

Donald Crisp - the eternal father, uncle, family solicitor . . .

Best performance, the head of the struggling family of miners in How Green Was My Valley.

[quote] Donald Crisp

What was said about R90 applies here as well.

Claude Rains

Claude Rains had five wives.

R101 - British character actors appeared in American films. The question OP posed was not who was the greatest British character actor in British films, but was the greatest British character actor?

"Donald William Crisp (27 July 1882 – 25 May 1974) was an English film actor as well as an early producer, director and screenwriter. His career lasted from the early silent film era into the 1960s. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1942 for his performance in How Green Was My Valley."

Crisp was a British character actor.

[quote] Donald Wolfit is not a character actor … He was a transitionary figure.

What do you mean, OP? What do you mean by "transitionary"?

R94, someone who doesn't watch films made before 1980 wouldn't even know who any of those guys are

Someone who doesn't watch films made before 1980 are being wilfully ignorant and deserve their stupidity.

R52 and R96 have both misspelled the name of the greatest British character actor.

This (not-especially-good) filmmaker makes some perceptive remarks about Guinness' appearances on screen.

[quote]Claude Rains had five wives.[quote]

What has that got to do with his acting?

[quote] What has that got to do with his acting?

Adulterers practice the art of deception. Acting is deception.

[quote] the alphas and omegas

What do you mean, R96? Are you suggesting that these two actors can perform any role they choose?

R105 Unanswered question.

R111 Unanswered question.

[quote] I find Terrence Stamp to be the most intriguing. He had leading man looks

I can't agree about his looks. Even when he was mildly pretty in the 60s his wide cheekbones and small jaw made him resemble the Extra-Terrestrial.

He had a good run in the 60s for Wyler, Ustinov, Schlesinger, Fellini, and Pasolini but very little of quality in the subsequent half-century.

Charles Laughton wins every list like this. But let's not forget Ralph Richardson, the greatest Iago there ever was.

[quote] the greatest Iago there ever was.

Oh, R114, you talk as through you were there at the Old Vic in 1937.

Claude Rains on a water bed.

Claude Rains standing on a hidden foot stool.

Richard Madden.

[quote] Richard Madden.

He and his streak of white hair sometimes remind me of John Justin.

Leo McKern.

George Cole.

Sid James.

(These are honest-to-God CHARACTER actors.)

[quote] Harry Andrews

I could never take him seriously in dramatic roles because of his gargantuan jaw.

(it was bigger than Vanessa Redgrave's jaw)

The guy who used to say, "I, say." He's a character actor, most of the people in your OP are not, OP.

[quote] The guy who used to say, "I, say."

The late Roger Livesey

Charles Hawtrey?

That's not him, R123.

Are you American, R122?

Are you thinking of Nigel Bruce?

No, R122, and no, not Nigel Bruce. The guy had a gap between his front teeth. He was (from what I remember) kind of a comedic character actor.

R127 are you talking Terry-Thomas?

Yes, R128! Thanks.

Terry-Thomas outwits the Union Rep

[quote] Julian Glover is in every major franchise-

I've missed almost all of these "franchises", R3, but I half-remember him as being vaguely sexy in supporting roles sixty years ago. Now I can't tell the difference between him and Andrew Keir.

He must have been OK on stage because he played Antony to Vanessa Redgrave's Cleopatra. I've googled and the idiotic Sarah Miles claims they were committing adultery while he was married to Dame Eileen Atkins.

He does look rather like Terence Stamp in this pic.

[Quote] the idiotic Sarah Miles claims they were committing adultery while he was married to Dame Eileen Atkins.

That is an outlandish claim?

R131 He was also in James Ivory's Heat and Dust (1983) with Julie Christie. He played the English Ambassador.

No nudes