Ash Ketchum

The corollary to the "Established actors who hardly ever do supporting roles" thread is one which focuses on major stars who frequently do supporting roles.

I'm thinking of
Robert De Niro (JACKIE BROWN, STARDUST),
Bruce Willis (GRINDHOUSE, THE EXPENDABLES),
Brad Pitt (TWELVE MONKEYS, BURN AFTER READING),
George Clooney (GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK, BURN AFTER READING)
Julia Roberts (OCEAN'S TWELVE, CONFESSIONS OF A DANGEROUS MIND, EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU)

There must be a million others.

This tends to be a more recent phenomenon in Hollywood because today's stars are so highly paid that they can afford to do smaller roles for scale--or nothing--for directors they like (like Tarantino, Gilliam and Soderbergh). It makes them feel good.

In the old days, stars had to stay on top. And they had to keep earning their pay. They weren't so well-paid. It was quite rare for them to take a smaller role as a favor to somebody. After 1933, Clark Gable would never have taken a non-star role. It was a little different in the 1960s, when stars started to pop up in all-star casts like THE LONGEST DAY, which had John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, and Henry Fonda in significant but non-star parts. John Wayne popped up for a second as a Roman Centurion in THE GREATEST STORY EVERY TOLD. And he took a supporting role as an American general in CAST A GIANT SHADOW (1966) as a favor to the film's star, Kirk Douglas. Burt Lancaster started to take supporting roles toward the end of his career (BUFFALO BILL AND THE INDIANS, FIELD OF DREAMS), but a lot of once-top stars followed that career route as they got older, including Mitchum. It's a function of age. Kirk Douglas insisted on starring roles for as long as he could--until his stroke--so he wound up making worse and worse films (SATURN 3, anybody?). Lancaster, his one-time co-star, at least worked in more prestigious films once he started taking smaller parts.

So I'm thinking more of stars at the top of their game who take supporting roles for any number of reasons.

inri222

Sean Penn - It's All About Love, Before Night Falls, Carlito s Way, The Game

Skyclad01

Tom Sizemore
Kevin Pollack
John C. Mcginley
William fitchner
Danny Trejo
Jeff Kober

Solid Snake

Morgan Freeman..maybe? Depending on how you look at it I guess...

Fist of Doom

In what world are any of those guys considered top stars? They've all made careers out of supporting roles.

GoldenJCJ

No kidding, I'm a movie buff and I don't even know who the hell Jeff Kober is!

Skyclad01

Im sure you've seen him in about half a dozen roles.

Mabuse

Bill Murray

GoldenJCJ

Yeah, I actually looked him up on IMDB and I have seen him in quite a few things. He looks like the freaky hybrid of Willem Dafoe and Tom Berenger.

Defiant1

To bring some estrogen to this list, I submit Cate Blanchett. When she plays lead, she utterly dominates the screen but she has had a ton of supporting roles over the years. Discounting the "second lead" roles such as in Robin Hood or Benjamin Button, she has true supporting roles in I'm Not There, Indiana Jones IV, The Aviator, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and the LOTR movies of course. Indeed, she has more supporting roles than lead ones but is always considered a "leading lady".

AnonomusBob15

Jeff Kober

your posts have made my day.

DonnachaOne

Things got sexy during the Platoon shoot.

Fist of Doom

To me, Jeff Kober looks more like a Willem Dafoe/Jack Noseworthy hybrid.

thematahara

Oh yeah!! He was that big movie star I saw in that one episode of MacGyver, and that one episode of X-Files, and that one episode of Charmed, and who can forget those three episodes of Walker Texas Ranger he was in.

Refreshing to see him willing to take on supporting roles after all of his success in films like Alien Nation and Tank Girl.

Skyclad01

Don't forget Buffy and Sons Of Anarchy!! And his intimidating role in that one Crossing Jordan episode as well as his role in that Law & Order: SVU episode as well.

thematahara

Much like Robert Duvall, we could spend all day filling this thread with the accomplishments of the thespian that is Jeff Kober.

I also read that he is being Knighted for his outstanding work in cinema, despite the fact that he isn't British.

JJE-187

And The First Power

Groucho

I remember I was watching the Golden Globes this year, when the interviewer from E! interrupted their conversation with Sandra Bullock to run over to Jeff Kober.

Skyclad01

Anyways, back to the original topic. I guess my view of top stars isn't just limited to ones like Tom Hanks or Sean Connery or of the likes.

Sorry, but I think some of these are actually just as good (and on rare occasions, better) actors than some of todays top named stars.

Hokeyboy

If anyone's interested I run the Internet's largest Jeff Kober fan resource site. If you're willing to submit fan fiction, I can offer full color pics not available ANYWHERE on the web, plus a tote.

Dr. DVD

Philipp Seymour Hoffmann, while not a huge star, has won an award for a lead role and still tends to take roles of supporting nature.

resinrats

Looks like Jeff Kober's turing into a legend here. Much like 1st Officer Murdoc. Expect a random Jeff Kober mention a month from now in a random thread.

Crocker Jarmen

Robin Williams came to mind, as at the height of his movie stardom back in the 90's he made small appearances in movies like Dead Again and Baron Munchausen.

Ash Ketchum

I just looked up Jeff Kober on IMDB. He's a few months younger than me. He's been a steadily working actor in film & TV for 25 years. And I've never seen him in anything!

Cardsfan111

Just noticed Jeff Kober played the guy in 24 who: