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Established Actors who hardly ever do Supporting Roles

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Established Actors who hardly ever do Supporting Roles

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Old 05-23-10 | 08:07 PM
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Established Actors who hardly ever do Supporting Roles

Off the top of my head, I can think of Leonardo DiCaprio, Will Smith and Denzel Washington.

Definitely Tom Cruise but the one supporting role he did do (Magnolia) was one of his best performances ever.

Anybody else?
Old 05-23-10 | 08:42 PM
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Re: Established Actors who hardly ever do Supporting Roles

Originally Posted by runnersdialzero
Definitely Tom Cruise but the one supporting role he did do (Magnolia) was one of his best performances ever.
+ Tropic Thunder
Old 05-23-10 | 08:42 PM
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Re: Established Actors who hardly ever do Supporting Roles

Brad Pitt
George Clooney
Old 05-23-10 | 08:44 PM
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Re: Established Actors who hardly ever do Supporting Roles

Harrison Ford
Old 05-23-10 | 08:46 PM
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Re: Established Actors who hardly ever do Supporting Roles

Originally Posted by PopcornTreeCt
George Clooney
Clooney won a best supporting actor oscar for Syriana
He also played a supporting role in 'Good Night and Good Luck'.
Old 05-23-10 | 09:04 PM
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Re: Established Actors who hardly ever do Supporting Roles

Brad Pitt
Burn After Reading
Snatch
Ocean's 11, 12, 13
Fight Club
True Romance

Leonardo DiCaprio
The Departed
What's Eating Gilbert Grape
Old 05-23-10 | 09:30 PM
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Re: Established Actors who hardly ever do Supporting Roles

Bad call on Clooney and Pitt. Nevermind.
Old 05-23-10 | 09:42 PM
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Re: Established Actors who hardly ever do Supporting Roles

Tom Hanks
Old 05-23-10 | 09:58 PM
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Re: Established Actors who hardly ever do Supporting Roles

Originally Posted by Blu Man

The Departed
What's Eating Gilbert Grape
I'd say Leo was the lead, or one of the leads at least, in The Departed.
Old 05-23-10 | 10:52 PM
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Re: Established Actors who hardly ever do Supporting Roles

Originally Posted by fumanstan
I'd say Leo was the lead, or one of the leads at least, in The Departed.
Absolutely.
Old 05-23-10 | 11:09 PM
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Re: Established Actors who hardly ever do Supporting Roles

Originally Posted by Rypro 525
Harrison Ford


Originally Posted by Rainet
Tom Hanks

Last edited by Groucho; 05-23-10 at 11:11 PM.
Old 05-24-10 | 10:10 AM
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Re: Established Actors who hardly ever do Supporting Roles

Cary Grant, James Cagney, Henry Fonda, Spencer Tracy, Montgomery Clift, John Wayne, Clark Gable, Gary Cooper.

Greta Garbo, Hedy Lamarr, Joan Crawford.

Jet Li, Chuck Norris, Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Toshiro Mifune.

Jean Gabin.

Bugs Bunny.
Old 05-24-10 | 10:24 AM
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Re: Established Actors who hardly ever do Supporting Roles

Yeah, definitely not Pitt and Clooney. I would say they are such amazing actors because they take on these great supporting roles.

Harrison Ford wasn't really established whenever Apocalypse Now was filmed.

Was Tropic Thunder a long cameo or a supporting role?

I wouldn't say Pitt was a Supporting character in Fight Club and DiCaprio was definitely not supporting in The Departed. And DiCaprio wasn't established whenever Gilbert Grape came out.
Old 05-24-10 | 10:36 AM
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Re: Established Actors who hardly ever do Supporting Roles

Originally Posted by runnersdialzero
Was Tropic Thunder a long cameo or a supporting role?
Supporting role, IMO. The part felt too large and effected the story too much to simply be a cameo.
Old 05-24-10 | 10:42 AM
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Re: Established Actors who hardly ever do Supporting Roles

Originally Posted by MrSmearkase
Supporting role, IMO. The part felt too large and effected the story too much to simply be a cameo.
Plus he's credited which takes him out of cameo status (IMO).

Edit:
Of course, that's not always true, since he was credited in Goldmember as well, so, yeah MrSmearkase's definition seems to be better, lol.

Last edited by TheMovieman; 05-24-10 at 10:45 AM.
Old 05-24-10 | 10:44 AM
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Re: Established Actors who hardly ever do Supporting Roles

With the exception of Where Eagles Dare (in which i think he was certainly one of the stars) then i would say Clint Eastwood. How could you give the guy a small role though.
Old 05-24-10 | 10:59 AM
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Re: Established Actors who hardly ever do Supporting Roles

Originally Posted by james2025a
With the exception of Where Eagles Dare (in which i think he was certainly one of the stars) then i would say Clint Eastwood. How could you give the guy a small role though.
Clint began his career in bit parts at Universal in the '50s. He's most famously spotted as a bumbling lab assistant working for John Agar in REVENGE OF THE CREATURE (sequel to CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON). He's one of the pilots who drops the bombs on the title monster in TARANTULA. He's one of the group of sailors supporting Donald O'Connor and Francis the Talking Mule in FRANCIS IN THE NAVY. He had a bigger part in a western called AMBUSH AT CIMARRON PASS (1958). He started "Rawhide" the following year.

(Trivia note: in AMBUSH AT CIMARRON PASS, Eastwood plays a character named Keith Williams, which happens to be the real name of current actor Keith David. Keith David acted for Eastwood in BIRD.)

Last edited by Ash Ketchum; 05-24-10 at 11:10 AM.
Old 05-24-10 | 11:00 AM
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Re: Established Actors who hardly ever do Supporting Roles

Not much of a star now days, but Jim Carrey, only one I can think of is Batman Forever.
Old 05-24-10 | 11:07 AM
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Re: Established Actors who hardly ever do Supporting Roles

Originally Posted by thematahara
Not much of a star now days, but Jim Carrey, only one I can think of is Batman Forever.
Earth Girls are Easy, The Dead Pool, Pink Cadillac, Peggy Sue Got Married...
Old 05-24-10 | 11:10 AM
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Re: Established Actors who hardly ever do Supporting Roles

Originally Posted by thematahara
Not much of a star now days, but Jim Carrey, only one I can think of is Batman Forever.
Originally Posted by Groucho
Earth Girls are Easy, The Dead Pool, Pink Cadillac, Peggy Sue Got Married...
Don't forget Simon Birch, which came out long after Carrey had become a household name.
Old 05-24-10 | 11:10 AM
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Re: Established Actors who hardly ever do Supporting Roles

Kate Winslet doesn't do many supporting roles, especially since Titanic.
Old 05-24-10 | 11:14 AM
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Re: Established Actors who hardly ever do Supporting Roles

Sorry to get off the beaten path a bit but I have a Tom Cruise question.
I read a comment on Youtube that he was some character in Young Guns that got shot in the back. Is that true or just bullshit?
Old 05-24-10 | 11:15 AM
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Re: Established Actors who hardly ever do Supporting Roles

It's true. They slapped a big mustache on him, but if you're looking for him it's pretty obvious.

Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99n5o6P1_Yo

Last edited by Groucho; 05-24-10 at 11:19 AM.
Old 05-24-10 | 11:28 AM
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Re: Established Actors who hardly ever do Supporting Roles

Originally Posted by Groucho
There's also American Graffiti and The Conversation but I wouldn't count those since he wasn't "established" at that point.
Old 05-24-10 | 11:34 AM
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Re: Established Actors who hardly ever do Supporting Roles

Originally Posted by Groucho
It's true. They slapped a big mustache on him, but if you're looking for him it's pretty obvious.

Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99n5o6P1_Yo
I can't recognize anyone from that video, but I'm sure it's more obvious on the DVD/Blu-Ray. Thanks for the confirmation though.


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