Since James Woods turns 70 in less than a week (April 18), I thought it would be appropriate to give this underappreciated actor his own Appreciation Thread.

For five decades now, he has been a consistently entertaining presence in movies and TV, with several superb performances to his credit.

Just to name a few:

He was the sleazy Max Renn in the cult classic Videodrome.

The grownup gangster best friend, Max, to Robert DeNiro's Noodles, in Leone's masterwork Once Upon a Time in America.

The cold-blooded hitman who wants Brian Dennehy to write his biography in the quirky Best Seller.

The pony-tailed attorney who battles a corrupt system in the underrated True Believer.

The maverick cop who has to deal with Michael J. Fox's egotistical actor in The Hard Way.

The master vampire slayer Jack Crow, in John Carpenter's Vampires.

But I think my favorite performance of his was his dynamic portrayal of Richard Boyle in Oliver Stone's Salvador, for which he received a much deserved Academy Award nomination.

Quite a career for an actor who has managed to thrive in Hollywood for so long despite not ever having the traditional movie star good looks.

He's also a great talk show guest and has some interesting stories about Sean Young.

So, here's to you, James Woods!

lest we forget his legendary sexual conquests.

One of the few actors whose my appreciation of has gone down over the years. Now my favorite role of his Father McFeely in Scary Movie 2.

Even though I don't agree with his political views, he's an excellent actor. He's great in just about everything he's done.
One of his best performances is in The Onion Field. Others worth mentioning are The Boost, Cop, Another Day in Paradise & Nixon.

Everyone knows his best work is on Family Guy. Ooh...a piece of candy!

I like him in his pre-90s roles. I don't know what happened but he just went pure smarm after that.

He's great in an early role as a rookie vice cop in Robert Aldrich's THE CHOIRBOYS (1977). Check out the rest of the cast in that: Charles Durning, Louis Gossett, Don Stroud, Tim McIntire, Randy Quaid, Robert Webber, Vic Tayback, Perry King, Burt Young and such luscious ladies as Phyllis Davis, Jeannie Bell, Barbara Rhoades and a pregnant Rainbeaux Smith playing a hooker confronted by undercover cop Woods. Joseph Wambaugh disavowed the movie and tried to take his name off of it. "Police Story," indeed! But Woods also appeared on "Police Story" and in two later films based on Wambaugh, THE ONION FIELD and THE BLACK MARBLE. Hard to believe CHOIRBOYS was 40 years ago!

Last things I saw him in: CONTACT (1997) and ANY GIVEN SUNDAY (1999).

He's so good in Casino.

Also great in Ghosts of Mississippi.

I always like seeing him in movies based entirely on how much I liked him in his 80's movies. I don't really have an opinion of his roles after that, but I can't remember ever thinking he was awful in something.

Looking through is IMDB list, I'm surprised how many voice roles he's had.

The tv mini-series Holocaust was my first I seen James Woods performance.

I just watched Casino last night.

He's great in John Carpenter's Vampires.

I will forever love Jack Crow in John Carpenter's Vampires. Plus its probably one of my favorite movie trailers ever. Marilyn Manson's, "Beautiful People" goes perfectly with it.

Revisited The Specialist last week...James Woods was hilarious!

I like him as an actor. His political beliefs are batshit crazy, however.

About 12 years ago, he had a really fun little show on CBS called "Shark"

Unfortunately it only lasted 2 seasons because the writer's strike killed the ratings for the 2nd season.

I loved him in "Citizen Cohn" and "Vampires".

Videodrome, Best Seller, Casino and the Hard Way are all excellent movies. I would add to his list of greats Cop and his short Quitters Inc. from Cats Eye. He is so over the top in The Specialist it's hilarious. That movie is one of the cheesiest pieces of shit. Just a horrible movie that's kinda fun to watch as it's so damn bad.

I remember when Siskel (When Siskel & Ebert never had anything good to say about horror movies) lobbied hard to get him an Oscar nomination for that.

I am shocked actually that he has not won an Oscar. After Salvador I would have bet anything it would be just a film or two later that he would have snagged one.

Cop is one of my favorites of all time and Bestseller.

Anytime Diggstown is on, I have to watch it.

Always been a fan of James Woods. The earliest movie I think I saw him in was Night Moves - a mid-70s Gene Hackman thriller that was quite good.

For some reason, I remember walking the aisle at the video store in the early 90s and renting Straight Talk. A little-seen fluff movie of no significance that co-starred Dolly Pardon, but for some reason I remember liking it.

He was great in Contact ("that is interesting") and The Specialist ("get a new shirt").

Pretty much the way I feel about most actress / actors in Hollywood today.

James Woods was a marquee name at the time he did "Straight Talk" and had a huge part but I recall he was completely cut-out of the trailer. No mention of him at all.