Thursday, June 16, 2005

Lane Smith, 1936-2005

This past Monday Hollywood lost one of its great character actors, Lane Smith, who died of Lou Gehrig's disease at the age of 69. Smith appeared in dozens of movies and on television shows, including Red Dawn, V, and The Final Days (as Richard Nixon), not to mention (quite literally) the Paulie Shore vehicle Son in Law. Of course many of us will remember Smith as Daily Planet editor Perry White in Lois and Clark, though he began his acting career in the 1950s (having attended the Actors Studio). Smith won a Drama Desk Award for Glengarry Glen Ross. As Galley friend B.F. pointed out, "Lane Smith belongs with J.T. Walsh as one of the best known 'Hey, it's that guy' actors in history."

5 comments:

LL said...

I gotta go with M. Emmet Walsh. He was the diving coach in Rodney Dangerfield's Back to School, as well as other movies. A true character actor.

DP said...

Lane Smith also did a fine turn as the prosecutor in My Cousin Vinny.

I'd put Robert Loggia and G.D. Spradlin in the same "that guy" category, too.

Anonymous said...

Yes, he was very good in My Cousin Vinny, together with Fred Gwynne.

"That guy": Pat Hingle - Commissioner Gordon of the Batman movies. Been around on film and TV forever.

Anonymous said...

He played the shop steward in "Blue Collar." Solid work.

Anonymous said...

Yes, what Patrick said: "M. Emmet Walsh." I first recall remembering (or not as the case seems to be) him in "Blood Simple" and another favorite role was in "A Time to a Kill" where the prosecution is trying to persecute him for a rape charge with a minor and the defense attorney (whose name I won't mention cause I really don't like him) adds some "facts" to the matter, that Walsh had then married the girl and stayed married forever...