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Supporting Actor Identity

oldrover

Justified & Ancient
Joined
Oct 18, 2009
Messages
4,056
Hi, I don't know how or why this came up but it's really driving me mad. During the 70s when it seemed that there was an endless amount of American WWII films on our 3 channels there was very often this blonde guy in a supporting role. I think he was blonde but but I only remember him with a helmet on. Nondescript really , but sort of clean cut, fresh sort of face. He was so ubiquitous I remember an article appearing somewhere discussing how familiar he was but that the viewer probably didn't know his name. I'm pretty sure he also played a policeman a few times too.

I'm never going to come across him because I never watch the sort of films he was in, and I've tried everything I can think of to find out who was. If this rings any sort of bell I'd love to hear.

Thanks for reading.
 
Tab Hunter?

Blond, appearred in a fair few war films, but he was a 'star' - at least in his early days.

ss2451553_-_photograph_of_tab_hunter_available_in_4_sizes_framed_or_unframed_buy_now_at_starst...jpg
 
Van Johnson?

Earlier career but his films would have been on TV in the seventies...

I do love a good mystery, and with enough suggestions we should get there. Monkeys and Shakespeare etc...

800px-Van_Johnson_by_Eric_Carpenter,_1947.jpg
 
Well, i wondered about his hair colour but according to at least one source....

https://thestickyfacts.com/richard-jaeckel-facts/

But I don't know how well they knew him!! :) I have seen him in various roles with various hair colours from shaven headed to black? (B&W film) but maybe not as recognisably blonde as Redford for instance.

Richard Widmark also did a lot of "second fiddle" parts as well as being a lead man in other films, only remember seeing him as blond.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001847/
 
Hi, I don't know how or why this came up but it's really driving me mad. During the 70s when it seemed that there was an endless amount of American WWII films on our 3 channels there was very often this blonde guy in a supporting role. I think he was blonde but but I only remember him with a helmet on. Nondescript really , but sort of clean cut, fresh sort of face. He was so ubiquitous I remember an article appearing somewhere discussing how familiar he was but that the viewer probably didn't know his name. I'm pretty sure he also played a policeman a few times too.

I'm never going to come across him because I never watch the sort of films he was in, and I've tried everything I can think of to find out who was. If this rings any sort of bell I'd love to hear.

Thanks for reading.

Sterling Hayden?

Robert Ryan?

William Holden?

William Bendix?

Van Johnson?

Montgomery Clift?

Cliff Robertson?

Curt Jurgens?

Hardy Kruger?

maximus otter
 
Ooh thats one thats annoying me. There always was a blond guy playing a raw recruit from Kansas in those films usually died but was loved by the other men in the platoon.
 
Sterling Hayden?

Robert Ryan?

William Holden?

William Bendix?

Van Johnson?

Montgomery Clift?

Cliff Robertson?

Curt Jurgens?

Hardy Kruger?

maximus otter
Thanks, but not on that list. I know all of those names (except William Bendix, who I recognised on Googling) and they're all pretty much further up the listings than this guy. Especially Montgomery Clift.

It did resolve why I got thinking about this though, I was saying someone's husband looked like Hardy kruger.
 
Ooh thats one thats annoying me. There always was a blond guy playing a raw recruit from Kansas in those films usually died but was loved by the other men in the platoon.

No, he was always a sargent or a junior officer. As far as I recall anyway.
 
Thanks everyone so far. This might help or might not, if you can remember there was a 70s zombie film set in New York that starts off with a yacht in Hudson Bay. I can't remember the name. Anyway the star of that was from mainstream pictures and in those played pretty much exactly the same sort of parts with the same ranking as the one I'm thinking of.
 
Thanks everyone so far. This might help or might not, if you can remember there was a 70s zombie film set in New York that starts off with a yacht in Hudson Bay. I can't remember the name. Anyway the star of that was from mainstream pictures and in those played pretty much exactly the same sort of parts with the same ranking as the one I'm thinking of.
Sounds like Zombi 2 but none of the actors - including a slumming-it Richard Johnson - seem to tally.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombi_2

https://www.dvddrive-in.com/reviews/t-z/zombi279.htm
 
For some reason when I checked this thread earlier it started on Maximus Otter's post is. Had I seen the posts above I'd have seen mention of Richard Jaekel, who is of course the guy I'm thinking of. So thanks all for trying it really has been bugging me since last Wednesday, and thanks to Tunn 11 and EnolaGaia for getting him.

He was actually Oscar nominated as best supporting actor.

Looking at his filmography I also came across a film I'd been looking for on and off for years, The Dark (1979) in which he played a policeman and is probably where I got the idea that he had from.
 
Thank god for that. It was turning into one of those conversations with friends where you can’t remember an actor’s name and then you can’t remember any of the names of their films and you are reduced to saying ‘you know, the film that had whatsername in as well, that was married to thingy, you must remember’
 
Thank god for that. It was turning into one of those conversations with friends where you can’t remember an actor’s name and then you can’t remember any of the names of their films and you are reduced to saying ‘you know, the film that had whatsername in as well, that was married to thingy, you must remember’
OMG, my dad was a bit of a film buff, and I heard him have dozens of conversations just like that with people over the years!
 
There are all too many "that one" actors one has seen as many or more times than big name stars. At least for me, these semi-anonymous character actors are often as familiar and valued as the headliners. It can take some detective work to identify these lesser-known pros and research all the things in which they've appeared.
 
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