The list contains mostly actors/actresses, I suppose because that's mostly where one sees celebrities. Though there are also a few musicians and writers.
| Jules Munshin | Perhaps best known in the role of Bibinski alongside Peter Lorre in Silk Stockings (1957), he also appeared in Easter Parade and On the Town. |
| Carol Kane | I first noticed her as Lupe in Transylvania 6 5000. She also played the Ghost of Christmas present in Scrooged. Perhaps her greatest (or most bizarre) role was in Office Killer, a film I've seen at least twice. I'd make a film with her any day, and she may in fact be my favorite actress. |
| Portia Nelson | She is a club singer and composer, who mainly stuck around New York City in her heyday (the 1950s). Some of her albums are available on CD. |
| Eleanor David | She first appeared on my radar as Mrs Ronalds in Topsy Turvy. Then I started looking out for her... It doesn't seem as if she's done much on film, but she's a wonderful actress. She recently appeared alongside Rupert Everett in Sherlock Holmes: Case of the Silk Stocking. In '84 she had a leading role in Shroud for a Nightingale, so if you want nice views of her lovely face in its prime, check that out. |
| Kay Thompson | Best known for writing the Eloise books, she was also a fine singer, arranger, and composer of popular songs. One album of her songs and vocal talent is available on CD. She also did vocal arrangements for a number of film musicals such as Good News and Till the Clouds Roll By. You can also see her in the film Funny Face. |
| Kaneko Misuzu | Japanese poet of the early 20th century who died at the age of 26. She is well-loved by children and known for her simple poetry. I don't think any of her work exists in translation. I keep wanting to set some of her poems to music, but I'm not quite in the right space yet. |
| Richard Brautigan | Until somebody makes movies out of Dreaming of Babylon and In Watermelon Sugar, I'll think of him as one of the most famous of the obscure American writers worth keeping. Call it a fetish if you want, but I own several copies of some of Brautigan's harder-to-find books. |
| Wallace Shawn | I first noticed him in My Dinner with Andre. He shows up all over the place, but never seems to get really big roles. Say! Speaking of dinners and Andre, did you see those cool lunch boxes in the final minutes of Waiting for Guffman? Shawn appeared in a fairly juicy role in Duplex (2003), along with another undeservedly obscure actor, Harvey Fierstein (everyone's seen him, but nobody remembers his name). Look for Wallace also in Princess Bride. |
| Dianne Wiest | Perhaps I first noticed her in Purple Rose of Cairo. Seems like she makes a film every few years and works with Woody Allen a lot. She also turned up in a dynamite role in Bullets over Broadway alongside John Cusak. It is she who utters the V word in one of the film's most memorable lines. |
| Sophie Thompson | Poor thing, Emma Thompson's younger sister, who never seems to get a role much juicier than someone's maid. Watch her delightful performance in Emma. Look for her in Gosford Park, and in her role as Agatha alongside Jeremy Brett. Well, at least she got to play Sherlock Holmes' lover! |
| Morgana King | New York singer, and sometime actress (e.g, The Godfather). I found two of her albums from the mid 1960s for $1.00 a piece at a little store in Venice, Florida. |
| H. Allen Smith | If you stumble over his novel Rhubarb, try it. I went on a rampage a couple years back and bought up all of Smith's work I could find, and read it (including Mr Klein's Kampf). I love the 3 volumes of "memoirs" starting with Life in a Putty Knife Factory. Those were the days, I guess. |
| Anna Russell | The queen of comedy about classical music & opera. I wish I could meet her, and find out what happend to what must be mounds of her unpublished work. I devoured her autobiography, I'm Not Making This Up You Know. |
| Timothy Spall | I think I first ran into him in Topsy Turvy. Check him out in Vacuuming Completely Nude in Paradise, and then back that up with one of the Harry Potter films or The Clandestine Marriage... |
| Shirley Henderson | Remember "Moaning Myrtle" in the Harry Potter flicks? Well, that's her. I first noticed her in a marvelous role in I where she plays a singer. And yes, that is her real voice singing. (I guess that's a pattern: Topsy Turvy is absolutely chock full of great performances!) If you want much more of Shirley, you'll need to watch the complete Hamish MacBeth series, where she appears as a recurring character. Then there's The Way We Live Now and Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day alongside Frances McDormand, who's gotten too mainstream to be on this list. |
| Elizabeth Spriggs | When the Brits need a matron, they always seem to call Ms. Spriggs. She has played matrons, aunts, grannies, nosy neighbors, good and bad, in a very long string of shows and movies for years and years, but I don't think I've ever seen her in a leading role. Well, someone should notice her and remember her name. |
Of course, I'll continue to add people to this list occasionally, so call back at a more convenient time for the latest update! And remember: you don't have to be dead to make the cut on my list, but if you get too mainstream, I'll have to take you off.
[Click me home again Kathleen]
Last revised February 28, 2009
Copyright 2002-2009 Rick McGowan