As it turns out, calling a character actor a second banana is a bit unfair. As one of my favorite character actors, Stephen Tobolowsky, pointed out in the New York Times back in September, there are plusses:
My first day on “Groundhog Day,” Bill Murray shook hands with me and said, “Hello, nice to meet you — now show me what you’re going to do.” I jumped into a few enormously energetic moments of Ned Ryerson and Bill held up his hand. “Fine, fine, you can do that,” he said. “It’s funny.” Bill walked away.
I then asked the director, Harold Ramis, if I should play Ned a little more down to earth. Harold laughed and said: “No. Bill is the lead. He’s the stew. When you are a supporting character, you are the spice in the stew. Have fun.”
It’s almost like a fraternal order for these guys. Tobolowsky notes the sad passing of his fellow character actors Kevin McCarthy, Carl Gordon, Maury Chaykin, James Gammon, and Harold Gould—names you might not recognize but whose faces you’ve seen in innumerable movies. (As someone who tries to put names and faces together on screen, I’ve enjoyed Tobolowsky’s work from Sneakers to Groundhog Day to The Insider—the latter of which allowed him to be the president of CBS News as opposed to a hapless dork.) Tobolowsky describes the long road for many a leading man who, over time as looks fade, gets slowly moved to the side. But I also wonder what he makes of J.K. Simmons, who has gone from character actor to more prominent roles, though not the lead. At least not yet.
Although this article came out in September, I only happened upon it yesterday—funny enough, the night before, I had seen Tobolowsky in Groundhog’s Day. So I’m a bit late to the game, but if you, too, missed this fine article, it is well worth the read.
Also, if you’re wondering what, exactly, is a character actor, Tobolowsky quotes his colleague, actor, comedian, and Weekly Standard friend Larry Miller who says, “The definition of a character actor is anyone in the movie not kissing Renée Zellweger.”
