Actors that could class up a snuff film

[J.R.]

There are some actors that can make even the lamest films watchable and interesting.

Samuel L.. Jackson- Deep Blue Sea, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Rules Of Engagement, he can save anything. The script for Shaft was a complete mess, but Sam's coolness made it a decent film.

Morgan Freeman- Even though he keeps playing the same character in the same movies, he always brings dignity and a center to any movie.

Robert De Niro- He's in about five movies a year, but his characters are always interesting.

And, of course-

Bruce Campbell- I don't think I have to say how good he is on this board.

[Will]

James Lorinz. I even watched Jerky Boys for him.

[J.R.]

Denzel Washington- If Ice T and Eric Roberts starred in Training Day and it was shown on Cinemax 2 at 2:00 AM, would it be anything special? He even made Virtuosity and Ricochet watchable.

[Fearless Freep]

Lance Henrickson - Brings dignity, style, and professionalism to a lot of  junk only made watchable by his precense

[AndyC]

At first glance, I thought this was about stars we'd like to see bumped off for real on film. Had to wonder why there wasn't a flood of replies with the likes of Pauly Shore, Leo DiCrappio, assorted pretty boy actors and SNL types.

Now, I see you meant something else. Hmmm, I'd have to say Gene Hackman lends quality to any film he's in, good or bad. The Quick and the Dead was actually a decent movie with him in it, and his Luthor was probably the best thing about the Superman movies.

I would also name James Earl Jones, but I can't, off the top of my head, remember him in anything too cheesy. Still, if he were in a cheesy movie, his mere presence would bring it up a couple of notches.

[Vermin Boy]

Dennis Hopper, Jeffrey Combs, and John Astin... It's not so much that they can "class up" a movie, but all three are consistantly entertaining, and their presences can bump nearly any movie up a couple of notches on the fun scale (except FearDotCom... Even Dr. West couldn't save that one).

[J.R.]

James Earl Jones was in Exorcist 2, prancing around in an insect costume with eyes akin to Kermit The Frog's. Cheesy enough for you?

[Dano]

Sean Bean has a positive effect on the films he acts in.  Meryl Streep has elevated some garbage as well ("River Wild").

And let's not forget the late George C. Scott who was able to gave dignity and credibility even to "Angus"

[Lee]

Fearless Freep wrote:
>
> Lance Henrickson - Brings dignity, style, and professionalism
> to a lot of  junk only made watchable by his precense
>
>


I'll second that Freep!

[Mofo Rising]

Ian Holm belongs in this category.  Probably my favorite actor working today, and I don't really care for actors all that much.

[Neville]

And what about Christopher Walken? He's been in loads of bad movies, but I still have to see him delivering a bad performance.

[AndyC]

J.R. wrote:
>
> James Earl Jones was in Exorcist 2, prancing around in an
> insect costume with eyes akin to Kermit The Frog's. Cheesy
> enough for you?

Didn't see that one, but now I want to.

[AndyC]

Christopher Lee has given outstanding performances in a lot of cheesy films. The same can be said for Peter Cushing. I don't think the Hammer films would have been as good without serious, capable actors in the starring roles.

Christopher Plummer is another one. Anyone seen him in Star Crash? The whole movie was a joke, but his performance shone. Actually, his whole purpose was to class up the movie by his mere presence. He had a very small part, but his name was pretty prominent.

I've seen Patrick Stewart do a decent job in some straight-to-video stuff as well.

Actually, I'd say most big-name actors with a Shakespearean background can class up a film. Bill Shatner is the exception, although he always makes a movie fun to watch.

[raj]

Throw in Sean Connery as well, though his only "b-movie" role, IIRC, was in Zardoz.

[Lee]

What about "Outland" raj?