“You know, if you’re not in a scene together you never even see their face.”
That was what veteran Hollywood actress Marsha Hunt said to me in a recent phone interview when I
questioned her about what memories she may have of such staples of the supporting player community as actors Paul Fix – who appeared in two of her films in the 1930s – and Milton Selzer – who shared billing with her in a 1972 made-for-TV movie called Jigsaw. As with many a fan in the street, their names were vaguely familiar to her but, despite their enormous bodies of work, she didn’t know who they were.
Was I unfair, then, to have earlier castigated Laurence Fishburne for referring to actor Larry Gates as just, “some old guy,” when referencing the famous slaps in In the Heat of the Night, and not being able to acknowledge the veteran character actor by name? Well Gates, an experienced professional, said that he cherished that moment which sent a message to cinematic and American history; and Larry Gates was proud of being half of that moment. Yes, I believe Laurence could afford to have the respect – and the curiosity – to link Gates’ familiar face with a name.
So, that’s why I do this – for the Hunts and the Fishburnes, and the Gateses, and for myself. And for you.
(Read recollections of a small treasury of supporting players in Your Face is in the Script, a profile of Marsha Hunt.)
~FW