Always got to have a Ringo in the older westerns.
Davey Crockett always has Jim Bowie, Santa Anna and the rest of the Alamo crew.
Wyett Earp - the Clantons also.
Buffalo Bill - Calamity Jane and often Bill Hickock.
And what would Sitting Bull, be without the fiery, Chief Crazy Horse?
Cochise and Tom Jeffords.
Elliot Ness and a whole raft of gangsters.
Jesse James and Robert Ford.
Two supporting actors I need to mention are as different as day and night, but I always loved their performances.
1. Neville Brand came out of the war second only to Audey Murphy for decorations. I recall him in some 50s movies, particularly D.O.A. He appeared in the cast of LAREDO.
2. Percy Helton: I first noticed him in the starring role of a grade B film called THE NAUGHTY LADY or something. He played the proprietor of the theater in the Jose Ferrer film CYRANO DE BERGERAC. You may not have been aware of him, but he appeared in many films.
I never knew that, about Neville. I do remember him from "The Untouchables, as well as a boatload of supporting roles.
Kathy Bates played a kind-of villain in "About Schmidt." You really hated her, because she was nasty as cat poop, but there was a human, even lovely, dimension to the character.
I think my favorite all time villain is Colin Firth as Wessex in "Shakespeare in Love." Totally despicable, with style to burn. Completely hateful, yet somehow attractive. The man you love to hate -- say, about whom was that originally said? Anybody know? I don't.
Finally, Tim Roth as Archibald Cunningham in "Rob Roy." A great swordsman, he rapes Rob Roy's wife in a stupefying scene. When Rob Roy gets him in the end, it's like, "Oh yeah!"
Paul in Baltimore
Jauquin Phoenix was delightfully nasty in "The Gladiator"
