J.T. Walsh was such a good actor and deserves way more credit than he was given

I haven’t seen all of his work, but the movies I saw of him (Backdraft, A Few Good Men, The Negotiator)

Andrew Johnston probably put it best:

“Walsh is invariably referred to as a character actor who specialized in villains, but that description doesn't quite do justice to what he did. The typical Walsh character was a plot device, really, serving either as a moral counterpoint to the star of the show or as an Iagolike figure egging on the hero in a way likely to lead to the protagonists's downfall.”

He never won anything and I think was only nominated for one award, but there’s just something about him that almost had his own character type. Like he had this character type that can’t fit into any of the awards they have, but deserved to have that type of character as a category.

Best award I could say there should be is “Best J.T. Walsh Actor” haha. He just had his own style that was hard to put a finger on and was important enough he was part of the plot, but not an obvious part. He was like a “ghost” supporting actor.

I don’t know what the official term is in terms of character terminology, but he seemed in those movies to be an antagonist of types, but not a main featured antagonist. He just played a part in it.

He played a perfect corrupt character in movies where he wasn’t an overtly “evil” corrupt guy, but he had just enough of hint in his persona to make him bad but not “gosh I hate that guy” bad

In Backdraft he was kind of snarky and a smart alec, but it was subtle like I said earlier.

In A Few Good Men, he didn’t even hardly play a huge role, but was corrupt and part of the problem.

Same in The Negotiator.

It seemed like every appearance I saw of him, he was just great all around to play a white collar corrupt person or someone who was corrupt, but it was hidden well enough you didn’t hate the guy but he was still bad.

Anyway, opinions from anyone would be appreciated! It’s a shame he had to pass so early, I think he would have gone on to do many more great films.

PS I flaired this as “discussion” if this somehow is spoiler material, comment below and I will edit

Submitted March 27, 2023 at 03:04AM by FangFingersss https://ift.tt/V8QtX3n