Outspoken & Freckled

This post is part of the “What a Character!” blogathon, hosted by Aurora at “Once Upon a Screen“, Kellee at “Outspoken & Freckled“, and Paula at “Paula’s Cinema Club“, and it runs from September 22-24.

In his book Talking Pictures: Screenwriters in the American Cinema, critic Richard Corliss wrote, “There were so many (character actors) in the forties that directors had an incredibly rich source to tap, and they (the character actors) were so good that writers worked hard to give them some special lines, because the bit players always gave them a special delivery. Whether the bits seemed so good because of the players, or vice versa, is open to question; but this richness was certainly symptomatic of a healthy industry”. While I would argue this was just as true in the 30’s as it was in the 40’s, I would certainly…