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Posted: |
Oct 19, 2009 - 9:17 AM
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By: |
Jim Phelps
(Member)
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While watching a first season Hawaii Five-O episode, "The Big Kahuna", I was impressed with how guest star John Marley "played" someone of Hawaiian descent. Later, in a S3 episode of Five-O, Marley plays a Greek political exile! Then, in The Godfather, he was the recipient of a horse head in his bed as the "Jewish" studio boss, Jack Woltz. Also, in reading his IMDB profile, Marley played an Italian priest in an episode of Delvecchio.
John Marley--the son of Russian immigrants-- was just one of several character actors who could (and did) convincingly played various "ethnic" characters. Looking back on it now, it's interesting how certain actors played many other ethnic characters. This of course meant that actual people of a given group wouldn't get a job because they could just make up Ricardo Montalban or Charles Bronson to play a certain role in that guise.
I don't watch much of today's movies and TV, but I have to wonder if there are any actors who still get to play several different ethnicities...not counting Sasha Baron Cohen. 
So who else was/is noted for this manner of casting?
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Ricardo Montalban played all sorts of ethnic characters throughout his career and never once changed his accent (like Sean Connery plays a Russian with a Scottish voice). Michael Ansara was also one for playing a wide variety of ethic roles.
What I always found less than admirable was the use of Anglo actors as Asians. This pretty much came to an end buy the time the 70's rolled around, but it was all over the 60's. Even the aforementioned Montalban played a Japanese in the first one hour episode of Hawaii Five-O "Samurai." Meanwhile there was no shortage of Asian actors to play the background guys or menials.
Henry Silva was another actor to play a variety of types.
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The obvious examples would be the white guys that were made up with black face paint to play African Americans in the silent era (like BIRTH OF A NATION or Al Jolson in THE JAZZ SINGER). But I guess that's a bit beside the point.
Jolson wasn't playing an African-American in THE JAZZ SINGER (or any other film).
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Yes, but he's not playing an African-American as a character, his character in Jazz Singer is Jewish. The blackface scenes are where he's in a minstrel show. Minstrel shows were white performers in exaggerated blackface makeup, no one thinks they are actually 'black' characters.
Have you seen The Jazz Singer?
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Of course. Which is why I said that the "blackface" phenomenon was a little beside the point of the topic starter. Granted, the BIRTH OF A NATION example is probably a better one, but both are examples of the same phenomenon - even if Jolson plays a character WITHIN a character.
Jolson's 'character within a character' is not supposed to be a black person. Your Birth of a Nation example was good, the Jolson example was incorrect.
But yes, we've take this thread OT - please let it get back on track.
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Rod Steiger and Paul Muni
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