Great quote. I don't subscribe to the good guys/ bad guys adolescent view of people. Everyone is complex, and I love drama or literature that explores that. In this case, an actor. I am quickly bored of movies where the lead characters are surrounded by cardboard cutout cliches to make the stars by contrast seem more clever, more beautiful, more interesting. It just makes the writer and director look more dull.
@Abstraction A lot is what an actor chooses to do with the role and Persoff did indeed make the characters he played multi-dimensional—like real people. It’s what made his performances so compelling. I watched him in so many shows growing up.
@bijouxbroussard Agree. I confess I never noticed him, he probably acted too well. You look at the depth of the last two actors who did Joker. Stunning complexity they brought to the character. Joaquin Pheonix and Heath Ledger. I consider Heath Ledger's the most brilliant portrayal of a 'bad guy' in cinema. Some was in the writing, but in both cases the portrayal emerged from them.
Thank you for posting this. I hadn't heard of him, but just did some reading. Fascinating guy with a fascinating life. He was married to his wife for 70 years before she died in 2021.
He seemed to be in half the movies and TV shows when I was growing up....and the characters he played were not one-dimensional even when his part wasn't a major role.
@LordShadowfire He and Norman Lloyd were two of the longest lived character actors. Lloyd passed last year at age 106. He also directed a lot of Alfred Hitchcock episodes.
