Why Not National Character Actors’ Day?

L-R: Elisha Cook Jr., Thelma Ritter, Charles Lane, Agnes Moorehead

I love character actors, especially those from the classic Hollywood era. For the most part they weren’t household names, didn’t grab the headlines, and probably weren’t often interviewed about their work. Many of them lived long lives, perhaps because they weren’t constantly in the public eye the way big stars like Cary Grant, Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Clark Gable, or dozens of others were. Yet many of these character actors found a spotlight on television shows, and fans were always delighted when they showed up.

L-R: Nehemiah Persoff, Mildred Dunnock, Darryl Hickman

Recently I watched an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents called “Heart of Gold” from Season 3. Darryl Hickman plays Jackie, a young criminal just released from prison who promised his cellmate Allie (who’s still in lockup) he’d visit Allie’s family. Allie’s mom Martha (Mildred Dunnock) and her other son Ralph (Nehemiah Persoff) are skeptical of Jackie’s motives, but soon warm up to him. For a while…

I’ll leave you to watch the episode (which is quite good) yourself, but as I viewed it, I realized we’d lost both Hickman and Persoff within the last few years. I knew Persoff had a long career, but didn’t know about his costars until I looked them up and discovered something interesting:

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Film noir fans will remember Dunnock as the unfortunate woman in the wheelchair from Kiss of Death (1947). She died in 1991 at age 90. Her acting career lasted for 55 years.

Persoff’s first four film appearances were in noir or noir-stained films, but he worked in television for seven decades. He died in 2022 at 102 and, like Dunnock, enjoyed a 55-year career.

Hickman, who died in 2024 at 92, will always be remembered by noir fans as the young man who met a very bad end in Leave Her to Heaven (1945). According to IMDb, Hickman’s career lasted 63 years.

What these actors must have remembered… and forgotten, unless they were prompted to remember.

Or maybe not…

Years ago writer Marc Scott Zicree interviewed Burgess Meredith as part of a commentary track for “The Obsolete Man” on the Blu-ray release of The Twilight Zone. Listening to the audio interview, two things became immediately clear: Zicree’s nervous excitement in talking with a film, television, radio, and theatre legend, and Meredith’s aging memory.

Zicree asked about the episode and what it was like to star in it. Meredith’s response was usually that he didn’t remember, it was a long time ago. This pattern continued until finally a somewhat frustrated Meredith said that those television shows were shot quickly. It was a short gig. You acted your part and moved on to the next job. Remember that Meredith had a 68-year career that included more than 180 film and television credits, to say nothing of his radio and theatre performances. His work on “The Obsolete Man” probably amounted to just a few days of work.¹ Although it was no doubt refreshing for Meredith to be asked about something other than the Rocky movies, Clash of the Titans, or the Grumpy Old Men pictures, there probably wasn’t much to say about those TV episodes.

I was thinking about Meredith as I watched “Heart of Gold,” wondering about Dunnock, Hickman, and Persoff. Like Meredith, each of these actors probably thought little about the work they did on this or any other TV show. I imagine those jobs took less than one week of their lives. Maybe they were asked about them in interviews, but more than likely they weren’t. It’s very possible they never gave those episodes a thought after the cameras stopped rolling. It was time to move on to the next role.

Now think about the projects you’ve worked on in your lives. Do you really remember them, especially the short-term assignments you had working alone or with others at your workplace from 20, 30, or 40+ years ago? A few weeks ago I was reminded of a presentation I gave to a group of high school trumpet players at a regional band clinic in the ‘80s. Without that reminder, I never would’ve remembered that event. And I can’t tell you one thing I told that group.

I think we tend to forget that no one working on those television shows thought anyone would remember them nearly seven decades after they aired. But folks like you and I do. People still watch those shows. That’s important for several reasons:

We see wonderful performances from actors who were giving it their all. In “Heart of Gold,” Dunnock, Persoff, and Hickman each portray characters that feel genuine. Dunnock’s character is cautiously welcoming to Jackie, yet we sense a drive in her we can’t quite identify. There’s nothing in the script to convey this, but rather Dunnock’s understanding of the character that comes across in body language, vocal inflection, and her eyes. Likewise Persoff as Ralph is territorial and exudes confidence and maybe even danger. He moves as if his home is to be preserved and protected. His eyes challenge Jackie to keep his distance, yet all the while he encroaches on the young man’s personal space, speaking in a voice that runs the gamut from welcoming friend to roaring lion. Hickman is very good, but overplays his role only slightly in his guarded reactions and pleadings that he can be trusted. In his defence, the actor was only 26 when the episode was filmed.

“Heart of Gold” gives the audience a good story, but it’s what the characters do with the story that make it memorable. Yes, all three were actors contracted to play these characters for a short time, then move on to another show or movie to play different roles, learning their lines quickly, but in a way that makes them unforgettable while you’re watching them.

I can’t say for sure, but they probably were seldom asked about these smaller roles. They should’ve been. Many of them are stellar. Maybe it was just another day at the office for those character actors, but for their fans, such moments are gold.

National Actors’ Day was recently celebrated on September 8, but I’m proposing a National Character Actor’s Day. Let’s pick a day and make it happen! I welcome your comments, including your favorite character actors. Thanks for reading.

1. Meredith also appeared on three other TZ episodes: “Printer’s Devil,” “Mr. Dingle, the Strong,” and one of the show’s finest moments, “Time Enough at Last.”