And Also Starring...

George MacCready (r) with Kirk Douglas and Richard Anderson in Paths of Glory

Whilst writing away on The Big Clock, I got to thinking about the great character actors. In the case of that movie, consider George MacCready, who plays Charles Laughtons’ icy second-in-command Steve Hagen.

MacCready is one of those faces that you see pop up all the time in secondary roles, and in a lot of cases, they are as memorable as the big names.

Think of Gilda, and Rita Hayworth’s cuckolded husband – That was MacCready. He was also the unscrupulous General Mireau in Paths of Glory. There were a ton of other lesser-known roles, usually as a cool-headed baddie, such as the underrated George Raft thriller Johnny Allegro.

In what will be a regular feature here at filmscreed, I will take a few moments to give props to some of these supporting players.