Grade B actor? Check out Paths of Glory from 1957 where he defends a soldier who refused to go on a suicide attack.Probably the first anti-war film. Or Lonely Are The Brave where he's trying to get to Mexico on horseback after refusing to accept modern society and technology.Or Young Man With a Horn.The guy was a giant.
Well given that he's still alive, wouldn't it be correct to say he IS a giant ? Or once you stop making movies you are an ex giant. See, without wanting to be accused of baiting anyone 'cos it'd be just too easy, I just prickle a bit when movie actors are held up to be more than the sum of their parts. There are people in the world that devote their lives to cure disease and work in far away impoverished countries for the benefit of everyone but themselves and pass away un heralded. If people weren't pre disposed to heap adulation on film stars then the plastic people in Hollywood would have to work for a living and really, his movies were a little bit "second string". I don't remember seeing "Young Man with a Horn", but I do know that if it was an Aussie movie it would certainly not carry that title. In all honesty, I reckon his son Michael is better.
