Favorite Whit Bissell Performance
Favorite Whit Bissell Performance
I'll go with his Tom Lister role in Brute Force. His rightwing Senator in Seven Days in Mays is very good also.
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jdb1
Re: Favorite Whit Bissell Performance
Good grief! Ol' Whit has about 300 entries on IMDb - how can we narrow it down?
I'll go with his great noir performance as Richard Basehart's terrified boss in He Walked by Night.
Anyone care to play the "Whit Bissell Game?"
I'll go with his great noir performance as Richard Basehart's terrified boss in He Walked by Night.
Anyone care to play the "Whit Bissell Game?"
Re: Favorite Whit Bissell Performance
I particularly enjoy Mr. Bissell in the 1955 cold war noir opus SHACK OUT ON 101. A great opportunity to see Whit actually do something heroic. I also like his (uncredited) turn as the hospital shrink who gets to hear firsthand from Dr. Miles Bennell (Kevin McCarthy) the strange goings on from INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS.
Re: Favorite Whit Bissell Performance
My top five favorite performances from this giant are: BRUTE FORCE, HE WALKED BY NIGHT, INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (How'd he not get a credit?), SHACK OUT ON 101, and CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (beating out I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF and I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN -- the last three being the movies wherein I learned to recognize Whit Bissell and that he was a learned doctor).
Everyday people...that's what's wrong with the world. -- Morgan Morgan
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
I love movies. But don't get me wrong. I hate Hollywood. -- Orson Welles
Movies can only go forward in spite of the motion picture industry. -- Orson Welles
Re: Favorite Whit Bissell Performance
He's a favorite actor of mine. If they'd stick all of his films on DVD, I'd have a pretty great time waiting for those rainy days.
I don't know 'best' but I think HE WALKS BY NIGHT is a good intro to him. He's often some misguided character, someone on the wrong side, some supporter of the bad guy or the wrong person. And sometimes, he's just the innocent bystander.
I'm sure the Brits have comparables but I always match Whit with Michael Gough, who often IS The Bad Guy. AND misguided!
Both are interesting faces - handsome enough to be romantic leads but, for whatever reasons, seem to have been left as also-ran's or third wheels.
I don't know 'best' but I think HE WALKS BY NIGHT is a good intro to him. He's often some misguided character, someone on the wrong side, some supporter of the bad guy or the wrong person. And sometimes, he's just the innocent bystander.
I'm sure the Brits have comparables but I always match Whit with Michael Gough, who often IS The Bad Guy. AND misguided!
Both are interesting faces - handsome enough to be romantic leads but, for whatever reasons, seem to have been left as also-ran's or third wheels.
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jdb1
Re: Favorite Whit Bissell Performance
I've often thought of Whit as something of a second-tier Hume Cronyn.
I've always liked his speaking voice, which I think very rich, mellow, and distinctive.
I've always liked his speaking voice, which I think very rich, mellow, and distinctive.
Re: Favorite Whit Bissell Performance
Whit Bissell and Hugh Marlowe appearred in 7 Days in May, the former as a U.S.Senator, the latter as a right wing radio commentator.Bissell and Cronyn were in Brute Force.Burt Lancaster started in both 7 Days & Brute Force.
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jdb1
Re: Favorite Whit Bissell Performance
Yes, Whit was everywhere. He was the Harry Morgan of the 50s and 60s.
I was just looking on IMBd -- surprisingly, the seemingly ubiquitous Harry Morgan has 161 screen appearances listed (along with quite a few directorial listings), and Ol' Whit has almost 300 screen appearances.
Maybe you could say Whit was the Richard Lane of the 50s and 60s, except that Richard Lane was the Richard Lane of the 50s and 60s himself.
Speaking of IMBd, there are a few very supportive comments posted on Whit's entry. Here's a piece of one of them:
'Character actor' isn't a good enough term to describe Whit's talents, so, for many years now, I have referred to any reliable character actor that happens to pop up as a 'Whit'. It's an honorific term, meant to notice and celebrate his and other actors' contributions as support in countless films. Whether he's a senator or a janitor, you can always bet that Whit will make a positive contribution to the film in question. What more could you want? Well, he certainly should've gotten more lead roles after the 'I Was A Teenage (fill-in-the-blank)' days. But anyway, he leaves a tremendous legacy. One of the pleasures of watching TV with friends in the 70s was to do 'Whit-spotting' and point him out to others. 'Oh yeah! I've seen that guy before...!' was the usual response.
Aside from his fine performances in the John Frankenheimer classics, and 'Hud', it's good to recall lesser-seen pictures such as 'A Covenant With Death' (1967), certainly one of Whit's most powerful roles, plus he gets a lot of deserving screen time. Also noteworthy, among many others: 'Once You Kiss A Stranger' (1969). As I remember both parts were pretty serious.
His roles were never superfluous, and indeed, they were usually key to the story. He could do it all.
"Watching TV with friends in the 70s" for "Whit-spotting?" Ha! I was a childhood Whit spotter in the 1950s. It is a tribute to Mr. Bissell that even as kids we knew who he was, and we delighted in trying to be the first to spot him and shout his name when we watched a program or movie. I'm wondering if some collegiate Whit-spotter was the one who thought up the "Hi, Bob!" game for the Bob Newhart Show in the 1970s.
I was just looking on IMBd -- surprisingly, the seemingly ubiquitous Harry Morgan has 161 screen appearances listed (along with quite a few directorial listings), and Ol' Whit has almost 300 screen appearances.
Maybe you could say Whit was the Richard Lane of the 50s and 60s, except that Richard Lane was the Richard Lane of the 50s and 60s himself.
Speaking of IMBd, there are a few very supportive comments posted on Whit's entry. Here's a piece of one of them:
'Character actor' isn't a good enough term to describe Whit's talents, so, for many years now, I have referred to any reliable character actor that happens to pop up as a 'Whit'. It's an honorific term, meant to notice and celebrate his and other actors' contributions as support in countless films. Whether he's a senator or a janitor, you can always bet that Whit will make a positive contribution to the film in question. What more could you want? Well, he certainly should've gotten more lead roles after the 'I Was A Teenage (fill-in-the-blank)' days. But anyway, he leaves a tremendous legacy. One of the pleasures of watching TV with friends in the 70s was to do 'Whit-spotting' and point him out to others. 'Oh yeah! I've seen that guy before...!' was the usual response.
Aside from his fine performances in the John Frankenheimer classics, and 'Hud', it's good to recall lesser-seen pictures such as 'A Covenant With Death' (1967), certainly one of Whit's most powerful roles, plus he gets a lot of deserving screen time. Also noteworthy, among many others: 'Once You Kiss A Stranger' (1969). As I remember both parts were pretty serious.
His roles were never superfluous, and indeed, they were usually key to the story. He could do it all.
"Watching TV with friends in the 70s" for "Whit-spotting?" Ha! I was a childhood Whit spotter in the 1950s. It is a tribute to Mr. Bissell that even as kids we knew who he was, and we delighted in trying to be the first to spot him and shout his name when we watched a program or movie. I'm wondering if some collegiate Whit-spotter was the one who thought up the "Hi, Bob!" game for the Bob Newhart Show in the 1970s.