Personal traits and idiosyncracies

[mrsl]

By this title I mean something I've noticed in all my years of watching westerns, is the way different people mount their horses. The tall guys like Randolph Scott, John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart and Chuck Connors mount their horses in a kind of glide. Their height allows them to heave their right leg up and over with grace and suddenly they're mounted. Others, like Gene Autry, Audie Murphy, and even Jim Garner take a little hop just to get their foot in the stirrup, and sometimes another hop to get their leg up and over the horses' back. Gene Autry is especially cute.

Then there are the young boys and women. Boys like Johnny Crawford often hop up with both arms over the saddle before getting their foot into the stirrup and women also do this often. Unless someone helps them up, they can't reach the stirrup from the ground, so they need the advantage of being already off the ground to get their foot in the stirrup.

Also, I notice the clothing choices. Jeans are the primary trousers, but the styles are interesting. Some wear 2 or 3 inch cuffs, outside the boots, and others wear the pants leg tucked inside the boot. John Wayne favors the double breasted shirt where he can unbutton the top two buttons and it lies in a kind of triangle across his chest. Randolph, nearly always wears a scarf tied around his neck, over a light tan, chambray shirt. Unless he's in uniform he seems to favor light colored shirts, and in cooler weather, he wears a worn leather dress type jacket. Audie Murphy and Jimmy Stewart also wear scarves, although not always tight around the neck, sometimes they are loose. Joel McCrae almost always wears a jacket, even in the desert, and brown corduroy pants.

This may all sound dumb, but it's kind of like Cary Grants' suits, and Rosalind Russells' shoulder pads, or Lucille Balls' hats.

Do you notice any basically personal traits about your favorite, or favored actors?

Anne

[cmvgor]

"Asta", the canine star of the /Thin Man movies, had a couple of
traits I remember.
1. Could't pass a lamp post. He marked his territory every time he went
on a walk wilth his people and/or their friends. They would chat along,
sometimes with dialogue that actually advanced the plot, and Asta's leash
would suddenly become taut. The leash would stretch in the direction of
the lamp post while they continued their conversation. When it relaxed, they could continue their progress until they reached another item that
needed to be marked. In those Hayes Office days, that was probably the
only way to do a gag like this. It worked; it was very funny, and it worked better than, say, Benny Hill's take on the same gag.

2. NOT an attack dog, by any means. A desperate William Powell, confronted by an advesary, would bluff, "This dog will rip you to shreds!"
while this dog was doing his damndest to get under the nearest piece
of furniture. I think I remember at least two sequences like this . Always
funny. Of course, Asta was not one of an attack dog breed, and that was
the basis of the humor.

[traceyk]

Bette Davis and her lethal cigarette smoking (poke, poke, poke--I keep waiting for her to set the cutains on fire)

[MissGoddess]

Cary Grant had a habit of plunging his hands in his pants pockets. Men often lit up a cigarette to give their hands something to do but Grant stopped smoking (at least in movies) by the 1950s and from then on looked rather awkward with his hands. It was charmingly done, of course, but it's amusing to read that he personally thought this an uncouth habit for men to do.

[mrsl]

Miss Goddess:

that habit of Carys' never occurred to me until you just mentioned it. Now in my head, I'm thinking of all the times he put his hands in his pockets in all different kinds of films. Good eye!

Anne

[pktrekgirl]

Very good catch on Cary Grant. It is not any sort of annoying trait, by any means...but it is sort of a signature move.

One that I have noticed is Spencer Tracy's habit of rubbing his head when his character is thinking, almost like he is trying to muss up the hair on the top of his head.

Another one is from Warren William, who seemed to have the habit of leaning forward slightly when he laughed.

[cmvgor]

Daryl Hannah had a downright distracting habit early in her career that
I don't remember seeing recently. Coincidentally, it is caught perfectly
in her IMDb photo. With the camera full on her she would focus screen
right (audience left), then break that pose, face the camera or the other
person, and give her line. I think it was her way of showing the viewer that she was thinking over what to say, but she looked like an actress who
was checking the cue cards. This manouver showed up prominently in
The Pope Of Greenwich Village and Legal Eagles.

I may be riding a prejudice here. Hannah never played a character I found sympathetic until Steel Magnolias, but she's made up for it
since.

[moira finnie]

Maybe it was her way of making the most of some sparsely written roles, but Fay Bainter could "cluck" and "tsk" with the very best of 'em. Fay also could hurl a thousand reproaches to other characters with one (usually well-deserved) glare.

After having watched Anthony Perkins in Goodbye Again the other day after avoiding many of his appearances in movies for a long time, I was struck by the fact that the poor guy was one loosely held together mass of ticks! His head bobs, blinks and stutters probably did indicate his understandable underlying nerves, but jeepers, I wanted to make the poor devil a cup of chamomile tea.

Perkins' near constant movement in each scene highlighted one other thing: Ingrid Bergman's ability to express a vivid interior life for her character with a minimum of movement and expression. Her relatively economical approach also seemed utterly natural and so much could be conveyed with her eyes. The woman even showed grief with her back turned to the camera.

Oh, one inherently feminine characteristic that shines out of Bergman's work, as it does from perhaps slightly less accomplished actresses than her, such as Katharine Hepburn and Natalie Wood, is a tendency to tilt her head to the side whenever she's being flirtatious. I doubt if it's entirely conscious choice for any of the actresses, since any woman from 8 to 80 will find herself employing it sometime.

[cmvgor]

After having watched Anthony Perkins in Goodbye Again the other day after avoiding many of his appearances in movies for a long time, I was struck by the fact that the poor guy was one loosely held together mass of ticks! His head bobs, blinks and stutters probably did indicate his understandable underlying nerves, but jeepers, I wanted to make the poor devil a cup of chamomile tea.

moira;

That description of Perkins brought Hugh Grant to mind. No elaboration
needed, IMO.

[pktrekgirl]

^ Humm...I never noticed those things about Hugh Grant.

Thankfully.

I think he is adorable.

[klondike]

[quote="pktrekgirl"] > "Very good catch on Cary Grant. It is not any sort of annoying trait, by any means...but it is sort of a signature move.

One that I have noticed is Spencer Tracy's habit of rubbing his head when his character is thinking, almost like he is trying to muss up the hair on the top of his head. " <


You're exactly right, pktrek; I've been noticing that little "tell" of Spence's for years now, but until you mentioned it here, I hadn't realized that we have a modern actor who does the same exact thing (though I doubt he's ever made this connection): Denzel Washington!

[pktrekgirl]

^ And Michael J. Fox too.

[MissGoddess]

I've often noticed how Lauren Bacall uses her hands. It seems that if she isn't holding a cigarette she appears ill at ease with her hands and often will make a gesture that looks as though she were holding a ciggie even when she's not.

[The Ingenue]

I was watching The Major and the Minor again tonight, which got me thinking about a Ginger-ism I've noticed in several of her films.

Ginger often leans on something behind her, putting her right arm back to reach it, her left hand on her hip. This stance appears in The Major and the Minor during her first scene with Diana Lynn; she leans against the mantelpiece. In Stage Door, Ginger leans against a bureau as she sizes up Katharine Hepburn.

The Ginger stance appears quite often, but at the moment I'm at a loss to remember any other examples. Week-End at the Waldorf, perhaps?

I've often noticed how Lauren Bacall uses her hands. It seems that if she isn't holding a cigarette she appears ill at ease with her hands and often will make a gesture that looks as though she were holding a ciggie even when she's not.

I've noticed that too. Once when I was younger and trying to imitate Bacall, I got a striped blouse similar to the one she wears in To Have and Have Not and held my hands in front of me like she does: arms bent at the elbows, one hand resting upturned in the palm of the other. It's actually quite comfortable.

[MissGoddess]

I've noticed that too. Once when I was younger and trying to imitate Bacall, I got a striped blouse similar to the one she wears in To Have and Have Not and held my hands in front of me like she does: arms bent at the elbows, one hand resting upturned in the palm of the other. It's actually quite comfortable.

Hi CarrieLiz! I had a stepmother who used that gesture a lot, too. Maybe I noticed in Lauren because I remember her doing it.

I mentioned the way Cary Grant plunges his hands into his pockets when he'sill at ease in a scene but I should include Frank Sinatra as well. Both actors do it quite often and I think it's the cutest thing.

Frank also acquired a "Bogie-ism". It is something you'll see many actors and even actresses do back in the days of unfiltered cigarettes: they take a puff from their ciggie then put a hand to their mouth to remove a tobacco fleck. Bogie made it a habit and I noticed Frank picked up on it.