If I could have been a movie actor before 1960 I'd probably want to have been a character actor. One of those guys you see in a supporting role but without whom the picture wouldn't have been as good. Take Eugene Pallette for example.
Probably best known as the portly Friar Tuck in Errol Flynn's The Adventures of Robin Hood, he actually started as a leading man in silent films ("What a Character: Eugene Pallette"). His most famous roles were as a side-kick or as comic relief, often playing a well-to-do man, a police officer, or a government official. I have yet to see a movie with Mr. Pallette that I didn't like. Or more precisely, I have never seen a film that wasn't better for his presence. Currently Hell Below is on TV and he is rather good as the forward torpedo room Chief on a submarine during World War I. Having been raised by a Navy Chief I can attest that his portrayal is true to form and this helps gives the film genuine gravitas despite the otherwise sappy romance story at it's heart.
