Live Poll: IMDb Users Favorite Character Actor

JASON ROBARDS! Ultimately he became a leading actor, but for many years he was second man to the leading actor   

I suggest Dub Taylor, if he counts.  He seems like a crazy character actor to me.  He's in a lot of cheesy movies, so when comes on screen I know I'm having fun.  But if he doesn't count, that's okay.  :)  https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0852305/

steven gilborn...michael ironside...walter abel...milo o'shea...stephen root...strother martin...eli wallach...phil leeds (truly a classic)...jack elam...burgess meredith...joe e. louis..bob balaban...etc...


hope these help...

riverotter,

For your consideration:
Paxton Whitehead
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0925717/
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0925717/bio

... Whitehead was the Artistic Director of the Shaw Festival, the second-largest repertory theatre in North America. The Shaw Festival at Niagara-on-the-Lake began as an amateur summer happening. It developed into a professional, international event, particularly under Paxton Whitehead, its dedicated artistic director from 1966 to 1977. ...

My choice is Stephen Root.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0740535/?ref_=nmls_pst

Danny DeVito.
Do you see him as a character actor?

For reference, there are also...

• The Face Is Familiar
• That Guy... Who Was in That Thing
• That Gal... Who Was in That Thing: That Guy 2
• That Guy Dick Miller

I'm not aware of any older documentaries about this topic featuring character actors prominent in decades further back. I should like to bring up Harry Dean Stanton, but I'm not sure if he spent time as character actor. I remember thinking that he rarely starred in anything. Samuel L. Jackson had been something a character throughout the 1980s and perhaps earlier in the '70s as well.

Jackson is a leading man.
 I added Stanton

I nominate 3 time Oscar winner for actors, Walter Brennan

Academy Awards, USA
1942 Nominee
Oscar Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Sergeant York (1941)
1941 Winner
Oscar Best Actor in a Supporting Role
The Westerner (1940)
1939 Winner
Oscar Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Kentucky (1938)
1937 Winner
Oscar Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Come and Get It (1936)

I nominate 6 time Oscar nominee for actresses,Thelma Ritter

Academy Awards, USA 1963 Nominee
Oscar Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
1960 Nominee
Oscar Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Pillow Talk (1959)
1954 Nominee
Oscar Best Actress in a Supporting Role
Pickup on South Street (1953)
1953 Nominee
Oscar Best Actress in a Supporting Role
With a Song in My Heart (1952)
1952 Nominee
Oscar Best Actress in a Supporting Role
The Mating Season (1951)
1951 Nominee
Oscar Best Actress in a Supporting Role
All About Eve (1950)

FYC, I assume you are using the term "character actor" in the gender neutral sense. I think a combined male/female answer pool is far more interesting. But, your poll needs more female representation. Maybe asking for one actor and one actress per poll member would balance things out. I would think these actresses would be in the conversation:
Beulah Bondi,
Ruth Gordon,
Anne Revere,
Ethel Barrymore,
Mercedes McCambridge,
Angela Lansbury,
Marisa Tomei,
Geraldine Page.
Otherwise, changing the question to: Who is your favorite male character actor? would offer more clarity.

Does Michael Caine count? He had many supporting roles.

I hesitate between John Turturro and Steve Buscemi... and I can't decide!

George Kennedy

I'd like to nominate a woman but Denis O'Hare has been my favorite for years. 

Already added my #1 pick, but I'm disappointed no one's nominated John Carradine. :-(