MovieChat Forums > Ned Beatty Discussion > Which role do you connect him with?

Which role do you connect him with?


^

reply

Without being dismissive of his many roles and lengthy career.....no-one does 'bumbling' like Mr Beatty.....so for that reason I'd have to choose 'SUPERMAN - THE MOVIE' (or DELIVERANCE)

But he's very good in 'non-bumbling' roles, also

reply

Hmm, he gave a stellar performance as Sheriff J.C. Connors in Gator, The Big Easy let's us see Jack which was nice, obviously he was Bobby in Deliverance (Stand out role) and he was Otis in Superman, as well as Lotso in the Toy Story movies...

...I'm going to with with his unforgettable rendition of Sheriff Buford T. Justice in Live and Let Die with his dog Flash.

reply

Deliverance - can't remember character's name though.

reply

An actor with great range who does indeed do "bumbling" quite well as he demonstrated as Otis.

I also remember him from "Roseanne" when he played Dan Connor's father. It was a multi-layered character who had serious relationship problems with his son. Ned Beatty was able to pull off a serious role in a comedy and still be funny.

reply

I watched CSI Las Vegas a lot when I was younger and I remember Ned Beatty playing a murdering dentist.

Didn't know it was the same actor from Superman.

reply

Deliverance and Shooter.

reply

Very talented all around, but Superman pops into my head first.

reply

His brilliant , Oscar-nominated single scene in Network, where he gives that long roaring speech to Peter Finch: "You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale..and YOU.....WILL....ATONE!!

Contrast that brilliance with the dopey Otis.

Deliverance, but its not really a performance of his that one can enjoy...

reply

His brilliant , Oscar-nominated single scene in Network, where he gives that long roaring speech to Peter Finch: "You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale..and YOU.....WILL....ATONE!!
Yes, a scene so brilliantly dark and funny (w. Beatty so good in it) that the Coens have restaged versions of it half a dozen times, e.g., in Lebowski, The Man Who Wasn't There, A Serious Man, Barton Fink, and so on.

reply

Yes, a scene so brilliantly dark and funny (w. Beatty so good in it) that the Coens have restaged versions of it half a dozen times, e.g., in Lebowski, The Man Who Wasn't There, A Serious Man, Barton Fink, and so on.

---

I never really thought of those scenes being based on THAT scene but...yeah.

I think that Beatty scene is one of the greatest "one shot" scenes in movie history: the words as written by Chayefsky, the words as spoken(and sometimes yelled) by Beatty, the dark opulence of the setting(a very dark boardroom with bright green lamps at every seat at the long empty table.)

It was a bitter Oscar irony that Network cadged three of the four acting Oscars for 1976 -- Finch for Actor(posthumously), Dunaway for Actress, and another "one scene wonder"(Beatrice Straight) for Supporting Actress. But Beatty LOST -- to Jason Robards as Ben Bradlee in All the President's Men.

It was too bad. Robards looked a lot like the real Bradlee, gave us a great "crusty editor" character to run the movie over Redford and Hoffman -- and likely cadged the Oscar to give All the President's Men a "mercy win" for the night(much as Kim Basinger winning Best Supporting Actress for "LA Confidential" did the same.)

But I think what Beatty did was more spectacular and unforgettable than what Robards did...and it would have been nice for Network to score four out of four (has any movie done that at the Oscars?)

reply

i'm 35 so i remember him most as Dan's Father on Roseanne. But I also know him from deliverance.

reply

Deliverance, with honorable mention to Superman.

reply

Deliverance.

reply