List of obese actors in United States cinema

In the golden age of Hollywood, there were many character actors on the silver screen who made a good living playing a “fat man.” http://www.danagioia.net/essays/efatmen.htm Sante, Luc and Melissa Holbrook Pierson, "O.K. You Mugs: Writers on Movie Actors" (1999) Random House. ISBN 0-375-40101-6 ] A “big” man seemed heroic, but a “fat” man added a note of tragedy. de Jong, Peter, "Being the big guy," New York Times, Feb. 10., 1991, pg. SM44. viewed online 9/16/06 (subscription) Says it seems heroic to play a big guy, but tragic to play a fat guy.] Movie reviews of the golden age of Hollywood referred to the characters and actors as “rotund” or “roly-poly” without any note of criticism or implication they should lose weight. Today, the more politically correct terms “overweight” or “obese” are used, and the overweight actors have trouble finding work, but there are still occasional casting calls for “fat” actors. [http://actorschecklist.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=119&sid=44e66385d028ab84dc1b7572115d4777 News and information for actors: casting call for “My Catskills Summer” asks for “4 Husbands (Machers): 30s-50s, must sing and dance, strong willed New York character types, fat, bald, funny, obnoxious.“ viewed 9/16/2006] Actresses are held to an even more severe standard of thinness, even as the overall population in the United States is reaching new levels of obesity. Today most fat characters are played by thin people in fat suits. [http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1514229/11212005/story.jhtml Heitmueller, Karl, Rewind, does the fat suit really fit anyone in Hollywood?” at MTV.com. Viewed 9/16/06] [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE1D9163DF93BA15754C0A9669C8B63 Mitchell, Elvis, “Film review: Mad scientist’s weight loss formula for disaster’” New York Times, July 20, 2000 Eddie Murphy in a fat suit. Viewed 9/16/2006] , A “fat actor” was not just a leading man who had put on a few pounds. Instead he sought roles calling for a “fat man,” and it was as much a stereotype as “romantic lead” or “hard-boiled private eye.” He might play a funny guy like Lou Costello, “a gangster type,” like 400 pound Victor Buono, Gaiter, Dorothy J. "Victor Buono dies on coast at 43; known for portrayals of villains" New York Times, Jan. 3, 1982, pg. 28. Weighed 400 pounds, played villains. viewed online 9/16/06 (subscription)] or pure menace, like 357 pound Sidney Greenstreet as the “Fat Man” in "The Maltese Falcon."

Famous fat actors

*Jason Alexanderhttp://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=50465 Reed, Bill, "Fat in America'" Freedom News Service, at East Valley Trubune.com viewed 9/15/2006]
*Fatty Arbuckle
*Edward Arnold
*Wallace Beery
*Walter Olkewicz [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Olkewicz]
*Ned Beatty [http://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/filmography.html?p_id=4810&mod=bio Brennan, Sandra, "Ned Beatty," New York Times, Movie online main page, "portly character actor" viewed 9/17/2006 ]
*John Belushi [http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800018622/bio "zany and hefty" viewed 9/16/2005]
*William Bendix
*Fred Berry [http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/TV/10/22/rerun.obit/index.html]
*Jack Black [Rottenberg, Josh, "Jack out of the box'" New York Times, Sept 28, 2003, pg. SM 36. Refers to Black as "this generation's outsized, outrageous comic actor," and says he "often plays stony fat dudes."]
*Ernest Borgninehttp://glassdog.vox.com/library/posts/tags/movie/ Review of Poseidon Adventure remake]
*Marlon Brando
*Johnny Brown [http://valdefierro.com/timest47.jpg]
*Victor Buono
*Raymond Burr Fretts, Bruce, "Remote Patrol." Entertainment Weekly, New York, Oct. 30, 1998. Issue 456, pg. 94, 2 pgs. Says "fat guys rule the tube this season," listingDzundza, Franz, Knight, Durning and Carey, as following in the footsteps of Gleason, Goodman, Frawley and Conrad. Calls Hung "fat action hero." Says audience likes to see heroes who look like them. ]
*Sebastian Cabot Flint, Peter B. "Sebastian Cabot, 59, a character actor," New York Times, August 24, 1977, pg. 32. "proud of his rotundity," weighed 280. viewed online 9/16/06 (subscription)]
*Drew Carey
*Charles Coburn
*James Coco [Bennets, Leslie, "James Coco, character actor on stage, on tv and in films," New York Times, Feb. 27, 1987, pg. D19 "roly-poly actor who parlayed his sizeable girth into a successful career in character parts that ranged from the comic to the terrifying" viewed online 9/16/06 (subscription)]
*Robbie Coltrane
*William Conrad [ [http://www.tv.com/william-conrad/person/1910/summary.html William Conrad Photos - William Conrad News - William Conrad Information ] ]
*Lou Costello [ Stanley, Fred, "Hollywood Flash" New York Times, April 16, 1944, pg.X3. Refers to Costello as "rotund comic" and "fat boy" re film "Lost in a Harem." viewed online 9/16/06 (subscription)]
*Dom DeLuise [http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?_r=1&res=9F0DE2D71730E532A25753C1A96E9C946890D6CF&oref=slogin Canby, Vincent, "Film:DeLuise directs himself in 'Hot Stuff'" New York Times, August 10, 1979 "portly, often hypertensive actor" viewed 9/17/2006 ]
*Andy Devine
*Brian Dennehy http://www.backstage.com/bso/news_reviews/features/feature_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002503633 Horwitz,Simi "Fat and Fabulous?" May 16, 2006 at Backstage.com, the actor's resource. viewed 9/15/2006 ]
*Charles Durning
*George Dzundza
*Chris Farley [http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Boulevard/7384/dec18.htm "Comedian Chris Farley dies" Reuters "overweight actor" played "overweight motivational speaker" and "unhealthy Chicago Bears fan." viewed 9/15/06]
*W.C. Fields
*Dennis Franz
*William Frawley
*James Gandolfini
*Jackie Gleason
*John Goodman
*Sydney Greenstreet
*Oliver Hardy
*Sammo Hung
*Burl Ives [Shanley, J.P., "The rustic trail" New York Times, June 20, 1954, pg. X1. Refers to Ives as "rotund actor." viewed online 9/16/06 (subscription)]
*Wayne Knight [ [http://www.hollywood.com/celebrity/Wayne_Knight/189485] "rotund character actor" per Hollywood.com, retrieved April 25, 2007] [Keogh, Jim "Many must die to repair lackluster `Lost World'" Telegram & Gazette. Worcester, Mass.: May 29, 1997. pg. C.2. "..Knight does lose points for playing fat and obnoxious characters.."]
*Charles Laughton [Calta, Louis, "Charles Laughton reads in Brooklyn" New York Times, Nov. 22, 1950, pg. 35 . Refers to Laughton as "rotund actor." viewed online 9/16/06 (subscription)]
*
*Robert Morley [Krebs, Albin, "Robert Morley, jowly actor of jovial roles, dies at 84," New York Times, June 4, 1992, pg. B12. viewed online 9/16/06 (subscription)]
*Kevin Smith [ [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0003620/ Kevin Smith (I) ] ]
*Michael Tucker [Oney, Steve, "Once a nebbish, now a sex symbol," New York Times, April 12, 1987, pg. A1 "Roly- poly character actor" became "roly-poly heart-throb" on L.A. Law.]
*Orson Welles
*Don Wilson [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0933311/bio IMDB Biography]
*Monty Woolley

References

Notes

ee also

*Character actor
*List of character actors

External links

* [http://www.cswd.org/tvmediadiscontv.html Council on Size & Weight Discrimination: Weight discrimination on television] viewed 9/15/2006
* [http://www.audienceoftwo.com/mag.php?art_id=725 AFI 100: Saluting Our Fattest Actors] parody list