Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Frank Langella: By The Numbers

I knew the name when he was suggested to me, but I couldn't automatically put a face to it. Course once I saw a picture I said, Oh... that prink. Which is probably not fair to a man that I'm sure is lovely in real life, but on screen he's pretty much made a career out of playing just that. Still, such issues have never mattered when the question is how good of an actor one is. That's why we run the numbers.



First a quick rundown of how this all works for anyone new:

I take all the films an actor or actress has been in and break them down into three categories, 'Good' 'Bad' and 'Okay.' I do not count TV appearances or Made for TV movies. Afterwards a quick analysis will show whether or not they're a good actor by the numbers. Invariably there is a 2-3 +/- point bias on a person to person basis. Also, since 'ok' movies are not bad they count towards the positive column in the overall figuring. If, by the numbers, they fall in the 50 - 60% range, they're a bad actor; 61 - 70% good actor, and 71 - 80% great actor. Anything higher is unlikely, but will be classified as "elite."


Now let's see how the poor man's Christopher Lee did:




With a few exceptions in his lengthy resume (he's been acting since the 60's) he's made a career out of playing the guy you love to hate in films. Course that same career is made out of movies that I and well, most people it would seem, just hate period. Only in the last few years has he really started to make decent film choices. With 54% negative over 46% positive, he falls well short of the good column. If he continues choosing his roles better, who knows, he may be able to work his way out of the hole he's in. But I doubt it.


Thanks to Stephen for this week's pick.

15 comments:

  1. "...the poor man's Christopher Lee." I think that sums it up perfectly.

    You were probably being generous with him also...

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  2. So a few more roles like "Frost" and he'll break even?

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  3. I like to think that actors are just as evil as they are on screen. It helps to back up my assumption that the world is a terrible, and therefore I'm one of the special ones.

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  4. I always thought of him as a poor man's Christopher Plumber.

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  5. Frank WHO??? Honestly have never heard of him...and his face does not ring a bell. I thought I knew everyone! Sheesh.

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  6. There's always been something striking about him, though. I still remember seeing him in Diary of a Mad Housewife, with Carrie Snodgrass, years ago. He was arrogant and slyly sadistic and just hateful! And so great at it!

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  7. So the guy who was in the backdrop of a lot of crappy movies has a name.....I remember his face, hell I remember faces I haven't seen in 3 decades...so that's not much.... ;) I like your pie charts...reminds me of good ole days...

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  8. I don't know about this...I lurved the Frost/Nixon, and more recently the Money Never Sleeps...he's.so.good.!!!!

    I wonder if he is just in so much stuff, and is preeety much a character genre dude that the good/bad thing isn't applicable?

    Yes, I'm that person, my children are all above average...maybe.

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  9. I will always remember him as Skeletor from the Masters of the Universe Movie.

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  10. I do not believe I've ever heard of this actor. And yay you updated your header!

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  11. Poor Frank. He should quit acting now and go work as a greeter at Walmart.

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  12. It just occurred to me that I've been reading the 'but first for anyone new, this is how BTN works' paragraph, EVERY SINGLE TIME you've posted a BTN.

    Today my brain just screamed at me ANNA!!! YOU KNOW HOW THIS WORKS, YOU ARE NOT NEW! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME???

    I can't help it, my eyeballs see print and read it. I am not a skimmer. Next time though, next time I come prepared.

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  13. I will always remember him for his role in DRACULA, but everything else just sort of melts together..

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  14. Saw him three times in Dracula on Broadway. He was fabulous in the show!

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