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Character Actors

Hmm, not sure. Though I don't think I ever remember seeing David Niven play a bad guy:
david-niven-00o-3cu-1000x750.jpg

But he was very English, so I may well be wrong ;)
 
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Why was he always a bad guy?
Good question. :thinking:

But he wasn't a BAD bad guy, like a creepy, slimy weirdo of the neighborhood. He was a sophisticated bad guy, using brains, not braun, to commit his crimes.

I loved his appearances on Columbo. :D

Those of you who have no clue who 'he' is, that was Jack Cassidy. He fathered two sons who achieved varying degrees of stardom themselves: David Cassidy, teen idol as a member of The Partridge Family, and Shaun Cassidy, who had his own brief run as a teen idol, singer, pop star.
 
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Hmm, not sure. Though I don't think I ever remember seeing David Niven play a bad guy:
david-niven-00o-3cu-1000x750.jpg

But he was very English, so I may well be wrong ;)
You're wrong. :eek:

One of my first contemporary memories of Niven was as the suave, debonair crook in The Pink Panther. Much of that movie was over my head at the time. The main thing I remembered, and giggled about when re-telling it, was the recurring sight/sound of Peter Sellers being driven away in police paddy wagons, once with balloons sticking out the back doors. :D

I'm positive he played a sinister husband...but it's not coming to me.

He wrote some excellent, highly entertaining books, which I still have.

But I think his spontaneous quip at the Oscars--when a streaker ran across the stage--was the highlight of his wit. :D
 
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You're wrong. :eek:

One of my first contemporary memories of Niven was as the suave, debonair crook in The Pink Panther. Much of that movie was over my head at the time. The main thing I remembered, and giggled about when re-telling it, was the recurring sight/sound of Peter Sellers being driven away in police paddy wagons, once with balloons sticking out the back doors. :D

I'm positive he played a sinister husband...but it's not coming to me.

He wrote some excellent, highly entertaining books, which I still have.

But I think his spontaneous quip at the Oscars--when a streaker ran across the stage--was the highlight of his wit. :D
I guess the problem with my memory was that even when playing a crook he never really came across as bad. And of course my personal typecast of him would be his character from A Matter of Life and Death.

Now an actor who never played anyone you could ever describe as "bad", that's a challenge. Especially when we stick to the theme of the thread (which Niven, undoubtedly a star, does not fit). Hmm...
 
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I guess the problem with my memory was that even when playing a crook he never really came across as bad.
I hear you! It's hard to think of regal David Niven as a bad guy. Gentleman thief, a la The Pink Panther, definitely, but bad guy? Never!
 
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