Joseph Cotten - Unsung Movie Great

[Paisley]

I really like Joseph Cotten too. He was smooth and polished, yet he was masculine and had an edge.

 

[J. M. Stovall]

Here's a neat quote from Cotten:
"I didn't care about the movies really. I was tall. I could talk. It was easy to do".

 

[Feraud]

Here's a neat quote from Cotten:
"I didn't care about the movies really. I was tall. I could talk. It was easy to do".

haha, that is a good one. I think Sterling Hayden felt similarly about acting.

 

[The Wolf]

Fine, if you're going to beg, I give a clue

They all three played the same role.
One in a movie the other two on radio.

The Wolf

 

[Twitch]

I think of him as not a star but a very solid character actor, and that's not a negative thing.

 

[skwerl-hat]

i loved joseph cotton in citizen kane
i always wanted to find out some more of his work,
good post

 

[Clyde R.]

Yes, he was one of the greats. I've always found him particularly interesting to WATCH. He did have a naturalistic acting style that made it seem almost as if he weren't acting. It's fascinating just watching him in a scene, and trying to catch him "acting."

I particularly liked him in The Third Man. Although he didn't mumble his way through scenes the way Brando would become famous for doing, in Third Man you can see him talking naturally, interrupting or talking over others while they are talking just as happens in real life.

I think it is interesting that Feraud made the comparison to Sterling Hayden's attitude towards acting. Whatever his feelings towards the craft of acting, we're all the better for Cotten's having been an actor.

Hayden was a real life action hero: OSS agent behind enemy lines, a sea captain and adventurer. Cotten was just a really, really good actor.

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

Perhaps his own thread is in order?

I love Sterling Hayden. My favorite performances of his include Suddenly, Zero Hour! and Dr. Strangelove.

 

[DancingSweetie]

Joseph Cotten is one of my favorites. I love Shadow of a Doubt and Niagara.

 

[Hemingway Jones]

.

I am watching " Since You Went Away" (1944) on TCM this morning and there is Joseph Cotten once again playing the strong, no nonsense, American and, in the film, he even waltzes.

It makes me want to watch "The Third Man" once again.

It reminded me of this thread.

 

[Dapper Dan]

Somebody got to it before I did, but I'll say it again anyway. Joseph Cotten was brilliant as Holly Martins in "The Third Man." He is perfectly convincing as an ordinary man who is thrust into an increasingly extraordinary situation as he tries to find the truth behind his friend's death. Orson Welles may have stolen the show, but without Cotten's terrific clueless hero, there wouldn't have been a movie. One of my favorite shots in cinema history is the scene at the very end where Cotten is waiting for Alida Valli on the tree-lined road to the cemetary and Valli walks right by him without looking at him. So he lights a cigarette and smokes pensively. And that's the end of the movie. Brilliant! Carol Reed, what a director!

 

[happyfilmluvguy]

Joseph Cotton definitely didn't get the appreciation he deserved. Great actor, but was hardly ever noticed.

The opening sequence of "The Magnificent Ambersons" is brilliant!

 

[Hondo]

I think of him as not a star but a very solid character actor, and that's not a negative thing.

I believe that’s probably the way he would have liked to be remembered :eusa_clap
A good man, as he lives on in films, greatly missed.

 

[anselmo1]

My favorite Joseph Cotton movie was the little known "The Killer Is Loose" made in 1956. Outstanding performance also for Wendell Corey as the killer!

 

[jazzzbaby]

Just putting in my vote of agreement to everything mentioned here.
Cotten is a celebrated actor to those who enjoy great films.
He is able to command your attention with such a subtle manner....that
you feel very comfortable with him immediately.

He was a great character actor and in my opinion, he definitely
stands up next to the acting giants of his day.

 

[HadleyH]

It's funny how different actors affect us in different ways. And some actors don't affect us at all. For me J Cotten falls in this last category, he could have been there or he could not have been there and I would have never known. I don't mean he was a bad actor or anything, it's just than he never left a big impression on me. [huh]

 

[MikeBravo]

Brilliant

I believe an understated acting style is a real skill.

He is just the best at portraying the "everyman"; an "average Joe" caught up in circumstances beyond his control (and sometimes of his own doing) ... one of my faves is "The Steel Trap" ... check it our for suspense!


I discovered him in my teens when a local TV station had a Joseph Cotten festival on Saturday nights ... The Steel Trap is one that really stood out.

I have to say he was the actor that got me interested in the noir genre, not Bogart, not Cagney, not Robinson, but Joseph Cotten (not that I don't love those guys).

PS I like the guy

 

[DeeDub]

Are we ever going to get the quiz answer?

What do Joseph Cotten, William Powell and Cary Grant have in common?
Besides being leading men of the Golden Era.
...
They all three played the same role.
One in a movie the other two on radio.

The Wolf

I haven't been able to figure this out. I did find that William Powell and Joseph Cotten both played Uncle Charlie in Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt. (Powell on radio, Cotten on film.) I can't see a Cary Grant connection there.

So what is it?

 

[Hondo]

Until last year, there was a thrift store in L.A. called the "Cinema Glamour Shop". Founded by actress Mary Pickford in the 1920s, its profits went to nursing homes for old actors. Golden Era movie stars used to donate their clothes to this store -- it was not uncommon to find dress shirts made for David Niven, or a tuxedo owned by Burt Lancaster.

About a year after Joseph Cotten passed away, back in the '90s, I went to the store and found a bespoke English suit made for Mr. Cotten himself. Turns out that the actor was a dandy: the blue pinstripe, worsted wool suit had a double-breasted waistcoat with peak lapels, and very high-waisted trousers (no belt loops) with inverted pleats and a fishtail back with a buckle strap (but no back pockets to "ruin the line"). The jacket was a two-button single-breasted, with notched lapels. Working buttonholes on the sleeve cuffs. All hand-tailored in London in 1980, though the style was pure 1930s. The size: about a 42 Long. Turns out that Joseph Cotten was tall.

The suit was too big for me, so I sold it at the Vintage Fashion Expo in Santa Monica, California, in 1998. Wish I'd taken photos of it!


.

Was the 42 long meaning coat, chest size? That suit must have been awesome, damn it! I'm near 48", stand 6 ft 2", I'll be on the look out for something Similar, thanks for that bit of info.

Over the weekend on TCM I saw "Since you Went Away" 1944, the first time I had a chance to view from beginning to end, what a outstanding period film, not just Joseph Cotton but all the actors.Wow powerful, the tears.
Sorry to go off topic but after this TCM next followed with "The Americanization of Emily", not a 1940’ish film, but set in 1944 with James Garner and Julie Andrews, do catch it if you can, really a fun film, loved it:eusa_clap

 

[June]

I also watched "Since You Went Away" on TCM last weekend. Joseph Cotten is one of my favorites- very charming. I'm looking forward to revisiting his other roles.