THE CHARACTER ACTOR OF THE WEEK IS...

Familiarity Breeds...

The Character Actor of the Week is...

Austin Pendleton!

Probably best-known as the stuttering lawyer from My Cousin Vinny, Pendleton also lent his peculiar blend of excruciating shyness and smug egotism to Otto Preminger's mad psychedelic curio, Skidoo (1968), as Fred the Professor; Mike Nichols' Catch 22 (1970), as General Dreedle's (Orson Welles) son-in-law; Billy Wilder's The Front Page (1974), as the inept anarchist Earl Williams; and John Herzfeld's 2 Days in the Valley (1996), as the dogwalker who slyly insults Paul Mazursky's film career.

Though Pendleton's pronounced overbite, defeated posture, and mopey eyes would seem to indicate a career spent playing desperate, introverted losers, he can steal a scene easily by flashing his pained grin, transforming himself from schlameel to counterculture know-it-all in the blink of an eye.

Although he's often contributed the best moments to so-so film projects (First Family, Mr. Nanny, Guarding Tess, Raising Flagg...), Pendleton's career in theatre has been decidedly more illustrious. As a director and actor he's been nominated for numerous Tony Awards, won a few Drama Desk Awards, helmed productions for Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre and the Circle Repertory Company, and written several oddball Off-Broadway plays. His closest cinematic counterpart is Wallace Shawn, another theatre big-wig who slums gloriously on the big screen.

-- Charles Lieurance