Ted "The Baritone" Levine
You gotta love an actor with a great, deep, bone-rattling voice. I know I do. And Ted Levine has got one in spades. You might notice his deep, haunting eyes. Or you might focus on his scowling, intense facial expressions. Or maybe even cower under his imposing stature and hulking frame. But, whatever you notice first, it is the rumbling, colon-loosening voice erupting from his throat that goes home with you and keeps you coming back for more!
Although born in Cleveland, this meticulous artist cut his teeth at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater. He gained TNMC pantheon status early on, portraying career criminal Frank Holman in Michael Mann's "Crime Story" TV show, opposite the revered Dennis Farina. This soon led to many large-screen triumphs, including "Next of Kin", "Heat", Tobe Hooper's "The Mangler", and his ultra-creepy role as the serial killer in "Silence of the Lambs" (alas, a movie who's success is usually -- and erroneously -- attributed to Anthony Hopkins or Jodi Foster). A brief flirtation with comedy in "Flubber" (albeit still as a bad guy) preceded his outstanding turn as Starbuck in the TNT/Patrick Stewart version of "Moby Dick". And he was just about the only reason to waste $5.25 on the matinee showing of "Wild Wild West", playing the deliciously violent General "Bloodbath" McGrath.
All of these roles had one thing in common: that great, rumbling Ted Levine baritone voice, making your teeth rattle and your eyeballs vibrate, and letting you know that you are enjoying one bad-ass bad guy who will not be denied! Ted Levine, keep it up! The Thursday Night Movie Club salutes you!!!!
"Ahab, you are one sick, twisted mamma-jamma..."
(okay, he didn't really say that, but he could have!)
Extra photo, used without permission.....
