Martin Scorsese names one of American cinema’s “very best actors”
Any actor worth their salt is usually pretty desperate to work with the industry’s greatest filmmaking minds, and for many, this means the great American director Martin Scorsese. Elevating the performances and profiles of the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Tom Cruise, Scorsese is responsible for helping to craft some of the greatest movie characters of all time.
Therefore, to be complimented by Scorsese is no mean feat, especially when he is so glowing in his praise. The Star Wars actor and indie darling Adam Driver is one of the few icons to gain the Scorsese seal of approval, with the director stating back in 2022, “I can’t tell you the perseverance and the beauty of the performance and the experience I had with him,” regarding their collaboration in 2016’s Silence, “He has marvellous screen presence. One of the best, if not the best, actors of his generation”.
Yet, Driver isn’t the only lucky actor to receive such praise, indeed, as a lover of classic cinema, Scorsese is very complimentary of some of the industry’s greatest names.
Whilst not as widely well-known as De Niro or DiCaprio, the American actor Robert Ryan was one such icon worthy of praise in Scorsese’s eyes. Rising to fame in the 1940s, Ryan went on to star in some of the greatest movies of the late 20th century, including Sam Peckinpah’s Wild Bunch, Robert Aldrich’s Dirty Dozen and John Sturges’ Bad Day at Black Rock.
“Robert Ryan was one of the very best actors that the American cinema ever had,” Scorsese started with his glowing evaluation, “But he was also one of its greatest presences. He had remarkable skills as an actor (an expressive voice; a sense of hard, angular movement; penetrating insights into his characters), but his face and his big, powerful body had the same kind of pungency you would find with character actors such as Eugene Pallette and Ward Bond”.
Going into detail regarding his physical performances, Scorsese added: “He had a long face and a dark, heavy brow, and whenever his characters verged on hysteria—which was frequently, because he specialized in playing people who were coming unhinged—it was frightening. He understood hurt and the way it intersected with masculine pride, and how dangerous that could get”.
Only nominated for one Academy Award during his career as an actor, gaining the nod for his performance in 1948’s Crossfire, Ryan goes down as something of an undervalued actor in the history of American cinema. Of course, as an ardent student of cinema, Scorsese doesn’t agree, concluding: “Robert Ryan was a great actor, but it seems more fitting to call him a great artist”.
Take a look at a clip of Ryan from Crossfire below.
