Milo O’Shea, an Actor of the Stage and Screen, Dies at 86

The New York Times ^ | April 3, 2013 | Douglas Martin

[EveningStar]

Milo O’Shea, an Irish character actor — recognizable by his black bushy eyebrows, tumble of white hair and impish smile — whose films included “Ulysses,” “Barbarella” and “The Verdict,” died on Tuesday in Manhattan. He was 86.

[chimera]

That had to be one of the best punches Newman ever threw.

[miss marmelstein]

I forgot those details. It’s still one of my favorite movies. The actors (especially Paul Newman) are splendid and the script by David Mamet is terrific.

[miss marmelstein]

I can tell you that the punch he gives Rampling caused mayhem in the theatre I saw it in originally. No one had ever seen such a thing. Hitting such a delicate woman who, nevertheless, betrayed Newman.

I remember vividly how James Mason - that great gent who played the opposition lawyer - condemned that bit of violence. Very Mamet violence.

[chimera]

Newman should have won the Oscar for this one, and would have if he weren't up against Mahatma Gandhi. So I think the Academy recognized the error and gave it to him for The Color of Money, which was good, but not as strong a performance as in Verdict. Oscar does that sometimes.

Newman is probably my favorite modern-era "classic" actor. I have a signed picture from George Kennedy obtained at a collector's convention and I asked him about working with Newman on Cool Hand Luke (which was Kennedy's Oscar-winning gig). He said that working with Newman was "difficult" because he was terribly perfectionist when it came to the acting craft. But still, working with Newman the Legend was his great honor.

[chimera]

It was a bit of a shocking scene. He really clocked her a good one. James Mason was also great. I had a sense that deep down his character of the rich lawyer also had a trace of honor. I saw in his expression in the end when the verdict was read a sense of resignation, as if he really didn’t want to deal with his clients who at that point he suspected were really guilty and covering up their malfeasance. His expression was something like a mixture of “Oh, sh*t! (we lost)”, and then, “Well, okay, so much for that...”.

[miss marmelstein]

Yeah, Mason, like all good actors, is able to transit complex thought processes. Outside of “Nobody’s Fool,” it’s my favorite performance of Newman’s.