Even though Thanksgiving is behind us, we film fans are thankful for ham … acting, that is. Often synonymous with the showiness of William Shatner (“Khaaaaaaaaaaan!”), hams aren’t bad actors per se; they just know when to exaggerate. A glint in their eyes, the timbre of their voices, and their sheer charisma is sometimes what turns a real turkey into a cinematic main course, honey-baked with all the trimmings – and in a good film gives viewers a meaty side dish.
“The good ham actor exudes an energy that shoots off the screen and smacks you in the face. In short, a good ham actor is a great actor who knows how and when to take things over the top,” the blog Cinema Styles says, listing as examples Charles Laughton (“Mutiny on the Bounty,” “Witness for the Prosecution”), Burt Lancaster (“The Rose Tattoo”), Bette Davis (“Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?”), and Faye Dunaway (“Mommie Dearest”).
Not constantly larger than life, these hams can play subtle, but we love them best when they go hog wild. The wiki TV Tropes affectionately salutes hams for elevating “the most soul-crushingly boring into the most grandiose,” particularly Brian Blessed, the British stage actor with a boisterous voice who is perhaps best known in America as the winged Prince Vultan in 1980’s “Flash Gordon.” (“My thanks to you, Flash … for giving an old bird a second chance!”).
I have my own list of 12 favorite hams — including Yul Brynner, Al Pacino, Michael Keaton and John Goodman — here at Word & Film.