Drunk Acting

I suspect that 95% of all movies have some form of tippling in them. This list barely scratches the surface of drunk performances but let's begin with an award (or two) for the Best Drunk Acting in a motion picture.

Gladys George in "The Hard Way" (1943) is one deserving recipient. Often cast as the frowsy blonde in the '40s, George was an excellent actress and her scene in the bar with Ida Lapino in this flick confirms it - it's a masterclass in the art of pickled acting.

James Mason also wins a Best Drunk Acting award for his scene in the opening of "A Star is Born" (1954). Mason's boozer is delightful one minute, jovially slapping his agent on the back, then violently shoving him into a mirror the next.

It's a long sequence with scant dialogue for Mason so his physicality is key. And this is something actors skim over too often, settling for a medly of swaying and slurring to depict intoxication - like the persistent wobbling of popular character actor Howard St John in "Born Yesterday" (1950).

Many brilliant turns in the stewed category of acting starts with the writer providing astute dialogue and/or tipsy activity, the latter perfectly exemplified by James Gleason's bit with a cigarette in "Meet John Doe" (1941). It's worth the price of admission alone.

Jean Arthur and Thomas Mitchell come out triumphant in another Capra flick when they get juiced together in "Mr Smith Goes to Washington" (1939). Again, at the heart of it is the superior writing.

Of course, without the actors to pull it off, you've got just words on a page. You need to cast those with know-how. Anyone who thinks acting drunk is easy (because, after all, you just do a few shots then play the scene, right?) has never tried it.

Comic drunk acting needs the ring of truth just as much as dramatic scenes do. Red Skelton and Lucille Ball took this skill to another level. Vitameatavegamin, anyone?

In the dramatic department, Susan Hayward earned her swizzlesticks in many a motion picture, turning in sterling portrayals of alcoholics in: "I Want To Live!" (1958) (for which she won the Best Actress Oscar), "I’ll Cry Tomorrow" (1955) and "Smash Up, the Story of a Woman" (1947).

Charley Grapewin (best known as Uncle Henry in "The Wizard of Oz") plays a believable drunk in a small role in "Female" (1933). He was uncredited in that movie, as was Lela Bliss in "Miracle on 34th Street" (1947) who, with only a few lines and some classy shenanigans, nails the society matron whose had one too many martinis.

Noel Coward, perhaps best known as a playwright, gives a great inebriated-and-lecherous performance as the landlord in "Bunny Lake is Missing" (1965).

Worth noting: Coward's contemporary, Dorothy Parker, co-penned two of the screenplays previously mentioned: "A Star Is Born" and "Smash Up, the Story of a Woman". Parker, who was a member of the legendary Algonquin Roundtable, was no stranger to the bottle and once quipped: "Two martinis and I'm under the table. Three and I'm under the host."

In "Murder My Sweet" (1944), detective Phillip Marlowe (Dick Powell) has to entertain a lush (Esther Howard) as he investigates a case. The scene between them plays out as she swills and staggers about. But when Marlowe leaves he takes a last look through her window. His voice-over reveals: "She wasn't drunk…" because he's noticed that "suddenly her hand was steady..." as she makes a phone call. Here, Howard has company with other actors having to perform this acting within acting feat: James Garner in "Move Over Darling" (1963) is a stand out.

Of special note, in a category all by himself: Fred Astaire doing that fabulous sozzled dance routine with Marjorie Reynolds in "Holiday Inn" (1942).

Take a page out of Jimmy Stewart’s book in "The Philadelphia Story" (1940): start with good writing (David Ogden Stewart & Waldo Salt) (including a few choice mixed-up phrases), add great direction courtesy of George Cukor, and good support from fellow actors (Cary Grant, Kate Hepburn); from there, Stewart learned some minimal slurring and wandering eye placement, resulting in a charming drunk.

The Worst Drunk Acting award goes to Joan Crawford in "Ice Follies of 1939". Sorry, JC fans, but there were some things Joan just couldn't do. Skating was but one of them. Ronald Reagan runs a close second for Worst in "She’s Working Her Way Through College" (1952 ), which is also one of the worst movie titles in cinematic history.