Empire magazine’s website has listed what they consider to be the the 20 best micro-part characters from the Coen brothers oeuvre. Here’s are those 20…

1. Loren Visser (M Emmet Walsh), Blood Simple

2. Dot (Frances McDormand), Raising Arizona

3. Nathan Arizona (Trey Wilson), Raising Arizona

4. Johnny Caspar (Jon Polito), Miller’s Crossing

5. Tic Tac (Al Mancini), Miller’s Crossing

6. Jack Lipnick (Michael Lerner), Barton Fink

7. W.P. Mayhew (John Mahoney), Barton Fink

8. Waring Hudsucker (Charles Durning), The Hudsucker Proxy

9. Buzz (Jim True-Frost), The Hudsucker Proxy

10. Mike Yanagita (Steve Park), Fargo

11. Officer Lou (Bruce Lohene), Fargo

12. Marty (Jack Keller), The Big Lebowski

13. Penny Wharvey McGill (Holly Hunter), O Brother, Where Art Thou?

14. Freddy Reidenschneider (Tony Shalhoub), The Man Who Wasn’t There

15. Gus Petch (Cedric the Entertainer), Intolerable Cruelty

16. Wheezy Joe (Irwin Keyes), Intolerable Cruelty

17. Deputy Wendell (Garret Dillahunt), No Country For Old Men

18. Gas Station Proprietor (Gene Jones), No Country For Old Men

19. CIA Superior (J.K. Simmons), Burn After Reading

20. Sy Abelman (Fred Melamed), A Serious Man

Nice to see a couple of entries from Intolerable Cruelty which I still think is massively underrated suffering, as it does, from the weight of Coen quality prior to it.

What do you think? Has anyone been missed?  Only ONE from The Big Lebowski? I would have Knox Harrington (David Thewlis) in there right away! And no Jesus Quintana (John Turturro), surely Jesus’ part is small enough to make this list? None from The Ladykillers? Let’s talk…

That’s right, Waring Hudsucker has hit the pavement in a whole new way!

Charles Durning the actor who played two memorable roles for the Coens, Waring Hudsucker in The Hudsucker Proxy and Pappy O’Daniel in O Brother, Where Art Thou? was added to the Hollywood Walk of Fame yesterday.

The veteran of World War II (during which he won three (count them- THREE!) Purple Hearts and a Silver Star) and over 100 movies said, “I never thought this would happen. This is one of the secret awards I wanted. I was hoping this would happen in my lifetime and it did.” He can put his plaque on the shelf next to his Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement award which he won in January.

His star is the 2,366th and puts him next to his hero James Cagney of whom he said, “Cagney was my favorite actor and favorite person. I met him once and he was very kind to me. I never got a chance to tell him what I thought, that he was my hero.”

Three cheers for Charles and here’s hoping he has many more movies in him. Hurrah!

Thanks to Juan on the forum for the notification.

Charles Durning will need to introduction to anyone reading this site I’m sure. The fine character actor who brought us Wareing Hudsucker (The Hudsucker Proxy) and Pappy O’Daniel (O Brother, Where Art Thou?) is to be honoured with a lifetime achievement award by the Screen Actors Guild. He’s 84 years old now and has led quite a life which would, one day, make a fascinating biopic. He served his country WWII including the Normandy landings on Omaha beach which was, of course, made famous by Speilberg’s Saving Private Ryan and was also the sole survivor of the battle of Malmedy in Belgium. He received three Purple Hearts and a Silver Star for bravery. Hats off to the man and I hope he has many more memorable roles in him.

Thanks to M@ for emailing this in.