David Strathairn Gives the Performance of His Life in Good Night and Good Luck

There is a group of actors out there who belong to a very special club. Membership in this club means that they have excelled in their profession. They’re never out of work and they are highly respected by their peers. You don’t know their names and when someone mentions them you say, “Who?” But when you see them in a movie you say, “Hey, that guy.” The “Hey, That Guy,” club doesn’t get a lot of recognition outside Hollywood. 

The only stories that they can get written about them usually require some sort of criminal activity. This club has such alums as Joe Pantoliano, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and John C. Reilly. Hoffman is being recognized this year for his work in the film Capote, but another member of the “Hey, That Guy” club also turned in the best performance of his career. His name is David Strathairn and his role of a lifetime is as legendary journalist Edward R. Murrow in “Good Night and Good Luck.” 

Strathairn has always been an actor that has stood out to me. I first noticed him as the dad in The River Wild. It’s not exactly a gem of a movie, but the fact that he was forced to essentially play Meryl Streep’s wife and still made it interesting is impressive enough. The man spent the final act of the movie playing opposite a dog. That’s got to take talent. More recently people may remember him as the man who got lucky with Carmela Soprano while she and her husband Tony were split up. 

Probably his most impressive role to date was in LA Confidential. In that film he was surrounded by a group of actors with a combined total of eight Academy Award nominations between them with four wins. He more than held his own among them. Strathairn played Pierce Patchett, the pimp with employees who looked like movie stars.