This prolific actor may not have been the star of these pictures but he brought a depth that made his time onscreen count.<\/b>
\nNed Beatty, who died on Sunday at 83, was the quintessential character actor. He looked like a regular guy, not a movie star, so he didn\u2019t play leading roles \u2014 he played supporting characters, best friends, background figures and bureaucrats. He did so in 165 films and television shows before retiring quietly in 2013, and he always understood the assignment; some projects were great, others less so, but Beatty always shone Here are a few of his highlights, and where you can watch them. 1972 Rent or buy on Amazon, Apple, YouTube, Vudu and Google Play. Beatty, who cut his teeth on the stage, made his film debut in John Boorman\u2019s adaptation of James Dickey\u2019s novel of the same name. As one of four Atlanta businessmen on a camping trip in the Georgia backwoods, Beatty deftly conveys the discomfort of a man deeply out of his element with his outdoorsy pals. He\u2019s then singled out for the most excruciating humiliation by the locals, who make sport of harassing and assaulting the out-of-towners: he\u2019s raped at gunpoint and forced to \u201csqueal like a pig,\u201d in one of the most disturbing scenes of its era. This was a tough, demanding role, but Beatty was up to the task, playing the character\u2019s considerable trauma and regret with gut-wrenching depth. 1975 Rent on Vudu. Buy on Amazon, Apple, YouTube, Vudu and Google Play. Robert Altman\u2019s critically acclaimed mosaic of America just before the Bicentennial deployed a stacked cast of characters \u2014 24 of them, including several country music performers who demand the attention and focus of everyone around them. Rather than try to compete, Beatty leans back. His character, Del Reese, is a power broker \u2014 the lawyer for a Nashville star and an organizer for an enigmatic presidential candidate \u2014 and Beatty, as in many of his best performances, is not afraid to underplay, speaking softly and wielding his (minimal) power only when necessary. But he makes every moment count: A brief scene of strained interaction with his wife and children tells us everything we need to know about how much he\u2019s prioritized his work over his family. 1976 Rent or buy on Amazon, Apple, YouTube, Vudu and Google Play. In dramatizing how Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein broke the story of the Watergate burglary and its cover-up, the director Alan J. Pakula and the screenwriter William Goldman had to juggle a dizzying array of names, faces and relationships. Wisely, they filled many of these roles with distinctive character actors who could make an impression, even in the briefest of appearances, and Beatty certainly fit that bill. As Martin Dardis, an investigator for a Florida state\u2019s attorney, he helps Bernstein connect the Committee to Re-Elect the President to one of the Watergate burglars. But Beatty doesn\u2019t play the scene like a whistle-blower; he focuses on the character\u2019s packed schedule, memorably treating Bernstein less as a fellow truth-seeker than an interloper and an inconvenience. 1976 Stream on Amazon Prime Video, HBO Max and The Criterion Channel. Beatty\u2019s teddy bear physique and palpable affability made him a go-to guy for genial characters throughout his long career \u2014 and thus, some of his most compelling performances turn that perception upside down. Such is the case with his work in Elaine May\u2019s combination of crime movie and character study, most of which plays as a two-hander between the stars Peter Falk and John Cassavetes, both in top form. But Beatty is every bit their equal as the hit man hot on Cassavetes\u2019s trail, a role that could have easily been written and played as a bumbling buffoon. Yet Beatty imbues the character with a quiet sense of professionalism and menace, raising the stakes of his pursuit considerably (to the picture\u2019s great benefit). 1976 Rent or buy on Amazon, Apple, YouTube, Vudu and Google Play. Beatty had a big year in 1976, which not only saw the release of \u201cAll the President\u2019s Men\u201d and \u201cMikey and Nicky\u201d (as well as \u201cSilver Streak,\u201d \u201cGator\u201d and \u201cThe Big Bus\u201d), but also of this scathing media satire by Sidney Lumet and Paddy Chayefsky. Beatty received his one and only Oscar nomination for this role. He appears in just one scene, as Arthur Jensen, chairman of the media conglomerate that owns the television network at the story\u2019s center. But he makes a meal of that one scene, with an electrifying monologue of corporate fealty and capitalism as evangelism that sounds less and less like satire with every passing year. 1980 Stream on the Criterion Channel. Rent or buy on Amazon and Apple. Beatty didn\u2019t play too many out-and-out villains, but when he did, he didn\u2019t pull any punches. As G.P. Myerson, the C.I.A. director, Beatty deploys inventive profanity and wormy authoritarianism, and worst of all, he makes an enemy of Walter Matthau\u2019s Miles Kendig \u2014 who then spends the rest of the movie using his spycraft to humiliate his former boss. To Beatty\u2019s credit, none of his residual good will hobbles the picture or our rooting interest in its hero, Kendig; his Myerson is a louse through and through, and there\u2019s real satisfaction in watching him get his comeuppance. 1989-94 Stream on Amazon Prime Video and Peacock. Like many of his peers, Beatty embraced TV in his later years, with a memorable two-season turn on \u201cHomicide: Life on the Street\u201d and an Emmy-nominated role in the TV movie \u201cLast Train Home.\u201d But his most widely seen television work came via a handful of appearances on the sitcom smash \u201cRoseanne\u201d \u2014 in which he played Ed Conner, father to John Goodman\u2019s Dan. It was a particularly inspired bit of casting, almost a passing of the baton, as Goodman would spend the ensuing years honing a similar style of affecting (yet often underappreciated) character acting. 1993 Stream on Amazon Prime Video. In the hands of a lesser actor, the character of Daniel Ruettiger (Beatty), father to the football-obsessed Rudy (Sean Astin), could come off as obstructive or even villainous. But Beatty plays the role with such grace and sensitivity, his intentions are always clear: he loves his son and believes in him, but just doesn\u2019t want him to get hurt (emotionally or physically). Yet when Rudy\u2019s moment of small triumph arrives, no one cheers louder than dear old Dad. \u201cRudy\u201d is rightly described as the ultimate sports weepie, and it\u2019s Beatty who helps deliver the emotional wallop of its conclusion. 2010 Stream on Disney+. One of Beatty\u2019s final roles was also one of his trickiest, even though it was a voice-only performance in a Pixar sequel. As Lotso, the cuddly teddy bear who welcomes the film\u2019s gang of toys to Sunnyside Daycare, Beatty at first projects a welcoming, wholesome warmth \u2014 qualities later revealed as a false front for the bitter, nasty vindictiveness at the character\u2019s center. It serves as a nice reminder, even late in his career and within a family franchise, of the kind of complexity and nuance Beatty brought to every role.<\/p>\n