Fatty Power —
I should have saved this title for something that actually has to do with fat power, but I’m more thinking about harnessing the power of fatties to help me compile a comprehensive list of all the fat actors and actresses, living or dead. I’m writing an essay on media messaging regarding fat men, but I want to compare them to a list of women. Also, I’m not worried about whether they’ve lost weight (although it’s worth noting, as majority will be women), but his/her weight at the time of his/her first memorable role. Also, nobody who has gained weight then lost it for a role.
You’ll also notice that my definition of “fat” for men and women is different. Personally, I don’t think Nia Vardolos or Janeane Garofalo are fat, but compared to their contemporaries, they were fairly zaftig. I also noticed that there weren’t many examples of fat actresses from the “golden age,” Hattie McDaniel, Elizabeth Taylor and Margaret Dumont being the notable exceptions. Of course, there are plenty of men from that era. This may be due to the fact that so many of the actresses from that era were fat by today’s standards. But what about fat for the Marilyn era?
I’m looking for people who fairly recognizable. I’ll post the list of men and women that I’ve compiled. It’s mostly men now, obviously, but if you can think of anybody that I’ve left out, please blurt it out.
| Men | Women |
| John Goodman | Roseanne Barr |
| George Wendt | Kathy Kinney |
| Drew Carey | Kirstie Alley |
| Jackie Gleason | Delta Burke |
| Ricky Gervais | Nikki Blonsky |
| Jeff Garlin | Marissa Jaret Winokur |
| Andy Richter | Queen Latifah |
| Kevin James | Raven Symone |
| Rob Reiner | Mo’Nique |
| David Anthony Higgins | Aida Turturro |
| Danny DeVito | Rosie O’Donnell |
| Lou Costello | Ricki Lake |
| Zero Mostel | Kathy Bates |
| Dom DeLuise | Camryn Manheim |
| Nathan Lane | Gabby Sidibe |
| John Belushi | Raven Goodwin |
| John Candy | Kathy Najimy |
| Kevin Smith | Carrie Fisher |
| Jack Black | Nia Vardolos |
| W.C. Fields | Jill Scott |
| Kenan Thompson | Brooke Elliot |
| Jon Lovitz | Dawn French |
| Artie Lange | Jennifer Saunders |
| Tom Arnold | Lesley Boone |
| Rodney Dangerfield | Phyllis Smith |
| Randy Quaid | Danielle Fishel |
| Louie Anderson | Jennifer Hudson |
| James Coco | Margaret Cho |
| William Frawley | Caroline Rhea |
| Jonah Hill | Janeane Garofalo |
| Seth Rogan | Melissa McCarthy |
| Zach Galifinakis | Hattie McDaniel |
| Ken Hudson Campbell | Elizabeth Taylor |
| Richard Riehle | Margaret Dumont |
| Abe Benrubi | Lillian Russell |
| Craig Robinson | |
| Robby Coltrane | |
| James Gandolfini | |
| Steve R. Schirripa | |
| Vincent Pastore | |
| Joseph R. Gannascoli | |
| Steven Van Zandt | |
| Alfred Hitchcock | |
| Burl Ives | |
| Dennis Franz | |
| Sydney Greenstreet | |
| Raymond Burr | |
| Charles Laughton | |
| Divine | |
| Forest Whitaker | |
| Broderick Crawford | |
| Brian Dennehy | |
| George Dzundza | |
| Ernest Borgnine | |
| Charles Durning | |
| Ned Beatty | |
| James Doohan | |
| Philip Seymour Hoffman | |
| Charles Coburn | |
| Edward Arnold | |
| William Conrad | |
| Sebastian Cabot | |
| Victor Buono | |
| Monty Woolley | |
| James Earl Jones | |
| Marlon Brando | |
| Orson Welles | |
| Richard Griffiths | |
| Robert Morley | |
| Andy Devine | |
| Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle | |
| Oliver Hardy | |
| Wayne Knight | |
| Jason Alexander | |
| Ethan Suplee | |
| Chris Farley | |
| Nick Frost | |
| Brian Baumgartner | |
| John C. Reilly |
Oh! I thought of one! What about Amber Riley for the women’s list?
Cool, thanks Annissa!
Peace,
Shannon
Mae West
I was torn with Mae. Was she really considered fat for her day? The standards were MUCH more lax for women back then, but for men it’s been pretty much anything goes for a while. I’ll sit on Mae for a while. Thanks Vesta.
Peace,
Shannon
So glad you remembered Sydney Greenstreet (aka the fat sweaty villain always filmed from a low angle to make him look more sinister.)
I would add the one and only Mary Jo Pehl. Also, Louise Beavers. I also thought about Rosemary Clooney, but I guess she was more well known as a singer, and I have no idea what size she was at the beginning of her career.
Well Courtney, you win a cookie for mentioning MJ… did you know I interviewed her for the podcast?
And Sydney… well, if you’re an MST fan you’ll remember the guy who was his double in “Overdrawn at the Memory Bank.” I always loved him. I’m dividing the men into Comedy and Gravitas, and he’s definitely under gravitas.
I hadn’t heard of Louise Beavers. Great addition. I think I’ll leave Clooney out because I just want people who were chosen for certain parts to compare portrayals of fatties.
Anyway, welcome and thanks for joining in.
Peace,
Shannon
Your interview with Mary Jo is how I found you! It was linked from mst3kinfo, I think. Since MST3k and fat are two things I think about A LOT, I listened immediately. And then you played a clip of my favorite Pearl moment ever! So I subscribed and am now working my way through the episodes of your podcast.
But also! Joe Don Baker. Lover of that great big buttery moon. Not sure if he is well known enough, but he was in a couple of Bond flicks and Reality Bites.
And, not MST3k related, but perhaps Whoopi Goldberg would be an appropriate addition?
First of all, allow me to extend you a fond Hi-keeba!
I had to look it up on mst3kinfo now. I didn’t even realize that’s where all the traffic came from! Thanks for letting me know. I hope you enjoy the podcasts.
I can’t believe I forgot Joe Don Baker.
Joe Don Baker is Mittens.
Definitely added to the list. Geez, now I have to think of all the MST heavyweights, like Claude Akins and Donald Room-Clearer Pleasance and Coleman Francis! Woohoo!
I think Whoopi would be appropriate. Thanks.
And welcome!
Peace,
Shannon
Of course you should add Joe Don to the list. Go ahead on.
I tried not to duplicate from your list, so forgive me if I did.
Actresses from Fat Friends BBC : Alison Steadman, Ruth Jones, Josie Lawrence, Gaynor Faye, Rita May, Janine Mellor, Susan Cookson, Meera Syal
Actresses from Gilmore Girls : Liz Torres, Melissa McCarthy
10 Hottest Fat Celebrities : America Ferrara, Jennifer Coolidge, Liza Snyder
Actresses from Celebrity Fit Club : Erin Moran, Tina Yothers, Shar Jackson, Nicole Eggert, Kaycee Stroh, Maureen McCormick, Erika Eleniak, Tempestt Bledsoe, Kelly LeBrock, Jackée Harry, Kim Coles
A post at Body Impolitic links to a PDF about Fat Women in film but also lists some of them : Shirley Stoler, Hattie McDaniel, Sophie Tucker
NYT post about 50 fat celebrities : Kathleen Turner, Denise Borino, Oprah, Sally Struthers, Rachel Hunter, Carnie Wilson, Danielle Fishel, Phyllis Smith
Other Actresses I thought of : Delta Burke (Designing Women), Christina Schmidt (Degrassi the Next Generation)
Thanks Elizebeth. I’ll go through these later… we’re on our way to Chevy’s. Jennifer Coolidge I’m torn on. I don’t think of her as fat, but she is definitely zaftig.
Peace,
Shannon
atchka -
It’s your list, so I will not be insulted if you do or don’t use any of my suggestions.
Eliz
As always, a wealth of information. Thanks Elizebeth! And incidentally, looking up Shirley Stoler led me to these awesome posters for “The Honeymoon Killers”.
http://www.wileywiggins.com/Honeymoon_Killers_The.jpg
http://www.amanandamouse.com/blogspot/honeymoonkillers.jpg
Thanks again!
Peace,
Shannon
Shelly Winters, I remember her from The Poseidon Adventure back in 1972. She was fat then and they didn’t think she was capable of doing the film, if I remember rightly. Seems to me she did a damned fine job, though.
There’s a remake of the film coming out (or out already) and I wonder if they have a fat actress for her role now…………….
Oooooooh… good one! I love Shelly Winters. She was great in Alfie and Lolita .
Peace,
Shannon
Ok, the new Poseidon Adventure came out in 2005, and Sylvia Syms, the British actress played Shelly Winters’ part, and she’s a plus-size lady too.
Good find, I’ll add her to the list too.
Peace,
Shannon
I love movies from the 30′s and early 40′s so all of these actors are no more.
Men:
Eugene Pallette
Wallace Beery
Victor McLeglen
Thomas Mitchell
Claude Rains
Women:
Marie Dressler
Jane Darwell
Mary Boland
Marjorie Main
Elvis Presley was still a sex symbol at the end
Also very true. The man was just as popular and powerful at both ends of the scale.
Peace,
Shannon
Conchata Ferrell who has quietly has been doing a lot of acting.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004916/
Oh yeah, I recognize her. And she reminded me of the Elaine Miles from Northern Exposure. Thanks!
Peace,
Shannon
M. Emmett Walsh
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001826/
Another actor that just keeps going like the energizer Bunny
He sprung to mind last night. I love him in “The Jerk.”
Peace,
Shannon
I think you need to define “fat actor” far, far more distinctly. You’re mixing in folks who actually worked when fat (Hattie McDaniel, Roseanne Barr) with folks who grew fat after retirement (Liz Taylor, anything that showed up on Celebrity Fit Club after 20 years of invisibility), with folks who were not fat by contemporary standards when they were called fat (Margaret Cho, Janeane Garofolo). And how does Carrie Fisher get here at all? Her acting size-remember, the Leia costumes toured widely a few years ago so a lot of us have been within arms length of the actual clothes she wore on camers- were tiny, like size 00 tiny, like doll’s clothes tiny. That she’s gained weight in middle age when she’s not working as an actor doesn’t make her a fat actor.
Lisa,
Liz Taylor never really retired. She was “normal” sized in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolfe, for example. Margaret Cho’s weight has fluctuated throughout her career, and she’s never been thin by Hollywood standards. Women are definitely held to a higher standard in Hollywood, so women like Cho and Garofalo were called fat and stood out as fat in amongst their acting peers. It’s not that they were actually fat by any stretch of the imagination, but it has to be taken for granted that whoever cast them took their weight into consideration because that’s how shallow and self-conscious Hollywood is. And that’s why these women were pointed out as “fat” in the media.
Incidentally, I thought Garofalo was kind of chubby in The Larry Sanders Show.
Carrie Fisher is on the list because she is still performing in one-woman shows and she still gets roles in film from time to time (Austin Powers, for one). I think I’m mainly looking at actors and actresses who were cast for roles while fat (again, because their weight is ALWAYS a preoccupation in Hollywood… most were relegated to character roles for that very reason).
Does that help?
Peace,
Shannon
The late, lamented Wendie Jo Sperber. She was the only fat girl on TV while I was growing up as a fat girl who won an acting scholarship, but gave it up because she figured she’d never get any leading roles anyway.
I loved her. She was probably best known as the spunky sidekick friend on “Bosom Buddies,” the show that launched Tom Hanks’s career. She was also one of the leads on the short-lived “Babes,” a sitcom about three fat sisters that aired around 1990, and she was in “Back to the Future”.
Speaking of old sitcoms, how about Nell Carter of “Gimme a Break” and Broadway fame? Esther Rolle of “Good Times” and “Maude”? Mabel King from “What’s Happenin’!!” as well as “The Wiz” and “The Jerk”? (And while we’re on “What’s Happenin’!!”, add Fred Berry.)
Don’t forget the utterly divine Marianne Sagebrecht, in “Baghdad Cafe”, “Rosalie Goes Shopping”, and “Zuckerbaby” (among others)!
How do you have William Frawley but not Vivian Vance? I know she wasn’t supersize, but she was clearly cast to be Lucy’s dumpy friend and definitely qualified as chubby.
Redd Foxx? Brian Blessed? John Rhys Davies? Gert Frobe (Auric Goldfinger, nemesis of James Bond)?
This is fun….I’ll come back if I think of some more. :->
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawesome! When I added Frawley I didn’t even THINK about Vance. *SLAPS FOREHEAD*
Great additions and welcome to Fierce, Freethinking Fatties!
Peace,
Shannon
Well HI there Marty! Haven’t seen you around the Fatosphere, unless you’ve been posting in disguise. Are you still running SeaFattle? I hope you have some time to drop by and post occasionally.
I don’t know a lot of actors and actresses, but does Darlene (What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?) Cates count?
Hi Mulberry! Um, would I know you by another name? :-> No lurking in disguise; I’ve been working on other things and more low-key in fat issues lately, but still jumping in when I see the opportunity. SeaFATtle has, sadly, been moribund for a few years now, although occasionally there is talk of a reunion, reforming, even throwing the Fall Fat Women’s Gathering again someday, so who knows?
You might know me by some other handle; we’ve bumped into each other here and there over the net, but haven’t really been cyber-buddies. I first met you on the ancient newsgroup, alt.support.big-folks. You can get my email from Shannon and contact me if you wish.
And now I’d better bow out of this thread before someone discovers how very little I know about actors and actresses.
Hi
Plus sized people seem to get a lot of character actor parts
Peggy Rea best known as Cousin Rose on The Waltons. Another face everyone will know
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peggy_Rea
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0713762/
Frances Bavier
As Aunt Bea on the Andy Griffith Show she was always ready to hook up with the right Senior Gentleman that passed by.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0062592/
William
Lets not forget Aida Turturro from the Sopranos. She was on there 7 years and also did movies
Drew Carey is now VERY thin - at least to me. Jennifer Hudson is now a spokesperson for a weight loss company. Do you plan on changing the list to remove those actors/actresses who have lost a lot of weight, or are they there as a reminder as to what fat people can accomplish even if they are on the heavier end of the body spectrum?
I love the list, and it certainly helps me to feel better about myself. Thank you very much.
Neicy Nash.
You can take Raven-Symone off that list now. She’s sold out and lost a lot of weight. Just Google
http://www.inquisitr.com/113872/raven-symone-weight-loss-secret/
Here’s an image of her
http://tv.popcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/raven-symone-weight-loss-peoples-choice-awards.jpg
Yeah, I was sad to see Raven jump on the diet bandwagon, but I’m sure she’s been told she can get better roles if she was thinner. If your dream career (and every actor considers what Raven-Symone has achieved their dream career) was threatened, you would do anything to cling to it. And once you do lose the weight, you get so much positive press and attention, that it’s worth working out four hours a day to maintain your physique. Too bad the rest of us aren’t getting paid millions to stay thin. Weight loss might be more sustainable then.
Welcome to Fierce Fatties, Elm.
Peace,
Shannon