Ned Beatty made supporting parts feel worth a film’s attention, giving ordinary and flawed men a persuasive life. We particularly enjoy his comedy: Hear My Song lets him be expansive, and he earns nearly all the fuss.
Fi1m perspective
In Hear My Song (1991), Ned Beatty makes Josef Locke seem worth the trouble of finding. His expansive comic performance gives Peter Chelsom’s romantic comedy someone substantial to search for. We warmed to him almost at once, because he appears to take such uncomplicated pleasure in being Locke. The film can work too hard at being charming, but Beatty’s enjoyment is easy to share. When he is on screen, Chelsom can stop insisting on how much fun we ought to be having.
That gift for giving a part substance was there from his screen debut as Bobby Trippe in Deliverance (1972). He became a familiar supporting actor, often playing Southern or working-class men whose flaws did not make them any less credible. The short corporate appearance as Arthur Jensen in Network (1976) put his conviction to a different use: he could make authority felt with little time to establish it. As Otis in Superman (1978), alongside Gene Hackman, he had room for broader comedy.
In Hear My Song, Chelsom’s confidence that a search for a singer can restore faith in people sometimes becomes wearing. Dunbar and Beatty give us two engaging people to watch while the director pursues that idea. Beatty’s performance is broad, and that is right for a character whose reputation has to make the journey seem worthwhile. We would not call the film more than a good romantic comedy; its pleasures are modest, and it grows less persuasive when it presses for more. His presence is a reason to forgive much of the fuss.
The recurring Southern and supporting types could make the casting predictable, even when the actor was worth watching. Later work included voicing Lotso in Toy Story 3 (2010), but the useful starting point is still a part that lets him enjoy himself. Try Hear My Song if a little determined whimsy does not put you off an evening.
Biography
Ned Beatty was an American actor. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, he began his career in theatre before making his film debut in Deliverance (1972).
He appeared in more than 160 film and television roles. Notable performances include Bobby Trippe in Deliverance, Dardis in All the President's Men (1976), Arthur Jensen in Network (1976), Otis in Superman (1978) and Superman II (1980), and Josef Locke in Hear My Song (1991). He also voiced Lotso in Toy Story 3 (2010).
Beatty received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Network. He was also nominated for two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe Award, the latter for Hear My Song, and won a Drama Desk Award for his stage work in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
