Hand Acting
When I had the utter pleasure of directing the great Graham Crowden some years back, we had a couple of insert shots to do in which the Great Man was required to handle some seashells, and some coins.
“Just a bit of hand acting required here,” I would tell Graham.
“Oh I’m very good at that!” he would flash back, without fail. The same reply would also serve, it turned out, for foot acting, or anything else I suggested. A joy.
Here are some other good bits of hand acting I’ve enjoyed recently. Perhaps you can identify the hands in question, or the films, or both?
An easy one to start with! One of the great hand actors of all time.
Now something trickier, especially since I’m no longer sure myself who it is. But if I’m right, the words “You have to be Hungarian and double-jointed,” may serve as a clue.
Regular readers may recognise this one ~
And two more images from one more film —
Not sure who the guy in the foreground is, but his hand almost acts as an extension of the dude in the background’s performance. And some of you can probably identify him.
For bonus points — who are the best hand actors working today? I’m not sure I can think of any.
shadowplay 
October 2, 2009 at 11:18 am
like dancing, a lost art?
October 2, 2009 at 11:30 am
Your mention of “the dude” and hands reminds me of the time I saw Mark Cousins interviewing Jeff Bridges. Bridges recounted how, during the making of The Iceman Cometh, he noticed a pool of sweat on the table where Robert Ryan had rested his hand. Robert Ryan explained to Jeff Bridges about his anxiety and fear while acting a scene, and how, if he had no fear doing a scene, then he really would be fearful!
October 2, 2009 at 11:36 am
Who is the first one? I remember seeing Michael Gambon being upstaged by his own enormous hands in The Caretaker a while back,a nd have always kept an eye on his hands ever since. But it’s Daniel Day Lewis who really springs to mind. “OOPSYDAISY!” “DRINKYOUR MILKSHAKE!” Timeless hand-acting.
October 2, 2009 at 11:43 am
The telephone hands aren’t Barbara Stanwyck in Sorry, Wrong Number, by any chance?
October 2, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Simon, I think those are good choices. Gambon’s great slabs of hand are very effective tools, and Day-Lewis is very expressive.
A further topic might be all-time best hand actors. I like Vincent Price’s handiwork — the rest of his body is a mess, but his hands and face are very articulate. And Lee Tracy is maybe the all-time champion hand actor, his hands are like Barrymore’s on speed.
The first three sets are all European hands, if that helps.
No Stanwycks. I’ve never taken particular note of her hands, but I’m sure they’re great. It’s her eyes I particularly love.
October 2, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Don’t forget Bresson!
October 2, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Is the hand with the finger pointing skywards Martin Landau or Johnny Depp?
October 2, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Bresson is very big on the digits, yes. His dictum of letting the part stand for the whole is a very sound one.
Peter, you’re on the right track, but it’s not them, it’s somebody one of them played.
October 2, 2009 at 2:00 pm
That makes it Bela Lugosi.
October 2, 2009 at 2:20 pm
No clue about the others, but I’d say the hand pointing skywards belongs to Alfred Hitchcock.
Apparently, many otherwise exquisite screen divas suffered from unattractive hands. Even as a gorgeous young thing, Liz Taylor had hands that were plump and podgy (shape of things to come?) and Catherine Deneuve has a similar handicap (along with a derriere for which CinemaScope was surely invented). But with faces as ravishing as those…
Barbara Stanwyck’s hands might well be worth a look. One rather eccentric chap I know claims that he can always tell a lesbian by her hands. Not that his theory makes any sense to me…but if it’s true, it could settle those rumours about Babs once and for all.
For me, the most exquiste and expressive hands in film history belonged to Conrad Veidt.
October 2, 2009 at 2:57 pm
The Hand of God:
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/rodn/ho_08.210.htm
October 2, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Woody Allen. Or do we not count clowns?
October 2, 2009 at 3:18 pm
Oo, I was also going to loudly volunteer Pierre Brasseur, but checking out clips I’m not so sure. There are some beautiful flourishes in Enfants, but not that mush going on between them.
I wonder how much the fact that both Gambon and Day-Lewis played characters who lacked the use of their hands affected their later work.
October 2, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Somebody mention Conrad Veidt? That’s Veidt in the first two frame grabs.
Lugosi is correct for the pointing finger, or at least I think it is. Anyone who names the film wins a free ghoulash. (Hint: the finger is pointing at a dagger in the ceiling.)
Woody Allen’s a good hand and arm guy. Ray Liotta, weirdly, gesticulates his way into Woodyland when he’s trying to explain to Joe Pesci what he meant by “You’re a funny guy,” in Goodfellas.
I look at Frank Fay and I know everything I need to about Stanwyck’s sexuality!
October 2, 2009 at 4:30 pm
The mention of Frank Fay turns my mind to the American Stage and one of the greatest unsung hand actors of all time – Charles Nelson Reilly. He
shows his stuff in the acclaimed film about his life on the stage, THE LIFE OF REILLY…Which I am shamelessly pimping here…
Is the Lugosi pic from THE RAVEN?
October 2, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Not The Raven, no.
Reilly looks fun!
October 2, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Reilly was fun. Directing him was a great pleasure. Alas, the film tanked on it’s major city theatrical run…except in NYC.
Is it from Murders In The Rue Morgue?
October 2, 2009 at 5:54 pm
No, not Murders in the Rue Morgue. Pre-Dracula.
I’m waiting for Guy to show up and effortlessly guess the last set.
How can I see your film?
October 2, 2009 at 6:00 pm
E-mail me an address and I’ll send you a DVD.
October 2, 2009 at 6:48 pm
I’ve heard good things about The Life of Reilly! His mother sounds like my grandmother, who introduced herself to my grandfather-to-be by leaning out the window and telling him to cut out “that dago singing.”
The hand connection makes me more sure than ever that Daniel Day-Lewis should star in The Conrad Veidt Story. Are those stills from Nazi Agent? As I recall, he smokes The Pipe of Benevolence in that.
October 2, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Yes, we have our first identified film! Nazi Agent it is.
I love Jules Dassin’s story about meeting Veidt! “This is your director, Mr Veidt,” said the producer.
“No,” said Veidt, and walked off.
October 2, 2009 at 7:01 pm
Woody Allen’s gesticulations in The Sunshine Boys were appallingly distracting: maybe his hands aren’t so good with someone else’s script.
Gloria Swanson was a great hand actor. So is the Wicked Queen in Disney’s Snow White, whose movements remind me of Swanson and of Judith Anderson.
October 2, 2009 at 7:14 pm
I’m going to guess that the Lugosi is from The Thirteenth Chair.
October 2, 2009 at 8:56 pm
Is the last pair from Crime Wave? First Phyllis Kirk trying to prevent Gene Nelson from answering the phone, then Sterling Hayden plus… somebody?
October 2, 2009 at 9:19 pm
Ralph Fiennes’ fine hands:
http://handson.provocateuse.com/show/ralph_fiennes
October 2, 2009 at 9:48 pm
I’m with Iris, my guess is CRIME WAVE as well. Unfortunately, for as much as I love the film I loaned out the DVD and never got it back. The bastard. So cool you threw Connie in the mix. Veidt has magnificent hands.
October 2, 2009 at 9:54 pm
Pre-Dracula? A silent film? Now that is hard. I wanted to guess WHITE ZOMBIE but the film doesn’t pre-date Lugosi’s breakthrough role.
October 2, 2009 at 9:58 pm
I look back on Charles Nelson Reilly as one of the holy trinity of the TV campsters of my youth, along with Paul Lynde and Alan Sues (from Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-in).
October 2, 2009 at 10:26 pm
When I think of hand acting, this scene from The Last Tycoon always pops into my head:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKlHtJjcAz4
October 2, 2009 at 10:56 pm
is that Lugosi pointing to the DEVIL BAT?..are those Gloria Swanson’s hands on the phone in Sunset BLT?..
October 2, 2009 at 10:57 pm
Been watching lots of early narrative cinema of late. Hand acting in closeup was HUGE. Whenever someone read or wrote something. Feuillade especially had lots of notes, cryptic, in invisible ink, poison, exploding, etc.
Lots of these CUs look too sharp not to be latterday reshoots. They’re the easiest things to fake, short of title cards.
Joan Allen is given some very eloquent hand acting in Michael Mann’s MANHUNTER.
October 2, 2009 at 11:46 pm
Again, dragging down the tone – I read a report on a Twilight convention that described bit-part actors being mobbed by screaming girls but the strangest bit was the woman whose hands appear on the cover of the first book charging to have photos taken of them.
Is it Thing from The Addams Family? Now there’s hand acting.
October 2, 2009 at 11:55 pm
Yes, Thirteenth Chair, and yes, Crime Wave!
October 3, 2009 at 1:03 am
The Crime Wave hands on the telephone is a particularly loaded image, as it implies that Gene Nelson is lying on TOP of Phyllis Kirk, and that their lovemaking has been interrupted. Sure enough, when De Toth cuts back, they’re both sitting in bed smoking cigarettes!
October 3, 2009 at 2:28 am
Naughty old Andre!
Just been watching an old Perry Mason movie, and Allen “Officer Dibble” Jenkins has very expressive hands — they flail desperately, like expiring fish, he thrusts them limply at people, and he smacks his face with them at every opportunity.
Was just planning to post a Feuillade insert shot…
October 3, 2009 at 2:35 am
Judy, that DeNiro clip — I’m certain he’s been studying 30s movie acting, and I’m almost certain he’s been looking at Lee Tracy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uU4xP6xUCY
October 3, 2009 at 3:11 am
Has anyone even mentioned Lee Tracy? His rat-a-tat vocal style was always punctuated with hand movement. I’ve seen that in Cagney as well, though his digital repertoire was a bit more limited (his waveoff of Joan Blondell in Footlight Parade is a classic one, though). I prefer what an actor does with his/her hands than how elegant they are (c’mon, a film isn’t a damned Jergens commercial).
October 3, 2009 at 11:36 am
I mentioned him in comment 5 — I think he’s at the very peak of the hand-acting world. Eddie Izzard, with his mime training, can do interesting things, and there are full-body specialists like Chaplin, Astaire, etc. But for eloquent hands that reinforce every word and feeling, Tracy is hard to beat. They had some great gesticulators in the 30s.
David Wingrove recently mentioned Rosalind Russell’s big scary hands, and they’re very articulate, which is part of why they draw attention to themselves, especially in Gypsy.
October 3, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Or Jennifer Jason Leigh in The Hudsucker Proxy. Lots of luscious hand waving.
October 4, 2009 at 12:07 am
J’adore JJL.
Oh — the third hand above, which nobody’s guessed, is Anton Walbrook in The Student of Prague. It’s not so much the hand as the floppy fringe that might have given it away.
October 4, 2009 at 3:03 am
Oh, I just thought of a high moment in hand acting — Gustaf Gründgens as the safecracker in “M.” It’s very striking; his whole performance is in one hand, which is not even particularly engaged in cracking safes.
In his novel “Mephisto,” Klaus Mann says that the protagonist, based on Gründgens, has ordinary pudgy hands but is skilled at holding them in such a way that he appears to have “gothic” fingers — evidently the most desirable type of fingers to have at the time.
October 4, 2009 at 11:16 am
That seems to confirm my theory, invented this instant, that the Germans took their hand acting particularly seriously. No accident that the stills above feature a German, an Austrian and a Hungarian.
October 4, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Oh, please , no…not Daniel Day-Lewis as Conrad Veidt! Intensive water totrure is preferable, and maybe a few flaming bamboo shoots up the fingernails!! There’s a superficial physical resemblance there, I grant you, but that ghastly self-satisfied ham as one of the all-time great film actors? As DDL himself is known for saying – “Whoopsy daisy!” NOT a good idea!
October 4, 2009 at 4:34 pm
Well, it might be a good way to get him to control his tendency towards smugness. I wonder if it’s just the shape of his mouth, though? Maybe a small prosthetic could help.
October 5, 2009 at 12:35 am
Daniel Day-Lewis has smug-mouth? I still like him, but in the new spirit of conciliation, consultation, and coordination with allies no matter how inexplicably wrong they may be, I will of course consider other candidates.
October 5, 2009 at 1:04 am
I’m not sure who you could get. Bill Nighy does gaunt and cadaverous well, and although he’s not handsome like Connie he does have admirers. But his hands are actually slightly disabled, so there’s no way he could do Orlac.
October 5, 2009 at 2:57 am
Harrison Ford? http://apartment42.com/fingergallery.htm
October 5, 2009 at 8:34 am
He’s consistent!
Remember him talking about how his doctor character in Frantic would be very precise and careful with his hands, and then, as the film goes on, slowly become wild and careless. Which sounds quite good. And I’m sure he does it in the film, and so naturally that I never remember to notice. But I wish it were a little more obvious, actually, because the film could do with livening up.
October 5, 2009 at 1:08 pm
David, I crave a favour of you (and any of your wonderful readers who might be able to help).
A while ago, I came across a wonderful story from 1934 of a young actress whose hands had, supposedly, doubled for those of most of the leading Hollywood actresses of the time. It’ll make an excellent Unsung Joe, as it involves a nexus of crime, sex and movie extras, but my problem is that I haven’t come across any decent shots of female hands in any of the early talkies that I’ve seen since finding out about the story, and I’d really like to use some to illustrate the piece.
I don’t suppose you happen to have any on file?
October 5, 2009 at 4:09 pm
I could probably grab some easily enough… especially if you have specific movies in mind, and better yet specific shots. I’d be very happy to create some frame grabs for you.
Folks, Diarmid’s magnificent blog is at http://morethanyouneededtoknow.typepad.com/the_unsung_joe/
October 5, 2009 at 4:32 pm
The entry on Jody Gilbert is awesome! Making fools out of the members of a congressional committee is one of the great American fantasies.
October 5, 2009 at 4:34 pm
Lionel Stander is my favourite, I think, but JG had her own unique approach. Not easy to get those guys flustered when they apparently held all the aces!
October 5, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Yeah, they were classic bullies, armed with impermeable dumbassery plus control of the mikes. Bill O’Reilly is their spawn.
My uncle took the first amendment in front of HUAC, albeit probably not with such elan. He was a genuine communist at the time and reportedly humorless.
I’m definitely one of Bill Nighy’s admirers, BTW; he gussies up every movie that he’s in.
October 5, 2009 at 11:46 pm
Thanks, David — you might find it harder than it might seem that it would be, though. I think that my problem is that I get so wrapped up in the film that I forget that one of the things that I’m supposed to be looking for is a close-up shot of some woman’s hands. However, if you come across any, that would be great!
The press reports say that the woman, June de Long “possessor of the most beautiful hands in Hollywood” hand-doubled for some of the most famous actresses of her time, so I imagine that means Norma Shearer, Myrna Loy, Claudette Colbert, Bette Davis, Carole Lombard, Mae West and Barbara Stanwyck. Dietrich? Harlow? Anyone like that, really. George Cukor’s Little Women (1933), which I don’t have, is probably packed full of hand close-ups. I don’t think there are any in It Happened One Night (1934) or Grand Hotel (1932), both of which I’ve seen recently. (Well, if there are, I missed ’em.)
Katya — very glad you liked the Jody Gilbert piece. I’m sure her sense of humour made up for your uncle’s apparent lack of one.
October 6, 2009 at 1:00 am
A good one for Lombard would be Hands Across the Table — can’t fail, really. I’ve sent you something — pleasure to be of help.
October 6, 2009 at 8:37 am
Ah, Hands Across the Table — very good idea! How about Sinister Hands, Time on My Hands or By Whose Hand, from 1932? Or The Stage Hand, from 1933?
Maybe not…
December 13, 2018 at 9:29 am
Ron Moody’s hands got quite a workout in OLIVER!…
December 13, 2018 at 11:18 am
Absolutely! I wonder if they show up in the art installation The Clock… all those pocket watches being filched…