Thrusty Thursday: David Strathairn

Please welcome salt-and-pepper actor-fox, David Stathairn! Sure, he's only eleven days younger than my mom. I don't care. Afterall, Rickman's four years her senior. And Strathairn's got a touch of the Rickster about him, along with a bit of Jeff Goldblum, a pinch of De Niro, and a healthy serving of one of my erstwhile design professors. In fact, he's very professorial-looking. Must be the authoritative eyebrows and academic hair. Well done, Professor Dreamboat. Rock that exotic blend of Scottish and Native Hawaiian heritage (and here I was, assuming you were Jewish).

An up-and-coming silver 

fox, way back in the day.

If you recognize Strathairn, it may be from L.A. Confidential (he played Kim Basinger's pimp) or perhaps in Good Night, And Good Luck, in which he portrayed Edward R. Murrow. He's played all sorts of parts, but I picked him because just last night I had the great pleasure of watching an HBO film from 2010 called Temple Grandin. It's an outstandingly charming biopic starring Claire Danes as a young Temple Grandin, an autistic woman who overcomes obstacles to become a successful engineer. I know that sounds like a recipe for two hours of cloying, hyperinspirational drivel, but it's a wonderful, quirky movie. Get it from Netflix. Now. Danes was the stand-out star by miles, but Strathairn did a very fine job in his role as her science teacher.

Check this sample: