Brad Dourif

Billy Bibbit is difficult to laugh at for long. In Miloš Forman's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Brad Dourif makes his vulnerability felt even when the film encourages laughter. We felt protective of Billy because Dourif would not let that vulnerability become merely another joke on the ward. Jack Nicholson takes much of our attention, but Dourif gives us a reason to keep watching someone else. He helps the supporting cast do the film's most important work: keeping the men distinct, rather than letting them become an audience for its star.

The career did not go straight from Billy to horror. He played the lead, Hazel Motes, in John Huston's Wise Blood (1979), then took supporting roles for David Lynch in Dune (1984) and Blue Velvet (1986). Those are useful reminders to look beyond the familiar villains. The high-strung manner suits eccentrics and tormented men, but repeated casting in such parts has narrowed the opportunities to see him do anything else.

Child's Play (1988) began his long-running work as the voice of Chucky, continuing across films and television. Horror has good reason to employ him: he can make a supporting character disturbing, as in The Exorcist III (1990). The risk is that his familiar intensity tells us to be uneasy before a scene has earned it. We would not ask him to become a quieter actor for the sake of respectability, but Forman's film shows how much that intensity can do when someone gives it a less predictable purpose.

As Amos Cochran in Deadwood (2004), he is part of another ensemble worth spending time with. The Western's struggle to live together is as absorbing as its violence, and that interest in a whole community makes it a rewarding place to find a supporting actor. We sometimes wish the elaborate speeches were shorter, but that is a small reservation about superb television. Start with Billy Bibbit, then give Deadwood the time it needs. Chucky can wait.