Celia Weston

In Dead Man Walking (1995), Celia Weston's Mary Beth Percy is a grieving mother, and there is nothing incidental about that grief. We were moved by her because this supporting character's pain demands attention in its own right. Tim Robbins's film occasionally makes its debate feel too carefully arranged, but its performances give us good reason to stay with it. Weston's matter-of-fact manner is especially effective here, making a person of someone who might otherwise serve merely to illustrate suffering.

That plainness is also useful in comedy, where she spent several years as Jolene Hunnicutt in Alice (1981–85). Her move into film supporting roles gathered force with Dead Man Walking, followed by a continuing mixture of film and television work. We would not mistake the change of medium for the discovery of an entirely different performer. The down-to-earth demeanour suits both kinds of work; what changes is how much hurt or irritation the part allows her to show.

In Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), she plays Aunt Joan within an unusually good ensemble. The film makes class envy painfully intimate, with Matt Damon's needy Tom at its centre, and we recommend it despite the over-elaborate plotting. It would be stretching the case to present it chiefly as a Weston vehicle. For her emotionally demanding work, Dead Man Walking remains the more useful starting point. In the Bedroom (2001), with Weston as Katie Grinnel, continues that ensemble career.

Junebug (2005) gives her Peg, a prickly Southern family matriarch. We like Weston in these less agreeable parts, though repeated casting as mothers and matrons carries a risk: the audience may think it knows the woman before she has done anything. Her effectiveness should not excuse a writer from giving the character something particular to do. A familiar demeanour can only take a performance so far. Try Junebug next, provided another difficult family is what the evening needs.