Originally Posted by Will View Post
Lord was a decent actor, but had a really limited range, a sort of less charismatic Gary Cooper. He was best playing intense guys with barely-contained rage percolating beneath the surface.
I dunno but I’d rather watch Jack Lord than Gary Cooper. Coop was a fine actor but he was more of an American institution (like John Wayne) than a truly great thespian. I mean look at Anthony Mann’s western MAN OF THE WEST. Coop is just fine in it but he’s basically just playing his Gary Cooper type. But Jack Lord is the real scene stealer in the film! You could argue that playing a vicious baddie gives Lord the edge over the straight-faced Coop but it also shows that Lord had more experience stretching his range over the years - from playing heavies in dozens of TV shows in the 50s and 60s to playing stalwart good guys like Stoney Burke or McGarrett. And as McGarrett in particular we saw him run a gamut of emotions over the 12 year period - more so in the earlier years of the show than the later ones.