Word: gruff
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...suit, perched on a barstool, Jones sat stumbling over Russian place names, Of course, the reading was rehearsed only once, but surely Jones could have learned his pronunciation. His physical and iconic presence did not actually detract from his performance, and in fact his Texas accent suited the gruff, serious and asexual Chekhov as much as it distracted. His delivery, on the other hand, was just flat. One had the feeling that Jones is an actor for active, visual roles and that sitting on a barstool reading Chekhov is simply not a decent outlet for Jones' talent...
...almost pop off the screen. Making sure they land in viewers' hearts is the mission of a writing staff led by executive producers Larry Wilmore and Steve Tompkins (two former stand-ups who met while writing for In Living Color). They've made Goody, voiced by Murphy, a gruff but endearing tour guide through a community of eccentric black and Latino characters. Their stories, from the attempted rehabilitation of a local porn theater to Goody's battle to save his beloved new front door from the ravages of spray-paint-wielding gang-bangers, take a warmhearted but hard-eyed look...
...part in Phaedra's psychological battlefield: Randy Danson, in the title role, effectively relays the wrenching inner turmoil of her character, while Benjamin Evett instills Hypolytus with a sense of naivete and youthful nerve. Theseus--Jonathan Epstein--delivers a charged performance as well, with his towering stature and the gruff voice of an Athenian warrior. The production appears to intentionally spark audience laughter in the most wrenching scenes. At times, the play pounds on with a tragic death occurring every 30 seconds and the pathetically ragged messenger scurrying on and off stage, uttering in melodramatic rasp, "Master, he/she's dead...
...described by an observant writer as "a tall, somber man who appeared to be under the lash of some private demon," is slightly less benign and a lot more interesting. Uncle Walt actually didn't have an avuncular bone in his body. Though he could manage a sort of gruff amiability with strangers, his was, in fact, a withdrawn, suspicious and, above all, controlling nature. And with good--or anyway explicable--reason...
...Running Man, Ventura's Captain Freedom is an gladiator-turned TV commentator (in a deft poke at today's NFL jocks-in-the booth culture) who hunts, and then grudgingly respects, Ah-nold. In Predator (1987), he's a gruff special-forces type who hunts a alien in the jungle, and grudgingly respects his commander, Ah-nold. And