Having adored all of his recent foodie travel series Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy, I was wondering if Tucci had done enough historical costume movie or TV roles to qualify for an MCM. Well sure! It’s not like we have strict rules around these things. I prefer that an actor has at least three or four roles set pre-1970s for an MCM or WCW feature, but honestly, it’s up to what each of us want to write. And when I looked into Stanley Tucci’s IMDB page, he had plenty of small roles I didn’t know about, mostly set in the 1930s-40s, which complemented the ones I already loved. Good enough! After all, Stanley Tucci is a great actor who can play nefarious heavies just as well as lovable sweeties. He has excellent comedic timing and excels in scripts that let his dry wit shine.
Lucky Luciano in Billy Bathgate (1991)
A small role as the famous gangster in this 1930s movie starring Nicole Kidman & Dustin Hoffman.
Sal in The Public Eye (1992)
Nice guns!
Fred “Newt” Hunter in Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle (1994)
I think he’s in the 1930s-40s ‘flash-forward’ part of the movie where Dorothy Parker is in Hollywood. He plays a famous former baseball player.
Secondo in Big Night (1996)
Stanley Tucci co-wrote & co-directed this movie about two Italian immigrant brothers trying to save their restaurant in the 1950s.
He’s the one in charge of the business side, while Tony Shalhoub plays the brother who’s the cook.
It’s hilarious & delicious! I need to watch this again :)
Walter Winchell in Winchell (1989)
Tucci won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie for his portrayal of this controversial newspaper columnist from the 1930s-50s.
Photo by Everett Collection.
Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1999)
This film version of Shakespeare’s play is set in the 1890s, though, of course, Puck is a fantasy character, which plays to Tucci’s impish side.
Joe Mitchell in Joe Gould’s Secret (2000)
Tucci directed & produced this film based on a New Yorker writer who, in the 1940s, met an eccentric drop-out, played by Ian Holm.
Eichmann in Conspiracy (2001)
As a Nazi leader in this critically acclaimed TV movie, also starring Kenneth Branagh & Colin Firth.
Frank Nitti in Road to Perdition (2002)
Portraying a real-life gangster in this fictionalized Depression-era story starring Tom Hanks.
Stanley Kubrick in The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004)
As the director when Peter Sellers starred in Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove (1964).
Jefferson Berk in Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (2008)
Tucci plays a magician who’s boarding at the Kittredge house during the Great Depression, along with Joan Cusack.
Nice tie!
Paul Child in Julie & Julia (2009)
A literal sweetheart!
He’s adorable as the husband of Julia Child (Meryl Streep) in the 1950s scenes.
Philippe, Duc d’Orleans, in A Little Chaos (2014)
One of our top 10 fops in frock flicks!
Stanley Tucci needs to do more roles like this. I’m begging him, Hollywood, the BBC, ITV, anyone, make it happen.
Captain Hook in Peter and Wendy (2015)
Kind of fantasy-historical. In this TV movie, Tucci also plays the modern Mr. Darling & Dr. Wylie.
Jack Warner in Feud: Bette and Joan (2017)
As the powerful head of Warner Bros. Studios, he produces What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) with Bette Davis & Joan Crawford.
In the series, Davis feels slighted by Warner, while he’s annoyed that Crawford takes her next film to 20th Century Fox.
Mr. Stringer in The Witches (2020)
While ostensibly a fantasy story, it’s also set in 1968, & Tucci is the manager of the hotel where shenanigans occur.
United States Ambassador (Bedivere) in The King’s Man (2021)
A small role at the end of this prequel, where he helps set up the “future” story.
What’s your favorite frock flick role by Stanley Tucci?
A Little Chaos, FTW! I don’t know why, but I thought he did more of those roles. Wishful thinking? :)
The Fop, always the fop…
Mr Tucci is generally a delight in any role, but my reaction to this list was generally “suit, nice suit, mean suit, MOUSTACHE …” right up to his delightfully bewigged Monsieur d’Orleans, which point I thought “More please!”
Mr Tucci should obviously be given more work from the Cavalier century, but one would also love to see him do Rococo – I bet he’d nail the Louis XV or Louis XVI look quite as well as the Louis XIV.
A crush for a grown woman
It’s a toss up between “The Big Night” and “Julia sans Julie.” I love my food movies.
Happy to see him in anything!
I loved him and Oliver Platt (and really most of the cast) in 1998s The Imposters. An adorable period piece!
Anything, anything! But if I must choose, “The Big Night” — it resonates with his own love of food.
OMG!!! I didn’t realize how much I NEEDED a Stanley Tucci MCM until now. EXCELLENT CHOICE!! Wow, I’ve seen him in several of these movies but didn’t remember he was in them. Of course, I think that Stanley Tucci is attractive, but until drooling over the pics in this post I, I forgot just HOW attractive he is. The pic of him in the undershirt from the 90s film. Whoa!!! Anyway, to answer your question, without doubt my favorite of his FrockFlick roles is Big Night. I wish y’all would review it here, but I know y’all are primarily interested in women’s clothes and the men are the stars of that show. Thanks for this one. A lovely Monday pick me up!
He was a harpsichord for most of the Beauty and The Beast! He does get awesome in 18th C. court Makeup tho!
Another lovely Tucci role — Dr. Abraham Erskine in Captain America: The First Avenger. His is a small but pivotal role, in the beginning of the film, that takes place in the buildup to WWII.
That man is so damned sexy, no matter what he’s in. Don’t know why.
He’s so excellent across every one of these, it is damn hard to choose a favorite. I remember Big Night being absolutely fab (need to rewatch!) but I think I particularly loved him as Paul Child and then as Jack Warner. But oh, the fop role in A Little Chaos!