Vacation Robo-Poll: Best Character Actor

For women, there's just no question: Holland Taylor. Not only has she done drama (The Practice) and comedy (Two and a Half Men, Bosom Buddies), but she's been working forever and seems never to age -- a key strength in the world of long-running TV shows. I wouldn't accuse her of having the greatest range among actresses, but when the character falls within her saucy wheelhouse, who cares? I'll watch anything she does.

I don't know who my favorite is currently but Garret Dillahunt is definitely moving his way up the list

All-time is too hard for me, so I'm just going to do on TV now...
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Ron Perlman. Even though he primarily does film, his turns on Beauty & the Beast and Sons of Anarchy make him eligible. (A quick IMDB lookup also made me realize how much voice-work he's does... which makes sense, he's got a very distinctive one.)
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I think you're right, James, as far as the relative lack of character actresses. I've spent a few minutes and no one really stands out in my mind who's on TV now.

I am a huge fan of Mark Sheppard - I can't recall ever seeing him in a leading role, but he's had memorable roles in just about everything I've ever seen. And he's fantastic. My favorite of his roles include Badger (Firefly), Sterling (Leverage), Romo Lampkin (BSG), and Manservant Neville (Middleman).

They're hardly "character" actors now, but Terry O'Quinn and Michael Emerson (aka Locke and Ben Linus on Lost) have had quite distinguished television careers as character actors. O'Quinn had loops on West Wing, Alias, and JAG (among other shows), while Emerson was VERY memorably creepy on The Practice.

@shara -- I'll ditto the Mark Sheppard nomination. Romo Lampkin was BY FAR my favorite character on BSG (maybe because I'm a lawyer?)

Ted Levine

Ted was Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs, Captain Stottlemeyer on Monk, Sheriff Timberlake in the The Assassination of Jesse James, Sinestro in the Justice League cartoon, Alan Shepard on From the Earth to the Moon...need I say more.

Michael Ironside
John DeLancie
Mark Sheppard
Brian Cox

Off the top of my head...

Does Zeljko Ivanek count?

Here are some great character actors - See if you can place them:
(not in any particular order)
James Gregory, Pat Buttram, Frank Cady, Don DeFore, Tom Bosley, Nancy Kulp, Mollie Sudgen, Frank Thornton, Nicholas Smith, Joseph Kearns, Shelly Winters (later career), Ernest Borgnine, Ethel Merman, Milton Berle, Guy Raymond, William Talman, Ray Collins, Strother Martin, Lee Van Cleef, John Qualen. Denver Pyle, John Carradine, Edmond O'Brien, Ken Murray, Elvia Allman, Frances Bavier, Howard McNear, George Lindsey, Jack Dodson, Sheldon Leonard, Maury Amsterdam and the list could go on forever...

I like the person from Freaks and Geeks that didn't get famous. That person was amazing.

@rdubs1 -- we have a winner! Zeljko Ivanek is CLEARLY the winner in this category, upon further reflection. I mean, check out his VERY impressive IMDB television filmography:
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http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0411964/
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Memorable appearances on Heroes, Damages, Big Love, House, True Blood, The Mentalist, HBO's John Adams, Numbers, Lost (as Juliet's bus-plowed ex-husband), Shark, Bones, Cold Case, L&O:SVU, L&O, CSI, NYPD Blue, West Wing, Oz, The Practice, 24, ER, Homicide, Ally McBeal, HBO's From the Earth to the Moon, HBO's Truman, Frasier, Chicago Hope, X-Files, St. Elsewhere, and LA Law.
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Is there any actor or actress that can compete with that list (on quality or quantity) on television WITHOUT being a leading-actor type?

Ivanek is freaking awesome! And dude's got range & versatility. I had totally forgotten that he was on Lost...
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Mark Sheppard's list is impressive as well - with some overlaps: Leverage, Burn Notice, Dollhouse, Battlestar Galactica, Medium, Navy:NCIS, The Middleman, In Plain Sight, Shark, Bionic Woman, Without a Trace, 24, CSI:NY, Monk, Las Vegas, Jake 2.0, Firefly, CSI, JAG, Voyager, The Practice, Sliders, Soldiers of Fortune, X-Files.

My contribution is the person I just refer to by remarking "It's that guy!"
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Erick Avari.
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Credits do include "leads" (one of which is the Chief on Abydos in Stargate, which I don't think I'd count as a "lead", so I don't trust the description much), but the rest are bit parts on:
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Mental, Life, Leverage, Burn Notice, Dirty Sexy Money, Law & Order:CI, Heroes, The O.C., JAG, Judging Amy, NCIS, Alias, Law & Order, Dragnet (new), Home Alone 4, Felicity, X-Files, Enterprise, West Wing, Rosanne, Babylon 5, Independence Day, Lois & Clark, Seinfeld, Cheers, Wings, Fresh Prince of Bel Air
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That's an amazing list spanning 20 years of TV & film history. "That guy" is the man.

Callum Keith Rennie is one of my faves. He always stands out from the crowd.

I also second Garrett Dillahunt. He had lots of great work this year.

Robert Patrick: 'The X-files', 'The Unit' etc. (and all those movies he was in). Was an awesome T-1000.