BRILLIANT FLASHES

In this season of academy accolades, it’s easy to focus on the glitterati, the actors whose faces we know, whose names top the credits, who get back-end deals with the studios. We rarely stop to consider anyone else on screen. But those big-name nominees depend on their compatriots, even those with just a line or two in their movies, to help create the fictional world in which the stars can shine bright. So, as the Kate Winslets and the Sean Penns prepare to stroll the red carpet, we pay a minor -- but heartfelt -- salute, on this page and the next, to those actors whose names you can’t place but who have nonetheless contributed memorable moments in film this year.

Octavia Spencer,

“Seven Pounds�

“Seven Pounds� is a heavy movie about loss, love and the ultimate sacrifice. And yet in a completely unexpected moment, a character played by Octavia Spencer jumps out. She is Kate, home healthcare nurse to Rosario Dawson’s character, Emily, who is dying of a heart ailment.

We are introduced to Kate as she sits at Emily’s table, looking askance as she pushes away her plate and tells her patient, “I don’t like the eggs you buy.� A dying woman has just cooked for her and she’s complaining? Who is this person?

Spencer says the role initially included Kate stealing medication from Emily and drinking. So she played that scene as if she had a hangover. Her research into the role was helped by the fact that her sister is a home healthcare nurse. “I basically just thought of her sarcastic attitude, and what it might be like for her to work for somebody she really didn’t like,� Spencer says explaining Kate’s awful behavior.

“It was probably one of the smallest things that I’ve done in a very long time, but it was one of the most gratifying work experiences,� she adds of the role. “I’ve never openly wept leaving a project before.�

When the actress was first called in, she hesitated about even trying out for a role with only six lines (subsequently cut to three). Then she found out Will Smith and director Gabriele Muccino were making it, and quickly changed her mind.

Spencer started out in the business as a casting assistant. But directors kept asking her to read for roles. She got one line in the film “A Time to Kill,� and she was hooked.

Now 36, she’s been working steadily for the last 10 years, often making an impression with brief appearances, such as a scene in “Coach Carter,� a guest role in ABC’s “Ugly Betty,� plus a recurring role in the short-lived Comedy Central series “Halfway Home.�

She usually writes thank-you notes to producers after a job; this time she wrote to every department head. “It was like, I’m probably going to spend more money on thank-you notes than I’ve earned on the project,� she says, laughing. “It was such a pleasure and honor to go in there and do a line or two with those guys.�

Mather Zickel,

“Rachel Getting Married�

Mather Zickel has a New York theater background that includes “many plays in many basements� and a few years with a sketch comedy group. That led to his being cast as Bill Murray in “It’s Always Something,� a 2002 television movie about Gilda Radner. Since then, he’s shuttled between New York and Los Angeles for work. “Rachel Getting Married� reminded him of his theater days. There was a lot of improvisation and little idea where the cameras were, requiring an immersion into the characters’ lives that most films don’t demand. The rehearsal dinner scene was shot in two takes of 40 minutes each. “That kind of stuff is a wonderful way of working for an actor,� he says.

The film focuses on the wedding of Rachel, whose sister Kym (Anne Hathaway, who is nominated for lead actress) has emerged from rehab, blinking against the light, for the event. Kym’s narcissistic behavior unnerves everyone except Zickel’s Kieran. A fellow addict, he meets Kym at a Narcotics Anonymous meeting; each is unaware that they’re both attending the wedding. In the sea of dysfunction that engulfs the family, Kieran is an island of calm and good sense.

“It’s so great to have a scene partner like Annie,� he says of Hathaway. “She was very emotionally available and present, and I think that’s why she gives such a raw performance.�

He admits he was spoiled by getting “Married.� “It’s a very actor-friendly way of working,� he says, adding, “it really is my favorite movie of the year. Not that I’m biased.�

Richard Easton,

“Revolutionary Road�

Every coach knows that it isn’t just the star players who make the team great, it’s also the depth of the bench. In directing “Revolutionary Road,� Sam Mendes filled the bench behind Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio with a wonderful group of New York theater actors, including Richard Easton.

Easton began acting at the age of 15 in Montreal, his hometown. He was invited to study in London by Alec Guinness, played Edgar opposite John Gielgud’s King Lear, and was invited to Broadway by John Houseman. In 2001, he won a Tony for Tom Stoppard’s “Invention of Love.�

But when it comes to film, Easton says, “the smaller the part, the better as far as I’m concerned.� He couldn’t fathom how Winslet and DiCaprio could still be as full of energy and concentration at the end of a long day of shooting as at the beginning.

It was Easton’s work in Stoppard’s “The Coast of Utopia� that introduced him to Mendes, a fan of the play. In “Revolutionary Road,� he plays the husband of gossipy Helen (Kathy Bates) and father of unstable truth-teller John (Michael Shannon, nominated for supporting actor). As Howard Givings, he stays quietly concerned in the background until the film’s closing frame, when his wife’s irritating chatter causes a most surprising, sly response; in a close-up and unbeknownst to her, he slowly and quietly turns off his hearing aid to tune her out.

“I thought, well, I’ll do some subtle acting here,� Easton recalls in a plummy British accent. “So I sort of relaxed and got a kind of beatific look on my face, and I thought this was very funny.� After the take, Mendes came over and told him to do nothing instead. “And I said, ‘Nothing?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, just nothing.’ ‘All right,’ I said, so I did that. And it’s wonderful,� Easton concedes. “Sam’s always right.�

Easton, 75, is working again with Mendes in New York on two plays in repertory, “The Cherry Orchard� and “A Winter’s Tale.� After performing in New York, they will take off on a world tour, ending at Epidauros, in Greece, the oldest theater in the world. Last week, Easton was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame.

“He’s a wonderful actor,� Mendes says, adding that when it comes to the smaller roles in the film, “I’m just as proud of all those performances as of Kate and Leo’s.�

Marian Seldes,

“The Visitor�

Theater legend Marian Seldes appears in the first scene of “The Visitor,� prompting those who know her work to sit up a bit straighter. “She can make anyone feel like a 12-year-old trying to learn how to play the piano,� acknowledges writer-director Tom McCarthy. “There’s a stately elegance to her.�

Seldes began her Broadway career in 1947, at age 19, as a silent handmaiden to Medea. A few years later, she performed in “Ondine,� which was among the first Broadway appearances by Audrey Hepburn. “That was heavenly,� Seldes says. “She was like an angel put on the earth, as we all know, and not for long enough either.�

Over the last 60 years, Seldes has originated roles in plays by Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee and Terrence McNally, earned five Tony nominations (winning one), and even netted a Guinness Book of World Records mention for appearing in every one of the 1,799 Broadway performances of Ira Levin’s “Deathtrap.�

But her film roles are often so small, “I usually say, ‘Be very careful the way you fix my hair in the back,’ � because it’s all anyone will see, she says.

When she was initially asked if she’d be interested in a small role in a film by Tom McCarthy, she knew of him as the writer and director of “The Station Agent� and agreed without reading the script. “I wouldn’t have given it up for anything,� she declares. “The size of the part wasn’t important.�

As a piano teacher trying to take Richard Jenkins’ professor Walter Vale through a lesson, Seldes’ Barbara has little success. In a casually cruel moment, she offers to buy his piano because he’ll obviously never get very far in his efforts.

Of Jenkins, an Oscar nominee for his role, she says, “he is so selfless, there is no ego there.� The scene didn’t feel like work at all, she adds. “We looked at each other and knew what we wanted to do, and we did it.� The shoot took one day. “One perfect day.�

McCarthy, who is also an actor, rehearsed the whole cast together in New York. One day, he and Jenkins were early. While waiting for Seldes to arrive for their first rehearsal, McCarthy recalls, “Richard said, ‘I gotta tell ya, I’m a little nervous.’ And I said, ‘I feel the same way.’ �

Seldes, 80, can’t believe anyone could consider her formidable. “I can never think of myself that way. I always think of myself as an 18-year-old beginning my career, all the time.�

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