My Favorite Movie Teachers

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43.

Yuvline Sousatzka, Madame Sousatzka



Oscar winner Shirley MacLaine gave a deliciously over the top performance that nobody saw as a Russian piano teacher who becomes enamored of her new Bengali student (Navin Chowdhry).



42.

Professor Shorofsky, Fame (1980)



After a distinguished career as a Broadway composer, director Alan Parker gave Albert Hague a brand new career as the old school music teacher at the High School of Performing Arts who finds himself constantly butting heads with electronic keyboard genius Bruno Martelli (Lee Curreri). Both Hague and Curreri reprised their roles in the subsequent television spinoff.



40.

Melvin Tolson, The Great Debaters



Denzel Washington plays Melvin Tolson, a professor at Wiley College in Texas who inspired the formation of the school's first debate team who participate in a national championship against a team from Harvard.



39.

Freddy Shoop, Summer School



Mark Harmon never had much of a movie career, but he was a lot of fun in this breezy comedy as a very popular teacher who has to cancel his major summer vacation plans when he is forced to teach a summer school class of misfits, goofballs, and delinquents.



38.

Dr. Diane Turner, Back to School



Sally Kellerman lit up the screen as a college professor who catches the eye of Thornton Mellon (Rodney Dangerfield), a millionaire who has enrolled in college to keep his son (Keith Gordon) from dropping out.



37.

Professor Dave Jennings, National Lampoon's Animal House



If someone were to write a textbook on bad teachers, Dave Jennings (Donald Sutherland) would definitely be at the top of the list. He spends classroom time ranting about his personal politics and then attends frat parties where he smokes pot and acts like an aging hippie, which is what he is, I guess. Jennings is a hot mess, but he is so much fun.



36.

Mr. McAllister, Election



Matthew Broderick, cast radically against type, plays a teacher who gets a little too closely involved in the school's election for class president. The guy has some personal issues too that won't get him any teacher of the year awards.



35.

Glenn Holland, Mr. Holland's Opus



Richard Dreyfuss received an Oscar nomination for his performance as classical music teacher and conductor who is thrown when his curriculum at the school gets cancelled, but is surprised to learn that his students have been secretly learning a symphony that the man has been writing for 30 years.



34.

Dewey Finn, School of Rock



Another character like Hebert Gower, who technically wasn't a teacher. Dewey (Jack Black) is an unemployed rock and roll bum who is currently staying with his best friend, Ned (Mike White). Dewey answers the phone one day for Ned who is being sought as a substitute teacher at a grade school. Dewey pretends to be Ned and reports to the school and learns that he is supposed to be a substitute history teacher. Dewey has no interest in teaching history so he decides to form a rock band out of the students in the class without the principal (Joan Cusack) finding out. Black is definitely an acquired taste, but I love this character and this movie.



33.

Roberta Guaspari, Music of the Heart



Meryl Streep received one of her 20 Oscar nominations for playing this teacher who decides to make it her personal mission to teach ghetto children how to play the violin.



# 50. I started watching the musical version of Goodbye, Mr. Chips last night.
You should really see the original. They are two very different films despite covering the same story.
Since the original is not a musical, it has a more realistic feel, and is more than deserving of its Oscar.
A wonderful and memorable film with unparalleled performances by Robert Donat & Greer Garson.

Since you included one version of Mr. Chips, you can be forgiven for not including the original. (But as far as movie teachers go he's right up there with Mr. Thackeray and Mr. Keating!)



# 50. I started watching the musical version of Goodbye, Mr. Chips last night.
You should really see the original. They are two very different films despite covering the same story.
Since the original is not a musical, it has a more realistic feel, and is more than deserving of its Oscar.
A wonderful and memorable film with unparalleled performances by Robert Donat & Greer Garson.

Since you included one version of Mr. Chips, you can be forgiven for not including the original. (But as far as movie teachers go he's right up there with Mr. Thackeray and Mr. Keating!)
I've always wanted to ask someone who saw the original film...did Donat really deserve the Oscar over Clark Gable and Jimmy Stewart?



Yes he did....it was an amazing performances and the kind of role that you don't soon forget.
Having viewed both "Mr. Chips," they are remarkably different films with the musical focusing more on the love story (and serving as a showcase for Petula Clark's wonderful singing voice) with the school serving almost as a backdrop.

Whereas the original the film is about Chips recalling his entire career through the decades (including how the changing times effected life and outlooks) - with the love story being a part of his life. The novelty of the original is that it is a retrospective on a man's life over time and the unrealized impact he had on others, especially those he taught.