Good actors can steal a scene with a line.

There are no small roles, acting teachers say, only small actors.

A real artist can steal a movie with a couple of lines.

A master thespian can do it when theres nothing to say.

It happens toward the end of the film when Pvt.

Wilkie, played by Art Evans, gives investigating officer Capt.

A Soldiers Storywas a 1984 film directed by Norman Jewison.

The core of the cast is young, hungry, and fearless actors, clearly having a ball justacting.

Future acting legend Denzel Washington reprised his role from the play as Pfc.

He also might have brought his death on himself andnotby pissing off the Ku Klux Klan.

It is an amazing character study into a fascinating psyche and its played with everything Caesar has.

He acted the shit out of that part.

But the appreciative look he gives Capt.

Davenport is bigger than the hysterical historical thrill he was getting.

Larry Riley plays the prime victim of the sergeant, Pvt.

Memphis, the blues playing backwoods boy with surprising punchlines.

That is until he hanged himself in a cell and the team threw their big game in protest.

Bernard Cobb, who visits C.J.

while hes locked up for hitting the sarge.

Actor David Harris got Pvt.

The movie also added Patti LaBelle as Big Mary, who wasnt in the play.

I always think Aretha Franklin has the greatest voice in the world until I hear Patti LaBelle sing anything.

But it all comes back to one supporting player, Art Evans as Pvt.

Wilkie, who transcends his moment.

The audience also feels how much this guyneedsto have the captain understand.

Its not in the script; its in the interpretation.

Those moments belong to the actors.

They are drum fills that make a song memorable.

The rest between beats.

Bogart did it inCasablancawhen he answers an unasked question while dousing the flames in gin and Dooley Wilsons piano.

The entire scene is musical.

Its less a soliloquy than a guitar solo, an angry lead played sloppily but perfectly.

Evans is perfection in every bit of the scene.

He is possessed by some acting muse that doesnt come from lessons.

He infuses every word with exactly the right electricity, attacks each chord at the proper trajectory.

A crazy kind of hate.

You wont believe it.

I mean, sometimes you could just feel it, Wilkie says.

This wouldnt even be too far a stretch for him.

A multi-instrumentalist, Evans played guitarist Blind Lemon Jefferson inLeadbellyin 1976.

In music, the space between the notes is as important as the notes.

Art Evans started acting on the stage of Frank Silveras Theater of Being in Los Angeles.

He rode the starring role inThe Amen Cornerto Broadway in 1965.

He played Bubba on an episode of the Freddie Prinze TV vehicleChico and the Manin 1976.

Evans did have a starring role in the music video for Stevie Wonders Go Home.

I remember I went to seeA Soldiers Storybecause Howard Rollins was in it.

Rollins may have had top billing, but Evans was the star.

A version of this story appears in Den of Geeks San Diego Comic-Con special edition print magazine.

you’re free to read the full digital edition here.