Few performers today are more synonymous with vein-popping intensity than Bryan Cranston, justifiably considered one of our finest dramatic actors. For anyone with memories of Cranston’s early goofball roles on television, it’s been a remarkable career evolution to watch.
In the past dozen years, Cranston has portrayed:
-- Walter White, a cancer-stricken chemistry teacher turned ruthless meth dealer, on “Breaking Bad.”
-- President Lyndon Baines Johnson, maneuvering and twisting arms to pass the landmark Civil Rights Act in “All the Way,” first at Cambridge’s American Repertory Theater, then on Broadway, and finally on HBO.
-- Fulminating news anchor Howard Beale in “Network” on Broadway, where Cranston practically melted the stage as the “Mad Prophet of the Airwaves.”
-- Michael Desiato on Showtime’s new series “Your Honor,” a hitherto upright judge facing an agonizing moral dilemma when his son is involved in a fatal hit-and-run.
But back in the mid-1990s, long before Cranston broke bad as Walter White, Cranston appeared on TV in a very different light.
On “Seinfeld,” he played Dr. Tim Whatley, Jerry’s deranged dentist. Dr. Tim liked to take a quick hit of nitrous oxide himself before he put the mask on Jerry; when Whatley turned into a wisecrack machine after changing religions, Jerry complained that Whatley has “converted to Judaism just for the jokes!”
Then, from 2000 to 2006, on Linwood Boomer’s superb “Malcolm in the Middle,” Cranston played Hal, the bumbling, oblivious father of four sons, including the titular prodigy (Frankie Muniz).
In one episode, a very hirsute and apparently naked Hal stands serenely reading a newspaper in the kitchen while his no-nonsense wife, Lois (Jane Kaczmarek), shaves his back. In another episode, a headband-wearing Hal giddily roller-skates in a blue sequined outfit to the strains of Queen’s “We Are the Champions.”
Cranston was nominated for an Emmy Award three times for “Malcolm,” but didn’t win. When he switched to drama, though, his fortunes changed, um, dramatically.
His performance on “Breaking Bad” (2008-2013) earned him the Emmy for outstanding actor four times, including a stretch when he won it three years in a row. He also won Tony Awards for “All the Way” and “Network.”
Still, it’s always a welcome sight when this dramatic powerhouse pays a return visit to comedy, as he did in a guest appearance on “30 Rock.” He played Ron, the much-mentioned “friend” of Kenneth the page’s mother (Ron turns out to be her husband). It was an over-the-top silly role, and Cranston immersed himself in it with gusto.
He may throw mostly fastballs these days, but it’s good to know that Cranston still has the curveball — or the goofball, as the case may be — in his arsenal.
Don Aucoin can be reached at donald.aucoin@globe.com. Follow him @GlobeAucoin.