In the latest Superman Homepage Member Poll we asked you the following question:
Which actor portrayed your favorite live-action version of Pa Kent?
With over half the votes, John Schneider’s portrayal of Jonathan Kent on “Smallville” was easily the favorite amongst fans. Glenn Ford from “Superman: The Movie” came in at second place with 23% of the votes.
And if you’re wondering why we specified “Pa Kent” in the question instead of just “Jonathan Kent”, in the Superman Serials and 1950s TV series Pa Kent’s name was actually Eben, not Jonathan.
Here’s the complete voting breakdown:
Which actor portrayed your favorite live-action version of Pa Kent?
- John Schneider (2000s "Smallville" TV Series) 54%, 241 vote241 vote 54%241 vote - 54% of all votes
- Glenn Ford (1978 "Superman: The Movie" Film) 23%, 104 votes104 votes 23%104 votes - 23% of all votes
- Eddie Jones (1990s "Lois & Clark" TV Series) 12%, 51 vote51 vote 12%51 vote - 12% of all votes
- Kevin Costner (2013 "Man of Steel" Film) 9%, 39 votes39 votes 9%39 votes - 9% of all votes
- Stuart Whitman (1980s "Superboy" TV Series) 1%, 5 votes5 votes 1%5 votes - 1% of all votes
- Tom Fadden (1950s "Adventures of Superman" TV Series) 0%, 2 votes2 votes2 votes - 0% of all votes
- Ed Cassidy (1948 "Superman" Serial) 0%, 1 vote1 vote1 vote - 0% of all votes
Total Votes: 443
August 30, 2017
- September 6, 2017
Voting is closed
John Schneider is definitely my favorite Pa Kent. He wasn’t just an actor playing Pa Kent, he was Pa Kent. I didn’t see John Schnider, I saw Johnathan Kent.We were able to see the loving father that Clark grew up with. Always giving advice when needed, and always did his best to be Clark’s dad. Even when Clark was at his darkest moments, Jonathan was there for his boy. I didn’t see much of that with the other actors. Maybe a little bit with Eddie Jones’s version. Eddie Jones I say is my second favorite. Glen Ford was good,but I… Read more »
Without a doubt Schneider was the best Jonathan Kent. He had the most to work with 4 and half seasons and stellar acting. I remember he was once worried he’d be remembered only for Bo Duke but he’s happy for the Jonathan Kent nods. Eddie Jones was fine, but maybe because he was already very old took some of it away. Cain’s Clark was more certain of himself. Glen Ford was just in a few scenes but yeah he was still very good. “You are here for a reason.” Hits so well today. Stuart Whitman felt more grounded and strong,… Read more »
I blame Goyer for Costners version of Pa Kent. He took some weird liberties there. I thought Costner did the best he could with what he was given. Still don’t understand how Goyer came up with him needing to go save the family dog. Obviously most people would go after their dog, but doesn’t that seem odd to be written into a movie?! Why didn’t he go save a kid or a person? I always felt like if they wanted to kill Jonathan in this scene, then he should have said something to clark before he died. Something along the… Read more »
Are we going to get polls like this for all the supporting characters, or have we gotten them already and I just missed it?
Some have been done before. I’ll keep them coming when other topics aren’t more pertinent.
“You are here for a reason.” I always smile when I hear Glen Ford say that line.
This pole is in a way misleading. Of course the majority are going to pick JS. For the sole reason there rally hasn’t been a series that show cased his role for more than a short time period. Yes we had Lois and Clark which could be considered an alternative choice. But Smallville is the most recent and the entire surrounding differences in the two shows does make JS in SV the obvious choice. I liked KC in MOS….but I hated how they used him and that’s reason I think he’s not being picked. Glenn Ford was great too but… Read more »
So you liked KC’s performance. Me too. The only problem was the character itself. Just like Superman, HC does an awesome job but his Supes so badly written…
I don’t understand why it would be misleading. The fans were asked who is their favorite Pa Kent and they voted on it. As far as I know they weren’t asked about who was there favorite longest running Pa Kent. And correct me if I’m wrong but as far as I know there weren’t that many actors besides the ones who were on the voting ballots. So when it came down to voting, the people decided who they liked. I just don’t see what’s misleading about it.
I don’t mean miss-leading from a pole stand point. I meant it because the JK in SV was a real butt kicker! There hasn’t been a JK like him any wheres close in the past. So the choice is rather obvious just because the other versions aren’t or haven’t been anywhere near involved. But in all fairness they had a lot more time and story to do it with. That’s all.
I see, thanks for the clarification. I do agree with that assessment of Smallville’s Jonathan Kent.
The one I like most is by far Eddie Jones. I think John Schneider’s character was very much like Kevin Kostner’s one. They were more concerned about hiding Clark and his abilities than anything else. Yes most of the series that’s what Pa Kent is doing in Smallville. The only difference between Smallville’s and MoS’s Jonathan Kent version is…CLARK. In MoS Clark is always saying OK to whatever Pa says even though he knows that’s wrong. Smallville’s Clark does what he thinks he must regardless his father’s opinion. John S. version just has to deal with it. On the other… Read more »
There is no set value as to what should make JK. Every time we see him portrayed their going to change it up some. And that’s what we saw in MoS. I liked him in MoS but I certainly didn’t like how he met his demise.
“Rabid”? Jonathan found out that Lionel Luthor had found out Clark’s secret origins. Knowing Lionel’s past he felt that his son was in danger. That’s why he lashed out at him. He was protecting his son. There’s nothing “rabid” about that. As far as differences go between John and Kevin go in playing pa Kent, I don’t seem to recall John discouraging Clark from ceiling people like the way Kevin did in when Clark saved people Man of steel.
John knew Lionel found out who was Clark because Lionel himself was telling him. But he instantly attacked him before even listening what Lionel was going to say. That’s not the way to protect Clark. Worse if he succeeded he would have lost the chance to know who else might know about Clark but no, his rage erased any trace of intelligence in him. And during the 1st three seasons he’s constantly trying to keep Clark from using his abilities. He doesn’t criticize him for saving people. He does for exposing his abilities (and partly for risking his life of… Read more »
Yes Jonathan didn’t know Lional turned good, he was reacting to the possibility and probability of Lional using that knowledge against Clark. He was reacting to past knowledge of Lional’s behavior . Lional has tried to hurt Clark in the past directly or indirectly with experimentation on kryptonite, the kryptonite infected, or experiments he and his corporation were experimenting with. He was afraid that Lional would exploit Clark or have him be taken to some experimental lab to be tested on with who knows what. If he had known Lional had turned good then maybe there would have been a… Read more »
Eventually in a near death experience Clark had in season 6 Jonathan does tell him he will be a symbol of peace and in the final season Clark is worried of Jor-el’s disapproval of him so Johnathan’s “ghost” tells him to prove him wrong. Those examples I just gave proves that Jonathan wants Clark to start using his powers.
And I think Jonathan protecting Clark from Lional is something any good father would do.
“In a near death experience an already dead Jonathan tells him he will be a symbol of peace”. He speaks with knowledge of the future. Thus he already knows there is nothing to fear from the humanity. Why would he push Clark back when he is already aware of how important he’ll be? The living Jonathan has no knowledge of that and thus his behaviour (I hope I wrote it correctly). It’s easy to give good advice when you already know the future. Anyway my pòint is right. If someone discovered something this important about my son I would certainly… Read more »
Jonathan still warned Clark of Lionel’s knowledge of his secret in the near death experience. So he was still warning him that Lionel was dangerous. And as far as I saw in the episode Jonathan had no intent in killing Lionel. He was going to fight him off his property like an intruder. In fact he told him to get off his property shortly before his heart attack. So no he wasn’t going to kill him.
it would matter even if Jonathan was a ghost when he told Clark it’s ok to use his powers. He was still learning what to do with his life at that point. He wasn’t superman yet. So that advice was crucial for Clark. As far as I could tell,the Jonathan Kent in man of steel and Batman V superman didn’t encourage Clark to use his powers at all. And I found that to be very disappointing.
Saving not selling.
Typo
I do think Smallville’s version of pa Kent set the bar for pa Kent.
I would agree with you but lets keep it on perspective. He’s not in a two hour movie. He was in what could be described as a TV weekly soap opera.(for years)… There’s a lot more they can do with any character over a TV series than they can do in a movie, especially when it runs for several years.
I don’t know if it was a soap opera really. I always thought soap operas aired during daytime hours. Maybe I’m wrong on that. I don’t know, it did have drama so maybe it could be in the soap opera classification. Maybe soap opera/ fantasy? Certainly it wasn’t “days of our lives” level of soapy, but it did have drama. It is what it is, and I enjoyed the time smallville aired.
Until there’s another actor who plays Pa Kent longer than John Schneider did, it will be a long while before another actor surpasses his performance.