I always wanted to know why he was always squinting, I used to think he had something wrong with his eyes. And I just turned my TV on and the TV show 'Mom' was on and he was on it, and I only recognised him because of his eyes, SQUINTING!!
shareTo make the character uglier?
I've no idea where the squinting thing come from but it was so weird when his eyes were open one episode.
Remember when David Hasselhoff said Harry's face was beautiful, so he was handsome throughout the episode but at the end he went back to being ugly.
Fine acting from French Stewart!
Heavy eyelids, plus he isn't always squinting, just when it works with the character he's playing. It really worked for Harry. Harry was sweet and dumb but occasionally profound, like for the most part he only saw occasional flashes of light and wisdom and otherwise kind of went thru existence with his eyes practically closed and was much the happier for it.
shareMy theory involves a moment in the first episode:
Harry:
Dick? I can't see through my eyelids.
Dick:
Open them.
Harry:
Oh! They're manual.
I think after that he still didn't fully understand how to operate the eyelids so he just ended up squinting.
Might be wrong but that's the only explanation I could think of.
I second that
shareFrench Stewart says he came up with it for the audition.
I think the reason it works so well for the character is that it makes dimwitted Harry look like he always has to concentrate hard to understand things.
I think French Stewart said this on one of the DVD commentaries, because I remember hearing this too.
Which reminds me: I don't have strong feelings for Charlie Sheen one way or the other, but when I channel-surf through episodes of "Anger Management", I notice that he's acquired a similar squint.
If there's ever a "3rd Rock" reunion-- or "reboot", to use the buzzword du jour-- maybe Charlie could guest-star as a new "brother".
I don't know if Sheen's squint comes from natural aging, hearty partying, or bad cosmetic surgery. It could be all of the above. 😉
All I know is it always annoyed me.
Rhonda
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