The Best Archie Goodwins

 

I've seen a number of Nero Wolfes. I consider Timothy Hutton and Joe Penny (as Jake in Jake & the Fatman) the best Archies. 

The reason connects to a quote from Jacques Barzun that can be found on the Nero Wolfe Wikipedia page.

 If he had done nothing more than to create Archie Goodwin, Rex Stout would deserve the gratitude of whatever assessors watch over the prosperity of American literature. For surely Archie is one of the folk heroes in which the modern American temper can see itself transfigured. Archie is the lineal descendant of Huck Finn...Archie is spiritually larger than life. That is why his employer and companion had to be made corpulent to match.

Timothy Hutton and Joe Penny capture the Huck Finn quality. They have a rawness, a physical easiness that lies somewhere between suppleness and bruiser-like directness. They are never entirely still. And their quickness of thought comes from brash self-confident experience. 

Lee Horsley opposite William Conrad is too slick and yuppie-like. Pietro Sermonti opposite Francesco Pannofino is better, but he also plays the straight man to Pannofino. Both these Archies lack the brashness, the Archie who can appreciate Wolfe's gourmet dishes but is happiest with pie and milk.

Timothy Hutton and Joe Penny capture that raw talent brashness.