Big Ed Hurley

Ed Hurley runs the local gas station in Twin Peaks, a steady, gentle presence in a town full of secrets. He's married to the eccentric Nadine but quietly, deeply in love with Norma, who owns the diner. He carries his unhappiness with a patient, unshowy decency rather than drama.

Everett McGill plays Ed with a weary tenderness that turns a simple soap-opera triangle into something genuinely moving. There's no self-pity in him, just endurance, and McGill lets you see the cost of that endurance in his eyes without ever making Ed pathetic. He's the show's quiet heart.