That's a good post because I think there is a difference between a great "actor" and a great "movie star". You definitely can be both, but some people are not. Like Daniel Day Lewis; a lot of people consider him a great actor, but I don't think he is really a big movie star. That said, I think to be the greatest actor you have to be able to do (almost) any role. I'm just going to look at today's actors. Johnny Depp and Tom Hanks are two that can do a lot of roles today. Robert Downey Jr is making a big comeback too. Will Smith too.
I think the hair that I was attempting to split is that some actors don't have a great range but have a great screen presence. For example, I do not think Denzel Washington is a great actor, but he is very charismatic, has a great screen presence and makes films I enjoy seeing. Thus a movie star. On the other hand, Johnny Depp has made movies that I have enjoyed without me knowing that it is a Johnny Depp movie. I still have trouble connecting his characters from Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands, Pirates of the Caribbean, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, etc.
I didn't read through all of the pages of this thread - so I apologize if this has already been referenced... But Bill Simmons wrote an article for ESPN the Mag a few months back where he came up with a formula to determine the best actor/actress of all time - taking into account Oscar winnings, nominations, et al The formula awarded Katherine Hepburn as the best actor/actress of all time. But Simmons submits that because Streep has much of her career in front of her, she will surely surpass Hepburn before its all said and done. Ratings: Actresses Hepburn - 52 Streep - 45 Davis - 41 Bergman - 29 Fonda - 27 Garson - 25 Taylor - 23 Lange/Spacek - 22 each Burstyn 20 Actors: Nicholson - 38 Tracy - 35 Olivier - 32 Brando 30 Hoffman/Newman - 29 each Lemmon - 28 O'Toole - 24 Cooper/Hanks/Penn - 23 each DeNiro/Pacino - 22 each Interesting to note how low DeNiro and Pacino fall - but he discusses that in the article. Here is the llink.
My favorites atm would be Crowe, DiCaprio, Depp, and Norton. Heath ledger was actually just starting to turn into a great actor imo before he passed away, he was really good in brokeback mountain and dark knight. Daniel day lewis is really really good but he just doesn't take enough movie roles. As for actresses I have no clue.
One word: Hackman. The Conversation. Scarecrow. The French Connection. Night Moves. Bonnie and Clyde. Superman. Mississippi Burning. The Royal Tennenbaums. The Birdcage. I Never Sang For My Father. Unforgiven. The guy is so underrated it's not even funny. He deserves to be up there with Hoffman, Brando, DeNiro, Olivier, and all the other greats. To go from playing a complete creep (French Connection, Unforgiven) to a complete loner (Conversation) to an utter goofball (Bonnie and Clyde) and not even realizing it's him doing it, he's just the best.
I cannot believe that it took post #37 to mention Al Pacino, post #59 to mention Jack Nicholson, post #62 to mention James Stewart, and post #91 to mention Cary Grant! And I have skimmed through this thread but I can't recall anyone mentioning Harrison Ford??!! Any way, my list would include DeNiro (he's my favorite) Pacino Stewart Nicholson Grant Ford Russell Crowe (Gladiator was the movie that sold me on him) Morgan Freeman Now these guys are all my favorites but I don't know who is really the "best" actor of all-time. Meryl Streep has often been praised by DeNiro as being the best actress he ever worked with.
Harrison Ford is just lucky to be in good movies not because he's a great actor. He just does that same acting in every single one of his movies.
You guys dont even know about Orlando Bloom. Do you realize how deep he has to dig to shoot arrows every single movie? His parents were killed by him shooting arrows growing up. The hardest thing about any vote determined answer to this question is we're all limited by our experience. There's some ******* out the who thinks Vin Deisel is a great thespian. You'd have to watch a Gasol-load of live theatre to even decide a comtemporary "BEST", muchless for "all time." For what I've seen, I'd have to go for Marlon Brando. From his Marc Antony to Streetcar to Waterfront... its like watching a Dreamshake.
Christian Bale for his work in American Psycho cements him as my favourite actor of all time. I also like Barry Pepper.
Another vote for Daniel Day Lewis. From wikipedia, "Reportedly underwent rigorous weight training and learned to live off the land and forest where his character lived, camping, hunting and fishing. He even carried a long rifle at all times during filming in order to remain in character and learned how to skin animals"
Norton Pitt DeNiro Pacino Penn Worst mainstream actor might be a more interesting thread actually..I'd vote Nic Cage. He's been in some GREAT movies, then all of a sudden after The Rock, he decided he was going to be a major action star, and he took his bad acting instead to terrible movies. Good God, that man is terrible. I couldn't tear my eyes away from Ghost Rider just because of the sheer awfulness of Nicolas Cage.
here's a nice scene with James Stewart and Cary Grant from Philadelphia Story where Grant adlibs a line to try and throw Stewart off (around 1:20 into the clip). You can see them fight trying to hold it together. <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8b39gIMMqr8&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8b39gIMMqr8&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
