Top Twenty Film Stars

[dellzeqq]

...as in not the best film actors of all time, but, rather, those actors that illuminate a film, turning it into something else.

My list is obviously weighted in favour of Hollywood's golden era with only five entries whose best work is in colour. And if pushed for a top ten, I'd simply take the top ten on the list

Marlene Dietrich
Greta Garbo
Clark Gable
Bette Davis
Marlon Brando
Marilyn Monroe
Alec Guinness
John Mills
Yves Montand
James Dean
Jeanne Moreau
Zbigniew Cybulski
Orson WellesEdward G. Robinson
Glenda Jackson
Jean-Louis Trantignant
Robert De Niro
Catherine Deneuve
Klaus-Maria Brandauer
Jodie Foster Lauren Bacall
Carmen Maura

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Want any more?.....

Charles Laughton
James Mason
Greer Garson
Margaret Lockwood
Tuesday Weld
Christopher Lee
George Segal
Rod Steiger
Robert Donat
Jean Simmons
Vivian Leigh
Humphrey Bogart
Deborah Kerr
Jaqueline Bisset
Jacques Tati
Walter Matteau

 

[dellzeqq]

ooh! Tuesday Weld. Very interesting.

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KLyNjqZ1Lg

But why Tuesday Weld and not Jane Fonda (for Klute rather than Barbarella)?

And I did flirt with putting Bogart and Bacall on the list, but not quite.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

I had more of a crush on Tuesday - lovely!

The Bogester wasn't the best looking bloke ever - steals every scene though IMO.

 

[yello]

I'm surprised to see Jodie Foster on your list dell. I agree, she's one helluvan actor but she ain't half been in some crap!

Al Pacino anyone?

But I'm waiting for someone to upset me big time. There's a name that usually crops up on such lists that never fails to have me spitting and stuttering in incredulity!

 

[threebikesmcginty]

But I'm waiting for someone to upset me big time. There's a name that usually crops up on such lists that never fails to have me spitting and stuttering in incredulity!

Dell's already done that for me with Robert De Niro who only ever plays Robert De Niro.

 

[yello]

Dell's already done that for me with Robert De Niro who only ever plays Robert De Niro.

Ah, well, yes, maybe... but he certainly does own a film - which is what I think dell meant!

 

[dellzeqq]

I'm not apologising for de Niro, despite some of his later films being tripe. Taxi Driver, Deer Hunter and Raging Bull would be enough. He captures Brazil, and lifts Pacino (who I'm not fond of) in Heat, although I'd accept that few actors look bad in a Michael Mann film. I even have a soft spot for Falling in Love. But, yes, he has freewheeled through a few films.

Jodie Foster is more difficult to justify. There is that ghastly film Contact. But then again there is Taxi Driver, and Silence of the Lambs and Little Man Tate. Point taken, though - marginal. Lauren Bacall it will be.

I did toy with Nicole Kidman (if only...). Would that have done it for you, Yello?

 

[yello]

aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhhhh !



I have never ever understood the lure of that whiny aussie!

You didn't have to remove Jodie Foster btw. I reckon she must be a 'difficult' person to work with. For me, it's the only reason why she hasn't had such good roles. Personally, I think she can be exceptional... given a good film to work with.

 

[threebikesmcginty]

I nearly put Edward G Robinson in. Keep Orson too - Make it a 'Top 50'


Edit - Any room for Richard Widmark? - oft overlooked and best playing
villains, described once as looking most at home when sat in an electric chair.

 

[dellzeqq]

Nicole Kidman is the perfect star who can't really act. In 'The Others' she tries the acting mullarkey, but doesn't quite pull it off. But in (blue touchpaper time, Yello) 'Moulin Rouge' she is sensational.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

No place for Robert Mitchum? Gene Kelly? James Stewart? Gene Hackman? Toshiro Mifune? And there's other people who just dominate the screen like James C. Scott or Gerard Depardieu... And no list like this would be complete without Peter Lorre or Lon Chaney, surely...

And then there's Marilyn Monroe - surely the archetypal 'star', Bardot, Hepburn, and more recently, Sandrine Bonnaire - who is the quiet centre of anything she's in.

 

[Fnaar]

Whither Norman Wisdom?

 

[Flying_Monkey]

Whither Norman Wisdom?

That way ---->

 

[asterix]

Burt Lancaster
..and Orson Welles, of course, liked his performance in the 'Third Man'.