greatest actor of all time

Willem Dafoe and Jeff Goldblum. Both gods.

Tom Hanks ain't bad, either.

gross tom hanks. I liked him in sleepless in seattle, but he makes weird faces with his face?

I just finished "On the Waterfront," so right now Marlon Brando's riding the favorite train.

Some comments:

- Browsed through this thread...surprisingly little love for Paul Newman. He might be my personal #1.

- I honestly feel like some of the Old, classic "greats" could only hit one note. It was a great, great note, but played over and over. Modern actors (good ones, mind you, not all) have more versatility than many classics.

- The AFI list (quoted below) is as close to definitive as we'll get, though I think it's overly harsh to modern actors.

- Shout-outs that I love: Kenneth Branagh, Bill Murray, Charlie Chaplin. Along with Newman, each of these actors is responsible for a top 5 favorite performance of all-time from me, and I generally enjoy all of their work.

- Nicholas Cage takes too much heat. He's got a very distinctive style. Just because it's not for everyone doesn't mean he's bad. I'm not the biggest fan of his, but I can't deny a certain air about him that's hard to define. He's original if nothing else.

Originally posted by Robtard
American Film Institute's top 100 list. See where your pick ranks.

1. Marlon Brando
2. Laurence Olivier
3. Robert DeNiro
4. James Stewart
5. Alec Guinness
6. Humphrey Bogart
7. Gregory Peck
8. Jack Nicholson
9. Henry Fonda
10. Spencer Tracy
11. Charlie Chaplin
12. Gary Cooper
13. James Cagney
14. Al Pacino
15. Cary Grant
16. Sidney Poitier
17. Paul Newman
18. George C. Scott
19. Burt Lancaster
20. Anthony Hopkins
21. Dustin Hoffman
22. Peter Sellers
23. Robert Mitchum
24. Richard Burton
25. Yul Brenner
26. Edward G. Robinson
27. Charlton Heston
28. Clark Gable
29. William Holden
30. Jack Lemmon
31. Gene Kelly
32. Charles Laughton
33. Denzel Washington
34. Fredric March
35. Errol Flynn
36. Kirk Douglas
37. James Dean
38. Orson Welles
39. Gene Hackman
40. Robert DuVall
41. John Wayne
42. Anthony Quinn
43. Michael Caine
44. Sean Connery
45. Peter O'Toole
46. Harrison Ford
47. Robert Redford
48. Buster Keaton
49. Richard Harris
50. Sean Penn
51. Toshiro Mifune
52. Morgan Freeman
53. Lee Marvin
54. Kenneth Branagh
55. Steve McQueen
56. Paul Winfield
57. Ben Kingsley
58. Ralph Richardson
59. Montgomery Clift
60. Rod Steiger
61. Victor Mature
62. Marcello Mastroianni
63. Tom Hanks
64. Christopher Walken
65. Clint Eastwood
66. Walter Matthau
67. Peter Finch
68. Gary Oldman
69. John Malkovich
70. Daniel Day Lewis
71. John Gielgud
72. Dennis Hopper
73. Liam Neeson
74. Geoffrey Rush
75. Samuel L. Jackson
76. James Mason
77. Peter Lorre
78. Fred Astaire
79. Jon Voight
80. Mel Gibson
81. Johnny Depp
82. Gerard Depardieu
83. James Caan
84. Max von Sydow
85. Ralph Fiennes
86. John Hurt
87. Boris Karloff
88. Richard Widmark
89. Kevin Spacey
90. Nicholas Cage
91. Micheal Douglas
92. Russell Crowe
93. William Hurt
94. Richard Dreyfuss
95. Ian McKellan
96. Robin Williams
97. Sydney Greenstreet
98. Tom Cruise
99. Willem Dafoe
100. Gene Wilder

Hm.. perhaps I missed him, but I don't see Brad Pitt on that list. He's in many of my favorite movies and is a damn fine, well-rounded actor.

Originally posted by siriuswriter
I just finished "On the Waterfront," so right now Marlon Brando's riding the favorite train.

Brando I agree is amazing.

Originally posted by Digi
Some comments:

Wow he's on top. In regards to the list it seems a bit ehhhhhhh. DeNiro as third? wow.
I saw Anthony Quinn in an episode of Hercules today. Even in his later years he was impressive playing Zeus.

Honestly making such a list or choosing a best actor of all time is personal and circumstantial. You have your extreme outward actors and your stoic inner actors. I reckon range is a major factor. And many of these classics don't have range. Jim Carrey for instance grew up with deaf parents and learned to express himself through extreme facial gestures and body movements.
A genius. Yet he won't achieve such acclaim because he's a funny man. Though Gene Wilder is there. Also a genius of emotion expressionism.
Boris Karloff is there on the list. A more inner actor in the same vein.

Cont. stupid 15 mins.

Depp is there also. Because of his Hunter S Thompson and pirate role. I would love to see a film with Carrey and him. Two lunatics escaping the asylum and running amok in the American landscape.

Best actor of all time it's a silly notion.

Originally posted by the ninjak
Brando I agree is amazing.

Wow he's on top. In regards to the list it seems a bit ehhhhhhh. DeNiro as third? wow.
I saw Anthony Quinn in an episode of Hercules today. Even in his later years he was impressive playing Zeus.

Honestly making such a list or choosing a best actor of all time is personal and circumstantial. You have your extreme outward actors and your stoic inner actors. I reckon range is a major factor. And many of these classics don't have range. Jim Carrey for instance grew up with deaf parents and learned to express himself through extreme facial gestures and body movements.
A genius. Yet he won't achieve such acclaim because he's a funny man. Though Gene Wilder is there. Also a genius of emotion expressionism.
Boris Karloff is there on the list. A more inner actor in the same vein.

... and Charles Laughton! I've seen him in many films - but it seems that his makeup and costumes work hand in hand with his words...

I don't think he'd be on my personal list.

Originally posted by the ninjak
Best actor of all time it's a silly notion.

Agreed. And yeah, DeNiro being that high up is a bit strange to me, too. Brad Pitt should really be on that list.

I've always thought that Johnny Depp from Fear and Loathing looked like Jim Carry. And hells yeah, they should do a movie together. That would be epic!

james dean

Yeah, James Dean had tons of potential, and we can see it in "East of Eden," "The Giant," and "Rebel Without a Cause." I just wished he would've lived... can you imagine all the movies he would've played in - all the quality movies he would've made? Paul Newman really came into being because of James Dean's death - Hollywood was rolling on with a need for a James Dean-type, and that's how Newman got his entrance.

So I often find myself wondering what would have happened had Dean played Newman's roles... and nothing but good comes out of it. Except, of course, that then there would've been no Paul Newman.

well we can't say that he would have stolen all his roles but it would I could see that for his movie hustler and sweet bird of youth. My favourite, "cool hand luke". It's to bad none of the actors today dont messure up to the old ones.

I said the AFI list was as close to definitive as we're going to get. But "as close as we're going to get" is still going to be incomplete, and everyone who looks at it will have potentially legitimate gripes with it. We're dealing with an incredibly inexact science here.

Also, I am a bit ashamed I forgot add this guy in here: Nick Nolte. His Oscar nom reminded of his existence, and also how much I enjoy his acting. Probably doesn't belong on any real list, but he's on mine.

Originally posted by rudester
It's to bad none of the actors today dont messure up to the old ones.

Grammar aside, that's a near-indefensibly general statement.

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really??

The 5 Greatest Actors of All Time According To Me Are:-
1 Tom Hanks
2 Paul Newman
3 James Stewart
4 Humphrey Bogart
5 Dustin Hoffman

Tom Hanks

Edward Norton (a swiss army knife)
De Niro
Tom Hanks

Originally posted by yourecast
Edward Norton (a swiss army knife)
De Niro
Tom Hanks

Edward Norton, hes a great actor...havent seen him in any new movies as of recent...

I think Will Smith is the best actor ever!!!