Who's the best actor/actress ever?

[MiddleFingerMom]

[OffWithTheirHeads]

1. Shouldn't you be in bed?

[B Calm]

2. Joe E Brown

[Chan790]

3. A legitimate argument to be made for Meryl Streep.

Based on length of career, consistent prominence, variety of roles, range as an thespian and being a perennial awards nominee there's a strong argument to be made for Meryl Streep.

Take that same sentence and substitute Morgan Freeman for Meryl Streep and it's no less true.

A lot of arguments can and will likely be made for thespians from earlier ages of film such as Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart, I'd discount them only slightly because a lot of them were the definition of type-cast. All three examples I named could be accused of playing the exact same character over and over.

Someone who has to be a dark horse in any such discussion though is Brad Pitt. Often discounted as "pretty" actor, he's consistently turned in some outstanding performances and shown a capacity to play both comedic and dramatic roles with equal skill. The greatest qualification Pitt has in this discussion is that he's never really turned in a dud performance even in some terrible fare.

[marked50]

4. Gregory Peck -nt

[GoCubsGo]

19. Yep.

Also one of the handsomest ones, as well.

[Graybeard]

5. Movies? Theater? Politics?

.
... ...
.

[Chan790]

6. If you're looking for all three...

that's probably Sonny Bono by-default. (Actually, it's almost certainly Clint Eastwood who has a more diverse if less acclaimed career as a stage actor than as a film actor. It's too bad he's a RW libertarian dipshit, he's a decent actor.)

Reagan was never a stage actor, too wooden to work the stage.

Al Franken has done some stage-acting but in roles where he was mostly a monologist.

While there are other actors to go into politics, I can't think of them off the top of my head.

Man, if only Ashley Judd had run against Yertle the Kentucky Turtle, she'd have this one locked up.

[Graybeard]

7. Helen Gahagan. Movie, Theater. Politics.

The Broadway actress Helen Gahagan (born 1900 - died 1980) was in only one movie. She starred in the title role of "She" (1935) opposite Randolph Scott.

She quit acting and entered politics serving 2 terms in the House of Representatives from the state of California. Her bid for a Senate seat
in 1950 was unsuccessful as a result of a bitterly dirty "red-baiting"
campaign by her opponent Richard Nixon.

She was married to actor Melvyn Douglas.

[mockmonkey]

8. This guy

He actually has people thinking he's still alive.

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Now that is what I call...

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[Graybeard]

9. For me it's a close call between two.

William Powell and James Stewart.

William Powell never gave a poor performance IMO. In all of his 'tipsy-sophisticate" Thin Man movies and others in the 1930s to wonderful comedies like Life With Father and Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid in the 1940s and his final roles in How To Marry A Millionaire and Mr. Roberts in the 1950s.

James Stewart worked into the 1980s and if I had the 'desert-island' choice of only one actor's movies to watch it would be Stewart. From the light weight comedies and socially relevant classics of the 1930s and 40s (Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, It's A Wonderful Life) to the intense 'psychological Westerns' of the 1950s to his wonderful work with Alfred Hitchcock and one of his best, Anatomy of a Murder.

My two 'best' actors.

[Orsino]

10. Ian McKellen says there will be no more English greats...

...as repertory theater slowly dies. I think he makes a great point, and while I'd find it hard to pick a single best actor/tress, an objective choice would probably hail from the tradition of day-in-day-out punching of the rep clock.

[BainsBane]

47. LOVE Ian McKellan

He does more with his eyes than most can do with their entire bodies.

[Orrex]

54. Avery Schreiber

[Boom Sound 416]

11. K Hepburn and bogie

[Scuba]

25. Thank you.

[steve2470]

12. Actor = Robert DeNiro, Actress = Meryl Streep nt

[PasadenaTrudy]

18. +1! n/t

[applegrove]

30. I agree. I highly reccommend that people

who have not seen Sophie's choice in thirty years watch it again. Streep was just breathtaking/heartbreaking in every scene.

[Baitball Blogger]

13. Helen Mirren, Myrna Loy, Elizabeth Banks...

Alan Rickman, Tony Shaloub, Stanley Tucci,

[Brother Buzz]

14. Michael J. Pollard

https://app.box.com/shared/ck6k07et1y

[Scuba]

26. Little Fauss.

[Brother Buzz]

27. Yes. He was also Maynard G. Krebs' oddball cousin in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis.

Bob Denver almost left the series after the first four episodes were filmed when he was drafted into the Army. Michael Pollard was hired as Maynard's beatnik cousin, but he was dropped when Bob Denver returned because he flunked the Army physical.

[Scuba]

28. But perhaps best remembered for his role in Bonnie and Clyde.

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[Brother Buzz]

32. For sure. EVERYONE saw that blockbuster back in the day.

Hell, the film even spawned a Pop chart sensation, "The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde".

[Gidney N Cloyd]

45. Also once played Barney Fife's oddball cousin on the Andy Griffith Show.

[Brother Buzz]

46. Cool, Season 2, Episode 30

I Googled it. I'm gonna chase it down and watch it on Netflix when I have some time. Thanks for the heads up.

[cliffordu]

15. Me. I act like I'm happy and not homicidal at small talk

[Burma Jones]

16. If you mean just for movies, then in my opinion, Olivier and Streep......In Live Theatre.....

The most impressive live performances I've seen were Mark Rylance in "Jerusalem" and Eve Best in "The Homecoming"

Although I was also mightily impressed with Geoffrey Rush in "Exit the King" and Mercedes Ruehl in "The Goat, or Who is Sylvia"

[bluesbassman]

17. Barney Rubble

Here's proof...

[MiddleFingerMom]

22. Our lead guitarist came in and started playing some licks from a song he was working on.

.
.
.
He didn't have any lyrics for it. It was kind of a blues number with a little
bit of country flair to it -- slow and mournful.
.
The "Flintstones Theme" started playing in my head and I stepped up to
the mike and starting singing...
.
"Flintstones.
Meet dem Flintstones.
Dey's a modern Stone Age fambily.
.
Fum dey... town of Bedrock
Dey's a page right out o' his-TOE-ree.".
.
Others in the band started jamming with it. It ended up sticking and we
played it every once in a while onstage.
.
Our lead guitarist?
.
"Fuck you, man... I worked on that song for WEEKS and those lyrics were
PERFECT for what I thought was a serious song."
.

.
.
.

[bluesbassman]

35. I dig it when little riffs from jingles or theme songs get thrown in a tune.

Hey, at least your lead guitarist was pragmatic about it!

[Iggo]

20. My ex-girlfriend.

Had me fooled for months.

[Bunnahabhain]

21. So hard to narrow down to just one

Ben Kingsley deserves special mention but most people probably would not think of him. Folks like DeNiro, Hackman, Freeman, Duvall, Streep, Hepburn, Guinness, Olivier, and Bergman come to mind. Don't underestimate folks like DiCapprio, Depp, Damon, McGregor. But if I had to name the best of the best there is just one person:

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[jmowreader]

50. DiCaprio is like Tom Cruise - he always plays the same character

If you've seen both The Aviator and Gatsby, tell me: couldn't you see Leo's Jay Gatsby stringing crime scene tape all over his house, locking himself in a room and pissing in milk bottles, like his Howard Hughes did in The Aviator?

[Bunnahabhain]

53. Basketball Diaries, This Boy's Life, Marvin's Room, and What's Eating Gilbert Grape

Check out those movies and get back to me on your view of his ability to play different characters. The guy can act.

[1-Old-Man]

23. Al Pachino, Woody Harrelson, Meryl Streep, Mary McDonnell, and many others

[KamaAina]

24. Juile Andrews

the field of actor/actresses is quite limited, you know. She wins for Victor/Victoria.

[TheDeputy]

29. My ex wife.

She was able to hide the crazy for years?

[Rhiannon12866]

31. Laurence Olivier

[pokerfan]

33. Ashton Kutcher & Jessica Alba

Made you look!

[Shrek]

34. Mike Myers n/t

[trof]

36. Brando. For range and believability.

[mysuzuki2]

37. Ron Jeremy

[rurallib]

40. true - he does act like he's enjoying himself.

[tokenlib]

38. Charlie Chaplin was brilliant...

..and I think Leslie Nielsen deserves mention.

[Kablooie]

39. The actor/actress would have to be Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire.

[rurallib]

41. I'd nominate Brando or Dustin Hoffman

but Meryl Streep seems in a class by herself.

[Nye Bevan]

42. Surprised that Jean-Claude Van Damme has not been mentioned yet.

Does nobody here remember "Time Cop"?

[IrishEyes]

43. James Cagney/Barbara Stanwyck

That is only my opinion.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

44. Orson Welles called him "the greatest actor who ever lived"

Last edited Thu Sep 12, 2013, 01:14 AM - Edit history (2)

and was referring to the very great, the one and only Frenchman known by one name, that of Raimu. He was also the favorite actor of greats such as Marlene Dietrich and Sir Alec Guiness. Plain-looking, natural, down-to-Earth in style, anyone who understands French and has seen his large and impressive body of work on film would know why. Welles was on his way to France to pay homage to Raimu when he learned of his death. Here, he plays an alcoholic, washed up lawyer who fled from life and even disappointed his own daughter but makes a final wonderful effort to sober up and defend a young man wrongfully accused (kind of a washed up, has-been lawyer role played by Paul Newman in The Verdict, the latter being one of the most powerful performances ever by an American actor - I love Paul Newman and James Caan deserves mention here as well).

Among females, although she played many characters I found difficult to like, I admire the genius and unlimited talent of two-time Academy Award winning actress Bette Davis. Meryl Streep was in complete awe of Bette Davis and has stated it in her tribute to her that can periodically be seen on Turner Classic Movies.

[Populist_Prole]

48. Jimmy Stewart

It's not even just his great lines delivery, but subtle facial and body mannerisms.

[Mz Pip]

49. Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, Kevin Spacey

Liz Taylor, Katharine Hepburn, Cate Blanchette, Meryl Streep.

[Angleae]

51. Tim Curry, Gary Oldman, Tommy Lee Jones

[Gravitycollapse]

52. Daniel Day Lewis and Hillary Swank