Generations

[mrsl]

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I was yammering as usual on another thread and mentioned my idea of generations and thought I would list them as I see them for anyone who has any interest or comment. This is for all genres except Western simply because there are just too many actors who have at one time or another tried their hand at westerns.

First Generation: These are the guys and dolls who kept at the game until they literally died, or just became too old to continue.

Cary Grant . . . . . . . . . . Clark Gable
Gary Cooper . . . . . . . . . Jimmie Stewart
Errol Flynn . . . . . . . . . . Spencer Tracy
Joel McCrea . . . . . . . . Robert Taylor . . . and those I've missed

As well as their wonderful leading ladies, Stanwyck, Davis, Crawford, Colbert,etc., etc., etc.,

The In-Betweeners who came along just before WWII, and throughout it.

Gregory Peck . . . . . . . . . .Richard Widmark
Robert Ryan . . . . . . . . . .Robert Mitchum

Second Generation: Some of them still working today at the 70/80 year mark - same work ethic as predecessors, came up after WWII:

Jim Garner . . . . . . . . . . . Tony Curtis . . . . . . . . . . Robert DeNiro
Paul Newman . . . . . . . . . Frank Sinatra . . . . . . . . Al Pacino
Robert Redford . . . . . . . . Burt Lancaster
Kirk Douglas . . . . . . . . . . Jack Lemmon

I know I missed a lot. You may want to add for me. However, these are the ones whose movies I never miss, and watch over and over. I know that with any one of them, I will have a good laugh, or cry. As far as I'm concerned, both DeNiro and Pacino are in a class by themselves. I haven't seen all of either of their movies, because some seem like they just would not be my kind, but I still acknowledge they are both great actors of our time.
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[JackFavell]

That's awesome, mrsl! Love your list! I'll have to think about this...

[knitwit45]

In the second generation list, Dustin Hoffman and Jack Nicholson.

[JackFavell]

Gary Cooper and John Wayne in first generation.

How about Dana Andrews as an in-betweener? This is the most difficult category for me. Makes you realize how acting changed, got more psychological. John Garfield I guess. Orson Welles. Joseph Cotten. James Mason. Maybe there were just fewer actors left during and after the war?

Marlon Brando...is he an inbetween or a second generation? Maybe we have more generations than we thought. I would never put Jack Lemmon and Robert de Niro in the same generation.

[Lzcutter]

Lee Marvin should be a Second Generation!

As should Meryl Streep.

[mrsl]

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I knew there would be a lot I forgot. You're all right. How could I ever forget Dustin Hoffman or Jack Nicholson? ? ? ?

JF: Jack Lemmon's first movie was in 1949, so he is at the edge of the second generation. But I didn't realize until I looked him up in imdB that DeNiro's first movie wasn't until 1968. That's amazing to me because his calibre of acting has always been class A.

Coop is in the first generation but I didn't include John Wayne because the man was starring in movies from the early 30's until his last (the Shootist), in 1976 when he fought his last bout with the big C as he called it. If it hadn't gotten him, he probably would have gone on into the 80's. His films are still selling now so long after he's been gone.

(a little side note about the Duke. You know I shop at Walmart for my $5.00 DVD's. I have been in the same store on a Saturday when a new order was being put on the shelves and there were a dozen Wayne movies each, and went back on Wednesday, and maybe two or three were left of each movie. That is amazing to me).

[JackFavell]

Wow! It's so good to know that Wayne's movies are still selling! Love that!

I was having the same problem, Anne with the 1940's stars. So many of the popular stars from the thirties went right on through the forties and then further. I almost couldn't think of anyone at first who hadn't cut their teeth in the thirties. So I picked Wayne and Cooper at 1st generation-ers even though they had careers extending all the way through the fifties and sixties (and 70's for Wayne).

Lee Marvin popped into my head too, Lynn! He's kind of a bridge actor, isn't he? He isn't method, and he didn't get popular until he was in his 30's and 40's, after the method style actors got popular. He served in WWII, but didn't come to movies until much later. He's an odd duck. But a great actor!

[CharlieT]

I'm not seeing Humphrey Bogart or James Cagney.

[Rita Hayworth]

Glenn Ford as an in-betweener?

To me, he had a long film career and I can see him in all three listings quite easily! ... To me, he is always working!

[mrsl]

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Golly, Charlie T: Great Thinking! Both came through the silents, through WWII, and into the 50's for Bogey, and the late 60's for Cagney.

Wow, I had no idea Glenn Ford started as early as 1939. I always assumed he was a fill in for the guys who were away in the military, but in actuality, I think that's what he was. I know the first time he made an impact on me was in Stolen Life with Bette Davis. Until then, he was relatively unknown, and of course the luck of Gilda put him up there at the top.

So, because of that, I think he can be deemed a 'betweener' who went on through the 80's.
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[JackFavell]

My favorites of Glenn Ford's early films are Go West Young Lady, in which he's just this young pup who Penny Singleton hits over the head with a frying pan repeatedly, and Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence, which I just saw this week. But Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence has even more to recommend it - a standout performance by another tweener - Richard Conte, who is marvelous...I had no idea Conte worked this early either. You can see them both here:





Anne, do you still have trouble with youtube links on your computer? I can post them with the youtube box, but didn't because I thought maybe it might mess up your thread for you.

[mrsl]

.I've never tried to post a UTube link myself, but with the newer flat screen my buddy gave me, I haven't yet had any trouble calling them up when someone else posts them like you did.
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[JackFavell]

Good to know.