10 Favorite Actors and their performances

[MissGoddess]

Great to see Robbie Ryan on any list! And my favorite movie by him!

My next 4:

5. John Wayne - A very reassuring presence on screen. I know I'm not going to be bored. There are some memorable screen roles that really only he could do justice. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is my pick for most outstanding performance, for watching a great man disappear by self-immolation. Frightening and painful to watch "John Wayne" do this.

6. Robert Ryan - Good looking, physical, intelligent, quick and sarcastic. He is never indifferent. What a combination. On Dangerous Ground displays all his best qualities.

7. James Stewart - Warm or removed, funny or chasing his lost self control, he has bucketloads of that indefinable "star quality" to me. You feel you know "Jimmy". And he was the first classic movie star I had a dream we were getting married. Favorite movie eprformance, Vertigo. Jaw droppingly impressive, this is a BIG SCREEN performance. (And by the way, I think Stewart is a hundred times funnier in his personal appearances and interviews than he ever was on screen. He's very still and dry and deadpan, almost grave so you can hardly tell if he's being serious or kidding. I love that. Only the English can usually get that quality across so well. Jimmy, one of the most expressive stars ever, can actually do it.)

8. Humphrey Bogart - I love that as much as he's always looking to puncture the inflated egos around him, he also can laugh when the joke's on him. And I love Bogie's laugh. I put it up their with Gable's and Robert Ryan's. Smoker's definitely had the best laughs! (the men I mean). In A Lonely Place, High Sierra and To Have and Have Not are my favorites. In High Sierra, he is actually very attractive to me.

[charliechaplinfan]

my original intention was to judge their whole body of work, I'm always on the look out for watching an actor others find interesting in their various performances and finding out the reason why.

Okay, I can do that.


Coop - I like his early years, including some of the silents I've seen, and the sexiest he ever was, was in Morocco and The General Died at Dawn. Then I like his post-1950 work for the most part. The late thirties and 40s are more uneven for me, because he began playing male beauties in distress and innocents. It pains me to see him cut off at the knees, but I take my hat off at his ability to play both ends of the spectrum.

Spence - He's more fun and looser in the 1930s, somewhat romantic and all over the place in the 1940s, and gradually grew into a voice of reason and authority, a voice I'd listen to because it generally contained a note of self-awareness. Like Garson Kanin wrote, his face looked like it could be carved on Mt. Rushmore.

Gable - As with Gary, I iike Gable best when he was younger, feisty and even villainous on occastion, and in his later years when there was some gravitas and even a willingness to go tongue-in-cheek about his legendary appeal. The 1940s were the most uneven in my opinion, in the appeal of the films.

Mitch - His "body of work" is hard for me to describe, as it became more varied and he was suddenly to be found in Australia, the Pacific, Ireland as well as out in the wild west and when he returned to New York it was as an insecure, faded businessman having an affair with a kooky dancer. I look for the moments that tell me he was a heck of a better actor than anyone ever gave him credit for. And through it all, just about the perfect definition of 'cool' in my opinion, much more so than any who came after him.

Thanks April. I like the actors you've mentioned very much. I think a lot of the big stars of the thirties dipped in the forties and hit their stride again in the 50's.

Gable's villans were a revelation to me. His role in The Misfits is one of my favorites, I like that tongue in cheek self deprecating view he had of himself in his later films. And his Rhett, well I think he is my perfect man.

[stuart.uk]

James Stewart-The Far Country
Charlie Chaplin-The Kid
John Wayne-Red River
Cary Grant-North By Northwest
Spencer Tracy-Northwest Passage
Gary Cooper-High Noon
James Cagney-Yankee Doodle Dandy
Fred Astaire-Top Hat
Henry Fonda-Grapes Of Wrath
Errol Flynn-They Died With Their Boots On

[srowley75]

Working on a paper and having a momentary writer's block, so I'll allow myself a brief break while quickly listing mine:

James Stewart (It's a Wonderful Life)
Cary Grant (His Girl Friday or Bringing Up Baby)
Charles Laughton (The Suspect)
Alec Guinness (The Horse's Mouth)
Peter Sellers (Dr. Strangelove)
Emil Jannings (The Last Command)
Humphrey Bogart (In a Lonely Place)
William Powell (The Thin Man)
Toshiro Mifune (The Bad Sleep Well)
James Cagney (White Heat)

I'll probably be annoyed with myself later for skipping someone, but for now I'd say these are pretty accurate.

[charliechaplinfan]

Toshiro Mifune ranks pretty high for me for all his performances, what kept him off my list of overall performances is that I've only seen him in films directed by Kurosawa so didn't feel I could qualify him for his overall career in films.

[JackFavell]

Ralph Richardson

George Sanders

John Qualen

Alec Guinness

Sean Connery

Charles Boyer

Anthony Quinn

Thomas Mitchell

William Powell

Victor MacLaglen

John Wayne

Felix Bressart

Henry Fonda

Oskar Homolka

Frank Morgan

[intothenitrate]

This struck me as a pretty daunting topic at first, CCF. Then I reflected on what makes an actor a "favorite." That's different than asking people to name the 10 "best" actors, because then you have to go back to some definition of technical abilities, craft etc. etc. Naming favorites is a lot more subjective and comfortable. .

That said, my list is more in tune with the thread Actors you would watch no matter what film they were in. I chose actors who had some winning quality [for me] that comes through time after time. I identify with these guys. They are like personal avatars, agents, or stand-ins that take me through the story. They get me to invest in them emotionally. There are plenty of actors that I admire objectively--Spencer Tracy, Walter Huston, and others already mentioned, but these are the ones that consistently get me hooked in:

>>Humphrey Bogart
>>Boris Karloff
>>Errol Flynn
>>William Powell
>>Peter Lorre
>>Richard Barthelmess
>>George Brent (I know, George Brent--all of a sudden I think he's great)
>>Cedric Hardwicke
>>Buster and Charlie--listed last but not least--It's just that their films are structured so that you either have to root for them or just turn it off.

I'm crazy about Halliwell Hobbes too, but his appearances are so fleeting, I couldn't count him.

[JackFavell]

I love your description of why you chose these particular actors, intothenitrate. I wanted to pick the actors who somehow command my attention, even in the quietest of ways. If I happened to walk into the room while they are on, I am compelled to stay and watch, no matter the quality of movie, or the subject.

[charliechaplinfan]

I like the way you've picked some supprting actors. I never think of nominating them yet i can think of a umber of them that I love, off the top of my head

Frank Morgan
C Aubrey Smith
Thomas Mitchell
Una Oconnor
Sara Allgood
Eugene Pallette

I'm so bad with remembering names, I only remember I love them when I see them in movies and there are many others I love too and who's names I've forgotten to list.

[JackFavell]

Cinemaven made me realize how much value I place on voices - I never realized it, but almost all my favorites have voices that please me beyond anything else. The same goes for the women on my list in the other thread. I think that is why I love classic films so much - in an age of radio, movies were created around which voices sounded good together. Put Jean Arthur in a scene with Thomas Mitchell, and I am in heaven.

[charliechaplinfan]

Voices are a big thing for me too and accents to, particularly French and Italian.

[intothenitrate]

C. Aubrey Smith rocks! I believe his vocals have been mimicked all the way down down to the present day. When someone does a quintessentially gruff, upper crust British accent, it seems that they are channeling him.

[charliechaplinfan]

For now and in no particular order my actors

Charlie Chaplin - of course and always top of my list
Jean Gabin - a wonderful actor, reminds me of Spencer Tracy, made so many good choices with the films he made, always engaging.
Charles Boyer - often in support of the leading lady, a slow burn with me but now a great favorite with me.
Cary Grant - screwball comedian, Hitchcock villan, equally good in comedy, romance, adventure or drama. A longtime at the top, deservedly.
Montgomery Clift - an intense actor, my favorite of the 'method' actors.
Buster Keaton - I can't claim that he was great in everything he was in but for his own work, shorts and features he deserves his place.
Marcello Mastroianni - his career took a while to take off, he hit his stride with Fellini, equally at home in comedy or drama, can play dangerous, made some brave choices too.
Jean Louis Trintignant - only recently have I discovered more of his films after having seen one or two of his better known films but well worth inclusion.
Fred Astaire - words fail me, he's a one off and perfect.
Gene Kelly - for being so different to Fred and still as enjoyable.

Also
James Mason

It suddenly struck me how many of my favorites had not been honoured with an Academy Award, some were't even nominated that often either. There's 3 international actors in there so that perhaps lessens the chances. Chaplin has two Oscars, Gene Kelly got a special one for An American in Paris, Fred Astaire I think has too but the others, my serious actors, no award. I'm obviously at odds with the academy.

[MissGoddess]

#9 Harry Carey (Sr.) The Shepherd of the Hills. He has one of hte most beautiful speaking voices yet such a quiet, thoughtful performer. Love him.

#10 Yul Brynner, Anastasia. Commanding and sensitive, macho and cultured, exotic and at home in almost every genre. Very exciting performer.

So the whole list is:

1. Gary Cooper
2. Spencer Tracy
3. Clark Gable
4. Robert Mitchum
5. John Wayne
6. Robert Ryan
7. James Stewart
8. Humphrey Bogart
9. Harry Carey
10. Yul Brynner

(I decided not to include Will Rogers as I consider him in a special category of all-round entertainer, rather than just an actor).

[knitwit45]

April, have you ever seen The Sound and The Fury? It's Yul Brynner with hair, and he is gorgeous. It's a really good movie with JoAnne Woodward and Margaret Leighton, Ethel Waters and Jack Warden. It's loosely based on the Faulkner novel.

I got to see Mr. Brynner in a stage production of The King and I, about 2 years before his death. He was simply marvelous.