- Robert De Niro
- James Stewart
- Marlon Brando
- Humphrey Bogart
- Jack Nicholson
- Al Pacino
- Daniel Day-Lewis
- Toshiro Mifune
- Charlie Chaplin
- Cary Grant
- Marcello Mastroianni
- John Wayne
- Henry Fonda
- Paul Newman
- William Holden
- Klaus Kinski
- Dustin Hoffman
- Gene Hackman
- Clint Eastwood
- Leonardo DiCaprio
- Max von Sydow
- Robert Mitchum
- Brad Pitt
- Philip Seymour Hoffman
- Burt Lancaster
- Jean-Paul Belmondo
- Buster Keaton
- Montgomery Clift
- Tony Leung
- Tom Cruise
- Jean Gabin
- James Cagney
- Kirk Douglas
- Bill Murray
- Sean Connery
- Tom Hanks
- Denzel Washington
- Clark Gable
- Sean Penn
- Joseph Cotton
- Jean-Louis Trintignant
- Edward Norton
- Harrison Ford
- Takashi Shimura
- Joe Pesci
- Laurence Olivier
- Emil Jannings
- Harvey Keitel
- Joaquin Phoenix
- Christian Bale
- Paul Muni
- Ryan Gosling
- Ralph Fiennes
- Chisu Ryu
- Peter O’Toole
- Heath Ledger
- Morgan Freeman
- Orson Welles
- Jeff Bridges
- Michael Caine
- James Dean
- Alain Delon
- Steve McQueen
- Martin Sheen
- Warren Beaty
- Anthony Hopkins
- Robert Duvall
- Johnny Depp
- Frank Sinatra
- Jack Lemmon
- Gary Cooper
- Peter Lorre
- Edward G. Robinson
- Bruce Willis
- Samuel L. Jackson
- Rod Steiger
- Matt Damon
- George C. Scott
- George Clooney
- John Cazale
- Christopher Walken
- Peter Sellers
- Gunnar Bjornstrand
- Robert Redford
- Alec Guinness
- John Hurt
- Jean- Pierre Leaud
- Robert Shaw
- Richard Burton
- John Goodman
- Casey Affleck
- Donald Sutherland
- Russell Crowe
- Roy Schieder
- Maurice Chevalier
- Ray Liotta
- Kevin Spacey
- Thomas Mitchell
- Anthony Quinn
- Willem Dafoe
Gary Oldman is around my top 25
Hi Leo,
I love Gary Oldman. Definitely one I thought hard about and lamented having to leave off. Again, the the list is more about accomplishments than acting talent or range- both of which i think Oldman has in abundance. Is there one here on the top 100 that you would point to as who you would leave off in exchange for Oldman?
Yes I agree, I think maybe it’s because he doesn’t star in too many GREAT movies that he doesn’t deserve a very high spot that would match his pure talent. I would maybe switch out Willam Dafoe though I obviously love him too. This is a great list though I agree with most of it, especially the top 10, also maybe i would’ve very hesitantly switched out Mastroianni for Grant or Chaplin.
Hey man! No Charles Laughton? 😝😝
Hey Adam– it was tough to leave Laughton off– I have no beef if he’s on your list– similar to my comment here to Leo on Gary Oldman- I just don’t have Laughton in that many great films. Island of Lost Souls, Mutiny on the Bounty, Spartacus– I have 16 archiveable films for Laughton here below–
who would you take off to put Laughton on?
1932- If I Had a Million
1932- Island Of Lost Souls
1932- The Old Dark Horse
1933- The Private Life of Henry the VIII
1935- Les Miserable
1935- Mutiny On the Bounty
1935- Ruggles of Red Cap
1936- Rembrandt
1938- Sidewalks of London
1939- Jamacia Inn
1939- The Hunchback of Notre Dame
1948- The Big Clock
1954- Hobson’s Choice
1957- Witness For the Prosecution
1960- Spartacus
1962-Advise and Consent
Yes no Laughton no depardieu who should be no1
Hello Jean,
thanks for the comment– I’m fine if you think Gérard Depardieu should be on the list… but #1?!?!? haha wow. I’m sorry but that’s ridiculous. He’s a fine actor but his resume does not warrant top 50 consideration.
Nice ranking , and great website , thank you for all the great content your provide, however i think the best Actor of all time is Daniel Day Lewis with all due respect to Robert De niro
DDL is a fine choice. I still owe “Phantom Thread” another rewatch soon. What criteria are you using?
How the hell is Olivier not in top 10?
Hey Chipper- who would you move down in order to make room for Olivier? I love Olivier and admire his skill but also keep in mind i’m not considering, at all, his famous reputation as one of the best stage actors of the 20th century– i go on a little about it on his page but he didn’t make a lot of great films (relative to the others ahead of him on this list) and the auteur/director he worked with most often was…. himself— not a crazy-great artist behind the camera
“best film: It’s either Rebecca or Spartacus and this is Olivier’s problem. These films are with Kubrick and Hitchcock—the best two directors of all-time. But—and it’s a big but—I have these two films as Kubrick’s 10th best and Hitchcock’s 12th best film. Basically what I’m saying is if you were watching the greatest works of film art in order of greatness you’re going to go a very long time before you get to a Laurence Olivier movie sadly. I do not believe that’s totally coincidental despite Olivier’s obvious greatness as an actor”
It might not be entirely coincidental. Still, I think you are putting too much emphasis on participation in the absolute greatest films. Also, do bad films factor in at all? I was thinking about De Niro, but I guess almost every great actor has made a lot of bad films for long periods of time. Why is this list so heavily American by the way? I find that a little strange when comparing it to your list of directors.
Hey RK- Thanks for the comments. Many agree with you that I put too much emphasis on the greatest films. It’s impossible to calculate how many solid performances by Spencer Tracy, Gregory Peck or Charles Laughton (three guys not on the list) Ray Liotta’s performance in “Goodfellas” is worth. I’m up for the debate but I’m comfortable with my position.
I don’t really factor in bad films– that’s an interesting thought. De Niro obviously has a much lower “per film quality” average than Daniel Day-Lewis and many others. De Niro has been mostly awful since 1997 or 1998 if you want to count back from Tarantino’s “Jackie Brown” or Cuaron’s “Great Expectations” save a few David O. Russell films/performances. I think it’s like Michael Jordan in Washington or any great athlete who stays too long– i just think back to their glory days and better films. If you wanted to go strictly but “per film average” i think it would skew things too far the other way and you’d have like John Cazale and James Dean ahead of Brando
I don’t think it’s overly american– who do you want to move up, down or out? That’s too broad of a criticism for me to defend.
This is the first solid list I have come across. And the response of the author makes it even better. I do believe Tom Hanks should have been ranked higher. And Tom Cruise shouldn’t be as high. Is Tom Cruise really better than Peter O’toole, Clark Gable and a host of others.
HI Alexis- Thanks for the comment and your take here. I love O’Toole, Hanks and Gable. I think for O’Toole and Gable the depth of their career isn’t as strong as their best work (between the two of them this would be Lawrence of Arabia, Gone With the Wind and It Happened One Night). Cruise frankly has more depth there. I also admire so much what Cruise accomplished in 1999 with both Kubrick and P.T. Anderson– it’s just such a massive year. Hanks I like– but who would you move him above? Cruise? Most would say Brad Pitt but give me the work Pitt did with David Fincher over the work Hanks did with either Spielberg or Zemeckis.
I would have William Hurt in there. He had an impressive run in the 80s that included an Academy Award for Best Actor (Kiss of the Spiderwoman) and 2 other Best Actor nominations (Children of a Lesser God and Broadcast News). He was also the lead Actor in the Accidental Tourist which was nominated for Best Picture. Other films that he did during that span were Body Heat, The Big Chill, and The Doctor. Over the last 20 years he’s been mostly a supporting actor and received another Academy Award nomination in 2005. That’s a strong body of work and an impressive resume imo.
Thanks for the William Hurt nomination here. I have 13 archiveable films with Hurt in it– and half of them really solid lead performances during that impressive run in the 80’s you mention here. When i did the best 5 or so performance of each year one by one I only came up with one Hurt performance though- his work in Body Heat from 81′– that just wasn’t enough with 100+ years of cinema.
I found your website recently, and I am loving the content over here. This list is great, I think Hoffman should be closer to the Top 10, Caine and Freeman are a bit too low for my taste. Seeing this list confirms to me that Heath Ledger is one of the great what ifs in recent cinematic history.
Two requests: A list of films with the Best starpower (Actor + Director+ Screen writer+ Musicians involved. Godfather would probably be the run away winner, but a list would be much appreciated.
Second, a list on the Greatest Acting performances. You mention it in your descriptions, but a standalone list would be great.
Hi AP-
Thanks for the note- Hoffman, Caine and Freeman are hard to argue with- I love all three. Anyone ahead of them specifically you’d move down to make room for them?
Yeah- Heath Ledger–so sad– would’ve been one of the all-time greats.
hmm- best star power—- I think this was a topic when “Dark Knight Rises” came out in 2012 or around then but it’s usually only concerning actors — you’re changing it up by combining director/writer/music director…. if we were just doing actors it may be like “a bridge too far” or “how the west was won” as those ensemble films seem to be like a murders’ row of acting talent…. maybe “the player” from altman? lots of cameos there though. I’m probably not the guy to ask on music or writing but “vertigo” has my #1 director of all-time, my #2 actor of all-time, and Bernard Herrmann has to be one of the best 5 on the music side of all-time.
thanks for the suggestion on best performances, too. i could tackle this one. If you go into my “archives by year” i always pick out the performance of the year and runners up on the male and female side. I could pull those apart and rank them.
Samuel Jackson deserves to be on this list!
He is E. he’s #75 and there’s a big fat picture of him. Samuel L. is a great actor
liam neeson and nicolas cage are both terrific, top at least 50-75 actors of all time. i know cage can be eccentric but he is a great actor and more importantly very passionate. adrien brody maybe 100 and id be okay putting ben kingsley or gregory peck (or even robin williams) as in the top 15. rutger hauer? IAN MCKELLEN Patrick Stewart? IAN MCKELLEN? now i know you dont include plays but if you did McKellen may be the #1 actor ever. i love bruce willis and samuel l jackson but i dont see them above any of the above mentioned actors except maybe cage.
one of the great performances in my opinion is neeson in Spielbergs Schindlers List.
also for actresses, where is sean young who in blade runner i believe gave an all time great performance.
also, id include woody allen for his all time great comedy performance in annie hall masterpiece.
Hi M– good stuff here- thanks for the comments. I like all the actors you mention but have various reasons for thinking they’re not superior to Samuel L and Willis. Good feedback though. thanks
liam neeson? id put him top 25
HI Michael– Neeson in the top 25 huh? What’s his second best performance after Schindler’s List? That’s where you lose me. And who in the top 25 are you moving out to put in Neeson?
ok maybe not 25 but i think that he is top 100. even in films that arent the best, like phantom menace or the cheesy action flick taken he is still great i think. taken is a funny one, because that film is not very good, and without neesons acting and facial expressions and delivery it would be unwatchable. also, i think you should do a top performances thing, top 100 all time acting performances. neeson in Schindlers list would be top 40 or so for me. thank you
@michael- thanks again for the comment. I think i agree with you on Neeson in Schindler’s list– if it’s not top 40 it’s close. and i don’t really factor in how good actors are in bad or even mediocre movies. If they’re slaying it in a bad movie, doing theater in the park or on a stage— it doesn’t factor in. To use a sports analogy it’s like scoring a lot of points in an exhibition or preseason game. It doesn’t do much for me except wish they had done it for real in an a good, great or masterpiece-level movie
1.Jack Nicholson should be number #1
2.leonardo DiCaprio
3.robert de niro
4.morgan Freeman
5.denzel Washington
I don’t see Liam neeson, Jim Carrey,tom hardy🤔??
solid top 5 but where’s everybody before Jack? 100+ years of cinema and the 5 best are all from the last 50? Liam Neeson is great in Schindler’s List but missing a strong #2 film where he gives one of the year’s best performances — even someone like Ray Liotta has that with “Something Wild”. I love Tom Hardy but i’m ready for him to give the best performance in a really good movie. His best movies “inception”, “mad max” “the revenant” someone else is giving the best performance in those films– and the movies where he’s giving the best performance are “warrior”, “bronson” “locke” are all about the 29th best film of their respective years…. Jim Carrey wouldn’t make my top 250. Needs a lot more work like “Eternal Sunshine” or “Truman Show”
Sorry but when you are making a list of actors who you would state are the greatest of all time to not have such giant figures as Tracy, Laughton or Peck I find really hard to take, not to mention amazing actors such as Fredric March.
What’s the methodology you are using? Don’t get me wrong I love parts of your list and the sheer work you have put in j to each entry is amazing, I just read the Mitchum entry and am full of admiration.
Just curious to know how you came up with it?
@ Dean day — thanks for the comment — Tracy, Laughton and Peck are great actors– but i’d argue so are all of the actors I have on the list above. What separates them is probably the quality of the films they are in. These three are in a lot of very good films, but i’m pretty confident they are in a combined total of 0 of the top 500 films of all-time. What’s missing from all three is the continued pairing with a great auteur.
My criteria for this list was going year by year and selecting the best 3-8 or so performances (depending on merit) on both the male and female side and then awarding points to them and then adding them all up (De Niro in Raging Bull worth more than Bob Hoskins in The Long Good Friday or John Hurt in The Elephant Man if we’re looking at 1980 say). But even to get mentioned as one of the 3-8 you couldn’t be very good in the 17th best films of the year which was often the case with say Spencer Tracy.
I understand your system I think, but would it give a wider more balanced result if you put more performances in the mix? Remember an actors performance is not only considered great just because of the overall film, in fact their are many examples of the opposite, that an actor has given an unremarkable performance in a great movie. Remember Tracy for example was widely considered by his own peers as the outstanding movie actor of his generation.
His performance in say the seventh cross was considered stunning although the movie itself was not a classic. Tyrone Powers best performance by far is now commonly agreed to be Nightmare Alley.
West Side Story is considered one of the best movies of 61 but does that mean Richard Breymer gave a great performance?
Would you be interested if I came up with another points system? Again your work here is stunning, it’s just a subject I am quite passionate about.
@ Dean day. Really good stuff here- thanks again for sharing and commenting. I think my points system is the best (which is why i picked it). Doing great work in bad or mediocre movies is common and frankly not of much interest to me. i mostly just feel regret they didn’t do it in better movie– sort of a waste. It’s like scoring a lot of points in a preseason or exhibition game in sports… meh
… Needless to say what Ray Liotta does in “Goodfellas” is worth 5 or 10 solid Spencer Tracy performances in the 24th best movie of their respective year
…. as for West Side Story and 1961 i didn’t award any points to Beymer. I don’t just select the lead actor of great films. The actor has to be great- that goes without saying. Beymer is fine and does some good work but the 4 actors/performances i singled out from 1961 are Paul Newman (The Hustler), Mastroianni (La Notte), Mifune (Yojimbo) and Franco Citti (Accatone)
Aamir Khan is a top 100 actor.
nah