- 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