Great actor thread

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Stealhead

I really like Gran Torino

My personal favorite would be The Outlaw Josie Wales. That said, have you ever seen The Beguiled? Not his best film by a long shot, but the only one I know of in which he is actually the bad guy. If you haven't seen it, give it a shot.

True Eastwood is a fairly good director as well.

I would say that Letters From Iwo Jima puts him in the ranks of the truly great directors.

[U-15]

A film bio as long as your arm.
He will obviously be remembered for his roles in The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, and Bullitt; the latter having that fantastic car chase.

He was respected for doing many of his own stunts.

For me, my most memoranle Steve McQueen role was that of Henri Charriere, in the film Papillon.
One of the few films that is as good as the book.
A totally different role for McQueen then in 1973, which coincidentally, was the year the real Henri Charriere died.

For me McQueen plays Papillon beautifully, with quiet humour, determination and patience. The film left an indelible mark on me; so much so that whenever anybody is hassling me to do something quickly, I reply "one brick at a time", with reference to Papillon scraping at the bricks of his cell.

An often overlooked true great.

[Mr Quatro]

Steve McQueen is my vote (add a poll at the end of the year)(can you do this?)

He was always so believable no matter what role he took on from cowboy with that fancy rifle to escaped prisoner on a motorcycle in "The Great Escape" (1963) to a sailor in "San Pebbles" (1966) to a cowboy in "Nevada Smith" (1966) to a thief in "The Thomas Crown Affair" (1968) to a detective on the streets of San Francisco in "Bullitt" (1968) to race car driver in the movie "Le Mans" (1971) by which time he had gone broke only to wind up dying in a clinic in Mexico in November 1980 shipped back across the border in a 1957 Ford station wagon still holding the bible that Billy Graham had given him.

They roped off everything he left behind in a hanger in Palmdale, California and auctioned it all off.

He was known as "The king of cool"

[eddie]

hard to pick just one. I agree with Eastwood,McQueen, Connery. But also have to throw in Paul Newman, Jimmy Stewart, Henry Fonda, but for today s actors, I would have to say Matt Damen. He has made some great movies.

[U-15]

Whatever part he played, he played it with a combination of dignity, quiet authority and humility, to the point that you forgot he was playing a part.
He was so versatile and able to play in so many genres.

Excellent in Hitchcock's Spellbound .
My favourite Peck role was that of Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird.
Again dignity, authority and humility coming to the fore.
A truly great actor.

[fireftr18]

I'll add Cary Grant to the list of great actors.


Here is a link to his site on IMDB.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000026/?ref_=tt_cl_t1

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by U-15

A truly great actor.

You said more or less the same of Steve McQueen, how many picks you want?

[ReallyDedPoet]

Robert DeNiro

[U-15]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

You said more or less the same of Steve McQueen, how many picks you want?

Well to me Jimbuna, a great actor has to have been consistently good in a number of films covering a variety of genres.

Often nowadays, the term great is used liberally in so many walks of life, especially football.

As film stars go, McQueen and Peck were just that. Consistently good in a wide variety of films.

Of the modern era, Tom Hanks is the closest to them