The 100 Greatest Actors of All Time
by gengisquandokhan | created - 28 Nov 2019 | updated - 28 Mar 2020 | Public
1. Charles Chaplin
Writer | The Great Dictator
Considered to be one of the most pivotal stars of the early days of Hollywood, Charlie Chaplin lived an interesting life both in his films and behind the camera. He is most recognized as an icon of the silent film era, often associated with his popular character, the Little Tramp; the man with the ...
The Greatest Actor of All-Time
Before Chaplin came to pictures people were content with a couple of gags per comedy; he got some kind of laugh every second. The minute he began to work he set standards—and continually forced them higher. Anyone who saw Chaplin eating a boiled shoe like brook trout in The Gold Rush or embarrassed by a swallowed whistle in City Lights, has seen perfection. — James Agee
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 95 Rotten Tomatoes' Career approval rating: 100% (10 out of 10)Awards & Nominations
Wins: 12 (2 Honorary Awards, 1 NBR Award) Nominations: 14 (1 Oscar, 1 NBR Award)Popularity
Adj. average gross: $113.6 million (domestic) Adj. lifetime adjusted gross: $1.2 billion (domestic)Additional
Featured in the following lists- Life's 100 People Who Changed the World
- Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century
- The Telegraph's The 50 greatest actors from Hollywood's Golden Age
- Entertainment Weekly's The Greatest Movie Stars of All Time: #9
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars - Top 25 Male Legends: #10
- Premiere's The 100 Greatest Performances of All Time
2. James Stewart
Actor | Vertigo
James Maitland Stewart was born on May 20, 1908, in Indiana, Pennsylvania, to Elizabeth Ruth (Johnson) and Alexander Maitland Stewart, who owned a hardware store. He was of Scottish, Ulster-Scots, and some English descent. Stewart was educated at a local prep school, Mercersburg Academy, where he ...
The 2nd Greatest Actor of All-Time
He had the ability to talk naturally. He knew that in conversations people do often interrupt one another and it's not always so easy to get a thought out. It took a little time for the sound men to get used to him, but he had an enormous impact. And then, some years later, Marlon came out and did the same thing all over again—but what people forget is that Jimmy did it first. — Cary Grant
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 85 Rotten Tomatoes' Approbation: 85,7% (36 out of 42)Awards & Nominations
Wins: 27 (1 Oscar, 1 Honorary Award, 1 Golden Globe) Nominations: 48 (5 Oscars, 3 Golden Globes, 2 BAFTAs)Box Office Numbers
Adj. average gross: $107.4 million (domestic) Adj. lifetime gross: $7.8 billion (domestic)Additional
Featured in the following lists:- The Telegraph's The 50 greatest actors from Hollywood's Golden Age
- Premiere's The 50 Greatest Movie Stars of All Time: #9
- Entertainment Weekly's The 100 Greatest Movie Stars of All Time: #3
- AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars: #3
- Premiere's The 100 Greatest Performances of All Time
3. Humphrey Bogart
Actor | Casablanca
Humphrey DeForest Bogart was born in New York City, New York, to Maud Humphrey, a famed magazine illustrator and suffragette, and Belmont DeForest Bogart, a moderately wealthy surgeon (who was secretly addicted to opium). Bogart was educated at Trinity School, NYC, and was sent to Phillips Academy ...
The 3rd Greatest Actor of All-Time
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 87 Rottens's Approbation: 100% (30 out of 30)Awards & Nominations
Wins: 7 (1 Oscar, 3 NBR Awards) Nominations: 12 (3 Oscars, 1 BAFTA, 3 NBR Awards)Box Office Numbers
Adj. average gross: $85.9 million Adj. lifetime gross: $5.5 billionAdditional Featured in the following lists
- The Telegraph's The 50 greatest actors from Hollywood's Golden Age
- The Film 100's A Ranking of the Most Influential People in the History of the Movies: #46
- Entertainment Weekly's The 100 Greatest Movie Stars of All Time: #1
- AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars: #1
- Premiere's The 100 Greatest Movie Performances of All Time
4. Cary Grant
Actor | North by Northwest
Once told by an interviewer, "Everybody would like to be Cary Grant", Grant is said to have replied, "So would I."
Cary Grant was born Archibald Alec Leach on January 18, 1904 in Horfield, Bristol, England, to Elsie Maria (Kingdon) and Elias James Leach, who worked in a factory. His early years in ...
The 4th Greatest Actor of All-Time
Critics
Metacritic's Average career score: 91 Rotten Tomatoes' Approbation: 95,1% (39 out of 41)Awards & Nominations
Wins: 11 (1 Honorary Oscar) Nominations: 31 (2 Oscars, 5 Golden Globes, 1 BAFTA)Box Office Numbers
Average gross: $147.1 million (domestic) Lifetime gross: $9.2 billion (domestic)Additional
Featured in the following lists:- The Telegraph's The 50 greatest actors from Hollywood's Golden Age
- Entertainment Weekly's 100 Greatest Movie Stars of All Time: #6
- Premiere's 50 Greatest Movie Stars: #1
- AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars: #2
- Premiere's 100 Greatest Movie Performances of All Time
5. Marlon Brando
Actor | Apocalypse Now
Marlon Brando is widely considered the greatest movie actor of all time, rivaled only by the more theatrically oriented Laurence Olivier in terms of esteem. Unlike Olivier, who preferred the stage to the screen, Brando concentrated his talents on movies after bidding the Broadway stage adieu in ...
The 5th Greatest Actor of All-Time
Every so often, someone comes along who forges a path beyond that of anyone who came before them and who raises the bar higher than ever imagined. These "game changers" are the ones whose names we all know afar having risen above their peers and cementing their place in history. Marlon Brando, whose contribution to the field of acting is indisputable, rightly deserves to stand at the pantheon of all-time greats. — Al Pacino
There's no one before or since like Marlon Brando. The gift was enormous and flawless, like [Pablo Picasso]. Brando was a genius who was the beginning and end of his own revolution. You didn't rush him. He had a tremendous gift just in his stillness. I was in high school when I saw The Wild One (1953). He changed my life forever... a monumental artist. There was no way to follow in his footsteps. He was just too large and just too far out of sight. He truly shook the world, and his influence will be there long into the future. — Jack Nicholson
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 74 Rottens Tomatoes' Career's approval rating: 73,1% (30 out of 41)Awards & Nominations
Wins: 28 (2 Oscars, 5 Golden Globes, 3 BAFTAs) Nominations: 53 (8 Oscars, 10 Golden Globes, 7 BAFTAs)*Cons: – Golden Raspberry Awards: 1 win & 4 nominations – Stinkers Bad Movie Awards: 1 win & 4 nominations
Box Office Numbers
Adj. average gross: $128.5 million (domestic) Adj. lifetime gross: $4.9 billion (domestic)Additional
- Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century
- The Telegraph's The 50 greatest actors from Hollywood's Golden Age
- The Film 100's A Ranking of the Most Influential People in the History of the Movies: #20
- Entertainment Weekly's The Greatest Movie Stars of All Time: #7
- AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars: #4
- 100 Greatest Movie Performances of All Time:
6. Spencer Tracy
Actor | Judgment at Nuremberg
Spencer Tracy was the second son born on April 5, 1900, to truck salesman John Edward and Caroline Brown Tracy in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. While attending Marquette Academy, he and classmate Pat O'Brien quit school to enlist in the Navy at the start of World War I. Tracy was still at Norfolk Navy Yard...
The 6th Greatest Actor of All-Time
"I've learned more about acting from watching Tracy than in any other way. He has a great truth in everything he does." – Laurence Olivier
The only thing I mind about him is that humble act he does once in a while. Don't you believe it. He knows how good he is. And that's as good as anyone has gotten up to here and now in this business. Any actor or actress who's ever played a scene with Spencer will tell you–there's nothing like it. He mesmerizes you. Those eyes of his–and what goes on behind them. Nobody's better than when they act with him. – Clark Gable
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 64 Rottens's Career approval rating: 93,75% (30 out of 32)Awards & Nominations
Wins: 12 (2 Oscars, 1 Cannes Best Actor Award, 1 Golden Globe) Nominations: 32 (9 Oscars, 4 Golden Globes, 5 BAFTAs)Box Office Numbers
Adj. average gross: $101.7 million (domestic) Adj. lifetime gross: $6.5 billion (domestic)Additional
Featured in the following lists- The Telegraph's The 50 greatest actors from Hollywood's Golden Age
- Entertainment Weekly's The Greatest Movie Stars of All Time: #15
- Premiere's The 100 Greatest Movie Performances of All Time
7. Jack Nicholson
Actor | Chinatown
Jack Nicholson, an American actor, producer, director and screenwriter, is a three-time Academy Award winner and twelve-time nominee. Nicholson is also notable for being one of two actors - the other being Michael Caine - who have received an Oscar nomination in every decade from the '60s through ...
The 7th Greatest Actor of All-Time
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 67 Rotten Tomatoes' Approbation: 76% (38 out of 50)Awards & Nominations
Wins: 88 (3 Oscars, 6 Golden Globes, 3 BAFTAs) Nominations: 189 (12 Oscars, 17 Golden Globes, 7 BAFTAs)Box Office Numbers
Average gross: $79.1 million (worldwide) Lifetime gross: $3.1 billion (worldwide)Additional
Featured in the following lists -
8. Daniel Day-Lewis
Actor | There Will Be Blood
Born in London, England, Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis is the second child of Cecil Day-Lewis, Poet Laureate of the U.K., and his second wife, actress Jill Balcon. His maternal grandfather was Sir Michael Balcon, an important figure in the history of British cinema and head of the famous Ealing ...
The 8th Greatest Actor of All-Time
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 77 Rotten Tomatoes' Approbation: 88,2% (15 out of 17)Awards & Nominations
Wins: 139 (3 Oscars, 2 Golden Globes, 4 BAFTAs) Nominations: 212 (6 Oscars, 8 Golden Globes, 7 BAFTAs)Box Office Numbers
Average gross: $56.8 million (worldwide) Lifetime gross: $966.5 million (worldwide)
Additional
9. Jack Lemmon
Actor | The Apartment
Jack Lemmon was born in Newton, Massachusetts, to Mildred Lankford Noel and John Uhler Lemmon, Jr., the president of a doughnut company. His ancestry included Irish (from his paternal grandmother) and English. Jack attended Ward Elementary near his Newton, MA home. At age 9 he was sent to Rivers ...
The 9th Greatest Actor of All-Time
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 69 Rotten Tomatoes' Career approval rating: 73,6% (28 out of 38)Awards & Nominations
Wins: 52 (2 Oscars, 2 Cannes Best Actor Award, 4 Golden Globes) Nominations: 106 (8 Oscars, 21 Golden Globes, 7 BAFTAs)Popularity
Average gross: $ million (domestic) Lifetime gross: $ billion (domestic)
Additional
10. Laurence Olivier
Actor | Sleuth
Laurence Olivier could speak William Shakespeare's lines as naturally as if he were "actually thinking them", said English playwright Charles Bennett, who met Olivier in 1927. Laurence Kerr Olivier was born in Dorking, Surrey, England, to Agnes Louise (Crookenden) and Gerard Kerr Olivier, a High ...
The 10th Greatest Actor of All-Time
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 64 Rottens Tomatoes' career approval rating: 87,5% (28 out of 32)Awards & Nominations
Wins: 34 (1 Oscar, 2 Honorary Oscars, 2 Golden Globes) Nominations: 65 (10 Oscars, 5 Golden Globes, 10 BAFTAs)*Cons: – Razzies: 2 wins & 2 nominations – Stinkers Bad Movie Awards: 4 nominations
Box Office Numbers
Average adjusted gross: $74.4 million (domestic) Lifetime adjusted gross: $3.5 billion (domestic)Additional
Featured in the following lists- The Telegraph's The 50 greatest actors from Hollywood's Golden Age
- Entertainment Weekly's The Greatest Movie Stars of All Time: #20
- AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars: #14
- 100 Greatest Movie Performances of All Time:
11. Clark Gable
Actor | It Happened One Night
William Clark Gable was born on February 1, 1901 in Cadiz, Ohio, to Adeline (Hershelman) and William Henry Gable, an oil-well driller. He was of German, Irish, and Swiss-German descent. When he was seven months old, his mother died, and his father sent him to live with his maternal aunt and uncle ...
The 11th Greatest Actor of All-Time
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 87 Rotten Tomatoes' Career approval rating: 85% (17 out of 20)Awards & Nominations
Wins: 4 (1 Oscar) Nominations: 9 (3 Oscars, 2 Golden Globes)Box Office Numbers
Average gross: $137.1 million (domestic) Lifetime gross: $8.9 billion (domestic)Additional
Featured in the following lists
- Entertainment Weekly's The Greatest Movie Stars of All Time: #8
- Premiere's The 50 Greatest Movie Stars of All Time: #21
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars - Top 25 Male Legends: #7
12. Gary Cooper
Actor | High Noon
Born to Alice Cooper and Charles Cooper. Gary attended school at Dunstable school England, Helena Montana and Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa (then called Iowa College). His first stage experience was during high school and college. Afterwards, he worked as an extra for one year before getting a ...
The 12th Greatest Actor of All-Time
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 84 Rotten Tomatoes' Career approval rating: 96,8% (31 out of 32)Awards & Nominations
Wins: 14 (2 Oscars, 1 Honorary Oscar, 1 Golden Globe) Nominations: 20 (5 Oscars, 2 Golden Globes, 1 NBR Award) *Cons: Sour ApplePopularity
Average gross: $85.8 (domestic) Lifetime gross: $6.9 billion (domestic)Additional
Featured in the following lists- Entertainment Weekly's The Greatest Movie Stars of All Time: #18
- Premiere's The 50 Greatest Movie Stars of All Time: #42
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars: #11
13. Charles Laughton
Actor | Witness for the Prosecution
Charles Laughton was born in Scarborough, Yorkshire, England, to Eliza (Conlon) and Robert Laughton, hotel keepers of Irish and English descent, respectively. He was educated at Stonyhurst (a highly esteemed Jesuit college in England) and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (received gold medal). ...
The 13th Greatest Actor of All-Time
He was probably the greatest film actor who came from that period of time. He had something quite remarkable. His generosity as an actor, he fed himself into that work. As an actor, you cannot take your eyes off him. – Daniel Day-Lewis
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 88 Rotten Tomatoes' Career approval rating: 90,4% (19 out of 21)Awards & Nominations
Wins: 7 (1 Oscar, 1 NBR Award) Nominations: 12 (3 Oscars, 1 Golden Globe, 2 BAFTAs)Box Office Numbers
Average gross: $ million (domestic) Lifetime gross: $ billion (domestic)Additional
Featured in the following lists- AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars - 250 Male Legends
14. Alec Guinness
Actor | Star Wars
Alec Guinness was an English actor. He is known for his six collaborations with David Lean: Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations (1946), Fagin in Oliver Twist (1948), Col. Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor), Prince Faisal in Lawrence...
The 14th Greatest Actor of All-Time
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 76 Rotten Tomatoes' Approbation: 79,4% (27 out of 34)Awards & Nominations
Wins: 29 (1 Oscar, 1 Golden Globe, 3 BAFTAs) Nominations: 48 (5 Oscars, 3 Golden Globes, 7 BAFTAs)Popularity
Ranker's Best Actors of All Time: #12 Average gross: $ (domestic) Lifetime gross: $ (domestic)
Additional
15. Fredric March
Actor | Inherit the Wind
Fredric March began a career in banking but in 1920 found himself cast as an extra in films being produced in New York. He starred on the Broadway stage first in 1926 and would return there between screen appearances later on. He won plaudits (and an Academy Award nomination) for his send-up of ...
The 15th Greatest Actor of All-Time
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 79 Rotten Tomatoes' Approbation: 86,3% (19 out of 22)Awards & Nominations
Wins: 12 (2 Oscars, 1 Golden Globe, 2 Tonys) Nominations: 25 (5 Oscars, 3 Golden Globes, 3 BAFTAs)Box Office Numbers
Ranker's Best Actors of All Time: #248 Average gross: $102.5 million (domestic) Lifetime gross: $5.3 billion (domestic)
Additional
16. Marcello Mastroianni
Actor | La dolce vita
Marcello Mastroianni was born in Fontana Liri, Italy in 1924, but soon his family moved to Turin and then Rome. During WW2 he was sent to a German prison camp, but he managed to escape and hide in Venice. He debuted in films as an extra in Marionette (1939), then started working for the Italian ...
The 16th Greatest Actor of All-Time
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 70 Rotten Tomatoes' Approbation: 79,3% (23 out of 29)Awards & Nominations
Wins: 45 (2 Cannes Best Actor Awards, 1 Golden Globe, 2 BAFTAs) Nominations: 67 (3 Oscars, 4 Golden Globes, 2 BAFTAs)Box Office Numbers
Average gross: - Lifetime gross: -Additional
Featured in the following lists -
17. Al Pacino
Actor | Serpico
Alfredo James "Al" 'Pacino established himself as a film actor during one of cinema's most vibrant decades, the 1970s, and has become an enduring and iconic figure in the world of American movies.
He was born April 25, 1940 in Manhattan, New York City, to Italian-American parents, Rose (nee Gerardi)...
The 17th Greatest Actor of All-Time
I didn't say much to Pacino when we were making The Godfather (1972), but I not only consider him one of the best actors in America, but in the world. I never meant anything more in my life. – Marlon Brando
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 61 Rotten Tomatoes' Approval rating: 61,1% (33 out of 54)Awards & Nominations
Wins: 48 (1 Oscar, 4 Golden Globes, 1 BAFTA) Nominations: 121 (8 Oscars, 18 Golden Globes, 4 BAFTAs)Popularity
Average gross: $57.3 million (worldwide) Lifetime gross: $2.8 billion (worldwide)
Additional
18. Paul Newman
Actor | The Hustler
Screen legend, superstar, and the man with the most famous blue eyes in movie history, Paul Leonard Newman was born on January 26, 1925, in Cleveland, Ohio, the second son of Arthur Sigmund Newman (died 1950) and Theresa Fetsko (died 1982). His elder brother was Arthur S. Newman Jr., named for ...
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 67
Rotten Tomatoes' Career's average rating: 70,1% (38 out of 54)
Awards & Nominations
Wins: 37 (1 Oscar, 4 Golden Globes, 1 BAFTA) Nominations: 103 (9 Oscars, 13 Golden Globes, 5 BAFTAs)Popularity
Average gross: $109.6 million (domestic) Lifetime gross: $6.1 billion (domestic)
Additional
19. Thomas Mitchell
Actor | Stagecoach
Thomas Mitchell was one of the great American character actors, whose credits read like a list of the greatest American films of the 20th century: Lost Horizon (1937); Stagecoach (1939); The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939); Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939); Gone with the Wind (1939); It's a ...
The 19th Greatest Actor of All-Time
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 88 Rotten Tomatoes' Career approval rating: 95% (19 out of 20)Awards & Nominations
Wins: 7 (1 Oscar, 1 Primetime Emmy, 3 NBR Awards) Nominations: 11 (2 Oscars, 3 Primetime Emmys, 3 NBR Awards)Box Office Numbers
Average gross: - Lifetime gross: -Additional
Featured in the following lists -
20. John Wayne
Actor | True Grit
John Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison in Iowa, to Mary Alberta (Brown) and Clyde Leonard Morrison, a pharmacist. He was of English, Scottish, Ulster-Scots, and Irish ancestry.
Clyde developed a lung condition that required him to move his family from Iowa to the warmer climate of southern ...
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The 20th Greatest Actor of All-Time
ockquote]Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 73 Rottens's Approbation: 65.47%Awards & Nominations
Wins: 26 Nominations: 17Popularity
Average adjusted gross: $112 million (domestic) Lifetime adjusted gross: $8.8 billion (domestic)Additional
Featured in the following lists:
- The Telegraph's The 50 greatest actors from Hollywood's Golden Age
- Entertainment Weekly's The Greatest Movie Stars of All Time: #5
21. Peter O'Toole
Actor | Lawrence of Arabia
A leading man of prodigious talents, Peter O'Toole was born and raised in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, the son of Constance Jane Eliot (Ferguson), a Scottish nurse, and Patrick Joseph O'Toole, an Irish metal plater, football player and racecourse bookmaker. Upon leaving school, he decided to become a...
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 64 Rottens's Approbation: 48,7% (20 out of 41)Awards & Nominations
Wins: 28 (1 Honorary Oscar, 4 Golden Globes, 1 BAFTA) Nominations: 74 (8 Oscars, 11 Golden Globes, 4 BAFTAs) *Razzies: 2 nominationsPopularity
Adj. Average gross: $79.8 million (domestic) Adj. lifetime gross: $2.9 billion (domestic)Additional
Featured in the following lists • Premiere's 100 Greatest Movie Performances of All Time → #1 as T. E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
22. Claude Rains
Actor | Casablanca
William Claude Rains, born in the Clapham area of London, was the son of the British stage actor Frederick Rains. The younger Rains followed, making his stage debut at the age of eleven in "Nell of Old Drury." Growing up in the world of theater, he saw not only acting up close but the down-to-earth...
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 90
Rotten Tomatoes' Approbation: 83,3% (15 out of 18)
Awards & Nominations
Wins: 1 Nominations: 5 (4 Oscars)Popularity
Average gross: $123.5 million (domestic) Lifetime gross: $ 6.6 billion (domestic)Additional
- The Telegraph's The 50 greatest actors from Hollywood's Golden Age
23. Toshirô Mifune
Actor | Yôjinbô
Toshiro Mifune achieved more worldwide fame than any other Japanese actor of his century. He was born in Tsingtao, China, to Japanese parents and grew up in Dalian. He did not set foot in Japan until he was 21. His father was an importer and a commercial photographer, and young Toshiro worked in ...
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 73
Rotten Tomatoes' Approbation: % ( out of )
Awards & Nominations
Wins: 17 Nominations: 22 (1 BAFTA, 1 Japanese Academy Awards)Box Office Numbers
Average gross: - Lifetime gross: -
Additional
24. Orson Welles
Actor | Citizen Kane
His father, Richard Head Welles, was a well-to-do inventor, his mother, Beatrice (Ives) Welles, a beautiful concert pianist; Orson Welles was gifted in many arts (magic, piano, painting) as a child. When his mother died in 1924 (when he was nine) he traveled the world with his father. He was ...
The th Greatest Actor of All-Time
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 75 Rotten Tomatoes' Approbation: 86,1% (31 out of 36)Awards & Nominations
Wins: 12 (1 Cannes Film Festival Award, 1 NBR Award) Nominations: 22 (1 Oscar, 1 Golden Globe, 1 BAFTA) Cons: 1 Razzie AwardPopularity
Average gross: $71.9 million (domestic) Lifetime gross: $ 3 billion (domestic)
Additional
25. Henry Fonda
Actor | 12 Angry Men
This remarkable, soft-spoken American began in films as a diffident juvenile. With passing years, he matured into a star character actor who exemplified not only integrity and strength, but an ideal of the common man fighting against social injustice and oppression. He was born in Grand Island, ...
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 76
Rotten Tomatoes' Career approval rating: 71,7% (28 out of 39)
Awards & Nominations
Wins: 18 (1 Oscar, 1 Golden Globe, 1 BAFTA) Nominations: 33 (3 Oscars, 2 Golden Globes, 2 BAFTAs)Popularity
Average gross: $85.4 million Lifetime gross: $6.1 billionAdditional
- Entertainment Weekly's The Greatest Movie Stars of All Time: #29
26. Walter Brennan
Actor | The Westerner
In many ways the most successful and familiar character actor of American sound films and the only actor to date to win three Oscars for Best Supporting Actor, Walter Brennan attended college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, studying engineering. While in school he became interested in acting and ...
Critics
Metacritic's Average career score: 67
Rotten Tomatoes' Approbation: 95,8% (23 out of 24)
Awards & Nominations
Wins: 5 (3 Oscars) Nominations: 7 (4 Oscars, 1 Primetime Emmy Awards)Popularity
Ranker's Best Actors of All Time: #301 Average gross: $130.7 million (domestic) Lifetime gross: $7.8 billion (domestic)
Additional
27. Rudolph Valentino
Actor | The Eagle
Hollywood's original Latin Lover, a term that was invented for Rudolph Valentino by Hollywood moguls. Alla Nazimova's friend Natacha Rambova (nee Winifred Hudnut) became romantically involved with Rudy and they lived together in her bungalow from 1921 (during the filming of Camille) until they ...
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: -
Rotten Tomatoes' Approbation: 100% (5 out of 5)
Awards & Nominations
Wins: 1 Nominations: 1Popularity
Ranker's Best Actors of All Time: # Average gross: $96.8 million (domestic) Lifetime gross: $1+ billion (domestic)Additional
- Entertainment Weekly's The Greatest Movie Stars of All Time: #32
28. Robert Mitchum
Actor | Out of the Past
Robert Mitchum was an underrated American leading man of enormous ability, who sublimated his talents beneath an air of disinterest. He was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to Ann Harriet (Gunderson), a Norwegian immigrant, and James Thomas Mitchum, a shipyard/railroad worker. His father died in a ...
Critics
Metacritic's Average career score: 66
Rotten Tomatoes' Approbation: 68,1% (30 out of 44)
Awards & Nominations
Wins: 10 (1 Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, 1 NBR Award) Nominations: 19 (1 Oscar, 1 BAFTA)Popularity
Average gross: $75.7 million (domestic) Lifetime gross: $5.3 billion (domestic)
Additional
29. Nikolay Cherkasov
Actor | Aleksandr Nevskiy
The preeminent Russian actor, at least in Western eyes, of the first half of the twentieth century. He became interested in the theatre as a teenager and joined the Teatr Mariinskij as a stagehand in 1918. He apprenticed with various traveling companies and therein learned ballet, pantomime, and ...
Critics
Metacritic's Average career score: -
Rotten Tomatoes' Approbation: 100% (3 out of 3)
Awards & Nominations
Wins: 8 (1 NBR Award, 1 People's Artist of the Republic, 1 People's Artist of the USSR) Nominations: 8 (1 NBR Award, 1 People's Artist of the Republic, 1 People's Artist of the USSR)Popularity
Ranker's Best Actors of All Time: # Average gross: $ (domestic) Lifetime gross: $ (domestic)
Additional
30. Gregory Peck
Actor | To Kill a Mockingbird
Eldred Gregory Peck was born on April 5, 1916 in La Jolla, California, to Bernice Mae (Ayres) and Gregory Pearl Peck, a chemist and druggist in San Diego. He had Irish (from his paternal grandmother), English, and some German, ancestry. His parents divorced when he was five years old. An only child...
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 70
Rotten Tomatoes' Career approval rating: 83,3% (30 out of 36)
Awards & Nominations
Wins: 32 (1 Oscar, 3 Golden Globes, 1 NYFCC Award) Nominations: 55 (5 Oscars, 6 Golden Globes, 2 BAFTAs)Popularity
Average gross: $ million (domestic) Lifetime gross: $ billion (domestic)Additional
- Entertainment Weekly's The Greatest Movie Stars of All Time: #58
31. Robert De Niro
Actor | Cape Fear
One of the greatest actors of all time, Robert De Niro was born on August 17, 1943 in Manhattan, New York City, to artists Virginia (Admiral) and Robert De Niro Sr. His paternal grandfather was of Italian descent, and his other ancestry is Irish, English, Dutch, German, and French. He was trained ...
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 58
Rotten Tomatoes' Approbation: 50% (46 out of 92)
Awards & Nominations
Wins: 57 (2 Oscars, 1 Golden Globe, 2 NBR Awards) Nominations: 161 (7 Oscars, 9 Golden Globes, 6 BAFTAs)Popularity
Ranker's Best Actors of All Time: # Average gross: $82.3 million (worldwide) Lifetime gross: $6.9 billion (worldwide)
Additional
32. Lon Chaney
Actor | He Who Gets Slapped
Although his parents were deaf, Leonidas Chaney became an actor and also owner of a theatre company (together with his brother John). He made his debut at the movies in 1912, and his filmography is vast. Lon Chaney was especially famous for his horror parts in movies like e.g. Quasimodo in The ...
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: - Rotten Tomatoes' Career approval rating: 100% (6 out of 6)Awards & Nominations
Wins: 2 Nominations: 2Box Office Numbers
Average gross: $38.9 million (domestic) Lifetime gross: $1+ billion (domestic)
Additional • The Film 100's The 100 Most Influential People in the History of the Movies: #24
33. George C. Scott
Actor | Patton
George C. Scott was an immensely talented actor, a star of the big screen, stage and television. He was born on October 18, 1927 in Wise, Virginia, to Helena Agnes (Slemp) and George Dewey Scott. At the age of eight, his mother died, and his father, an executive at Buick, raised him. In 1945, he ...
Critical acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 68
Rotten Tomatoes' Career approval rating: 60% (15 out of 25)
Awards & Nominations
Wins: 13 (1 Oscar, 2 Golden Globes, 2 Primetime Emmys) Nominations: 36 (4 Oscars, 5 Golden Globes, 2 BAFTAs)Popularity
Average gross: $ million (domestic) Lifetime gross: $ billion (domestic)
Additional
34. Burt Lancaster
Actor | From Here to Eternity
Burt Lancaster, one of five children, was born in Manhattan, to Elizabeth (Roberts) and James Henry Lancaster, a postal worker. All his grandparents were immigrants from the north of Ireland. He was a tough street kid who took an early interest in gymnastics. He joined the circus as an acrobat and ...
Critical acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 71
Rotten Tomatoes' Career approval rating: 80% (40 out of 50)
Awards & Nominations
Wins: 25 (1 Oscar, 1 Golden Globe, 2 BAFTAs) Nominations: 46 (4 Oscars, 5 Golden Globes, 4 BAFTAs)Popularity
Average gross: $88.7 million (domestic) Lifetime gross: $5.5 billion (domestic)
Additional
35. William Holden
Actor | Stalag 17
Billy Wilder proclaimed William Holden to be "the ideal motion picture actor". For almost four decades, the handsome, affable 'Golden Holden' was among Hollywood's most durable and engaging stars. He was born William Franklin Beedle Jr., one of three sons to a high school English teacher, Mary ...
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 72
Rotten Tomatoes' Career approval rating: 68% (17 out of 25)
Awards & Nominations
Wins: 11 (1 Oscar, 2 NBR Awards, 1 Primetime Emmy) Nominations: 27 (3 Oscars, 2 BAFTAs, 2 NBR Awards)Popularity
Average gross: $104.7 million (domestic) Lifetime gross: $5.7 billion (domestic)
Additional
36. John Barrymore
Actor | Twentieth Century
John Barrymore was born John Sidney Blyth on February 15, 1882 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. An American stage and screen actor whose rise to superstardom and subsequent decline is one of the legendary tragedies of Hollywood. A member of the most famous generation of the most famous theatrical ...
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: N/A
Rotten Tomatoes' Career approval rating: 100% (12 out of 12)
Awards & Nominations
Wins: 2 Nominations: 2Popularity
Average gross: - Lifetime gross: -
Additional
37. Anthony Quinn
Actor | Alexis Zorbas
Anthony Quinn was born Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca (some sources indicate Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca) on April 21, 1915, in Chihuahua, Mexico, to Manuela (Oaxaca) and Francisco Quinn, who became an assistant cameraman at a Los Angeles (CA) film studio. His paternal grandfather was Irish, ...
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 52
Rotten Tomatoes' Career approval rating: 79,4% (27 out of 34)
Awards & Nominations
Wins: 9 (2 Oscars, 1 Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award, 1 NBR Award) Nominations: 26 (4 Oscars, 5 Golden Globes, 2 BAFTAs)Popularity
Average gross: - Lifetime gross: -
Additional
38. James Dean
Actor | East of Eden
James Byron Dean was born February 8, 1931 in Marion, Indiana, to Mildred Marie (Wilson) and Winton A. Dean, a farmer turned dental technician. His mother died when Dean was nine, and he was subsequently raised on a farm by his aunt and uncle in Fairmount, Indiana. After grade school, he moved to ...
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 81 Rotten Tomatoes' Approbation: 100% (4 out of 4)Awards & Nominations
Wins: 7 (2 Golden Globes) Nominations: 11 (2 Oscars, 2 Golden Globes, 2 BAFTAs)Box Office Numbers
Average gross: $305 million (domestic) Lifetime gross: $915.1 million (domestic)Additional
- Entertainment Weekly's The Greatest Movie Stars of All Time: #22
39. Gian Maria Volontè
Actor | Per un pugno di dollari
Born in Milan in 1933, Gian Maria Volontè studied in Rome at the National Dramatic Arts Academy, where he obtained his degree in 1957. He began working in theatre and television, where he was soon noticed as one of the most promising actors of his generation. After several supporting appearances in...
40. Rex Harrison
Actor | My Fair Lady
Rex Harrison was born Reginald Carey Harrison in Huyton, Lancashire, England, to Edith Mary (Carey) and William Reginald Harrison, a cotton broker. He changed his name to Rex as a young boy, knowing it was the Latin word for "King". Starting out on his theater career at age 18, his first job at the ...
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 63
Rotten Tomatoes' Approval rating: 73,3% (11 out of 15)
Awards & Nominations
Wins: 8 (1 Oscar, 1 Golden Globe, 1 Golden Globe, 1 NBR Award) Nominations: 19 (2 Oscars, 4 Golden Globes, 1 BAFTA)Box Office Numbers
Average gross: - Lifetime gross: -Additional
41. John Gielgud
Actor | Arthur
Born in London, England, John Gielgud trained at Lady Benson's Acting School and RADA, London. Best known for his Shakespearean roles in the theater, he first played Hamlet at the age of 26. He worked under the tutelage of Lilian Bayliss with friend and fellow performer Laurence Olivier and other ...
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 71
Rotten Tomatoes' Approval rating: 61,9% (26 out of 42)
Awards & Nominations
Wins: 16 (1 Oscar, 2 Golden Globes, 2 BAFTAs) Nominations: 41 (2 Oscars, 3 Golden Globes, 7 BAFTAs)Box Office Numbers
Average gross: - Lifetime gross: -Additional
42. Leonardo DiCaprio
Actor | Inception
Few actors in the world have had a career quite as diverse as Leonardo DiCaprio's. DiCaprio has gone from relatively humble beginnings, as a supporting cast member of the sitcom Growing Pains (1985) and low budget horror movies, such as Critters 3 (1991), to a major teenage heartthrob in the 1990s,...
43. Kirk Douglas
Actor | The Final Countdown
Cleft-chinned, steely-eyed and virile star of international cinema who rose from being "the ragman's son" (the name of his best-selling 1988 autobiography) to become a bona fide superstar, Kirk Douglas, also known as Issur Danielovitch Demsky, was born on December 9, 1916 in Amsterdam, New York. ...
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 59
Rotten Tomatoes' Approval rating: 75% (33 out of 44)
Awards & Nominations
Wins: 32 (1 Honorary Oscar, 1 Golden Globe, 1 Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award) Nominations: 55 (3 Oscars, 3 Golden Globes, 1 BAFTA)*Cons: – Golden Raspberry Awards: 1 Nomination – Stinkers Bad Movie Awards: 1 Nomination
Popularity
Average gross: - Lifetime gross: -Additional
44. Errol Flynn
Actor | The Adventures of Robin Hood
Errol Flynn was born to parents Theodore Flynn, a respected biologist, and Marrelle Young, an adventurous young woman. Young Flynn was a rambunctious child who could be counted on to find trouble. Errol managed to have himself thrown out of every school in which he was enrolled. In his late teens ...
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 97
Rotten Tomatoes' Approval rating: 100% (12 out of 12)
Awards & Nominations
Wins: 3 Nominations: 4Popularity
Average gross: - Lifetime gross: -Additional
45. Douglas Fairbanks
Actor | The Thief of Bagdad
Douglas Fairbanks was born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman in Denver, Colorado, to Ella Adelaide (nee Marsh) and Hezekiah Charles Ullman, an attorney and native of Pennsylvania, who was a captain for the Union forces during the Civil War. Fairbanks' paternal grandparents were German Jewish immigrants, ...
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: N/A
Rotten Tomatoes' Approval rating: 100% (6 out of 6)
Awards & Nominations
Wins: 3 (1 Honorary Oscar) Nominations: 3Popularity
Average gross: - Lifetime gross: -Additional
- Entertainment Weekly's The Greatest Movie Stars of All Time: #68
46. Trevor Howard
Actor | The Third Man
The son of an insurance underwriter who represented Lloyd's of London in Ceylon, Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith was born in Margate, Kent. He spent his early childhood globetrotting with his mother, frequently left in the care of strangers. After attending private school he went on to study drama at ...
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 71 Rotten Tomatoes' Career approval rating: 68,9% (20 out of 29)Awards & Nominations
Wins: 3 (1 Oscar, 1 BAFTA) Nominations: 17 (1 Oscar, 3 Golden Globes, 5 BAFTAs)Box Office Numbers
Average gross: - Lifetime gross: -Additional
47. Emil Jannings
Actor | The Last Command
His real name was Theodor Friedrich Emil Janenz, and in the early 1900s, he was already working in the theater under Max Reinhardt's company. Important movies where he defined himself as a convincing actor were Passion (1919) and Quo Vadis? (1924), followed by The Last Laugh (1924) (aka The Last ...
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 88 (1 film) Rotten Tomatoes' Career approval rating: 100% (6 out of 6)Awards & Nominations
Wins: 3 (1 Oscar, 1 Venice Film Festival Award) Nominations: 4 (1 Oscar, 2 Venice Film Festival Awards)Popularity
Average gross: - Lifetime gross: -Additional
48. Ward Bond
Actor | The Maltese Falcon
Gruff, burly American character actor. Born in 1903 in Benkelman, Nebraska (confirmed by Social Security records; sources stating 1905 or Denver, Colorado are in error.) Bond grew up in Denver, the son of a lumberyard worker. He attended the University of Southern California, where he got work as ...
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 90
Rottens Tomatoes' Career's approval rating: 97,7% (43 out of 44)
Awards & Nominations
Wins: 1 Nominations: 1Box Office Numbers
Average adjusted gross: $ million (domestic) Lifetime adjusted gross: $ billion (domestic)Additional
49. Boris Karloff
Actor | Bride of Frankenstein
Along with fellow actors Lon Chaney, Bela Lugosi and Vincent Price, Boris Karloff is recognized as one of the true icons of horror cinema, and the actor most closely identified with the general public's perception of the "monster" from the classic Mary Shelley book, "Frankenstein". William Henry ...
Critical acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 87
Rotten Tomatoes' Career approval rating: 91,1% (31 out of 34)
Awards & Nominations
Wins: 4 Nominations: 5Popularity
Average gross: - Lifetime gross: -
Additional
50. Charlton Heston
Actor | Ben-Hur
With features chiseled in stone, and renowned for playing a long list of historical figures, particularly in Biblical epics, the tall, well-built and ruggedly handsome Charlton Heston was one of Hollywood's top leading men of his prime and remained active in front of movie cameras for over sixty ...
Critics
Metacritic's Average career score: 65
Rotten Tomatoes' Approbation: 47,6% (20 out of 42)
Awards & Nominations
Wins: 16 (1 Oscar, Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award) Nominations: 35 (1 Oscar, 3 Golden Globes, 3 Emmys)Popularity
Ranker's Best Actors of All Time: #29 Average gross: $127.5 million (domestic) Lifetime gross: $7.9 billion (domestic)Additional
- Entertainment Weekly's The Greatest Movie Stars of All Time: #52
51. Peter Lorre
Actor | M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder
Peter Lorre was born László Löwenstein in Rózsahegy in the Slovak area of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the son of Hungarian Jewish parents. He learned both Hungarian and German languages from birth, and was educated in elementary and secondary schools in the Austria-Hungary capitol Vienna, but did ...
The th Greatest Actor of All-Time
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 87 Rotten Tomatoes' Career approval rating: 100% (22 out of 22)Awards & Nominations
Wins: 2 Nominations: 3Box Office Numbers
Average gross: $ million (domestic) Lifetime gross: $ billion (domestic)Additional
Featured in the following lists Performances- 100 Greatest Movie Performances of All Time:
52. Karl Malden
Actor | A Streetcar Named Desire
Born to a Czech mother and a Serbian father in Chicago as Mladen Sekulovich, on March 22, 1912, Karl Malden did not speak English until he was in kindergarten. After graduating from high school in the nearby steel town of Gary, Indiana, Malden worked in the industry for three years until 1934, when...
53. James Mason
Actor | Lolita
James Mason was born in Huddersfield and had a film career spanning over 50 years during which he appeared in over 100 films in England and America but never won an Oscar. Whatever role he played, from the wounded Belfast gunman in Odd Man Out to Rommel in The Desert Fox, his creamy velvet voice ...
54. Paul Muni
Actor | Scarface
Paul Muni was born Sept. 22, 1895, in Lemberg, Austro-Hungarian Empire, to Salli and Phillip Weisenfreund, who were both professionals. His family was Jewish, and spoke Yiddish. Paul was educated in New York and Cleveland public schools. He was described as 5 feet 10 inches, with black hair and ...
55. Vincent Price
Actor | The Abominable Dr. Phibes
Actor, raconteur, art collector and connoisseur of haute cuisine are just some of the attributes associated with Vincent Price. He was born Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. in St. Louis, Missouri, to Marguerite Cobb "Daisy" (Wilcox) and Vincent Leonard Price, who was President of the National Candy ...
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 74
Rotten Tomatoes' Career approval rating: 79,5% (35 out of 44)
Awards & Nominations
Wins: 8 Nominations: 10Popularity
Average gross: - Lifetime gross: -
Additional
56. Anthony Hopkins
Actor | The Silence of the Lambs
Anthony Hopkins was born on December 31, 1937, in Margam, Wales, to Muriel Anne (Yeats) and Richard Arthur Hopkins, a baker. His parents were both of half Welsh and half English descent. Influenced by Richard Burton, he decided to study at College of Music and Drama and graduated in 1957. In 1965, ...
- Entertainment Weekly's The Greatest Movie Stars of All Time: #99
57. Peter Sellers
Actor | Being There
Often credited as the greatest comedian of all time, Peter Sellers was born Richard Henry Sellers to a well-off acting family in 1925 in Southsea, a suburb of Portsmouth. He was the son of Agnes Doreen "Peg" (Marks) and William "Bill" Sellers. His parents worked in an acting company run by his ...
58. Christian Bale
Actor | The Dark Knight
Christian Charles Philip Bale was born in Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK on January 30, 1974, to English parents Jennifer "Jenny" (James) and David Bale. His mother was a circus performer and his father, who was born in South Africa, was a commercial pilot. The family lived in different countries ...
59. Conrad Veidt
Actor | Casablanca
Conrad Veidt attended the Sophiengymnasium (secondary school) in the Schoeneberg district of Berlin, and graduated without a diploma in 1912, last in his class of 13. Conrad liked animals, theater, cinema, fast cars, pastries, thunderstorms, gardening, swimming and golfing. He disliked heights, ...
Critical acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 100 (1 film)
Rotten Tomatoes' Career approval rating: 100% (9 out of 9)
Awards & Nominations
Wins: 1 (1 NBR Award) Nominations: 1 (1 NBR Award)Popularity
Average gross: - Lifetime gross: -
Additional
60. Gene Wilder
Actor | Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
When he was 11, he wanted to be a comedian like Sid Caesar. Then, when he was 15 and saw Lee J. Cobb in 'Death of a Salesman,' he decided he would be a comedy actor and found that Mel Brooks was a great influence on his screen writing. He combined both talents with directing in The World's Greatest...
61. Alain Delon
Actor | Le Samouraï
Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon was born in Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine, France, to Édith (Arnold) and Fabien Delon. His father was of French and Corsican Italian descent, and his mother was of French and German ancestry. His parents divorced early on, and Delon had a stormy childhood, being ...
62. Robert Duvall
Actor | The Apostle
Veteran actor and director Robert Selden Duvall was born on January 5, 1931, in San Diego, CA, to Mildred Virginia (Hart), an amateur actress, and William Howard Duvall, a career military officer who later became an admiral. Duvall majored in drama at Principia College (Elsah, IL), then served a ...
63. Rod Steiger
Actor | In the Heat of the Night
Rodney Stephen Steiger was born in Westhampton, New York, to Augusta Amelia (Driver) and Frederick Jacob Steiger, both vaudevillians. He was of German and Austrian ancestry. After his parents' divorce, Steiger was raised by his mother in Newark, New Jersey. He dropped out of Westside High school at...
64. Richard Burton
Actor | Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Probably best-remembered for his turbulent personal life with Elizabeth Taylor (whom he married twice), Richard Burton was nonetheless also regarded as an often brilliant British actor of the post-WWII period.
Burton was born Richard Walter Jenkins in 1925 into a Welsh (Cymraeg)-speaking family in ...
- Entertainment Weekly's The Greatest Movie Stars of All Time: #78
65. Willem Dafoe
Actor | Spider-Man
Having made over one hundred films in his legendary career, Willem Dafoe is internationally respected for bringing versatility, boldness, and daring to some of the most iconic films of our time. His artistic curiosity in exploring the human condition leads him to projects all over the world, large ...
66. James Coburn
Actor | The Great Escape
Lanky, charismatic and versatile actor with an amazing grin that put everyone at ease, James Coburn studied acting at UCLA, and then moved to New York to study under noted acting coach Stella Adler. After being noticed in several stage productions, Coburn appeared in a handful of minor westerns ...
67. Joaquin Phoenix
Actor | Walk the Line
Joaquin Phoenix was born Joaquin Rafael Bottom in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Arlyn (Dunetz) and John Bottom, and is the middle child in a brood of five. His parents, from the continental United States, were then serving as Children of God missionaries. His mother is from a Jewish family from New ...
68. John Travolta
Actor | Pulp Fiction
John Joseph Travolta was born in Englewood, New Jersey, one of six children of Helen Travolta (née Helen Cecilia Burke) and Salvatore/Samuel J. Travolta. His father was of Italian descent and his mother was of Irish ancestry. His father owned a tire repair shop called Travolta Tires in Hillsdale, ...
69. Samuel L. Jackson
Actor | Pulp Fiction
Samuel L. Jackson is an American producer and highly prolific actor, having appeared in over 100 films, including Die Hard with a Vengeance (1995), Unbreakable (2000), Shaft (2000), Formula 51 (2001), Black Snake Moan (2006), Snakes on a Plane (2006), and the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999-2005), ...
70. Mahershala Ali
Actor | Leave the World Behind
Mahershala Ali is fast becoming one of the freshest and most in-demand faces in Hollywood with his extraordinarily diverse skill set and wide-ranging background in film, television, and theater.
He can be seen in the independent feature film, Moonlight, as well as reprising his role in The Hunger ...
71. Robert Downey Jr.
Actor | Iron Man
Robert Downey Jr. has evolved into one of the most respected actors in Hollywood. With an amazing list of credits to his name, he has managed to stay new and fresh even after over four decades in the business.
Downey was born April 4, 1965 in Manhattan, New York, the son of writer, director and ...
72. Fred Astaire
Actor | The Towering Inferno
Fred Astaire was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to Johanna (Geilus) and Fritz Austerlitz, a brewer. Fred entered show business at age 5. He was successful both in vaudeville and on Broadway in partnership with his sister, Adele Astaire. After Adele retired to marry in 1932, Astaire headed to Hollywood. ...
73. Gene Kelly
Soundtrack | Singin' in the Rain
Eugene Curran Kelly was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the third son of Harriet Catherine (Curran) and James Patrick Joseph Kelly, a phonograph salesman. His father was of Irish descent and his mother was of Irish and German ancestry.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was the largest and most powerful studio in...
74. James Cagney
Actor | Angels with Dirty Faces
One of Hollywood's preeminent male stars of all time, James Cagney was also an accomplished dancer and easily played light comedy. James Francis Cagney was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, to Carolyn (Nelson) and James Francis Cagney, Sr., who was a bartender and amateur ...
- Entertainment Weekly's The Greatest Movie Stars of All Time: #14
75. Montgomery Clift
Actor | From Here to Eternity
Edward Montgomery Clift (nicknamed 'Monty' his entire life) was born on October 17, 1920 in Omaha, Nebraska, just after his twin sister Roberta (1920-2014) and eighteen months after his brother Brooks Clift. He was the son of Ethel "Sunny" Anderson (Fogg; 1888-1988) and William Brooks Clift (1886-...
The only time I was ever really afraid as an actor was that first scene with Clift. It was my scene, understand: I was the sergeant, I gave the orders, he was just a private under me. Well, when we started, I couldn't stop my knees from shaking. I thought they might have to stop because my trembling would show. I was afraid he was going to blow me right off the screen. – Burt Lancaster
- Entertainment Weekly's The Greatest Movie Stars of All Time: #60
76. Joseph Cotten
Actor | The Third Man
Joseph Cheshire Cotten, Jr. was born in Petersburg, Virginia, into a well-to-do Southern family. He was the eldest of three sons born to Sally Whitworth (Willson) and Joseph Cheshire Cotten, Sr., an assistant postmaster.
Jo (as he was known) and his brothers Whit and Sam spent their summers at their...
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 79
Rotten Tomatoes' Career approval rating: 78,5% (22 out of 28)
Awards & Nominations
Wins: 2 (1 Venice Film Festival Award) Nominations: 2 (1 Venice Film Festival Award)Popularity
Average gross: - Lifetime gross: -Additional
77. David Niven
Actor | Murder by Death
His mother was the French Lady Comynyplatt Henrietta de Gacher, his father was the British Lieutenant William Graham Niven, who died in the war when David was six years old. Niven was considered a difficult child to educate and had to change schools often until he finally went to Sandhurst Military...
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 53
Rotten Tomatoes' Career approval rating: 62,5% (15 out of 24)
Awards & Nominations
Wins: 9 (1 Oscar, 2 Golden Globes, 1 NYFCC Award) Nominations: 15 (1 Oscar, 3 Golden Globes, 1 BAFTA)Popularity
Average gross: - Lifetime gross: -Additional
78. Mickey Rooney
Actor | It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
Mickey Rooney was born Joe Yule Jr. on September 23, 1920 in Brooklyn, New York. He first took the stage as a toddler in his parents vaudeville act at 17 months old. He made his first film appearance in 1926. The following year, he played the lead character in the first Mickey McGuire short film. ...
79. Tom Cruise
Actor | Top Gun
In 1976, if you had told fourteen-year-old Franciscan seminary student Thomas Cruise Mapother IV that one day in the not too distant future he would be Tom Cruise, one of the top 100 movie stars of all time, he would have probably grinned and told you that his ambition was to join the priesthood. ...
- Entertainment Weekly's The Greatest Movie Stars of All Time: #31
80. Tom Hanks
Producer | Cast Away
Thomas Jeffrey Hanks was born in Concord, California, to Janet Marylyn (Frager), a hospital worker, and Amos Mefford Hanks, an itinerant cook. His mother's family, originally surnamed "Fraga", was entirely Portuguese, while his father was of mostly English ancestry. Tom grew up in what he has ...
- Entertainment Weekly's The Greatest Movie Stars of All Time: #26
81. Buster Keaton
Actor | The General
Joseph Frank Keaton was born on October 4, 1895 in Piqua, Kansas, to Joe Keaton and Myra Keaton. Joe and Myra were Vaudevillian comedians with a popular, ever-changing variety act, giving Keaton an eclectic and interesting upbringing. In the earliest days on stage, they traveled with a medicine ...
- Entertainment Weekly's The Greatest Movie Stars of All Time: #35
82. Sidney Poitier
Actor | In the Heat of the Night
Sidney Poitier was a native of Cat Island, Bahamas, although born, two months prematurely, in Miami during a visit by his parents, Evelyn (Outten) and Reginald James Poitier. He grew up in poverty as the son of farmers, with his father also driving a cab in Nassau. Sidney had little formal ...
- Entertainment Weekly's The Greatest Movie Stars of All Time: #44
83. Clint Eastwood
Actor | Million Dollar Baby
Clint Eastwood was born May 31, 1930 in San Francisco, to Clinton Eastwood Sr., a bond salesman and later manufacturing executive for Georgia-Pacific Corporation, and Ruth Wood (née Margret Ruth Runner), a housewife turned IBM clerk. He grew up in nearby Piedmont. At school Clint took interest in ...
- Entertainment Weekly's The Greatest Movie Stars of All Time: #16
84. Robert Redford
Actor | The Natural
Born on August 18, 1936, in Santa Monica, California, to Charles Robert Redford, an accountant for Standard Oil, and Martha Redford, Charles Robert Redford, Jr. was a scrappy kid who stole hubcaps in high school and lost his college baseball scholarship at the University of Colorado because of ...
- Entertainment Weekly's The Greatest Movie Stars of All Time: #30
85. Frank Sinatra
Actor | From Here to Eternity
Frank Sinatra was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, to Italian immigrants Natalina Della (Garaventa), from Northern Italy, and Saverio Antonino Martino Sinatra, a Sicilian boxer, fireman, and bar owner. Growing up on the gritty streets of Hoboken made Sinatra determined to work hard to get ahead. ...
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 72
Rotten Tomatoes' Career approval rating: 72,7% (24 out of 33)
Awards & Nominations
Wins: 34 (1 Oscar, 2 Golden Globes, 1 NYFCC Award) Nominations: 55 (2 Oscars, 3 Golden Globes, 2 BAFTAs)*Cons: 3 Sour Apples and 3 Nominations
Box Office Numbers
Average gross: - Lifetime gross: -Additional
86. Richard Barthelmess
Actor | Only Angels Have Wings
Richard Barthelmess was born into a theatrical family in which his mother was an actress. While attending Trinity College in Connecticut, he began appearing in stage productions. While on vacation in 1916, a friend of his mother, actress Alla Nazimova, offered him a part in War Brides (1916), and ...
The Greatest Actor of All-Time
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 86 (1 film) Rotten Tomatoes' Approbation: 100% (4 out of 4)Awards & Nominations
Wins: 1 Nominations: 3 (2 Oscars)Box Office Numbers
Adj. average gross: $ million (domestic) Adj. lifetime gross: $ billion (domestic)Additional
Featured in the following lists:
87. Don Ameche
Actor | Cocoon
Don Ameche was a versatile and popular American film actor in the 1930s and '40s, usually as the dapper, mustached leading man. He was also popular as a radio master of ceremonies during this time. As his film popularity waned in the 1950s, he continued working in theater and some TV. His film ...
Critics
Metacritic's Average career score: 58
Rotten Tomatoes' Approbation: 66,6% (10 out of 15)
Awards & Nominations
Wins: 5 (1 Oscar, 2 Venice Film Festival Awards) Nominations: 5 (1 Oscar, 2 Venice Film Festival Awards)Popularity
Ranker's Best Actors of All Time: # Average gross: $102.3 million (domestic) Lifetime gross: $5.4 billion (domestic)
Additional
88. Dirk Bogarde
Actor | The Servant
Sir Dirk Bogarde, distinguished film actor and writer, was born Derek Jules Gaspard Ulric Niven van den Bogaerde on March 28, 1921, to Ulric van den Bogaerde, the art editor of "The Times" (London) newspaper, and actress Margaret Niven in the London suburb of Hampstead. He was one of three children...
The th Greatest Actor of All-Time
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 89 Rotten Tomatoes' Career approval rating: 85% (17 out of 20)Awards & Nominations
Wins: 7 (2 BAFTAs) Nominations: 16 (2 Golden Globes, 5 BAFTAs)Box Office Numbers
Adj. average gross: $ million (domestic) Adj. lifetime gross: $ billion (domestic)Additional
Featured in the following lists:
89. Alain Delon
Actor | Le Samouraï
Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon was born in Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine, France, to Édith (Arnold) and Fabien Delon. His father was of French and Corsican Italian descent, and his mother was of French and German ancestry. His parents divorced early on, and Delon had a stormy childhood, being ...
The th Greatest Actor of All-Time
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 87 Rotten Tomatoes' Career approval rating: 86,6% (13 out of 15)Awards & Nominations
Wins: 12 (1 Honorary Palme d'Or, 1 César) Nominations: 18 (1 Golden Globe, 3 Césars)Box Office Numbers
Adj. average gross: $ million (domestic) Adj. lifetime gross: $ billion (domestic)Additional
Featured in the following lists:
90. Gunnar B. Gudmundsson
Director | Karamellumyndin
Gunnar B. Gudmundsson was born on January 22, 1972 in Iceland. He is a director and writer, known for Karamellumyndin (2003), Hullabaloo (2010) and Amma Hófí (2020).
91. Gunnar Björnstrand
Actor | Persona
Being the son of an acting father, Oscar Johanson, it isn't surprising that he wanted to be an actor already as a child. However, he first worked as a baker's apprentice, in a barber shop or in the docks. After the conscription he got his first role, a bit part on the theater Lilla Teatern in ...
The th Greatest Actor of All-Time
— James Agee
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 85 Rotten Tomatoes' Career approval rating: 88,2% (15 out of 17)Awards & Nominations
Wins: 1 Nominations: 2 (1 BAFTA)Popularity
Adj. average gross: $ million (domestic) Adj. lifetime adjusted gross: $ million (domestic)Additional
92. Walter Huston
Actor | The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
For many years Walter Huston had two passions: his career as an engineer and his vocation for the stage. In 1909 he dedicated himself to the theatre, and made his debut on Broadway in 1924. In 1929 he journeyed to Hollywood, where his talent and ability made him one of the most respected actors in ...
The th Greatest Actor of All-Time
— James Agee
Critical Acclaim
Metacritic's Average career score: 98 (1 film) Rotten Tomatoes' Career approval rating: 100% (15 out of 15)Awards & Nominations
Wins: 6 (1 Oscar, 1 Golden Globe, 2 NBR Awards) Nominations: 10 (4 Oscars, 1 Golden Globe, 2 NBR Awards)Popularity
Adj. average gross: $ million (domestic) Adj. lifetime adjusted gross: $ million (domestic)Additional
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