Normblog challenges his readers:
... I'm inviting you to send me your favourite movie stars. Choose them how you like, whether for acting ability, star quality, looks, whatever. But you have a maximum of 10 votes to distribute over the two categories in the poll - that is, male movie stars and female movie stars - and you have a maximum of 7 votes in either category. This means, if I have to explain (and even if I don't), that should you use all of your 10 votes, you may distribute them between the men and the women, the guys and the dolls, the dudes and the broads, either 5 and 5, 6 and 4, or 7 and 3, or vice versa - which in the case of 5 and 5 is nothing to get your knickers in a twist about. No need to rank; each vote will only count for one.
Here are mine:
1. Fred Astaire. Fred has given me more pleasure than any other star--I marvel at his grace.
2. Audrey Hepburn--lovely without looking like anyone else.
3. Cary Grant--wonderful at playing urbane, harassed upper-middle class men. Handsome as all get-out to boot.
4. Gerard Depardieu: so versatile, he can do anything.
5. Marcello Mastroianni: top of his class in looks and charm. (I'm sure I spelled his name wrong.)
6. Sophia Loren-- gorgeous, voluptuous, and full of fire.
7. Clark Gable.
8. Claudette Colbert
9. Jimmy Stewart
10. Laurence Olivier
You can tell I'm living in the past, can't you? But, honestly, I can't tell any of today's stars apart. They're all cute. And indistinguishable.
Who are your favorites?
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Tan Hoang
I can't rank them but here's a list of ten: Kevin Costner, Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Jim Carrey, Bill Murray, Natalie Portman. and Jimmy Stewart.
2 - Nicolette Rivers
I like most of your picks, Miriam, except for 4 & 5.
3 - R. Johnson
Robert Mitchum,Bugs Bunny,Marlon Brando,
Jane Greer,Sterling Hayden,Robert DeNiro
Lauren Bacall,Peter Lorre,Marilyn Monroe
and Mantan Moreland.
4 - Dave Nalle
Bugs Bunny is just Jimmy Cagney with long ears - and Cagney ought to be on any list like this.
Dave
5 - Tan Hoang
Marilyn Monroe is a pretty underrated actress, and I forgot about Charlie Chaplin.
6 - Duane
William Holden
Spencer Tracy
Gregory Peck
Sidney Poitier
Meryl Streep
Jack Nicholson
Jennifer Jones
W.C. Fields
Grace Kelly
Jean Arthur
7 - Eric Olsen
my favorite movie star of all time is ASIN
8 - Kari
Cary Grant
Katherine Hepburn
Jimmy Stewart
Audrey Hepburn
Marlon Brando
Grace Kelly
James Cagney
Robert DeNiro
Marilyn Monroe
Sean Connery
9 - Kari
In retrospect, I'd like to switch out Connery and add Denzel Washington, with Connery and Tom Hanks hanging on as honorable mentions.
10 - francisco68
Only 10?
Here is a start (before the next 10)
Humphrey Bogart
Cary Grant
Katherine Hepburn
Henry Fonda
Jimmy Stewart
Edward G. Robinson
Meryl Streep
Jeanne Moreau
Gerard Depardieu
Catherine Deneuve
and the man Truffaut used in 400 Blows and other films whose name has eluded me.
Ready for the next 10? I didn't even get to the current crop (a bit meagre) and the Japanese and Italian (as if I remembered their names and not characters).
11 - Ben Rollman
Mostly because I enjoy watching them, not necessarily because they are the best actors.
Kevin Spacey
Kevin Kline
Ewan McGreggor
Don Cheadle
Harrison Ford
Bill Murray
Audrey Hepburn
Stockard Channing
Laura San Giacomo
Janeane Garofalo
12 - dietdoc
A late starter and quite short-lived but a wonderful body of work:
Steve McQueen
'Nuff said.
The rest you could fill in from Miriam's or Duane's lists.
I also agree with the cookie-cutter "actors" (really big quotations) wasting good film these days. At least, soon, they will start shooting all movies digitally and we won't have to lament the death and waste of all those Brazilian film trees, killed for nothing.
Cheers,
Ron
13 - miriam
Great posts, everyone! 10 is not enough. I like Denzel Washington and Robert deNiro too. Alec Guinness! Daniel Auteiuel (spelling disaster again). Jimmy Cagney is also a favorite. It all makes me think what an enduring contribution AMerican film (and foreign film) has made to the arts. What a tremendous heritage!
14 - DrPat
The 14-year-old Antoine Doinel of Les quatre cents coups (400 Blows) was portrayed by Jean-Pierre Léaud, francisco.
15 - Nancy
Naming only 10 is like eating only 10 potato chips!
16 - francisco68
Dr. Pat wins again. And since I am not allowed potato chips, "Naming only 10 is like..." For me it has been a whole day with nothing but lists of actors on my mind (with and without names). Then the actors who were great when they had a great director (Montgomery Clift in I Confess)..., the greatest supporting actors: Hume Cronyn, Andy Devine, Everett Edward Horton... the only 2 dancing actors to really do it well (Fred Astaire and Ginger Rodgers), all the actors I forgot like Anthony Hopkins and Ben Kingsley and a few more at least.
What have you done? I have spent the whole day going over movies I have seen and actors who mattered. You have the stuff of a dozen more posts here.
17 - Eric Berlin
Please provide a link when you use a blockquote and whenever possible, Miriam.
18 - mick
these r my favuorite actors and i also think they are all time best actors of hollywood.
1.kevin costner
2.leonardo decaprio
3.vin diesel
4.al acino
5.matthew perry
6.brad pitt
7.robert de niro
8.drew barrymore
9.julia roberts
10.denzel washington
19 - Danny Cass
James Stewart Gary Cooper Spencer Tracy Henry Fonda David Niven Nicolas Cage Frank Sinatra Peter Ustinov Humphry Bogart Gregory Peck These are some of my many favorites
20 - caglar
1.julia roberts
2.jessica lange
3.robert de eniro
4.jack nicholson
5.glenn close
6.gwyneth paltrow
7.ian mackellen
8.meryl streep
9.mel gibson
10.julianne moore
21 - Barry N.
1. Barbara Stanwyck
2. Jack Lemmon
3. Rosalind Russell
4. Cary Grant
5. William Holden
6. Margaret Sullavan
7. Al Pacino
8. Katharine Hepburn
9. Jimmy Stewart
10. Henry Fonda
22 - WeeWilly
Alistair Sim (definitely my number 1 - see "Green for Danger")
Cary Grant
Lauren Bacall
Jimmy Stewart
Gong Li
Audrey Hepburn
Paul Newman
Phoebe Cates (if only for her outrageous beauty)
Gregory Peck
George Clooney
The following are absolute non-starters on any list of my favourites:
Bill Murray
Katherine Hepburn
Meryl Streep
Al Pacino
I am sorry that the limit of 10 will not permit me to mention Alec Guiness, Leslie Howard, Grace Kelly and Ingrid Bergman, and so I won't! Anyway, I am far more inclined to add names to my non-starters! And surely some reference to the ridiculously seductive Scarlett Johanssen would be in order?
23 - lisa
1.Vivien leigh
2.Clark Gable
3.Humpfrey bogart
4.Keira knightley
5.audrey hepburn
6.frank sinatra
7.laurence oliver
8.marlon brando
9.james mcavoy
10.johnny depp
i have loads more :)
24 - Dr Dreadful
Yer supposed to list five male and five female stars, which I suppose makes things a little easier. Perhaps not. Anyway, in no particular order:
Cary Grant
James Stewart
John Wayne
Spencer Tracy
um... ah... umm... ahh... Robert De Niro (sorry, Al!)
Audrey Hepburn
Katherine Hepburn
Vivien Leigh
Sally Field
Barbara Stanwyck
25 - duane
Dr. D, I'm stunned. Such a bias toward American actors --- only one Brit. What's the deal? Anyway?
Sally Field is an interesting choice. Hmmm....