Katharine Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart and Grace Kelly just 3 of the AFI Top 50 Screen Legends
Sometime in 2011 we decided it would be fun to do a Ultimate Movie Rankings (UMR) movie page on the AFI Top 50 Screen Legends. The AFI list of the top 50 greatest screen legends in American film history, included 25 male and 25 female stars. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute on June 15, 1999. The American Film Institute defined an “American screen legend” as an actor or a team of actors during the classic film era with a significant screen presence in American feature-length films whose screen debut occurred in or before 1950, or whose screen debut occurred after 1950 but whose death has marked a completed body of work.
When we started doing these pages 6 of the 50 Screen Legends were still alive. Sadly Elizabeth Taylor, Shirley Temple and Lauren Bacall passed away before we could finish our quest. Kirk Douglas, Sidney Poitier and Sophia Loren are still alive and well. Douglas will be 100 later this year…and just last week we received an autograph from that screen legend…but that is another story. After spending the last 5 years looking at the AFI list…we can say we like the list…BUT….there is one massive injustice. How Olivia de Havilland did not make the list makes no sense to us….ok done ranting.
The first AFI screen legend we researched and wrote about was Clark Gable….the last AFI screen legend we did was Mary Pickford. Between the Gable and Pickford pages….5 years passed, we changed our website home 2 times, we took a statistical look at 2,267 movies and we saw our classic movie pages become the most popular on our website….easily kicking our current movie star pages to the curb. So we decided to put all 50 of our AFI Screen Legends on one page. Each link below will take you to that star’s UMR page….where you will find box office grosses, reviews and awards for every single movie that star made during their career. John Wayne and Robert Mitchum are tied with the most movies (83) while James Dean has the least (3 movies).
AFI’s Top 25 Screen Legend Actors….with links to our movie pages on the Screen Legend
1. Humphrey Bogart 58 Movies Ranked….from Casablanca (1942) to Swing Your Lady (1938)
2. Cary Grant 58 Movies Ranked… from North by Northwest (1959) to Born To Be Bad (1934)
3. James Stewart 73 Movies Ranked Mr. Smith Goes to Washington(1939) to Big Sleep(1978)
4. Marlon Brando 37 Movies Ranked….from The Godfather (1972) to Christopher Columbus (1992)
5. Fred Astaire 39 Movies Ranked The Towering Inferno (1974) to The Amazing Dobermans (1976)
6. Henry Fonda 81 Movies Ranked… On Golden Pond (1981) to City on Fire (1979)
7. Clark Gable 63 Movies Ranked….from Gone With The Wind (1939) to Parnell (1937)
8. James Cagney 61 Movies Ranked….from Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) to Boy Meets Girl (1938)
9. Spencer Tracy 53 Movies Ranked….from Boy’s Town (1938) to Up the River (1930)
10. Charles Chaplin 12 Movies Ranked….from The Kid (1921) to A Countess from Hong Kong (1967)
11. Gary Cooper 67 Movies Ranked….from Sergeant York (1941) to Fighting Caravans (1931)
12. Gregory Peck 53 Movies Ranked To Kill a Mockingbird(1962) to Amazing Grace & Chuck(1987)
13. John Wayne 83 Movies Ranked….from True Grit (1969) to Brannigan (1975)
14. Laurence Olivier 48 Movies Ranked….from Rebecca (1940) to Inchon (1982)
15. Gene Kelly 40 Movies Ranked….from Anchors Aweigh (1945) to Viva Knievel! (1977)
16. Orson Welles 75 Movies Ranked….from Citizen Kane (1941) to Treasure Island (1972)
17. Kirk Douglas 71 Movies Ranked….from Spartacus (1960) to Diamonds (1999)
18. James Dean 3 Movies Ranked….from East of Eden (1955) to Giant (1956)
19. Burt Lancaster 67 Movies Ranked From Here to Eternity (1953) to Executive Action (1973)
20. Marx Brothers 18 Movies Ranked….from Horse Feathers (1932) to The Story of Mankind (1957)
21. Buster Keaton 28 Movies Ranked….from The Cameraman (1928) to The Intruder (1936)
22. Sidney Poitier 46 Movies Ranked….from In the Heat of the Night (1967) to Fast Forward (1985)
23. Robert Mitchum 83 Movies Ranked….from The Longest Day (1962) to Matilda (1978)
24. Edward G. Robinson 67 Movies Ranked 10 Commandments(1956) to BiggestBundleofAll(1968)
25. William Holden 66 Movies Ranked….from The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) to Ashanti (1979)
America Film Institutes’ Top 25 Screen Legend Actress and UMR’s Links That Rank All Of Their Movies.
1. Katharine Hepburn 43 Movies Ranked..On Golden Pond (1981) to Grace Quigley (1985)
2. Bette Davis 79 Movies Ranked…from All About Eve (1950) to Wicked Stepmother (1989)
3. Audrey Hepburn 24 Movies Ranked…from My Fair Lady (1964) to The All Laughed (1981)
4. Ingrid Bergman 32 Movies Ranked..Gaslight(1944) to Files of Mrs. Basil E.Frankweiler(1973)
5. Greta Garbo 24 Movies Ranked.. from Ninotchka (1939) to Torrent (1928)
6. Marilyn Monroe 23 Movies Ranked…from Some Like It Hot (1959) to Ladies of the Chorus (1948)
7. Elizabeth Taylor 47 Movies Ranked..Who’s Afraid of Va.Woolf?(1966) to A Little Night Music(1977)
8. Judy Garland 31 Movies Ranked…from A Star Is Born (1954) to I Could Go On Singing (1963)
9. Marlene Dietrich 30 Movies Ranked…from Shanghai Express (1932) to Just A Gigolo (1978)
10. Joan Crawford 72 Movies Ranked…from Mildred Pierce (1945) to The Law of the Range (1928)
11. Barbara Stanwyck 72 Movies Ranked.. Double Indemnity (1944) to The Bride Walks Out (1936)
12. Claudette Colbert 48 Movies Ranked..It Happened One Night(1934) to Royal Affairs(1954)
13. Grace Kelly 11 Movies Ranked.. from The Country Girl (1954) to Green Fire (1954)
14. Ginger Rogers 54 Movies Ranked.. from Kitty Foyle (1940) to The Groom Wore Spurs (1951)
15. Mae West 12 Movies Ranked.. from She Done Him Wrong (1933) to Sextette (1978)
16. Vivien Leigh 15 Movies Ranked.. from Gone With The Wind (1939) to Dark Journey (1937)
17. Lillian Gish 31 Movies Ranked.. from Intolerance (1916) to Hambone and Hillie (1983)
18. Shirley Temple 37 Movies Ranked.. from Since You Went Away (1944) to Honeymoon (1947)
19. Rita Hayworth 35 Movies Ranked.. from Gilda (1946) to The Naked Zoo (1970)
20. Lauren Bacall 36 Movies Ranked.. from To Have and Have Not (1944) to Diamonds (1999)
21. Sophia Loren 29 Movies Ranked.. from El Cid (1961) to Firepower (1979)
22. Jean Harlow 22 Movies Ranked.. from The Public Enemy (1931) to Riffraff (1936)
23. Carole Lombard 39 Movies Ranked from My Man Godfrey (1936) to It Pays To Advertise(1931)
24. Mary Pickford 31 Movies Ranked.. from The Little Princess (1917) to Rosita (1923)
25. Ava Gardner 40 Movies Ranked.. from The Killers (1946) to City on Fire (1979)
The amount of hours that went into this quest is mind boggling….but now that it is over….gotta admit…damn glad we did it. Of course that brings out the question…What Now?
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178 thoughts on “AFI Top 50 Screen Legends”
LIST 3 – THE 25 GREATEST MALE MOVIE PERFORMANCES IN HISTORY
Selections were made on the basis of the perceived skill, impact and lasting popularity of performance. Comments justifying each performance have been offered. The rankings are given in reverse order.
25/BILL MURRAY-Lost in Translation. Comic genius practiced with restraint
24/LAURENCE OLIVIER- Marathon Man. A great portrayal of the worst form of Villain. Many regarded Olivier as a stage actor and therefore not among the first rank of screen actors. This on e proved them wrong.
23/F MURRAY ABRAHAM-Amadeus (ie Mozart). One of the great historical performances.
22/GREGORY PECK-To Kill a Mockingbird. The ultimate courtroom hero with less theatrics and sheer character. Tailor-made for Greg regarded by many as the template for the screen “good guy” as indeed that was the perception of his real life persona so that at one stage he was considered an outstanding character witness (for Sinatra) in a real court.
21/EDWARD NORTON-American History X. The best dramatic performance of the 1990s which soon had Norton sharing star billing with DeNiro and Brando (in 2001’s The Score).
20/FOREST WHITAKER-The Last King of Scotland (ie Butcher Idi Amin). Whitaker, always an interesting performer, here was in his masterpiece.
19/MARLON BRANDO-A Streetcar Named Desire. This is THE role that changed screen acting forever and forms a large part of the mammoth historical influence with which Brando is credited.
18/GENE HACKMAN-The Conversation. Brutish tough guy Hackman from The French Connection gave also many ‘intellectual’ performances. This is his masterpiece. Tom Cruise would not let Gene have equal billing to Tom on the posters for 1993’s The Firm so rather than suffer the indignity, Gene withdrew his own name altogether and it appears on only the screen, admittedly equal 2nd to Cruise. Man an actor would kill to have his own name associated with Gene’s
17/HEATH LEDGER- The Dark Knight (aka Batman). This performance (of the Joker) was one of absolute genius that turned the film from a good to a great one. Jack Nicholson’s Joker in 1989’s Batman was highly entertaining as well but having been overshadowed in the acting stakes by Heath, poor ole Jack has had to make do with coming out tops as an earner. He got $90 million for his Joker outing because of profits participation, which is equivalent to about $230 million in today’s money. So “if you have tears” for Jack “prepare to shed them now” as Shakespeare’s Antony would say!
16/PETER FINCH-Network. Finch had to shine through a great cast that included stalwarts William Holden and Faye Dunaway. Jimmy Stewart turned down the Finch role because of the swearing in the film. This shamed William Holden into going onto TV and apologised for sharing a bedroom scene in the movie with Faye. Holden is of course one of the Hollywood Greats form the Classic Era of movies (listed in AFI’s Top 50 Greatest Screen Legends). In those days of stricter censorship even the Greats were not allowed to go to bed with each other on screen! The minor Danny DeVito 1991 film “Other People’s Money” was notable for the one Legend in the movie, Greg Peck, being the only performer not to swear!
15/SEAN PENN-I Am Sam. Madonna’s old beau creates a character we hate empathising with – but still do!
14/DANIEL DAY LEWIS-Let there Be Blood. The best performance of the 2000’s. Despite his greatness Daniel made few films and used to disappear for long stretches between movies. Where he got to was always a mystery until a journalist was travelling the south of Ireland one summer and, for shoe repairs, stopped at a small cobbler’s shop in a virtually deserted village. It was owned by Daniel’s uncle and in a corner was Daniel totally absorbed in repairing shoes. Apparently he found that simple enterprise a therapeutic means of escaping the Hollywood ‘rat-race’!
13/MARLON BRANDO – Last Tango in Paris. This performance is a must see for any acting maniac and is a fine demonstration of why for many modern performers such as Nicholson, Richard Dreyfus, Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand Brando is THE actor. “The best performance EVER by a male actor” wrote Alexander Walker, famed Film critic of the London Evening Standard.
12/ALEC GUINNESS-Bridge on the River Kwai. He brilliantly underplays a character who is steadfast, strong and absolutely masculine. In all probability Sean Connery and Michael Caine are the two British actors who have been most commercially successful in America. However it is likely that Alec Guinness runs them a good third. He was given a % of the Star Wars gross for his performance of Obe wan Kenobi which earned him $5 million at the time, worth around $28 million today. He said in an interview that the first thing he did when he got the cheque was “Take my friend Johnny Mills to dinner!”
11/AL PACINO- Scent of a Woman. As a blind man Pacino doesn’t blink once throughout the entirety of this lengthy film. The Master’s greatest work.
10/DUSTIN HOFFMAN-Rain Man. He seizes the occasion to provide a wonderful performance of an autistic man. The Prince of Players as a portrayer of screen misfits. Remember too his Ratso in Midnight Cowboy?
9/GEORGE C SCOTT-His gravelly voice and sheer presence make this the greatest ever casting decision. “I admired Dean. I admired Brando -Christ HE was Dean’s idol. But towering above them all – George! Martin Sheen in a 1979 interview with Rolling Stone.
8/DENIS HOPPER-Blue Velvet. All the mannerisms of this freak character are inch perfect.
7/ANTHONY HOPKINS-Silence of the Lambs. The lasting image of the 1990s is Hannibal Lecter. “I’m having an old friend for dinner tonight!” Hopkins performance as Hannibal takes up just 16 minutes of screen time and he is therefore one of just a dozen performers to get an Oscar for less than 20 mins on screen. The shortest Oscar winning performance is Hermione Baddeley for Room at the Top (1959). She earned a supporting Best Actress award for jus 2 mins 20 secs screen time.
6/JACK NICHOLSON-One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. It’s hard to stand your when your supporting cast is a bunch of lunatics. But Nicholson achieves the best of his many masterpieces.
5/TOM HANKS-The greatest thing that Hanks does is to keep the audiences so much into a far-fetched character. He is considered a politically-motivated performer in the roles he chooses, such as the 2017’s The Post with Meryl Streep. In fact a few years ago a deranged character, David DePape, turned up at the house of Nancy Pelosi, former Speaker in the Congressional House of Representatives. He was proposing to punish Nancy for her politics but as she was away from home DePape instead attacked her 83 year old husband with a hammer and he had to undergo emergency skull surgery. A diary that the police took from DePape’s possession indicated that the next 2 victims on his list would have been the president’s son, Hunter Biden – and Tom Hanks.
4/PETER SELLERS-Dr Strangelove-Sellers plays 3 different characters so well that if 3 different actors had played them with the same skill all 3 would have had to be on this list.
3/DANUEL DAY LEWIS- My Left Foot. This masterpiece is Day Lewis’ maverick performance.
2/ROBERT De NIRO-Raging Bull. This performance from the screen’s greatest LIVING actor show what method acting is all about.
1/MARLON BRANDO-The Godfather. Say what you will this is by far the most famous and easily the most impactful performance ever. Small spoiler. Brando’s utterance of The famous line “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse,” which is 2nd to only “frankly – I don’t give a damn” from Gone with the Wind on AFI’s list of 100 best quotes from movies was first spoken by John Wayne in a long-forgotten cowboy B movie in the 1930s. Nevertheless that two of the most powerful actors ever to appear in movies could each speak it decades apart only adds to its magic and shows that as a pungent quote it has, as the saying goes, legs.
List 2: UNISEX SURVEY – The 50 Greatest Cinema Persons of all Time
Included are those persons considered for one reason or another to have made the most significant contributions in bringing originality to film making and taking it progressively forward.
They are ranked in order of perceived greatness. Performers asterisked are also on the celebrated AFI 50 male and female Legends Lists
LIST 1 AFI’s 20 GREATEST MALE ACTORS OF ALL TIME (As distinct from Legends)
Most movie buffs will be familiar with AFI’s famous 25 Male Legends list which ranked the legends in relation to their all-round status as stars and which was period-confined to careers that began before or in 1950.
What possibly many movie buffs don’t know is that AFI created a supplementary list of its perceived 20 greatest male film performers set against the specific criterion of acting ability,
with other measures of cinematic greatness such as box office success not relevant to inclusion or ranking positions.
For some reason AFI never created or at least didn’t publish, a list of greatest screen actresses based purely on acting ability to supplement its 25 Greatest female legends list, which like the male Legends list measured overall star status of actresses whose careers began before or in 1950.
Anyway here goes with AFI’s 20 male ACTING greats in ranked orders; and you will see that it is not period bound but is all-time.
1/Marlon Brando*
2/Laurence Olivier
3/Robert DeNiro
4/James Stewart
5/Alec Guinness
6/Humphrey Bogart
7/Gregory Peck.
8/Jack Nicholson
9/Henry Fonda
10/Spencer Tracy
11/Charles Chaplin*
12/Gary Cooper
13/James Cagney
14/Al Pacino
15/Cary Grant
16/Sidney Poitier
17/Paul Newman
18/George C Scott
19/Burt Lancaster
20/Anthony Hopkins
In 1999 Time magazine compiled a list of the 100 people regarded as the “most important individuals of the 20th century”. It mostly considered of inventors, politicians (like FDR and JFK), industrialists, painters, writers, and assorted intellectuals. Albert Einstein topped it.
The two actors asterisked above were part of the only 4 movie performers included in the list. The other two were Sinatra (but as a singer only) and Monroe (the only actress listed and who is on the AFI 25 female Legends list.
Sinatra was ranked 16th of 100; Chaplin 37; Brando 39; and Monroe 75. The Beatles were No 80. Surprisingly Elvis didn’t make the cut and the originators later apologised for that.
I agree with the vast majority of this list. I’m 56 years old but LOVE the classics and am very familiar with actors from the “Golden Age of Hollywood”.
So this isn’t coming from “recency bias”, but Daniel Day Lewis HAS to be on this Top 20 List!
Almost ALL of his roles have been spectacular. Although not prolific (not a criteria here), he is clearly one of the greatest actors of his generation!
Personally, I would have to bounce either Cagney or more likely Lancaster, which admittedly would not be easy, but necessary. Thoughts?
Hey Boils…thanks for the feedback. I probably need to do an UMR Page on Lon Chaney…..I have about 10 of his movies in our database…..I wonder how many other box office grosses I can dig up. Good stuff.
LIST 3 – THE 25 GREATEST MALE MOVIE PERFORMANCES IN HISTORY
Selections were made on the basis of the perceived skill, impact and lasting popularity of performance. Comments justifying each performance have been offered. The rankings are given in reverse order.
25/BILL MURRAY-Lost in Translation. Comic genius practiced with restraint
24/LAURENCE OLIVIER- Marathon Man. A great portrayal of the worst form of Villain. Many regarded Olivier as a stage actor and therefore not among the first rank of screen actors. This on e proved them wrong.
23/F MURRAY ABRAHAM-Amadeus (ie Mozart). One of the great historical performances.
22/GREGORY PECK-To Kill a Mockingbird. The ultimate courtroom hero with less theatrics and sheer character. Tailor-made for Greg regarded by many as the template for the screen “good guy” as indeed that was the perception of his real life persona so that at one stage he was considered an outstanding character witness (for Sinatra) in a real court.
21/EDWARD NORTON-American History X. The best dramatic performance of the 1990s which soon had Norton sharing star billing with DeNiro and Brando (in 2001’s The Score).
20/FOREST WHITAKER-The Last King of Scotland (ie Butcher Idi Amin). Whitaker, always an interesting performer, here was in his masterpiece.
19/MARLON BRANDO-A Streetcar Named Desire. This is THE role that changed screen acting forever and forms a large part of the mammoth historical influence with which Brando is credited.
18/GENE HACKMAN-The Conversation. Brutish tough guy Hackman from The French Connection gave also many ‘intellectual’ performances. This is his masterpiece. Tom Cruise would not let Gene have equal billing to Tom on the posters for 1993’s The Firm so rather than suffer the indignity, Gene withdrew his own name altogether and it appears on only the screen, admittedly equal 2nd to Cruise. Man an actor would kill to have his own name associated with Gene’s
17/HEATH LEDGER- The Dark Knight (aka Batman). This performance (of the Joker) was one of absolute genius that turned the film from a good to a great one. Jack Nicholson’s Joker in 1989’s Batman was highly entertaining as well but having been overshadowed in the acting stakes by Heath, poor ole Jack has had to make do with coming out tops as an earner. He got $90 million for his Joker outing because of profits participation, which is equivalent to about $230 million in today’s money. So “if you have tears” for Jack “prepare to shed them now” as Shakespeare’s Antony would say!
16/PETER FINCH-Network. Finch had to shine through a great cast that included stalwarts William Holden and Faye Dunaway. Jimmy Stewart turned down the Finch role because of the swearing in the film. This shamed William Holden into going onto TV and apologised for sharing a bedroom scene in the movie with Faye. Holden is of course one of the Hollywood Greats form the Classic Era of movies (listed in AFI’s Top 50 Greatest Screen Legends). In those days of stricter censorship even the Greats were not allowed to go to bed with each other on screen! The minor Danny DeVito 1991 film “Other People’s Money” was notable for the one Legend in the movie, Greg Peck, being the only performer not to swear!
15/SEAN PENN-I Am Sam. Madonna’s old beau creates a character we hate empathising with – but still do!
14/DANIEL DAY LEWIS-Let there Be Blood. The best performance of the 2000’s. Despite his greatness Daniel made few films and used to disappear for long stretches between movies. Where he got to was always a mystery until a journalist was travelling the south of Ireland one summer and, for shoe repairs, stopped at a small cobbler’s shop in a virtually deserted village. It was owned by Daniel’s uncle and in a corner was Daniel totally absorbed in repairing shoes. Apparently he found that simple enterprise a therapeutic means of escaping the Hollywood ‘rat-race’!
13/MARLON BRANDO – Last Tango in Paris. This performance is a must see for any acting maniac and is a fine demonstration of why for many modern performers such as Nicholson, Richard Dreyfus, Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand Brando is THE actor. “The best performance EVER by a male actor” wrote Alexander Walker, famed Film critic of the London Evening Standard.
12/ALEC GUINNESS-Bridge on the River Kwai. He brilliantly underplays a character who is steadfast, strong and absolutely masculine. In all probability Sean Connery and Michael Caine are the two British actors who have been most commercially successful in America. However it is likely that Alec Guinness runs them a good third. He was given a % of the Star Wars gross for his performance of Obe wan Kenobi which earned him $5 million at the time, worth around $28 million today. He said in an interview that the first thing he did when he got the cheque was “Take my friend Johnny Mills to dinner!”
11/AL PACINO- Scent of a Woman. As a blind man Pacino doesn’t blink once throughout the entirety of this lengthy film. The Master’s greatest work.
10/DUSTIN HOFFMAN-Rain Man. He seizes the occasion to provide a wonderful performance of an autistic man. The Prince of Players as a portrayer of screen misfits. Remember too his Ratso in Midnight Cowboy?
9/GEORGE C SCOTT-His gravelly voice and sheer presence make this the greatest ever casting decision. “I admired Dean. I admired Brando -Christ HE was Dean’s idol. But towering above them all – George! Martin Sheen in a 1979 interview with Rolling Stone.
8/DENIS HOPPER-Blue Velvet. All the mannerisms of this freak character are inch perfect.
7/ANTHONY HOPKINS-Silence of the Lambs. The lasting image of the 1990s is Hannibal Lecter. “I’m having an old friend for dinner tonight!” Hopkins performance as Hannibal takes up just 16 minutes of screen time and he is therefore one of just a dozen performers to get an Oscar for less than 20 mins on screen. The shortest Oscar winning performance is Hermione Baddeley for Room at the Top (1959). She earned a supporting Best Actress award for jus 2 mins 20 secs screen time.
6/JACK NICHOLSON-One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. It’s hard to stand your when your supporting cast is a bunch of lunatics. But Nicholson achieves the best of his many masterpieces.
5/TOM HANKS-The greatest thing that Hanks does is to keep the audiences so much into a far-fetched character. He is considered a politically-motivated performer in the roles he chooses, such as the 2017’s The Post with Meryl Streep. In fact a few years ago a deranged character, David DePape, turned up at the house of Nancy Pelosi, former Speaker in the Congressional House of Representatives. He was proposing to punish Nancy for her politics but as she was away from home DePape instead attacked her 83 year old husband with a hammer and he had to undergo emergency skull surgery. A diary that the police took from DePape’s possession indicated that the next 2 victims on his list would have been the president’s son, Hunter Biden – and Tom Hanks.
4/PETER SELLERS-Dr Strangelove-Sellers plays 3 different characters so well that if 3 different actors had played them with the same skill all 3 would have had to be on this list.
3/DANUEL DAY LEWIS- My Left Foot. This masterpiece is Day Lewis’ maverick performance.
2/ROBERT De NIRO-Raging Bull. This performance from the screen’s greatest LIVING actor show what method acting is all about.
1/MARLON BRANDO-The Godfather. Say what you will this is by far the most famous and easily the most impactful performance ever. Small spoiler. Brando’s utterance of The famous line “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse,” which is 2nd to only “frankly – I don’t give a damn” from Gone with the Wind on AFI’s list of 100 best quotes from movies was first spoken by John Wayne in a long-forgotten cowboy B movie in the 1930s. Nevertheless that two of the most powerful actors ever to appear in movies could each speak it decades apart only adds to its magic and shows that as a pungent quote it has, as the saying goes, legs.
List 2: UNISEX SURVEY – The 50 Greatest Cinema Persons of all Time
Included are those persons considered for one reason or another to have made the most significant contributions in bringing originality to film making and taking it progressively forward.
They are ranked in order of perceived greatness. Performers asterisked are also on the celebrated AFI 50 male and female Legends Lists
1/Marlon Brando *
2/Robert DeNiro
3/Al Pacino
4/Martin Scorsese (Dir)
5/Katherine Hepburn *
6/Steven Spielberg (Dir)
7/Dustin Hoffman
8/Elizabeth Taylor *
9/Bruce Lee
10/Marilyn Monroe *
11/Jack Nicholson
12/Gene Hackman
13/Steve McQueen
14/James Dean *
15/Richard Burton
16/Robert Mitchum *
17/Federico Fellini (Dir)
18/Walt Disney (Prod)
19/Ingrid Bergman *
20/Jack Lemmon
21/Clint Eastwood (Dir, Act)
22/Johnny Depp
23/Alec Guinness
24/Bette Davis *
25/Spencer Tracy *
26/Denzel Washington
27/John Wayne *
28/Judy Garland *
29/George Clooney (Prod, act)
30/Woody Allen (Prod, act.
31/S Kubrick (Dir, Prod)
32/Harrison Ford
33/Vivien Leigh *
34/James Stewart *
35/Alfred Hitchcock (Dir, Prod)
36/Julia Robert
37/Akira Kurosawa (Dir)
38/Robert Redford
39/Julie Andrews
40/Sean Connery
41/Ingmar Bergman (Dir)
42/Billy Wilder (Dir)
43/Humphrey Bogart *
44/Meryl Streep
45/Orson Welles (Prod, Act) *
46/Grace Kelly *
47/Paul Newman
48/David Lean (Fir, Prod)
49/Audrey Hepburn *
50/Michael Caine
LIST 1 AFI’s 20 GREATEST MALE ACTORS OF ALL TIME (As distinct from Legends)
Most movie buffs will be familiar with AFI’s famous 25 Male Legends list which ranked the legends in relation to their all-round status as stars and which was period-confined to careers that began before or in 1950.
What possibly many movie buffs don’t know is that AFI created a supplementary list of its perceived 20 greatest male film performers set against the specific criterion of acting ability,
with other measures of cinematic greatness such as box office success not relevant to inclusion or ranking positions.
For some reason AFI never created or at least didn’t publish, a list of greatest screen actresses based purely on acting ability to supplement its 25 Greatest female legends list, which like the male Legends list measured overall star status of actresses whose careers began before or in 1950.
Anyway here goes with AFI’s 20 male ACTING greats in ranked orders; and you will see that it is not period bound but is all-time.
1/Marlon Brando*
2/Laurence Olivier
3/Robert DeNiro
4/James Stewart
5/Alec Guinness
6/Humphrey Bogart
7/Gregory Peck.
8/Jack Nicholson
9/Henry Fonda
10/Spencer Tracy
11/Charles Chaplin*
12/Gary Cooper
13/James Cagney
14/Al Pacino
15/Cary Grant
16/Sidney Poitier
17/Paul Newman
18/George C Scott
19/Burt Lancaster
20/Anthony Hopkins
In 1999 Time magazine compiled a list of the 100 people regarded as the “most important individuals of the 20th century”. It mostly considered of inventors, politicians (like FDR and JFK), industrialists, painters, writers, and assorted intellectuals. Albert Einstein topped it.
The two actors asterisked above were part of the only 4 movie performers included in the list. The other two were Sinatra (but as a singer only) and Monroe (the only actress listed and who is on the AFI 25 female Legends list.
Sinatra was ranked 16th of 100; Chaplin 37; Brando 39; and Monroe 75. The Beatles were No 80. Surprisingly Elvis didn’t make the cut and the originators later apologised for that.
I agree with the vast majority of this list. I’m 56 years old but LOVE the classics and am very familiar with actors from the “Golden Age of Hollywood”.
So this isn’t coming from “recency bias”, but Daniel Day Lewis HAS to be on this Top 20 List!
Almost ALL of his roles have been spectacular. Although not prolific (not a criteria here), he is clearly one of the greatest actors of his generation!
Personally, I would have to bounce either Cagney or more likely Lancaster, which admittedly would not be easy, but necessary. Thoughts?
I feel Lon Chaney was overlooked… but I am glad Chaplin made it!
Hey Boils…thanks for the feedback. I probably need to do an UMR Page on Lon Chaney…..I have about 10 of his movies in our database…..I wonder how many other box office grosses I can dig up. Good stuff.