Welcome to our Screen Legends 1950-2010 page. In 1999 the AFI (American Film Insitute) listed their top 50 greatest screen legends in American film history, included 25 male and 25 female stars. The AFI 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. It has been almost 20 years since that list…and we here at UMR.com thought it was time to revisit that list….only this time…looking at the stars that came after 1950. Due to space concerns…we have decided to have an actor page and an actress page. We call this one our Screen Legends 1950-2010 Actor page.
To be considered for our Top 50, an actor/actress needed to make their American film debut between 1950 and 2010 and they could not have appeared on the AFI list (sorry Marlon Brando & James Dean). Factors we used in determining our Top 50 included: (1) Box office success – namely the number of $100 million adjusted domestic gross movies. (2) Critical & audience approval – namely the number of movies that were above a 60% approval rating. (3) The amount of times they appeared on the yearly Quigley’s Top Stars list. (4) Oscar® love. Including personal nominations and wins and times they starred in a Best Picture Oscar® nominated movie. (5) Cultural…very subjective…but needed in picking these stars. Due to space concerns…we have decided to have an actor page and an actress page.
The following actors were given serious consideration…but in the end they fell just a little bit short: Woody Allen, Christian Bale, Warren Beatty, Jeff Bridges, James Caan, George Clooney, Russell Crowe, Matt Damon, Johnny Depp, Robert Downey, Jr., Robert Duvall, James Garner, Charlton Heston, Anthony Hopkins, Lee Marvin, Walter Matthau, Eddie Murphy, Bill Murray, Burt Reynolds, Martin Sheen, Sylvester Stallone, John Travolta, Christopher Walken, Bruce Willis. But enough exposition…let’s take a look at our Top 25 Actors 1950-2010.
25th place Daniel Day-Lewis (1957-) Box Office highlights: DDL has starred in 4 movies that grossed over $100 million in adjusted box office. He was named as one of Quigley’s Top Box Office Stars 1 time. Critic and audience highlights: He has starred in 14 movies with a 60% or higher rating. Oscar® love: DDL has received 6 acting Oscar® nominations…winning a record three Best Actor awards. He has starred in 9 movies that earned a Best Picture nomination…1 won. Overall he starred in 13 movies that got at least one Oscar® nomination….with 8 winning movies at least one Oscar®. UMR Must See Movies: My Left Foot, In the Name of the Father, There Will Be Blood, Lincoln, The Last of the Mohicans, The Gangs of New York Our thoughts: In the history of movies only one actor has won 3 Best Actor Oscars®….and that is Daniel Day-Lewis. That stat alone earns him a spot on our list. He could still pick up a 4th Oscar® in the future.
24th place Peter O’Toole (1932-2013) Box Office highlights: O’Toole starred in 7 movies that grossed over $100 million in adjusted box office. His Lawrence of Arabia is still the 75th biggest hit of all-time. Critic and audience highlights: He had 26 movies with a 60% or higher rating. Oscar® love: O’Toole was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar® 8 times. He starred in 7 movies that earned a Best Picture nomination….Lawrence of Arabia & The Last Emperor won. Overall he had 13 movies that got at least one Oscar® nomination….with 5 movies winning at least one Oscar®. UMR Must See Movies: Lawrence of Arabia, Beckett, Lion in Winter, The Stunt Man, My Favorite Year Our thoughts: You gotta have talent to receive 8 Oscar® nominations (all losses…a record)….but he did get a Honorary Oscar® in 2003.
23rd place Mel Gibson (1956-) Box Office highlights: Gibson has starred in 18 movies that grossed over $100 million in adjusted box office. He was named as one of Quigley’s Top Box Office Stars 14 times. Critic and audience highlights: He has 22 movies with a 60% or higher rating. Oscar® love: Gibson was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar® 1 time…but won a Best Director Oscar® for Braveheart. He starred in 2 movies that earned a Best Picture nomination….Braveheart won. Overall he had 12 movies that got at least one Oscar® nomination….with 3 movies winning at least one Oscar®. UMR Must See Movies: The Road Warrior, Lethal Weapon, Braveheart, What Women Want Our thoughts: Yes he has some off camera issues….but for over 20 years he was one of the most popular actors in the entire world.
22nd place Richard Burton (1925-1984) Box Office highlights: Burton starred in 15 movies that grossed over $100 million in adjusted box office. He was named as one of Quigley’s Top Box Office Stars 4 times. Critic and audience highlights: He had 22 movies with a 60% or higher rating. Oscar® love: Burton was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar® 8 times. He starred in 6 movies that earned a Best Picture nomination. Overall he had 15 movies that got at least one Oscar® nomination….with 9 movies winning at least one Oscar®. UMR Must See Movies: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Beckett, The Spy Who Came In from the Cold, Anne of the Thousand Days Our thoughts: Shares the record with Peter O’Toole for most Oscar® nominations (8) without a win. To bad he passed away before receiving a Honorary Oscar®.
21st place Will Smith (1968-) Box Office highlights: Smith has starred in 14 movies that grossed over $100 million in adjusted box office. He was named as one of Quigley’s Top Box Office Stars 9 times. Critic and audience highlights: He had 13 movies with a 60% or higher rating. Oscar® love: Smith has been nominated for a Best Actor Oscar® 2 times. He starred in 7 movies that got at least one Oscar® nomination….with 2 movies winning at least one Oscar®. UMR Must See Movies: The Pursuit of Happyness, Independence Day, Hitch, I Am Legend, Men In Black Our thoughts: From 1995 to 2007 there was nobody more popular in movies than Will Smith.
20th place Sean Connery (1930-) Box Office highlights: Connery starred in 20 movies that grossed over $100 million in adjusted box office. He was named as one of Quigley’s Top Box Office Stars 7 times. Critic and audience highlights: He had 32 movies with a 60% or higher rating. Oscar® love: Connery won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar®. He starred in 1 movie that earned a Best Picture nomination. Overall he had 13 movies that got at least one Oscar® nomination….with 5 movies winning at least one Oscar®. UMR Must See Movies: From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, The Man Who Would Be King, The Untouchables, The Hunt For Red October, The Untouchables, Indian Jones and the Last Crusade, The Rock Our thoughts: Connery, Sean Connery. When you think about it….. only one actor managed to have a very successful post James Bond career…and that was Mr. Connery. Maybe Daniel Craig can join Connery on that very short list.
19th place Brad Pitt (1968-) Box Office highlights: Pitt has starred in 14 movies that grossed over $100 million in adjusted box office. He was named as one of Quigley’s Top Box Office Stars 8 times. Critic and audience highlights: He had 30 movies with a 60% or higher rating. Oscar® love: Pitt has received 3 acting Oscar® nominations. He has starred in 8 movies that earned a Best Picture nomination….12 Years A Slave won. Overall he has had 17 movies that got at least one Oscar® nomination….with 8 movies winning at least one Oscar®. UMR Must See Movies: Seven, Fight Club, Moneyball, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Legends of the Fall, Inglourious Bastards, 12 Monkeys Our thoughts: About the only thing Brad Pitt needs to make his movie career complete is an Oscar® win. We see that coming in the near future.
18th place Morgan Freeman (1937-) Box Office highlights: Freeman has starred in 23 movies that grossed over $100 million in adjusted box office. Critic and audience highlights: He has 36 movies with a 60% or higher rating. Oscar® love: Freeman has received 5 acting Oscar® nominations…winning a Best Supporting Actor for Million Dollar Baby. He has starred in 7 movies that earned a Best Picture nomination….3 won…Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby & Driving Miss Daisy. Overall he has had 17 movies that got at least one Oscar® nomination….with 6 movies winning at least one Oscar®. UMR Must See Movies: Seven, Shawshank Redemption, Glory, Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, Driving Miss Daisy Our thoughts: The Spencer Tracy of our time. Morgan Freeman makes every performance seem so natural. Not bad for an actor that was already over 50 when he became a star.
17th place Michael Caine (1933-) Box Office highlights: Caine has starred in 17 movies that grossed over $100 million in adjusted box office. Critic and audience highlights: He has 48 movies with a 60% or higher rating. Oscar® love: Caine has received 6 acting Oscar® nominations…winning twice. He has starred in 4 movies that earned a Best Picture nomination. Overall he has had 21 movies that got at least one Oscar® nomination….with 6 movies winning at least one Oscar®. UMR Must See Movies: Zulu, Alfie, Sleuth, The Italian Job, Get Carter, The Man Who Would Be King, Educating Rita, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Quiet American, Batman Begins, The Presitge Our thoughts: Ok we admit it….Sir Michael is one of our favorite actors…but he has the numbers to back up his case to make this page. Now if we had included our other favorite actor, Bruce Willis, would could not make that same claim.
16th place Gene Hackman (1930-) Box Office highlights: Hackman starred in 17 movies that grossed over $100 million in adjusted box office. He was named as one of Quigley’s Top Box Office Stars 2 times. Critic and audience highlights: He starred in 44 movies with a 60% or higher rating. Oscar® love: Hackman received 5 acting Oscar® nominations…winning twice. He has starred in 8 movies that earned a Best Picture nomination…2 won: The French Connection & Unforgiven. Overall he starred in 23 movies that got at least one Oscar® nomination….with 7 movies winning at least one Oscar®. UMR Must See Movies: Bonnie and Clyde, The French Connection, The Conversation, Superman, Reds, Unforgiven, Hoosiers, The Royal Tenenbaums Our thoughts: We miss seeing a new Gene Hackman movie. Growing up, it seemed there was a new Hackman movie every 4 or 5 months. All of his movies had one common denominator…a good to great performance from Hackman.
15th place Robert DeNiro (1943-) Box Office highlights: DeNiro has starred in 16 movies that grossed over $100 million in adjusted box office. He was named as one of Quigley’s Top Box Office Stars 2 times. Critic and audience highlights: He has starred in 47 movies with a 60% or higher rating. Oscar® love: DeNiro has received 7 acting Oscar® nominations…winning twice. He has starred in 10 movies that earned a Best Picture nomination…2 won: The Godfather Part II & The Deer Hunter. Overall he starred in 22 movies that got at least one Oscar® nomination….with 7 movies winning at least one Oscar®. UMR Must See Movies: The Godfather Part II, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Heat, The Deer Hunter, Midnight Run, Cape Fear, Goodfellas, Silver Linings Playbook Our thoughts: The first third (1970s to mid 1980s) of DeNiro’s career earned him a spot on this list. The last third (1995-2016) of his career dropped him from a spot near the Top 5 to 15th place. As DeNiro has gotten older he has become a machine (20 movies since 2010) when it comes to making movies…thus making it harder to find a great DeNiro performance…but if you look hard enough you can still find classic Bob in movies like Silver Linings Playbook.
14th place Robert Redford (1936-) Box Office highlights: Redford has starred in 22 movies that grossed over $100 million in adjusted box office. He was named as one of Quigley’s Top Box Office Stars 7 times. Critic and audience highlights: He has starred in 33 movies with a 60% or higher rating. Oscar® love: Redford has received 1 Best Actor and 2 Best Director Oscar® nominations…he won for Ordinary People. He has starred or directed 9 movies that earned a Best Picture nomination…3 won: The Sting, Ordinary People & Out of Africa. Overall he starred in 23 movies that got at least one Oscar® nomination….with 10 winning movies at least one Oscar®. UMR Must See Movies: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, The Way We Were, Three Days of the Condor, All the President’s Men, The Natural, The Horse Whisperer Our thoughts: Redford has been a movie superstar for almost 50 years now. It looks like good guys can finish first.
13th place Robin Williams (1951-2014) Box Office highlights: Williams starred in 17 movies that grossed over $100 million in adjusted box office. He was named as one of Quigley’s Top Box Office Stars 9 times. Critic and audience highlights: He starred in 18 movies with a 60% or higher rating. Oscar® love: Williams received 4 acting Oscar® nominations…winning Best Supporting Actor for Good Will Hunting. He starred in 3 movies that earned a Best Picture nomination. Overall he starred in 17 movies that got at least one Oscar® nomination….with 5 movies winning at least one Oscar®. UMR Must See Movies: Good Morning Vietnam, Dead Poet’s Society, The Fisher King, Mrs. Doubtfire, The World According to Garp, Good Will Hunting, Insomnia Our thoughts: It still saddens us that Robin Williams is no longer with us. We miss one of the funniest people in the history of people every day.
12th place Al Pacino (1940-) Box Office highlights: Pacino has starred in 14 movies that grossed over $100 million in adjusted box office. He was named as one of Quigley’s Top Box Office Stars 4 times. Critic and audience highlights: He has starred in 25 movies with a 60% or higher rating. Oscar® love: Pacino has received 8 acting Oscar® nominations…winning Best Actor for Scent of a Woman. He has starred in 8 movies that earned a Best Picture nomination…2 won: The Godfather Part 1 & 2. Overall he has starred in 10 movies that got at least one Oscar® nomination….with 5 movies winning at least one Oscar®. UMR Must See Movies: The Godfather, Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico, The Godfather II, Heat, Scarface, Donnie Brasco, Dick Tracy Our thoughts: Ok we admit we are not the biggest Al Pacino fans. But when we thought of not including him on our list…Michael Corleone visited us and gave us ” an offer we could not refuse”…so Al gets the 12th spot.
11th place Leonardo DiCaprio (1970-) Box Office highlights: DiCaprio has starred in 12 movies that grossed over $100 million in adjusted box office. He was named as one of Quigley’s Top Box Office Stars 9 times. Critic and audience highlights: He has starred in 18 movies with a 60% or higher rating. Oscar® love: DiCaprio has received 5 acting Oscar® nominations…winning Best Actor for The Revenant. He starred in 10 movies that earned a Best Picture nomination…2 won: Titanic & The Departed. Overall he has starred in 15 movies that got at least one Oscar® nomination….with 6 movies winning at least one Oscar®. UMR Must See Movies: Titanic, The Revenant , Catch Me If You Can, The Aviator, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Departed, Inception Our thoughts: When we started putting this page together….our initial thought was Leo would not make the Top 25. Turns out he not only made the page, but it could be argued he is ranked too low. Watch out Tom Hanks here comes Leo.
10th place Tom Cruise (1962-) Box Office highlights: Cruise has starred in 25 movies that grossed over $100 million in adjusted box office. He was named as one of Quigley’s Top Box Office Stars 21 times. Critic and audience highlights: He has starred in 25 movies with a 60% or higher rating. Oscar® love: Cruise has received 3 acting Oscar® nominations and starred in 5 movies that earned a Best Picture nomination…Rain Man won. Overall he has starred in 18 movies that got at least one Oscar® nomination….with 5 movies winning at least one Oscar®. UMR Must See Movies: Risky Business, Top Gun, Rain Man, Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol, Jerry Maguire, Tropic Thunder, A Few Good Men Our thoughts: There seems to be no middle ground on Tom Cruise…people either love him or hate him…..but all have to acknowledge that his movie career is pretty impressive….and long….his first starring role was over 35 years ago…and he is still going strong.
9th place Harrison Ford (1942-) Box Office highlights: Ford has starred in 24 movies that grossed over $100 million in adjusted box office. He was named as one of Quigley’s Top Box Office Stars 13 times. Critic and audience highlights: He has starred in 29 movies with a 60% or higher rating. Oscar® love: Ford only has 1 acting Oscar® nomination but has starred in 8 movies that earned a Best Picture nomination. Overall he has starred in 17 movies that got at least one Oscar® nomination….with 9 movies winning at least one Oscar®. UMR Must See Movies: Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Art, The Empire Strikes Back, Blade Runner, Witness, Air Force One, The Fugitive, American Graffiti, Working Girl Our thoughts: Han Solo and Indiana Jones….the greatest combination of two roles any actor has ever played.
8th place Denzel Washington (1954-) Box Office highlights: Washington has starred in 14 movies that grossed over $100 million in adjusted box office. He was named as one of Quigley’s Top Box Office Stars 9 times. Critic and audience highlights: He has starred in 29 movies with a 60% or higher rating. Oscar® love: Washington has 6 acting Oscar® nomination…winning twice: Glory & Training Day. Overall he has starred in 11 movies that got at least one Oscar® nomination….with 3 movies winning at least one Oscar®. UMR Must See Movies: Glory, Philadelphia, Crimson Tide, Training Day, Malcolm X, Unstoppable, Remember the Titans Our thoughts: You know you are a star when….just the mention of your first name lets everybody know who is being talked about…well Denzel is owned by Denzel Washington…..yes we stole this idea from Tom Hanks’ Golden Globe® speech about Denzel.
7th place Steve McQueen (1930-1980) Box Office highlights: McQueen starred in 10 movies that grossed over $100 million in adjusted box office. He was named as one of Quigley’s Top Box Office Stars 9 times. Critic and audience highlights: He starred in 24 movies with a 60% or higher rating. Oscar® love: McQueen had 1 acting Oscar® nomination and starred in 2 movies that earned a Best Picture nomination. Overall he starred in 9 movies that got at least one Oscar® nomination….with 3 movies winning at least one Oscar®. UMR Must See Movies: The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, Bullitt, The Sand Pebbles, Papillon, The Towering Inferno , The Thomas Crown Affair Our thoughts: The King of Cool probably has the least productive career of the 25 actors listed….but McQueen’s cultural impact is still being felt 36 years after his passing.
6th place Jack Lemmon (1925-2001) Box Office highlights: Lemmon starred in 15 movies that grossed over $100 million in adjusted box office. He was named as one of Quigley’s Top Box Office Stars 8 times. Critic and audience highlights: He starred in 37 movies with a 60% or higher rating. Oscar® love: Lemmon received 8 acting Oscar® nominations…winning twice: Mister Roberts and Save the Tiger. He has starred in 5 movies that earned a Best Picture nomination…The Apartment won. Overall he starred in 21 movies that got at least one Oscar® nomination….with 10 movies winning at least one Oscar®. UMR Must See Movies: Mister Roberts, Some Like It Hot, The Apartment, Days of Wine and Roses, The Odd Couple, The China Syndrome, Missing, Glengarry Glen Ross Our thoughts: Lemmon just barely missed making AFI’s Top 50 Screen Legends list….but he has a nice spot in the Top 10 in our list.
5th place Dustin Hoffman (1937-) Box Office highlights: Hoffman has starred in 19 movies that grossed over $100 million in adjusted box office. He was named as one of Quigley’s Top Box Office Stars 9 times. Critic and audience highlights: He has starred in 34 movies with a 60% or higher rating. Oscar® love: Hoffman has 7 acting Oscar® nomination…winning twice: Kramer vs Kramer & Rain Man. He has starred in 11 movies that earned a Best Picture nomination…three won: Midnight Cowboy, Kramer vs Kramer & Rain Man . Overall he has starred in 21 movies that got at least one Oscar® nomination….with 9 movies winning at least one Oscar®. UMR Must See Movies: The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, All The President’s Men, Kramer vs Kramer, Tootsie, Papillon, Rain Man Our thoughts: So many great performances in so many great movies. Maybe if had not taken off most of the 1980s (he only appeared in 2 movies from 1980 to 1987) he would have challenged for the Top Spot in our rankings.
4th place Clint Eastwood (1930-) Box Office highlights: Eastwood starred or directed 31 movies that grossed over $100 million in adjusted box office. He was named as one of Quigley’s Top Box Office Stars 21 times. Critic and audience highlights: He starred or directed in 42 movies with a 60% or higher rating. Oscar® love: Eastwood received 2 acting and 4 directing Oscar® nominations…winning twice: Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby. He has starred or directed 7 movies that earned a Best Picture nomination. Overall he starred or directed in 17 movies that got at least one Oscar® nomination….with 6 movies winning at least one Oscar®. UMR Must See Movies: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Dirty Harry, Play Misty For Me, Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby, In the Line of Fire, Paint Your Wagon (hey we love this movie), Gran Torino Our thoughts: From spaghetti westerns, to Dirty Harry, to hanging out with an orangutan to becoming one of the greatest directors of all-time….Clint Eastwood has been successful every step of the way.
3rd place Tom Hanks (1956-) Box Office highlights: Hanks has starred in 23 movies that grossed over $100 million in adjusted box office. He was named as one of Quigley’s Top Box Office Stars 18 times. Critic and audience highlights: He has starred in 26 movies with a 60% or higher rating. Oscar® love: Hanks has 5 acting Oscar® nomination…winning twice: Philadelphia & Forrest Gump. He has starred in 9 movies that earned a Best Picture nomination…Forrest Gump won. Overall he has starred in 20 movies that got at least one Oscar® nomination….with 6 movies winning at least one Oscar®. UMR Must See Movies: A League of Their Own, Big, Cast Away, The Green Mile, Forrest Gump, Captain Phillips, Apollo 13, Saving Private Ryan Our thoughts: The greatest stat we realized while putting this page together? It has been 15 years since Tom Hanks got an Oscar® nomination. Did the voters not see his performance in Captain Phillips, Saving Mr. Banks or Bridge of Spies?
2nd place Paul Newman (1925-2008) Box Office highlights: Newman starred in 25 movies that grossed over $100 million in adjusted box office. He was named as one of Quigley’s Top Box Office Stars 14 times. Critic and audience highlights: He starred in 38 movies with a 60% or higher rating. Oscar® love: Newman received 9 acting Oscar® nominations…he won Best Actor for The Color of Money. He starred in 7 movies that earned a Best Picture nomination…The Sting won. Overall he starred in 26 movies that got at least one Oscar® nomination….with 11 movies winning at least one Oscar®. UMR Must See Movies: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof , The Hustler, Hud, Cool Hand Luke, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, Slap Shot, The Verdict, Nobody’s Fool, Road to Perdition Our thoughts: Like Jack Lemmon, Newman barely missed making AFI’s Top 50 Screen Legends. At one point, Newman, was ranked number one. But in the end Newman dropped to 2nd place….which is still pretty darn good.
1st place Jack Nicholson (1937-) Box Office highlights: Nicholson starred in 19 movies that grossed over $100 million in adjusted box office. He was named as one of Quigley’s Top Box Office Stars 6 times. Critic and audience highlights: He starred in 36 movies with a 60% or higher rating. Oscar® love: Nicholson received 12 acting Oscar® nominations…he won 3 times: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Terms of Endearment & As Good As It Gets. He starred in 13 movies that earned a Best Picture nomination…3 won: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Terms of Endearment & The Departed . Overall he starred in 20 movies that got at least one Oscar® nomination….with 8 movies winning at least one Oscar®. UMR Must See Movies: Five Easy Pieces , Chinatown, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Terms of Endearment, Batman, The Shining, A Few Good Men, Prizzi’s Honor, Witches of Eastwick, The Departed Our thoughts: What a career! Sadly it looks like Jack has retired from acting. But he has left behind so many great movies. We think it is hard to argue that anybody has had a better movie career than Jack Nicholson between 1950 and 2010. Which is why he is ranked as our number one our UMR Screen Legend page
So what do you think of our rankings? Look good? Think we are crazy? Left somebody out? Look forward to some feedback.
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Top 25 Screen Legend Actresses – Coming Soon!
This is a freakin’ joke!! Must be a crappy list when you have Mel Gibson, Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise and Di Caprio in it. And Will Smith! Are you freakin’ kidding me? Over Heston(who should have made top 20 AFI list), Marvin and Hopkins? What a crappy list!
Hey Andy…..as all lists are, this is very subjective. I do appreciate you checking it out. The rankings were based on statistics only….Heston, Marvin and Hopkins are great actors…and I like them, but the criteria we used they did not make our list. Box office was a huge factor. I wrote this rankings many years ago. Since then I actually wrote a book on the Top 50 Stars Of All-Time…Statistically Speaking….and Chuck made that list. I appreciate the feedback. FYI. I did clean up the language in your comment but I did leave your criticisms ….this is a very G rated website.
I was reviewing your list of film stars between 1950 and 2010. However, I find it incomprehensible that you do not have Charlton Heston! Heston starred in several of the highest -grossing films during that era: The Great Show on Earth (1952); The Ten Commandaments (1956); Ben-hur (1959); El Cid (1961); Airport 1975; Earthquake (1974); and Midway (1976). In addition, he starred in some of the most highly critical successes of that period: Touch of Evil (1957); Planet of the Apes (the original); Will Penny; and Soylent Green.
He was a liberal when he was young and conservative later. However, he served as the President of SAG and was instrumental in founding the American Film Institute.
He is more than deserving to be honored in this list.
Thank you.
Regarding Frank’s post yesterday Chuck Heston is one of my own great idols and for some time I locked horns with Mr Cogerson that Chuck had never received any “Love” in Cogerson ranking charts.
However all’s well that ends well because Bruce has now included him in his UMR book of the greatest screen legends. I am on holiday and my on-line copy of the book is at home on my computer there but when I last looked Heston was ranked 50th.
Bruce has been working on a hard copy of the book and presumably Chuck is still listed in it. If so given all my representations to him about Chuck’s omission from previous Cogerson ranking lists Mr Cogerson would now be entitled to use in relation to Heston at least Frasier Crane’s famous catchphrase with which he opened his radio show in the TV sitcom named Frasier – “I’m Listening!”
Hey Bob….hope your holiday is going well. Yes….Mr. Heston is still in the book…..which is completed….just having some issues with the book cover…..but once that is solved…..a printing we ago…..looks like we will be able to keep the price under $10 bucks. As for Heston…Frank makes some good points….and I do believe Chuck would make the list, if I ever redo it. Good stuff as always.
Hey Frank. Thanks for checking out our one part of our Top 100 Movie Stars. Heston was almost included in the page….and if I did it over, he probably would make it. You make some very good points in your comment. We have recently completed a Top 50 Movie Stars….Statistically Speaking book….and he made that book. So I do agree with all of your fine thoughts on Mr. Heston. Thanks again for a great comment.
HI O SCEPTICAL ONE Charley Bill certainly loomed large in Glenn’s own thought processes in the years after he discovered that he might once have been that Spanish/Scottish citizen of the 19th and previous centuries who became a Canuck called Glenn Ford in the 20th one.
Glenn believed too that he was also about in the 17th century as a French cavalry man in the reign of Louis XIV and and in the tapes of him under hypnosis Glenn who had never been taught French was heard speaking fluently in a perfect French dialect that was common at that time. Scary!
Surviving relatives would in fact probably have heard a great deal about Mr Stuart and other past livesfrom Glenn when he was alive as Glenn Ford – otherwise a glance back through their family tree might provide some enlightenment! Glenn seems to have believed in various forms of paranormal activity. For example according to long-time close neighbour Leslie Townes Hope a frantic Charley Bill called with Les Hope and woke him up one night insisting that a space ship had just landed on their lawns and taken off again.
Lighten up! – but I can understand you being squeamish about the prospect that stories about paranormal experiences might be based in reality – many folks are. When the film The Exorcist came out in 1974 it drew protests from religious groups and others who asserted that audiences were being manipulated by Satan via the film and many groups of protesters showed up with placards outside our local cinemas over here.
I recall vividly one afternoon in 1974 or 75 sitting in my work office discussing business issues with four others when our conversation turned to private matters and I mentioned I was going to see The Exorcist that night and started to explain what it was about. A teenage female colleague, laughing and happy until then, became anxious, jumped up, and fled the room shouting back “You are frightening me. I don’t want to be involved in discussions like this. I’m getting out of here!” Earlier that day I had mentioned the movie to a devout Christian with whom I worked and he cautioned “Don’t go near that movie Bob,” [or whatever I called myself back in the 1970s]. “There are dark forces at work there – don’t go!”
You may recall me mentioning a friend who despised all movie stars except, commendably, Mr Mumbles and for some strange reason Cary Grant*** and who insisted that The Duke would “hide” if bad guys came to town looking for him in real life. That friend was with my family and me when we watched the Glenn Ford interview in which he discussed his recollections of Charley Bill and Glenn closed by expressing confidence that he would be back with us again in yet another life and my friend, no respecter of even my tastes, shouted out “Perhaps you’ll come back as an ACTOR!” [***My friend also “didn’t mind” Sir Maurice so maybe that’s a contagious condition for admirers of Archie Leach!]
Anyway what’s wrong with a movie buff having a number of aliases when the great Lon Chaney was known as “Man of a thousand Faces”? Indeed it is possible that other regulars who see any of my comments would prefer NOT to know who I really am and would be content with that and like as detective Peter Falk said of his aliases in Murder by Death that “I’m in disguise, in disguise, in disguise!”
“I give up the fight: let there be an end.
A privacy, an obscure nook for me.
I want to be forgotten, even by God.”
[Robert Browning poet- See 2018 sci-fi film ‘Anon’ starring Clive Owen and Amanda Seyfried]
Bob, I don’t believe in the supernatural. Wasn’t it Spock that said “nothing unreal exists”? 😉
But I do believe that UFO’s might be real though and that there is intelligent life out there in the universe, maybe we’re lucky they haven’t discovered our tiny blue planet yet (or have they?).
HI MO
So you don’t outright dismiss at least one of Charley Bill’s beliefs.Speaking for myself I once didn’t believe in parallel universes but after some of my experiences with this site I am now definitely a believer big time !!!!
I once worked with a guy called Brian who spent endless office hours scribbling away on a private project instead of doing his paid work and of course this greatly irritated our boss who asked me “What the **** is he always writing about?”
I told the boss that Brian believed that none of us really existed in the flesh and that we were all a figment of each other’s imagination and he was working on a large-scale thesis on the subject which he hoped to publish someday. The boss replied “I’ll give him a good kick in the **** and he’ll soon know that he DOES exist!”
Brian was also fond of writing cynical poetry and in one of his poems a knock came to the door and when he opened it the Lord, Jesus Christ was standing there and He asked Brian for shelter for the night which was granted. The next morning when Brian woke up our Lord was gone along with Brian’s booze and drugs. Certainly as the cult TV series The Twilight Zone repeatedly suggested there are many strange people and things out there that we will will never fathom, so hold on to your view that UFOs could exist.
However if one of their inhabitants ever appears before you don’t expect him to look like Mumbles’ or Russell Crowe’s Jor El. Indeed Mr M argued with the producers of Superman 1978 that as Jor El being an alien would not look like US they should use an alien-like figure for Jor El with only Mr M’s voice coming out of it. However the producers told The Great Orator that to earn the magnificent fee they were paying him he would at least have to put in a personal appearance for the brief time that Superman’s father was on screen. Thank goodness though that the producers of Look Who’s Talking were not that firm with ‘Mikey’! Anyway Brando merely speaking and not being seen would likely please only you!
Steve,
great quote. I tend more toward robin Williams position “reality, what a concept”.
my version of UFOs are angels. problem is they don’t need wings or flying and they sometimes identify themselves by name, like Lucifer and Gabriel and Michael. so might they be identified, non flying objects?
HI MO
Charles William [“Charley Bill”] Stuart aka Gwyilyn Samuel Newton Ford, once a Slave on a Spanish warship several centuries ago.
I have just been enjoying your Bridges video. Cracking posters include a magnificent one for Kurt Russell’s Winter People and a stunning, highly original poster version for Lancaster/ K Hepburn’s The Rainmaker.
Of course I especially drooled over the two posters at the start of your presentation for my Rory’s Ride Out for Revenge co-starring Gloria Garhame, formerly the subject of much controversy on this site as a result of guys like you trying to promote her beyond her station. Although he was my personal fave, Rory was just a B movie cowboy actor and the fact that Gloria was second billed to him in a supporting role once more enables me to rest my case, on the subject of her status. There was though one name associated with that movie who was the real deal in terms of stardom – Kirk Douglas produced it.
There is also in your Lloyd video an excellent posed still of Jeff and his proud father! – all-in-all a great value video.
Hi Bob, so who’s this Gwyilyn Samuel Newton Ford you’re mentioning now? [Bob screams]
I’m messing with you of course it’s… um… Alan Ladd? [Bob faints]
😉
Glad you liked my latest video Bob. I couldn’t resist adding a Bridges family photo in there somewhere. I think Bruce can easily produce a UMR page on Jeff’s dad if he wanted to.
I’ll upload one more popular ‘Airplane’ actor video tomorrow. (Shot dead by your Glenn in a 1950s western.)
Thanks for posting.
Leslie Nielsen – shot dead by Charley Bill in The Sheepman?
Well, more accurately shot dead by Jason Sweet (Glenn Ford) in The Sheepman. 😉
(I refuse to call Glenn by that other name, it’s not even on google)
1 Glenn/Charley Bill’s name’s is probably not capable of direct Googling because nobody knows who he is in his current life! However the following is an extract from the Internet and was part of a wider profile of Glenn/Charles William Stuart and his career.
“GLENN FORD REINCARNATED
The actor Glenn Ford is remembered for being a part of countless wonderful movies including Blackboard Jungle, 3:10 to Yuma, A Pocketful of Miracles, and one of my very favourites, The Courtship of Eddie’s Father. Until recently, I had no idea of other roles Mr. Ford had played before he became an actor…even before he was born…into this life.
Born in his last life in Quebec City, Canada on May 1, 1916 as Gwyllyn Ford, the youngster and his family moved to Los Angeles when he was eight years old. In the mid to late 1970s, when Ford was in his late 50s and early 60s, he allowed himself to be hypnotised at his home in Beverly Hills, California, to prepare for a movie about the Dutch psychic, Peter Hurkos.
Under hypnosis Glenn Ford actually recalled five previous lives under three past regression hypnosis sessions. In his first session, Ford relayed in detail living the life of Charlie Bill, a cowboy who lived in Colorado.
In a second study which was held at UCLA, Ford talked about teaching “young flibbertigibbets” how to play the piano. As a Scottish piano teacher, Charles William Stuart, he spoke in a “quaint” manner not common in California. Ford also played the piano a little during this session, although he allegedly did not know how to tickle the ivory keys. He also recalled a life as a slave aboard a Spanish warship many centuries ago.
The grave of Charles Stuart deceased in the year 1840 was found in Elgin, Scotland by British television crews. Ford saw a photograph of the grave, and said, “That shook me up real bad. I felt immediately that it was the place I was buried.”
ARTICLE BY DEENA BUD BELLA ONLINE’S PARANORMAL EDITOR – THE PARANORMAL SITE
2 I find it ironic that you accused me of being “too serious” about certain things and yet you will not allow yourself to refer to Glenn by the name that he felt he went under in Scotland and Colorado in the 1940s!. Possibly you do not believe in reincarnation or maybe you are terrified of maybe becoming involved with the Occult!
3 Anyway I’m really looking forward to your video about Jason Sweet’s mortal enemy Colonel Stephen Bedford. Bring it on!
Bob, I was half joking in that post. But even you must admit you’ve picked an almost obscure alias for one of your favorite actors. A random UMR reader would get confused by some of the aliases you use for your favorites. I’m just trying to help clear things up in case they get confused. I wonder if even Glenn Ford’s surviving relatives know who Charley Bill is if you mentioned him to them. 🙂
Hey Bob
1. Sorry you feel you are not part of the “club”.
2. Everybody that loves movies is part of the “club”
3. As for you saying I am discriminating against “the three”…..I think you are not looking at the big picture.
4. This page is part of a FOUR part Top 100 Movie Stars. It was broken down into the 25 AFI Actor and Actress and my picks to round out the final 50.
5. As stated before….I felt they did an excellent job of doing the Actors….while struggling with the Actress picks.
6. So I left the actors picks alone….and left Brando, Dean and Poitier on their list. I did movie some actress around….BUT the entire 25 AFI actresses are listed on the 50 Actresses I picked.
7. So when you look at the entire Top 100 I picked Marlon Brando has one of the top spots….as I think AFI listed him in the 4th place.
8. You can see the entire Top 100 here. https://www.ultimatemovierankings.com/top-100-movie-stars/ Please note Mr. Brando has a spot in my Top 100 Stars of all-time.
As always your feedback is greatly appreciated.
BRANDO/JOEL/DESIREE
Excellent summary by you of the critical and box office history of Desiree. My own central point was that in castigating a movie or performance as a flop critics should perhaps distinguish more clearly the kind of failure to which they are referring. Instead they often come across as disdainful of, or at least very condescending’ towards, the opinions of the paying public. However I suppose it is the DNA of many of the professionally critical class to be more self-opinionated than many of the rest of us.
1950-2010 LEGENDS LISTS
I thank you for your explanations here. I am sure you don’t mean to sound condescending when you indicate that I could not see “the big picture” [though you have made similar suggestions before when we disagreed] but not only have I looked at the whole picture but I have examined it from every angle that I could think of and the end in fact “the devil was in the detail”.
It is not for me to dictate the criteria that you select for any of your exercises but had I been drawing up those lists but I would have kept it simple and played it straight down the middle. So regardless of gender or what was on OTHER lists of my own or anybody else, the 25 performers who got onto each list would have been the ones that I perceived to be the Top 25 Greatest Legends within all stipulated time frames. Otherwise I would reckon that I was not really providing my viewers/readers with an honest and accurate assessment of “The Greatest Screen Legends 1950-2010.”
There would I feel have been nothing wrong in you excluding performers who had gotten a run on the AFI lists provided, in my opinion, that you applied the restriction to both genders. Your belated, suggestion that weakness in the actress field gave you selection problems is an argument but if I may again quote the repeated Crosby/Kaye protest in White Christmas “not a good one in my own estimation.****
Again had I been drawing up those lists I would have been consistent by either including all those from both genders who qualified or excluding the 4 AFI listed actresses and chosen the next 4 qualified non-AFI ones in the pecking order. Indeed you l cite quite a number of other possible female contenders on your Actresses Top 25 page and said that the excluded ones**** fell as you put itust a little bit short” of the chosen 25 with no indication initially that there was a dearth of talent below your 25.
How could there be when among the actresses you mention as being excluded are the likes of the late Debbie Reynolds, Maggie Smith, Sigourney Weaver and Cameron Diaz? You used exactly the same wording about those males left out of the 25 Actors page and in fact stated on THAT page that the non-AFI stipulation applied to BOTH actors and actresses alike.
There are of course many good things in your lists as I’ve said before and I liked for example Newman in 2nd place getting more deserved recognition than he usually attracts [and we know who some of his detractors on this site are, don’t we?!]. Also of course mine is just one opinion though “a poor thing but my own” as some modest being is reported to have said. As it is I remain mystified that you went down the, to me, convoluted and gender-discriminating route that you did in drawing up those lists though as the Emperor Joseph 2nd kept loftily proclaiming in the 1984 Amadeus “but there it is!”