1FF's top 100 actors/actresses

[Oaf]

In 27th is a man who gained 26 points from just two lists, and I think that we can all agree has the most awesome name in the history of actors:

Benedict Cumberbatch

 

[Oaf]

And then in 26th we have another who managed to make 3 lists, gaining 28 points in the process.

Marlon Brando

 

[SALTIRE]

I didn't include Cumberbatch in my list as he hasn't done enough yet though he is an exceptional actor indeed.

Also didn't include Pacino and another couple that will probably make the lists since they haven't stretched themselves as performers in twenty years.

 

[SALTIRE]

And then in 26th we have another who managed to make 3 lists, gaining 28 points in the process.

Marlon Brando

Now there was an actor before he got fed up doing it. A frightening talent that could do it all, showing menace, vulnerability and great intellectual power, he was perhaps the giant of 20th Century screen actors. Brando was the creme de la creme who influenced and set the standard for generations of actors that followed him. An acting genius.

 

[Oaf]

We don't have many tied spots left, but here is one of them.

In joint 24th, we have two people who managed to get 29 points from 2 lists each. One is our second highest rated woman on this entire list... the other was born and raised in west Philadelphia and spent most of his days on the playground until a couple of guys who were up to no good started making trouble in his neighborhood.

Joint 24th:
Will Smith
You may remember me from such films as: Men in Black, Independence Day, I Robot, Bad Boys, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air
Oscars?: No. But he's been nominated for best actor oscar twice, once for the pursuit of happiness, once for Ali.

Joint 24th:
Meryl Streep
You may remember me from such films as: The Devil Wears Prada, The Iron Lady, Sophies Choice, Kramer vs Kramer
Oscars? An incredible 19 nominations, with 3 wins, those coming for being the best actress in The Iron Lady, Sophies Choice and Kramer vs Kramer.

 

[SALTIRE]

Will Smith ahead of Pacino and Brando.

Streep is an amazing actress particularly in her early work in Sophie's Choice, Kramer versus Kramer, Silkwood and The Deer Hunter. She can still be relied upon to put in fine performances in everything she does and is in the fortunate position as an older screen actress that she can choose any part she wants. My favourite screen actress has always been Katherine Hepburn, but Streep runs her pretty close.

 

[Oaf]

We have another tie at joint 22nd. Both gained 30 points from 2 lists, a very impressive 15 points per list... and one of these is the highest placed female on the entire list.

Joint 22nd:
Peter O'Toole
You may remember me from such films as: Lawrence of Arabia, TheLast Emperor, The Lion in Winter
Oscars? 8 nominations for best actor, but never actually won it. However, he won an honourary award in 2003.

Joint 22nd: - highest ranked woman!
Sandra Bullock
You may remember me from such films as: Gravity, The Proposal, Crash, The Blind Side
Oscars? One best leading actress award for The Blind Side, and a nomination for Gravity as well.

 

[SALTIRE]

Bullock is underrated imo and she is getting better with age.

O'Toole was a phenomenal actor and ultimate scene stealer and was involved in the best screen acting display I've seen with Kate Hepburn in the Lion In Winter. Also was superb in many other films including Lawrence, and Beckett against another giant in Richard Burton, and getting nominated multiple times. He really was an actor always worth watching.

 

[Oaf]

Gaining 32 points from two lists is another great English actor who seems to show up in everything, especially Chris Nolan movies...

21st:
Micheal Caine
You may remember me from such films as: The Italian Job, Zulu, Harry Brown, Pretty much any movie Chris Nolan has ever made.
Oscars? Two best supporting actor wins, 4 nominations for best leading actor.

 

[Oaf]

Gaining the same number of points but doing it in 3 lists is another English actor... and the first to break into the top 20.

20th:
Simon Pegg
You may remember me from such films as: Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The Worlds End, Spaced, Star Trek
Oscars? Nuffink.

 

[Craig]

A few more of mine.

Al Pacino

Most recognisable for his roles in the Godfather films and as Tony Montana in Scarface, both great memorable roles for sure. Also great in the likes of Any Given Sunday, Serpico, Glengarry Glen Ross and in particular his brilliant portrayal of Lefty Ruggiero in Donnie Brasco. But my personal favourite of his is Carlito's Way where he plays Carlito Brigante, a mid level hoodlum fresh out of prison on a technicality who is determined to go straight once he's made a little money. But no matter how much he tries his past slowly creeps up on him and there is no out.

Spoiler

He has a run in with up and coming street thug Benny Blanco, such a powerful scene and the significance of it may not be immediately noticeable the first time you watch the film, but watching back and knowing how the film pans out just magnifies the importance of the set piece.

Marlon Brando

Again, same as Pacino he'll be forever tied to his role in The Godfather, which isn't a bad thing of course. Then there's the scene stealing turn as Kurtz in Apocalypse Now but really his heyday was the 50's wasn't it? On the Waterfront, A Streetcar Named Desire, Julius Caesar, The Wild One, Viva Zapata!. Also have to give a shout out for his role in the 1996 version of The Island of Dr, Moreau.

Peter O'Toole

Lawrence of Arabia was the overriding reason for my inclusion of O'Toole. But as had been mentioned roles in classics such as The Lion in Winter and Becket along with underrated classic like Caligula and Zulu Dawn (which is on a par with the classic it prequels imho) certainly helped. I'm not particularly a fan of his later work, but still he remains one of my favourites.

Spoiler

Lawrence has helped unite the nomadic tribes of the middle east against the Ottoman empire in world war one. On the march to take their stronghold at Damascus they come across the gruesome scene of a village slaughtered by the Turks. Later they encounter the Turkish column that was surely responsible. No prisoners!! cry the Arab army at his back, this is not what he wants, but when a man connected to the slaughtered village charges the Turkish column and is gunned down his emotions take over. Such a great scene, he utters two words throughout it, but they are the most memorable two words of a what? 4 hour film? but he doesn't need to say anything to convey the conflicting emotions he is feeling at the time.

 

[Oaf]

There are only two tied spots left in this thing, and up next is one of them. Two people gained 33 points from 3 lists and share joint 18th.

Joint 18th:

Jake Gyllenhaal
You may remember me from such films as: Donnie Darko, Source Code, Jarhead, Brokeback Mountain
Oscars? A single nomination for best supporting actor in Brokeback Mountain

Joint 18th:

Bill Murray
You may remember me from such films as: Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, Scrooged, Lost in Translation
Oscars? A single nomination for best actor in Lost in Translation

 

[Oaf]

In 17th we have the last person to have only appeared on two lists, but he managed to gain an incredible 36 points from both of those lists, and actually managed to finish in the top spot on one of them.

17th: Nicolas Cage*
You may remember me from such films as: National Treasure, Face/Off, Con Air, Leaving Las Vegas
Oscars? Won best leading actor for his role in Leaving Las Vegas and also had a nomination for his role in Adaption.

 

[Oaf]

With 38 points from 3 lists is this bad ass mother fucker.

16th:

Samuel L Jackson
You may remember me from such films as: Pulp Fiction, Star Wars 1-3, Marvel movies, Django Unchained
Oscars? A single nomination for best supporting actor for Pulp Fiction.

 

[Oaf]

Also gaining 38 points, but becoming the first person to appear on 4 lists, is...

15th:
Denzel Washington
You may remember me from such films as: Training Day, American Gangster, Man on Fire
Oscars? 1 win for best actor for Glory, and 1 for best supporting actor in Training Day. Also has another 3 best leading actor and 1 best supporting actor nomination.

 

[Craig]

Couple more I voted for.

Samuel L Jackson

Was quite a late comer to the big screen wasn't he, into his forties before he established himself as a screen actor, bit parts in Spike Lee and Scorsese films isn't a bad start though, is it? Will be most widely recognised for his role in Pulp Fiction which was a great part for him. I've always found his range great though, comedic parts in fare such as Snakes on a Plane and The Great White Hype to dramatic tour de forces in the likes of A Time To Kill and Rules of Engagement through to being the most memorable character in Django Unchained, Jackie Brown and the such along with squeezing himself into powerhouse franschises such as the Star Wars saga, the Marvel films and the Jurassic Park series, a role in the best GTA computer game plus all the enjoyable tat sprinkled about throughout, such as Deep Blue Sea, The 51st State, S.W.A.T, Jumper, Unbreakable, xXx, etc, etc, etc..He certainly more than made up for the late start, and he's still churning out roles for himself at a frightening rate.

Denzel Washington

Everyone loves Denzel don't they? it seems to be he's been typecast in the same way Neeson has in recent years, rugged action man in forgettable if enjoyable films such as 2 Guns, The Equalizer and The Book of Eli. He is a fantastic actor though, whether he's playing the escaped slave turned Union soldier in Glory, the homophobic lawyer who takes up the dying gay man's discrimination case in Philadelphia, the young buck on a nuclear sub holding his own in every scene with Gene fucking Hackman in Crimson Tide, wrongly jailed boxer Ruben Carter in The Hurricane, portraying one of the most controversial figures in American civil rights history to perfection in Malcolm X, or the corrupt cop in the magnificent Training Day. He's also cut his teeth nicely in the horror genre with the likes of Fallen and The Bone Collector.

Spoiler

Training Day. Denz has spent the day setting up his new partner to cover his own corrupt tracks. It all comes to a head at the end when the folk he has been exploiting for years behind his badge finally turn on him.

Glory. Private Trip is an escaped slave who volunteers for one of the first black regiments in the civil war. Somewhat of a wiseass who has, an understandable, issue with authority. He wants to fight though as much as any of the others. Through the first half of the film the black soldiers are denied all the basics the white recruits receive along with lower pay, which they refuse to take, one night Trip takes it upon himself to go find some proper boots, he is caught and mistaken for a deserter. In this scene he doesn't utter a word, but he doesn't need to, you could argue Denz isn't even acting, just there trying to imagine what his ancestors had to put up with. It's a testament to his acting skills that he was the best character in a film full of amazing performances.

 

[Stagat]

Training Day was pretty good, wasn't it? I watched it knowing absolutely nowt about it having just copied a load of films from me mate's hard drive. Nowt dodgy, like. But it seemed a particularly good film to watch with no clue as to what might happen. Should watch it again really.

 

[Oaf]

Next up we have the final tied place on this entire list! Two people share the joint 13th spot, all of the rest of the 12 people remaining hold their own spots.

These two people both played probably the most enjoyable to watch characters in two huge nerd franchises, one in Star Wars, the other in the Marvel Universe.

Both gained 39 points from 3 lists... and they are:

Joint 13th:

Harrison Ford
You may remember me from such films as: Star Wars 4-6, Indiana Jones movies, Blade Runner
Oscars? A single nomination for best actor in Witness

Joint 13th:

Robert Downey Jr
You may remember me from such films as: Iron Man/The Avengers, Sherlock Holmes
Oscars? Two nominations, one for supporting actor in Tropic Thunder, the other for leading actor in Charlie.

 

[SALTIRE]

Harrison Ford and Denzel good choices. The rest of them recently though, eugh. It's going to get worse as well by the looks of things.

 

[Oaf]

Gaining 41 points from 3 lists is...

12th:

Jim Carrey
You may remember me from such films as: The Mask, Ace Ventura, Dumb and Dumber, The Truman Show
Oscars? Narp.

I actually had Carrey in 2nd spot on my own list. He's comfortably my favourite comedy actor of all time and I can watch the likes of Ace Ventura, Liar Liar or Dumb and Dumber over and over again... but he can also show up in a Truman Show or Eternal Sunshine or something and show that he can do the whole serious acting thing really fucking well as well. Hell, I even watched Mr Poppers Penguins on a flight once because he was in it, even though that was shite.

 

[Oaf]

Getting a point more with 42 from the same number of lists is the guy who just missed out on the top 10:

11th

Klaus Kinski
You may remember me from such films as: Aguirre: The Wrath of God, Nosferatu the Vampyre, For a few dollars more, Fitzcarraldo
Oscars? Narp.

Have to admit, never head of the guy prior to doing this thing. But with this 11th placed finish, perhaps I ought to check some of his stuff out...

 

[SALTIRE]

Getting a point more with 42 from the same number of lists is the guy who just missed out on the top 10:

11th

Klaus Kinski
You may remember me from such films as: Aguirre: The Wrath of God, Nosferatu the Vampyre, For a few dollars more, Fitzcarraldo
Oscars? Narp.

Have to admit, never head of the guy prior to doing this thing. But with this 11th placed finish, perhaps I ought to check some of his stuff out...

He was an absolute nutcase, during the filming of Fitzcarraldo he fired shots into a hut where the actors and other staff were and the natives who have a reputation as is it for killing at the least little thing asked the director if they could kill him. One of many incidents on set. Off set he was just as much a nutter. However he had a magnetic personality and if you got him on a good day he was sensationally good. You couldn't take your eyes off him when he was on screen. I was going to include him in my list but have only seen about 6 films with him in it, but got plenty more to watch as he was always interesting.

 

[Oaf]

Let's get onto that top 10 then

As a fun fact, I'm pretty sure that the majority of these top 10 actually had a spell where they were leading this thing. Including, in the early stages, this next man.

10th:

Robert De Niro*
You may remember me from such films as: Goodfellas, Taxi Driver, Casino, Godfather Part 2, Heat
Oscars? Best leading actor for Raging Bull and best supporting actor for Godfather Part 2.

This guy has put in some fucking brilliant performances in his career and I'd say he's more than worthy of making the top 10. I mean, he's great in those films listed above, but there's also stuff like The Deer Hunter and Once Upon a Time in America and he can even pop up in something like Star Dust and suddenly put in a great comedy performance as well.

 

[SALTIRE]

Wasted the last 20 years so not for me. Was brilliant before when he could be arsed

 

[Oaf]

Forgot to mention in that one before... De Niro managed 44 points from 3 lists and managed to top one of those three in the process.

A small jump now though, as our 9th placed actor has 48 points from 4 lists. This man actually held the lead for a bit, and was actually placed a lot higher than this until right near the end. As he's a relative newcomer to the cinematic world, I'd have considered it a shock if he'd managed to pull off something higher, but 9th is still damned good.

9th:
Micheal Fassbender
You may remember me from such films as: Xmen: First Class, Inglorious Basterds, Prometheus, 12 Years a Slave
Oscars? A single nomination for supporting actor in 12 Years a Slave.

 

[Craig]

Klaus Kinski

Similar to Saltire I haven't seen his full body of work, I've seen enough to make my mind up to include him though. First saw him in Nosferatu the Vampyre, it came in a VHS club package my dad subscribed to along with Caligula, that was a fun night. Collaborations with Werner Herzog will be for what he is principally remembered, stalwart of horror too. His off screen antics which have been touched upon played a part in my decision too, they probably shouldn't have, but meh.

Robert De Niro

I disagree that he's wasted the last 20 years of his career, certainly taken an alternative route to his earlier work but there is some good stuff in there I reckon. Ronin, Meet the Parents (is a bloody good laugh and he's the best character in it), Killer Elite is good fun and he's outstanding in Silver Linings Playbook. There's all his work with Scorsese, which is great and his turn as the young Vito Corleone which you could argue is his masterpiece. To go into his full body of work would take forever, so I'll stick to a few of my personal favourites. Once Upon A Time In America, which surpasses his role as Corleone imvho, Max Cady in the remake of Cape Fear, but above all others for me was his turn in The Deer Hunter, his crowning glory I thought.

 

[Oaf]

We jump another 3 points for our next actor, who managed 51 points from 3 lists... that's an average of 17 points per list, meaning that this person managed an average of 4th place on each list he was on.

If we were to use accolades and an indication of who deserves what on this list, this man would be even higher... by virtue of his record three best actor Oscars alone.

8th
Daniel Day Lewis
You may remember me from such films as: There Will be Blood, Gangs of New York, Lincoln
Oscars? A record holder with three best actor wins, for My Left Good, There Will be Blood and Lincoln, plus he had another two nominations.

I've only seen him in There Will Be Blood and Gangs of New York, but both times I can't deny that he was absolutely fantastic and stole the show. I should check out more of his movies.

 

[Craig]

Daniel Day Lewis

Second on my list. The Last of the Mohicans and In the Name of the Father my personal favourites, but great in everything he's appeared in.

 

[SALTIRE]

I disagree that he's wasted the last 20 years of his career, certainly taken an alternative route to his earlier work but there is some good stuff in there I reckon. Ronin, Meet the Parents (is a bloody good laugh and he's the best character in it), Killer Elite is good fun and he's outstanding in Silver Linings Playbook.

I dunno, he was ok in Ronin I suppose, and I haven't seen Silver Linings Playbook tbh so can't comment on that. The last thing I think he was good in was his Analyse This, where he sent his mobster roles up and was genuinely funny in it, maybe Meet The Parents also at a push, but that was 2000 and looking at his films since then, they have the look to me of taking the money and phoning his performances in. Nothing wrong with that, its just disappointing that an actor of his calibre has decided to stop trying as his early stuff was fantastic; Godfather II, The Deer Hunter, Raging Bull (what a performance in that), King Of Comedy, Once Upon A Time In America, Brazil, The Mission, Angel Heart (just watched that recently for the first time and its a great film), The Untouchables, Goodfellas, Awakenings, Cape Fear, This Boy's Life, A Bronx Tale, (we'll forget Frankenstein!), Casino, Heat, Copland and Wag The Dog. Then the standard drops.

He'll go down as one of the greats, but there could have been so much more had he been arsed.

Was watching Daniel Day-Lewis last night in The Bounty funnily enough; he's a mysterious and wonderful actor undeniably, however he is so meticulous that I get the feeling I'm watching a master craftsman when I see him, but there is no warmth or humanity in his stuff, its all mechanical - perhaps with the exception of Sins Of The Father and Last Of The Mohicans which is a tremendous film.

Fassbender is on the path to greatness, but I didn't include him the same as I didn't include Cumberbatch, Tom Hardy or James McAvoy as they don't yet have the longevity yet; but I think they could all be legends in the making if they are serious about it.

 

[Craig]

I'm a big fan of Fassbender, he was terrifying in 12 Years a Slave, great turns in Eden Lake and Fish Tank early on in his screen career too. Can't wait for the upcoming Macbeth.