400 Greatest Movie Actors (Revision Version)

[ManPerson]

To put it another way, I think his win in influence is as easy as Goodman, Ruffalo or Horton's win in body of work, but your mileage may vary. I'd have him ahead of Milland or Robbins at least.

[Tim]

So I added 11 more actors to the ranked section (feel free to ask me about these promotions) relegated Ossie Davis to honorable mentions (undeniably an acclaimed actor but less so for his movie career), gave boosts to Bradley Cooper (5 Academy's Best Actor nominations plus high popularity and strong body of work), Walter Pidgeon (for similar reasons except just 2 Best Actor nominations), Timothée Chalamet and Jet Li, moved down Broderick Crawford, mostly on the list due to Oscar win, promoted DiCaprio to the top 25.

1. Marlon Brando
2. Charlie Chaplin
3. Laurence Olivier
4. Robert De Niro
5. James Stewart
6. Jack Nicholson
7. Al Pacino
8. Toshiro Mifune
9. Paul Newman
10. Humphrey Bogart
11. Cary Grant
12. Buster Keaton
13. Dustin Hoffman
14. Marcello Mastroianni
15. John Wayne
16. Daniel Day-Lewis
17. Henry Fonda
18. Denzel Washington
19. Alec Guinness
20. Jack Lemmon
21. Tom Hanks
22. Jean Gabin
23. Gregory Peck
24. Sidney Poitier
25. Leonardo DiCaprio
26. Gary Cooper
27. James Cagney
28. Gérard Depardieu
29. Spencer Tracy
30. Peter O'Toole
31. Gene Hackman
32. Clark Gable
33. Clint Eastwood
34. Richard Burton
35. Max von Sydow
36. Burt Lancaster
37. Robert Mitchum
38. Peter Sellers
39. William Holden
40. Anthony Hopkins
41. Kirk Douglas
42. Michael Caine
43. Morgan Freeman
44. Jean-Paul Belmondo
45. Orson Welles
46. Harold Lloyd
47. Sean Connery
48. Alain Delon
49. Robert Duvall
50. Anthony Quinn
51. Vittorio Gassman
52. Rudolph Valentino
53. George C. Scott
54. Robert Redford
55. Montgomery Clift
56. James Dean
57. Michel Piccoli
58. Klaus Kinski
59. Tom Cruise
60. Harrison Ford
61. Gene Kelly
62. Peter Lorre
63. Fred Astaire
64. Edward G. Robinson
65. Charles Laughton
66. Takashi Shimura
67. Sean Penn
68. Philip Seymour Hoffman
69. Gary Oldman
70. Douglas Fairbanks
71. Max Linder
72. Groucho Marx/The Marx Brothers
73. Ronald Colman
74. Tatsuya Nakadai
75. Johnny Depp
76. Jackie Chan
77. Robin Williams
78. Ben Kingsley
79. Fredric March
80. James Mason
81. Michel Simon
82. Jean-Louis Trintignant
83. Bill Murray
84. Jeff Bridges
85. Amitabh Bachchan
86. Dennis Hopper
87. John Barrymore
88. Chishu Ryu
89. Lon Chaney
90. Tony Leung Chiu Wai
91. Laurel and Hardy
92. Jean-Pierre Léaud
93. Errol Flynn
94. Bruce Lee
95. Albert Finney
96. Emil Jannings
97. Philippe Noiret
98. John Hurt
99. Russell Crowe
100. Walter Matthau
101. Uttam Kumar
102. Rod Steiger
103. Ralph Fiennes
104. Richard Harris
105. Javier Bardem
106. Woody Allen
107. Raj Kapoor
108. Yves Montand
109. Christian Bale
110. Brad Pitt
111. Warren Beatty
112. Louis de Funès
113. Yul Brynner
114. Charlton Heston
115. Steve McQueen
116. Mickey Rooney
117. Boris Karloff
118. Totò
119. Claude Rains
120. Willem Dafoe
121. Kevin Spacey
122. Samuel L. Jackson
123. Dirk Bogarde
124. John Gielgud
125. Vincent Price
126. Chow Yun-fat
127. Alberto Sordi
128. Conrad Veidt
129. George Clooney
130. Christopher Walken
131. Donald Sutherland
132. Ian McKellen
133. Michael Douglas
134. Dilip Kumar
135. Paul Muni
136. Lee Marvin
137. Jacques Tati
138. Jean Marais
139. Jerry Lewis
140. Robert Downey Jr.
141. Joaquin Phoenix
142. Jim Carrey
143. Rock Hudson
144. Naseeruddin Shah
145. Geoffrey Rush
146. Omar Sharif
147. Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle
148. Peter Finch
149. Lionel Barrymore
150. Rajesh Khanna
151. Sessue Hayakawa
152. King Baggot
153. Jeremy Irons
154. Jon Voight
155. Kenneth Branagh
156. Richard Attenborough
157. Gérard Philipe
158. Erland Josephson
159. Farid Shawqi
160. Ernest Borgnine
161. Heath Ledger
162. Matt Damon
163. Shah Rukh Khan
164. Charles Boyer
165. William Hurt
166. Will Smith
167. Bing Crosby
168. Liam Neeson
169. Edward Norton
170. Christopher Lee
171. Daniel Auteuil
172. Fernandel
173. Nino Manfredi
174. David Niven
175. Ralph Richardson
176. Erich von Stroheim
177. Richard Dreyfuss
178. William S. Hart
179. Gene Wilder
180. Fernando Rey
181. Maximilian Schell
182. Viggo Mortensen
183. Ryan Gosling
184. Tony Curtis
185. Dev Anand
186. Adel Imam
187. Innokenty Smoktunovsky
188. W.C. Fields
189. Ed Harris
190. Tommy Lee Jones
191. Harvey Keitel
192. Thomas Mitchell
193. Walter Brennan
194. Gunnar Björnstrand
195. Bourvil
196. Aamir Khan
197. José Ferrer
198. Fernando Fernán Gómez
199. Nikolay Cherkasov
200. Nicolas Cage
201. Michel Serrault
202. Ugo Tognazzi
203. William Powell
204. George Sanders
205. Joe Pesci
206. James Earl Jones
207. Song Kang-ho
208. Choi Min-sik
209. Arthur Kennedy
210. Bradley Cooper
211. Joseph Cotten
212. Cantinflas
213. Karl Malden
214. Bruno Ganz
215. John Gilbert
216. Charles Bronson
217. James Coburn
218. Stellan Skarsgård
219. Gian Maria Volonté
220. Eli Wallach
221. John Malkovich
222. Ahmed Zaki
223. Jean-Claude Brialy
224. Melvyn Douglas
225. Bob Hope
226. Walter Huston
227. Abbott and Costello
228. Nanni Moretti
229. Paul Robeson
230. Wallace Beery
231. Tom Courtenay
232. Rex Harrison
233. Benicio del Toro
234. Jake Gyllenhaal
235. Joel McCrea
236. Ewan McGregor
237. Bela Lugosi
238. The Three Stooges
239. Paul Scofield
240. Robert Shaw
241. Gaston Modot
242. John Carradine
243. Harry Dean Stanton
244. Raimu
245. Paul Winfield
246. Mel Gibson
247. Bruce Willis
248. Sylvester Stallone
249. Arnold Schwarzenegger
250. Steve Buscemi
251. Denholm Elliott
252. Roberto Benigni
253. Dana Andrews
254. Michael Chekhov
255. Jason Robards
256. Leslie Cheung
257. Martin Sheen
258. Ethan Hawke
259. Walter Pidgeon
260. Richard Gere
261. Robert Ryan
262. Peter Cushing
263. Takeshi Kitano
264. Rudolf Klein-Rogge
265. Franco Nero
266. Robert Donat
267. Christopher Plummer
268. Peter Ustinov
269. Matthew McConaughey
270. Adrian Brody
271. John Travolta
272. James Woods
273. Donald Crisp
274. Pedro Infante
275. Lee J. Cobb
276. Alan Rickman
277. Alastair Sim
278. Richard Widmark
279. Victor Mature
280. Victor McLaglen
281. Michael Redgrave
282. Armin Mueller-Stahl
283. Anthony Perkins
284. Basil Rathbone
285. Giancarlo Giannini
286. Bob Hoskins
287. Daniel Craig
288. Glenn Ford
289. Gael García Bernal
290. Timothée Chalamet
291. James Caan
292. John Cazale
293. John Garfield
294. Martin Balsam
295. Alan Arkin
296. Brendan Gleeson
297. Andy Serkis
298. Leslie Howard
299. Woody Harrelson
300. Adam Sandler
301. Eddie Murphy
302. Steve Martin
303. Martin Landau
304. Aldo Fabrizi
305. Jet Li
306. John Goodman
307. Edward Everett Horton
308. Tim Robbins
309. Ray Milland
310. Mark Ruffalo
311. Sterling Hayden
312. Don Cheadle
313. Chris Cooper
314. Frank Sinatra
315. Roy Scheider
316. Vincent Cassel
317. Rutger Hauer
318. Michael Fassbender
319. John Cleese
320. Jean Rochefort
321. Ken Takakura
322. Christoph Waltz
323. Colin Firth
324. Kevin Costner
325. Mickey Rourke
326. Mads Mikkelson
327. Curd Jürgens
328. Jürgen Prochnow
329. Gert Fröbe
330. Horst Buchcholz
331. Minoru Chiaki
332. Robert Montgomery
333. Fred MacMurray
334. Donald Pleasence
335. Jean Hersholt
336. Maurice Chevalier
337. River Phoenix
338. Tom Hardy
339. Jude Law
340. Barry Fitzgerald
341. Jack Palance
342. Hugh Grant
343. Keanu Reeves
344. Randolph Scott
345. Forest Whitaker
346. Billy Bob Thornton
347. Paul Giamatti
348. Kevin Kline
349. Nick Nolte
350. Charles Bickford
351. Jeff Goldblum
352. Hugh Jackman
353. Bruce Dern
354. Ian Holm
355. Sidney Greenstreet
356. John Turturro
357. Ned Beatty
358. Trevor Howard
359. Benedict Cumberbatch
360. Colin Farrell
361. Jim Broadbent
362. Michael Shannon
363. Tyrone Power
364. Lino Ventura
365. Lee Van Cleef
366. Timothy Spall
367. Ward Bond
368. George Arliss
369. Anthony Wong
370. Oleg Yankovsky
371. Raúl Juliá
372. Jeff Daniels
373. Chadwick Boseman
374. Michael B. Jordan
375. Vittorio De Sica
376. Andrew Garfield
377. Laurence Fishburne
378. Broderick Crawford
379. Paul Lukas
380. Udo Kier
381. Ulrich Mühe
382. Oliver Reed
383. Wallace Reid
384. Alan Hale Sr.
385. Masahiro Motoki
386. Rossano Brazzi
387. Mahershala Ali
388. Chiwetel Ejiofor
389. Raf Vallone
390. Charles Coburn

Alfred Abel
Don Ameche
Edward Arnold
Tadanobu Asano
Lew Ayres
Kevin Bacon
Jean-Pierre Bacri
Alec Baldwin
George Bancroft
Sacha Baron Cohen
Jean-Louis Barrault
Richard Barthelmess
Albert Bassermann
Ralph Bellamy
Mel Blanc
Klaus Maria Brandauer
Claude Brasseur
Josh Brolin
Mel Brooks
Louis Calhern
Eddie Cantor
Harry Carey Jr.
Jean-Pierre Cassel
Sonny Chiba
Brian Cox
James Cromwell
Joe Dallesandro
Ossie Davis
Danny DeVito
Divine
Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Pierre Fresnay
James Garner
Götz George
Danny Glover
Hugh Griffith
Edmund Gwenn
Kamal Haasan
Cedric Hardwicke
Jack Hawkins
Stanley Holloway
Oscar Isaac
Ben Johnson
Al Jolson
Louis Jourdan
Louis Jouvet
Shintaro Katsu
Michael Keaton
George Kennedy
Hardy Krüger
Alan Ladd
Evgeny Leonov
Tony Leung Ka Fai
John Lithgow
Roger Livesey
William H. Macy
Herbert Marshall
Dean Martin
Malcolm McDowell
John Mills
Tom Mix
Alfred Molina
Frank Morgan
Jorge Negrete
Leslie Nielsen
Ramon Novarro
Daniel Olbrychski
Michael Palin
Jacques Perrin
Richard Pryor
Anthony Quayle
Jean Reno
Burt Reynolds
Sam Rockwell
Roy Rogers
Hrithik Roshan
Kurt Russell
Hiroyuki Sanada
Mack Sennett
Gary Sinise
Sol Kyung-gu
Anatoly Solonitsyn
Terence Stamp
Dean Stockwell
David Strathairn
Henry Travers
Anton Walbrook
M. Emmett Walsh
Jack Warden
H. B. Warner
Tom Wilkinson
Louis Wolheim

Previously unranked actors/actors moved up in bold.

[ManPerson]

Im curious about moving Dicaprio up, not against it, just curious for your reasoning.


I could also see Ali and Waltz a bit higher.

[Tim]

Re: DiCaprio, just a really strong combo of popularity, acclaim, body of work. Influence the only criterion where I don't think he has much of it but it's also rare to achieve as an actor.

Where do you see Ali and Waltz?

[ManPerson]

I'd have Ali near River Phoenix and I'd have Waltz near Craig.

[ManPerson]

In terms of Dicaprio, I think he should be ahead of Depardieu/Tracy at least, but I'm less sure about how he compares with Cooper/Cagney. Here's my attempt at a breakdown.

Vs cooper
Acclaim: Dicaprio close
Influence: Cooper close
Popularity: Cooper close
BoW: Dicaprio close

Acclaim is the category I'm least sure about

Vs Cagney
Acclaim: Dicaprio close
Influence: Cagney
Popularity: Close
BoW: Dicaprio

[Tim]

Guess I am fine with Cagney/Cooper staying ahead of DiCaprio for now. Just to see if we are on the same page about Depardieu/Tracy 

Acclaim: Depardieu/Tracy >> DiCaprio
Influence: Tracy > Depardieu > DiCaprio
Popularity: DiCaprio >> Depardieu > Tracy
Body of work: DiCaprio >> Depardieu/Tracy

[ManPerson]

I actually think acclaim is closer than you have it, other than that I pretty sure much agree.

Edit: I also think Tracy takes body of work over Depardieu.

[Bruno]

What do you guys think about the Brad Pitt's placement?
I was thinking if he could move up enter the top 100.

[ManPerson]

I was thinking Bale takes acclaim over Pitt, Pitt takes body of work while everything else is close, but maybe both could move up.

[Tim]

I'd give popularity to Pitt clearly as well. Which actors currently in the top 100 you see Pitt beating by criteria, Bruno?

[ManPerson]

I feel like Bale's performances as Batman and Patrick Bateman have a ton of cultural impact though.

[Tim]

And what about Tyler Durden?

[Tim]

I am also not sure how much credit Bale deserves for his Batman role having cultural impact, it's Batman after all. By similar logic, should we bring Christopher Reeve and Michael Keaton in the top 300?

[ManPerson]

I think his portrayal of Batman is particularly iconic, especially the voice.

[Tim]

I was thinking Bale takes acclaim over Pitt, Pitt takes body of work while everything else is close, but maybe both could move up.

If wanna have one or both in the top 100, I can see Bale/Pitt beating the Nazi guy, Noiret, John Hurt, Crowe and Matthau but not Finney whom I'd give influence and acclaim (close between him and Bale but comfortably over Pitt) over both.

[ManPerson]

I think the Nazi guy probably beats both of them (definitely Pitt at least) in acclaim and influence as well. Other than that, I agree with your breakdowns.

[Bruno]

Yeah, I can see both just below Jannings.