digitaldreamdoor.com forum

pave wrote:for the English speaking side of things (and silent films of english speaking countries), the order at the top is looking like this... the other languages/cultures is getting really difficult, since im not immersed in it and its basically me trying to read through incomplete sources (especially prior to the 50s or so). i might start with an English speaking list and move from there. cause it would still be nice to get more love for theatre and television, especially for the females who have historically had more opportunities and more acclaim in the theatre than they've had in film (to the point where i'd argue that 4 or the top 5 actresses of the last 40 years are primarily stage actresses: Redgrave, Dench, Mirren, and Smith joining Streep as the only film actresses)

the basic criteria being legacy and the quality of their body of work across mediums ("quality" being judged by secondhand sources, not personal opinion)... having success in multiple mediums is of course rewarded, however enormous success in one is enough to negate a lack of success in others, for those who stayed primarily in one medium. since body of work is a major part of the criteria, older actors have the benefit of the doubt but younger actors are here.

1. Laurence Olivier
2. Marlon Brando
3. Judi Dench
4. John Gielgud
5. Meryl Streep
6. Charlie Chaplin
7. Katharine Hepburn
8. Vanessa Redgrave
9. Ian McKellen
10. Al Pacino
11. Robert De Niro
12. Peggy Ashcroft
13. Paul Scofield
14. Edith Evans
15. Maggie Smith
16. Dustin Hoffman
17. Jack Nicholson
18. Bette Davis
19. Ralph Richardson
20. Audrey Hepburn
21. James Stewart
22. Ingrid Bergman
23. Julie Harris
24. Helen Mirren
25. Humphrey Bogart
26. Michael Gambon
27. Jessica Tandy
28. Derek Jacobi
29. John Barrymore
30. Sidney Poitier
31. Alec Guinness
32. Buster Keaton
33. Paul Newman
34. Peter O'Toole
35. Shirley Booth
36. Daniel Day Lewis
37. Tom Hanks
38. Emma Thompson
39. Simon Russell Beale
40. Mark Rylance
41. Richard Burton
42. Geraldine Page
43. Greta Garbo
44. Elizabeth Taylor
45. Ethel Barrymore
46. Spencer Tracy
47. Jack Lemmon
48. Greer Garson
49. Ellen Burstyn
50. Eileen Atkins
51. Angela Lansbury
52. Gregory Peck
53. Henry Fonda
54. Peter Sellers
55. Denzel Washington
56. The Marx Brothers (comedy troupe)
57. Gary Cooper
58. Norma Shearer
59. Glenda Jackson
60. Olivia de Havilland
61. Fredric March
62. Rosemary Harris
63. Julie Christie
64. Sissy Spacek
65. Anthony Hopkins
66. Morgan Freeman
67. Kevin Spacey
68. Julie Andrews
69. Anne Bancroft
70. Jodie Foster
71. Sean Penn
72. Gene Hackman
73. Jane Fonda
74. James Cagney
75. Albert Finney
76. Michael Caine
77. Deborah Kerr
78. Alan Howard
79. James Dean
80. Marilyn Monroe
81. John Wayne
82. Lucille Ball
83. Monty Python (comedy troupe)
84. Fiona Shaw
85. Fred Astaire
86. 3 Stooges (comedy troupe)
87. Wendy Hiller
88. William Holden
89. Susan Hayward
90. Christopher Plummer
91. Carol Burnett
92. Michael Redgrave
93. Glenn Close
94. Kenneth Branagh
95. Peter Ustinov
96. Rex Harrison
97. Jessica Lange
98. Helen Hayes
99. Vivien Leigh
100. Zoe Caldwell

jesus that got messy closer to the bottom. this needs work. and this needs more spots. i think im gonna do a top 250 just for english speaking performers. having a list for theatre and television and film actors combined just needs to be huge imo.

i mean just look at who isnt here: James Earl Jones, Antony Sher, Claire Bloom, Cate Blanchett, Kate Winslet, Edward G. Robinson, Bernadette Peters, Nathan Lane, Carol Channing, Robert DuVall, Clark Gable, Judy Garland, Jeremy Irons, Kevin Kline, Richard Harris, John Hurt, Jose Ferrer, Liza Minnelli, Kevin Kline, Robin Williams, Jim Carrey, Gene Wilder, Brian Cox, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kate Winslet, Susan Sarandon, Geoffrey Rush, Steve Martin, Bill Murray, Bill Cosby, Joan Plowright, Ian Holm, Patrick Stewart, Ben Kingsley, Alan Rickman, Ralph Fiennes, Toby Stephens, Clare Higgins, Julie Walters, Lindsay Duncan, Richard Attenborough, Donald Sinden, William Hutt, Ian Richardson, Juliet Stevenson, Christopher Lee, Sean Connery, Alan Bates, Judith Anderson, Lynn Redgrave, Imelda Staunton, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kirk Douglas, Marlene Dietrich, Zoe Wanamaker, Barbara Stanwyck, Claudette Colbert, Grace Kelly, Ginger Rogers, Joan Crawford, Orson Wells, Robert Mitchum, Burt Lancaster, Mae West, Anthony Quinn, Boris Karloff, Walter Mathau, Hal Holbrook, George C. Scott, Jason Robards, Cherry Jones, Peter Cushing, Vincent Price, Bela Lugosi, Donald Pleasence, Diane Keaton, Jonathan Pryce, Hugh Laurie, Lillian Gish, Shirley Temple, Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy, Charlton Heston, Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise, Sophia Loren, Lauren Bacall, Rita Hayworth, Ava Gardner, Jean Harlow, Carole Lombard, Mary Pickford, Russell Crowe, Bob Hope, Robert Redford, Tom Courtenay, Imelda Staunton, Charles Laughton, Nigel Hawthorne, Diana Rigg, Frank Langella, John Malkovich, William Hurt, Rachel Weisz, Alec McCowen, Nicol Williamson, Michael Sheen, Geraldine McEwan, Janet Suzman, John Lithgow, Brian Dennehy, Jeffrey Wright, Brian F. O'Byrne, Joan Allen, Colleen Dewhurst, Lily Tomlin, Kathy Bates, Dianne Wiest, Blythe Danner, Irene Worth, Laura Linney, Edie Falco, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Andy Griffith, Bill Irwin, Gary Sinise, Betty White, Clint Eastwood, Jeff Daniels, Ed Harris, Alec Baldwin, Richard Briers, Stockard Channing, Elizabeth Wilson, Mary Louise Parker, Sarah Jessica Parker, Viola Davis, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Frances McDormand, Janet McTeer, Frances Sternhagen, Margaret Rutherford, Ruby Dee, Claude Rains, Basil Rathbone, Amanda Plummer, Alison Steadman, Anthony Perkins, Ben Gazzara, Billy Crudup, Bob Peck, Brian Bedford, Brian Murray, Carole Shelley, Christine Baranski, Claudia McNeil, Dana Ivey, David Bradley, David Tennant, Dorothy Tutin, Edward Petherbridge, Eileen Heckart, Eli Wallach, Barbara Streisand, Richard Chamberlain, Judd Hirsch, Jim Dale, Tim Curry, Raul Julia, Matthew Broderick, David Suchet, Richard Griffiths, Michael Bryant, Alex Jennings, Stephen Dillane, John Wood, Sinead Cusack, Iain Glen, Robert Stephens, John Mills, Shirley McClaine, Irene Dunne, Emily Watson, Hilary Swank, Jon Voight, Lionel Barrymore, Jeff Bridges, Paul Muni, Johnny Depp, Edward Norton, Don Cheadle, Ronald Colman, Richard Pryor, Walter Brennan, Jackie Gleason, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Rod Steiger, Peter Finch, George Arliss, Robert Donat, Nicolas Cage, Maximilian Schell, Mickey Rooney, Gene Kelly, Walter Huston, Montgomery Clift, Ernest Borgnine, Mickey Rourke, Errol Flynn, Alan Arkin, Steve McQueen, Brad Pitt, Gary Oldman, Dennis Hopper, Warren Beaty, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Woody Allen, Sam Waterston, James Garnet, Gena Rowlands, Ryan Gosling, Heath Ledger, James Woods, Edward James Olmos, Kevin Costner, Robert Downey Jr., John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Matt Damon, Nick Nolte, Will Smith, Chris Cooper, Tom Wilkinson, Eddie Murphy, George Clooney, Tommy Lee Jones, May Robson, Gloria Swanson, Natalie Wood, Luise Rainer, Doris Day, Piper Laurie, Janet Gaynor, Joan Fontaine, Jennifer Jones, Loretta Young, Rosalind Russell, Faye Dunaway, Patricia Neal, Joanne Woodward, Mary Tyler Moore, Debra Winger, Sally Field, Whoopi Goldberg, Holly Hunter, Julia Roberts, Sigourney Weaver, Anjelica Huston, Bette Midler, Helena Bonham Carter, Helen Hunt, Julianne Moore, Annette Bening, Michelle Pfeiffer, Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron, Naomi Watts, Sandra Bullock, Karl Malden, Peter Lorre, Christopher Walken, Jack Palance, Peter Falk, Melvyn Douglas, Joe Pesci, Steve Buscemi, Willem Dafoe, Burt Reynolds, Billy Bob Thornton, Benecio Del Toro, Jim Broadbent, Tim Robbins, Patricia Clarkson, Alice Brady, Angelina Jolie, Shelley Winters, Madeline Kahn, Marisa Tomei, Brenda Blethyn, Cloris Leachman, Maureen Stapleton, Estelle Parsons, Liam Neeson, Alfred Molina, Hugh Griffith, Ralph Bellamy, Hume Cronyn, Alfred Lunt, Kelsey Grammer, Sid Caesar, Jack Benny, Alan Alda, Michael J. Fox, John Goodman, Ted Danson, Beatrice Arthur, Allison Janney, Dennis Franz, James Gandolfini, Bryan Cranston, Robert Shaw, John Garfield, Lee J. Cobb, Donald Sutherland, Robert Lindsay, Michael Crawford, Henry Goodman, Harriet Walter, Anton Lesser, Colin Firth, Miranda Richardson, Benedict Cumberbatch, Anthony Quayle, Orson Welles, Christian Bale, Donald Wolfit, Michael York, Sebastian Shaw