That is from the very first film in which they got top billing to the last one they starred in. And I’m specifying stars with long careers. Not easy to pull off, many of even the greatest stars wouldn’t qualify, having had to settle for second or third billing as younger stars eclipse them. Of stars who are dead and achieved this I think these qualify:
John Wayne
Gary Cooper
Clark Gable
Humphrey Bogart
Cary Grant
Spencer Tracy
I can’t think of any actresses who qualify, Katherine Hepburn for instance often took second billing to actors like Spencer Tracy and Bogart. Any of today’s actors who have a chance of pulling this off, ie who have never been second-billed since becoming stars? Advancing old age is of course the biggest obstacle to getting there. Young people are going to start saying, who? That never happened to the guys above but I really think it would be harder now as the audience has skewed far more to young people since those days.
I don’t think Bogart qualifies. He’s top-billed in Two Against the World (1936), but not in Marked Woman (1937).
Not sure about Spencer Tracy, either, as it looks like he is not top-billed in She Wanted a Millionaire (1932), but is the 4 features he made prior to that.
Laird Cregar. He had moved up from small parts and was billed above the title in The Lodger and top billed in Hanover Square. He died after finishing the latter at age 30.
Depends on what the OP means by “Starred In.” Heston was billed as “And Charlton Heston as Richelieu” in The Three/Four Musketeers and was billed the same way when he played Henry VIII in The Prince and the Pauper.
Spencer Tracy played 2nd fiddle to Clark Gable in Boom Town after he had had top billing in Boy’s Town and 5 other movies. Also played 2nd fiddle to Clark Gable earlier in San Francisco, well after the movies you mention.
John Wayne definitely doesn’t qualify. He started out as an extra in crowd scenes. His first credited role was in his fourteenth movie and he had fifth billing in that. He didn’t have the lead credit until his twentieth movie. Even after that he went back to a string of non-leading roles (and some more uncredited work as an extra). Wayne wasn’t considered an established lead until he made Stagecoach which was thirteen years into his career.
I think the OP has Cary Grant wrong — the guy was, as far as I can tell, top-billed in 1936’s THE AMAZING ADVENTURE before he was second-billed to Constance Bennett in 1937’s TOPPER; and top-billed in 1939’s GUNGA DIN, before getting billed second under Irene Dunne in 1940’s MY FAVORITE WIFE.
He was 2nd in Catch Me If You Can and Saving Mr. Banks.
Which I think says a lot about the premise. Saving Mr. Banks would always have a woman as first billed. So can you really knock someone for taking the male lead? It would be worse to refuse the role because it wasn’t top billed.
The OP’s strict rules on taking a lesser billing part is a bit a misnomer. Many A list actors today will take smaller roles, not because they can’t get top billing anymore, but because they may want to work in an ensemble cast, like the creativeness of a smaller role etc. Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder is a case in point.
I would put the following actors which have long careers as a-list top billing actors
George Clooney
Tom Hanks
Tom Cruise
Daniel Day-Lewis
Brad Pitt
Robert Downey Jr.
Dwayne Johnson
Mark Wahlberg
