# Among all of Hollywood's iconic superstars, who was the best actor? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 26, 2016, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/among-all-of-hollywoods-iconic-superstars-who-was-the-best-actor/760946 "2016-07-26T15:53:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2016, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/among-all-of-hollywoods-iconic-superstars-who-was-the-best-actor/760946/81 "2016-07-30T17:56:40Z")
John Ttavolts ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2016, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/among-all-of-hollywoods-iconic-superstars-who-was-the-best-actor/760946/82 "2016-07-30T17:57:45Z")
Travolta ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2016, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/among-all-of-hollywoods-iconic-superstars-who-was-the-best-actor/760946/83 "2016-07-30T21:52:47Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > John Ttavolts That’s how Idina Menzel pronounces it. ---
**Author:** ![yesanything](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@yesanything](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yesanything)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2016, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/among-all-of-hollywoods-iconic-superstars-who-was-the-best-actor/760946/84 "2016-08-09T13:56:25Z")
George C. Scott WAS general patton in PATTON ---
**Author:** ![Proudest\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/proudest_monkey/32/13257_2.png) [@Proudest\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Proudest_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/among-all-of-hollywoods-iconic-superstars-who-was-the-best-actor/760946/85 "2016-08-10T20:03:00Z")
Maybe this belongs in a different thread, but I was having a similar conversation with my husband just recently. We were listing actors whose talent is sometimes underappreciated because they are so physically attractive. Newman was my number one choice. He is the charter member of the **9/9 Club** –looks and talent both 9 (or better) out of 10. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/among-all-of-hollywoods-iconic-superstars-who-was-the-best-actor/760946/86 "2016-08-10T20:15:04Z")
I’ve heard a number of times that Brad Pitt is an Oscar-caliber character actor trapped in the body of a handsome leading man: he could just coast by on his looks, but he _doesn’t,_ but people kind of automatically assume that he _does._ ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/among-all-of-hollywoods-iconic-superstars-who-was-the-best-actor/760946/87 "2016-08-10T20:22:39Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > I’ve heard a number of times that Brad Pitt is an Oscar-caliber character actor trapped in the body of a handsome leading man: he could just coast by on his looks, but he _doesn’t,_ but people kind of automatically assume that he _does._ I would tend to agree with this. I’ve seen him in a bunch of interesting roles, though he seems to be best as an oddball/crazy character, like in _12 Monkeys_ or _Burn After Reading_. ---
**Author:** ![Doyle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doyle/32/439_2.png) [@Doyle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doyle)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/among-all-of-hollywoods-iconic-superstars-who-was-the-best-actor/760946/88 "2016-08-10T20:42:48Z")
Uh, Robert Duvall. Christian Bale Daniel Day-Lewis ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2016, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/among-all-of-hollywoods-iconic-superstars-who-was-the-best-actor/760946/89 "2016-08-10T21:43:11Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > I would tend to agree with this. I’ve seen him in a bunch of interesting roles, though he seems to be best as an oddball/crazy character, like in _12 Monkeys_ or _Burn After Reading_. Yeah, you’re never quite sure if Jeffrey Goines is over-the-top enough to be camp or whether Pitt is ‘playing it straight.’ The character must’ve been a helluva lot of fun to play. (Of course, Terry Gilliam’s worlds tend toward the surrealistic anyway.) I thought he did an excellent job in _The Curious Case of Benjamin Button_ too. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2016, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/among-all-of-hollywoods-iconic-superstars-who-was-the-best-actor/760946/90 "2016-08-11T18:51:57Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > Cary Grant? I mention him because if you gave me a dozen names of actors whose movies I could watch at any given time, I would pick him out of the dozen without even thinking about it. Apparently he was Hitchcock’s favourite, but never won an Oscar. ☹ > [@madsircool](#): > > Check out pre The Shining Nicholson roles to see just how versital he could be (The Last Detail, Five EasyvPieces, Carnal Knowledge, The King of Marvin Gardens.) IMO The Last Detail and Five Easy Pieces are Nicholson’s best films, period. (lol and I’m guessing “versital” is a whoosh spelling?) > [@Tibby or Not Tibby](#): > > Agreed. The real Patton’s appearance and voice was somewhat underwhelming. If George C Scott led the 3rd and 7th Army, WWII would no doubt have concluded earlier. 🙂 😛 > [@Dinsdale](#): > > Recentlty we began watching as many films as we could featuring one star or director. We gave up on Peck after watching a number of stinkers. Sure, a good actor can be in a lousy movie, but we saw nothing to come close to **Mockingbird**. Meaning - you considered that a stinker? I guess I wouldn’t say it was one of the “greats” like I know some people have, but I wouldn’t exactly call it a stinker either. > [@Dinsdale](#): > > For me, the test is whether I can accept the role rather than simply seeing the actor. For example, John Wayne was always John Wayne first, rather than the character. Same way Kevin Costner is always Kevin Costner (whom no one would suggest is a great actor) walking through a role. I feel similarly (many would disagree with many of these choices) about Tom Hanks, Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, and Probably Bogart, Cagney, and Nicholson. I’d put Johnny Depp in that category. Everything he plays has this underlying self-conscious hipsterism about him, except for maybe in “Ed Wood”, which I found him cloying anyway. And yeah Nicholson for the most part. > [@Dinsdale](#): > > I note a number of folk suggest an isolated role or 2, as tho that shows “range.” Interesting. I thought Philip Seymour Hoffman was great in that there were more than just two roles to name. The variety of roles he played in Boogie Nights, Punch Drunk Love, Doubt, Capote, (actually I’ve yet to see The Master - should !?), and Owning Mahoney made for an impressive dossier. > [@Dinsdale](#): > > Also think the OP could benefit from some definition of “iconic supertars”. Which should have been done long before now considering I still don’t know if it’s “classic” or more “modern” actors we should be looking at. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2016, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/among-all-of-hollywoods-iconic-superstars-who-was-the-best-actor/760946/91 "2016-08-11T19:02:48Z")
> [@Eddie The Horrible](#): > > … I thought Philip Seymour Hoffman was great in that there were more than just two roles to name. The variety of roles he played in Boogie Nights, Punch Drunk Love, Doubt, Capote, (actually I’ve yet to see The Master - should !?), and Owning Mahoney made for an impressive dossier … If you haven’t seen _Nobody’s Fool_, which I mentioned in the OP, give it a look. Hoffman played an idiot cop in one of his very first screen roles, and he was hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2016, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/among-all-of-hollywoods-iconic-superstars-who-was-the-best-actor/760946/92 "2016-08-11T21:15:55Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > If you haven’t seen _Nobody’s Fool_, which I mentioned in the OP, give it a look. Hoffman played an idiot cop in one of his very first screen roles, and he was hilarious. ok - thanks. So James Dean, Audrey Hepburn and Sidney Poitier get no love here? No Bill Kirkenbauer (as Tony Roletti)?☹ sheesh. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/among-all-of-hollywoods-iconic-superstars-who-was-the-best-actor/760946/93 "2016-08-12T03:21:52Z")
> [@Eddie The Horrible](#): > > ok - thanks. > > So James Dean, Audrey Hepburn and Sidney Poitier get no love here? > > No Bill Kirkenbauer (as Tony Roletti)?☹ > > sheesh. I always thought James Dean was vastly overrated. He does angst well, which makes me think he was just playing himself. Audrey Hepburn was great, but she was another one who had trouble getting past the ‘pretty face’ syndrome. Poitier was excellent in pretty much everything he did. Mr. Tibbs is da man. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/among-all-of-hollywoods-iconic-superstars-who-was-the-best-actor/760946/94 "2016-08-12T07:13:48Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ace](#): > > I always thought James Dean was vastly overrated. He does angst well, which makes me think he was just playing himself. > > Audrey Hepburn was great, but she was another one who had trouble getting past the ‘pretty face’ syndrome. Poitier was excellent in pretty much everything he did. Mr. Tibbs is da man. 😃 James Dean’s garishly over-romanticized legacy has not done him favours for “his craft”, to be sure, and one could speculate (somewhat in vain) how he’d have fared in comedy, horror, or other genres had he lived past 24, but the contributions he _did_ make do not, in my estimation, warrant a “vastly overrated” dismissal. (Well, the word “vastly”, in particular, I’d say is a bit strong.) Not that I’m any huge gigantic bonkers fan of the guy or anything, but I thought what he and Brando, Clift, Bancroft, Stieger, Geraldine Page, Ben Gazzara et al. brought to the table was definitely a needed tonic for its time, and Dean (and Brando) spearheaded that. No idea what the guy was like off-camera so I can’t comment on the 24/7 brooding thing. In the 80’s, especially, fucking air-brushed paintings, everywhere, and seven out of ten of them would be either fucking Dean or fucking Marilyn - that really picked my ass after a while. (alluding more to the “pop” legacy) There were a number of films where I thought Audrey _resoundingly_ transcended any “pretty face” yolk, like her measured performance in “Nun’s Story”, or exploring (taboo for '61) lesbian themes in “The Children’s Hour”, or pushed to the limit in “Wait Until Dark” (which still has some of the scariest movie scenes I’ve seen). She isn’t in that next tier with Elizabeth Taylor or Maggie Smith, but close. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/among-all-of-hollywoods-iconic-superstars-who-was-the-best-actor/760946/95 "2016-08-12T14:14:09Z")
> [@Johnny\_Ace](#): > > . . Poitier was excellent in pretty much everything he did. Mr. Tibbs is da man. 😃 Sidney Poitier and Richard Widmark appeared together in a movied called \*“The Long Ships.” Widmark plays it up for fun, pretty much realizing that this is just a cartoon on film. Poitier, however, plays it as if he’s doing Shakespeare. \*In general, people remember only two things about this movie: The execution of people by forcing them to ‘ride the steel mare.’ and The ‘Mother of Voices’, a GIANT bell made of gold. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/among-all-of-hollywoods-iconic-superstars-who-was-the-best-actor/760946/96 "2016-08-12T14:27:48Z")
> [@Eddie The Horrible](#): > > James Dean’s garishly over-romanticized legacy has not done him favours for “his craft”, to be sure, and one could speculate (somewhat in vain) how he’d have fared in comedy, horror, or other genres had he lived past 24, but the contributions he _did_ make do not, in my estimation, warrant a “vastly overrated” dismissal. (Well, the word “vastly”, in particular, I’d say is a bit strong.) Not that I’m any huge gigantic bonkers fan of the guy or anything, but I thought what he and Brando, Clift, Bancroft, Stieger, Geraldine Page, Ben Gazzara et al. brought to the table was definitely a needed tonic for its time, and Dean (and Brando) spearheaded that. No idea what the guy was like off-camera so I can’t comment on the 24/7 brooding thing. In the 80’s, especially, fucking air-brushed paintings, everywhere, and seven out of ten of them would be either fucking Dean or fucking Marilyn - that really picked my ass after a while. (alluding more to the “pop” legacy) > > There were a number of films where I thought Audrey _resoundingly_ transcended any “pretty face” yolk, like her measured performance in “Nun’s Story”, or exploring (taboo for '61) lesbian themes in “The Children’s Hour”, or pushed to the limit in “Wait Until Dark” (which still has some of the scariest movie scenes I’ve seen). She isn’t in that next tier with Elizabeth Taylor or Maggie Smith, but close. Bleh don’t even get me started on method. You don’t need to live as a homeless person for 6 weeks to play one effectively. (You might be able to guess that I’m not a huge Brando fan either.) A lot of stuffing for the shirt. Not saying Audrey wasn’t a great actress; quite the opposite. But she was stereotyped by Hollywood quite a bit, even after multiple successes. And her career very much paralleled Elizabeth Taylor’s…both started pretty young, and stretched themselves with daring choices later in their careers. I always loved _Wait Until Dark_, a psychological thriller at least on the level of Hitchcock. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/among-all-of-hollywoods-iconic-superstars-who-was-the-best-actor/760946/97 "2016-08-12T16:04:28Z")
> [@Tibby or Not Tibby](#): > > Well, since I was beaten to the punch with my top 2 choices, Bette Davis and Jack Lemmon, I’ll go with George C. Scott. From his spot-on, silly-billy comedic presence in Dr. Strangelove, to his commanding dramatic presence in Patton—his acting chops and range can’t be denied. Scott is my choice as well. His portrayal of a widowed music professor in The Changeling is very moving. ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/among-all-of-hollywoods-iconic-superstars-who-was-the-best-actor/760946/98 "2016-08-12T19:02:38Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Scott is my choice as well. His portrayal of a widowed music professor in The Changeling is very moving. His performance in [The Hospital](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mey1dXTLdeE) was also quite powerful. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/among-all-of-hollywoods-iconic-superstars-who-was-the-best-actor/760946/99 "2016-08-12T20:32:00Z")
> [@Tibby or Not Tibby](#): > > His performance in [The Hospital](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mey1dXTLdeE) was also quite powerful. Also as Scrooge in _A Christmas Carol_ and as Rainbird in _Firestarter_ (and probably the movie’s only redeeming feature). For me it’s a tossup between Newman, Stewart and Fonda. All of them were killing it right up until they quit making films, with nary a bomb among them. More recently, Hoffman and Benedict Cumberbatch are to be reckoned with, along with Gary Oldman, Meryl Streep and Helen Mirren. I liked Nicholson in his earlier work, but his last few outings have been just. . .bad. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/among-all-of-hollywoods-iconic-superstars-who-was-the-best-actor/760946/100 "2016-08-12T20:48:32Z")
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