Greatest Entertainer of the 20th Century

Cafe Society
1

Caught Wille Nelson’s 70th birthday party on USA last night. All manner of guests, including DeNiro, Whoopi, Ethan Hawke, Bill Clinton, and dozens more.

I had hoped Ray Charles and Willie would duet “Georgia On My Mind” but they (and Leon Russell) did Leon’s “A Song For You.”

I remember Ray Charles was at Frank’s birthday bash not overly long ago (before 1998, I guess) and had the thought that here were two of the greatest entertainers of the century and how fortunate I was to have lived during their era.

Had a similar feeling with Willie and Ray last night.

Who do you think is/was the greatest entertainer of the century?

If you want separate people for separate categories of entertainment, that’s okay.

Actors: Brando
Actresses: Meryl Streep
Singers: (male) Sinatra
Singers: (female) Rosemary Clooney
Directors: Hitchcock
Musicians: Miles Davis
Comedians: Jonathan Winters

etc.

Since some folks only made a splash for a decade or less, try to list those who had at least 25 years in the spotlight.

2

Elvis.

3

Fred Astaire.

4

Louis Armstrong

5

I like Zeldar’s choices, but I figured I would throw some other names out there for debate… These folks are not even necessarily my favorites, I’m trying to think who made the greatest contributions…

Actors: Charlie Chaplin (didn’t have anyone to copy, he was the original)
Actresses: Kathryn Hepburn? (had trouble coming up with one here)
Singers: (male) Paul McCartney (only because Elvis has already been mentioned)
Singers: (female) Barbara Streisand
Directors: Steven Spielberg
Musicians: Louis Armstrong
Comedians: Bill Cosby

6

Frank Sinatra all the way.

7

Bob Hope?

8

I’m tempted to define ‘greatest’ as which performed for the lomgest time, across the broadest spectrum of media and was popular with almost every generation.

My vote goes to

Bob Hope

Vaudeville, Radio, Movies, TV and lots of USO live performances. and still alive… wow!

Greatest singer: Bing Crosby huge influence, bigger than Elvis’ in my opinion.

9

Wow. Thirteen minutes too late.

My vote would also go to Bob Hope for breadth and longevity.

Honorable mentions to Elvis and ol’ Francis Albert for the impact that they each had on popular culture.

10

Bob Hope, just because he was recognized and liked (if not loved) by so many, and for so long. A true entertainer.

Honorable mentions:

  • Elvis
  • Johnny Carson, who practically invented the opening monologue
  • Jimmy Stewart, a gifted, versatile, and generally damned cool actor
  • Jackie Chan, who may not have invented the martial-arts comedy, but certainly perfected it
  • Abbott and Costello - particularly Abbott, who is the all-time greatest straight-man in entertainment history
    Jeff
11

How about Babe Ruth? He certainly entertained a lot of people!

12

So many entertainers made their reputation while performing live, and we can’t really evaluate them. At best they left some scratchy sound recordings or primitive film

How can you even begin a list without considering people like

Sarah Bernhardt
Al Jolson
Mary Martin
Sigfreid and Roy
Muhammed Ali (who is mostly remembered through snippets of fight footage and brief news stories)

13

Whilst I am not a huge fan of his, I have to say that Michael Jackson is probably the greatest entertainer of his era.

Seeing him on the Jackson Five 30 year thingy on TV the other day, I was thinking that Michael Jackson is sort of a Mozart-like prodigy for the performance of modern pop music. His castrati-like voice and range and his vocal style are unique and perfect for his music. He dances and moves like no one else ever has and he has some quality about him that makes it impossible to take your eyes off of him. He has used these things and unprecedented budgets and special effects to take the music video to new heights.

I was also thinking the other night, while watching him, that he seems to have some complex about his face. Aside from the well-documented bouts of cosmetic surgery (that nose reminds me of when you are cooking something and you tinker and put too much crap into it and there is no going back because it just tastes like arse), he also seems unable to look at his audience or any one person directly for very long. He is always using implements, whether it is a mask, his tipped hat or just his hand to cover his face. He seems a strange combination of limelight magnet who was a superstar since the age of 5 and ridiculously shy recluse.

Again, I suppose part of what makes him so compelling.

14

I think I could agree with some of the stuff about Michael Jackson, if each appearance of the word “is” is changed to “was.” I was never a fan, but there’s no denying his success (financial and, for a time, musical). But both appear to be long past.

15

Yes, because performing dead is so much more difficult.

(And yes, I do know what you meant.)

16

But the OP said “of the 2oth century” so those performers who’d built their reputations live could have carried their careers over into recordings. Bing, and Al Jolson both started off holding megaphones in front of their mouths, but they (and others) managed to transition into film, radio and records.

Let’s face it Bob Hope has performed, and with great popularity, almost the entire century start to finish. Wow.

Michael Jackson? gimme a break.:rolleyes:

17

Spielberg
Bob Hope
Sinatra
Crosby

Sammy Davis Jnr. could do it all and is one of my personal fav.

18

Got to be Hope.

Sinatra fantastic, Ella great, Chaplin wonderful, Keaton genius, Gleason dynamic, Crosby delightful — but overall, it’s got to be Hope.