# Is DiCaprio the greatest...
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [October 13, 2012, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592 "2012-10-13T04:18:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@truthSeeker2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthSeeker2)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/1 "2012-10-13T04:18:58Z")
Actor ever in hollywood?
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### Author:  [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/2 "2012-10-13T04:23:12Z")
Not as long as Jim J Bullock still breathes his noble, vital life-essence he isn’t!!!
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/3 "2012-10-13T04:31:14Z")
Not even if every other actor in Hollywood was never born.
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### Author:  [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/4 "2012-10-13T04:32:37Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> Not even if every other actor in Hollywood was never born.
That’s an interesting opinion.
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### Author:  [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/5 "2012-10-13T05:02:10Z")
The dope decided a while back that Gary Oldman was the greatest actor of our time, in a poll I started. He was winning by a large plurality when the thread finally died down. DiCaprio wasn’t doing so hotly himself.
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### Author:  [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/6 "2012-10-13T05:29:48Z")
I’m going to move this to Cafe Society.
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### Author:  [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/7 "2012-10-13T06:35:28Z")
> [@truthSeeker2](#):
>
> Actor ever in hollywood?
Short answer: No.
Long answer: NNNOOOOOOOOOOOO.
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### Author:  [@truthSeeker2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthSeeker2)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/8 "2012-10-13T07:54:00Z")
He has done so many great roles in so many great movies , yet people dont think he culd be the greatest. Can’t understand why.
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### Author:  [@truthSeeker2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthSeeker2)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/9 "2012-10-13T08:12:32Z")
How many actors have the repertoire of his roles such as in The Basketball Diaries, Titanic, Gangs of New York, Catch Me If You Can, The Aviator, Blood Diamond, Shutter Island. Inception?
Though I think that in The Departed, Wahlberg and Nicholson were more powerful in their roles.
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### Author:  [@BMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMax)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/10 "2012-10-13T08:18:39Z")
> [@truthSeeker2](#):
>
> He has done so many great roles in so many great movies , yet people dont think he culd be the greatest. Can’t understand why.
Because there are actors like Gary Oldman and Benecio del Toro working.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 8:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/11 "2012-10-13T08:47:40Z")
> [@truthSeeker2](#):
>
> How many actors have the repertoire of his roles such as in The Basketball Diaries, Titanic, Gangs of New York, Catch Me If You Can, The Aviator, Blood Diamond, Shutter Island. Inception?
> Though I think that in The Departed, Wahlberg and Nicholson were more powerful in their roles.
The repertoire of roles has nothing to do with it. It’s about the quality of acting, and DiCaprio is nothing but a pretty boy, barely an actor at all.
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### Author:  [@truthSeeker2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthSeeker2)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 8:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/12 "2012-10-13T08:53:45Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> The repertoire of roles has nothing to do with it. It’s about the quality of acting, and DiCaprio is nothing but a **pretty boy** , barely an actor at all.
I think this is the reason, people dont think he looks manly enough to be called the greatest actor. People dont realize it but I think this is what happens in their sub-conscious.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/13 "2012-10-13T08:58:51Z")
> [@truthSeeker2](#):
>
> I think this is the reason, people dont think he looks manly enough to be called the greatest actor. People dont realize it but I think this is what happens in their sub-conscious.
A good actor would seem to be manly enough for his roles. Peter O’Toole doesn’t look manly at all, and neither did young Michael Caine, but they did far better at pulling off their roles than DiCaprio has done. He’s just another one of the actors who play themself in every role.
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### Author:  [@truthSeeker2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthSeeker2)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/14 "2012-10-13T09:05:19Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> A good actor would seem to be manly enough for his roles. Peter O’Toole doesn’t look manly at all, and neither did young Michael Caine, but they did far better at pulling off their roles than DiCaprio has done. He’s just another one of the actors who play themself in every role.
He fits the roles very well. The directors aren’t so naive to offer him those roles if he didn’t fit.
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### Author:  [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/15 "2012-10-13T09:12:51Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> Peter O’Toole doesn’t look manly at all \
Wha—? What steroid-based universe do you inhabit where Lawrence of Arabia is less than manly?
But yeah, agree that DiCaprio’s manliness or lack thereof has nothing to do with it. He’s just not a very good actor.
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### Author:  [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/16 "2012-10-13T09:16:10Z")
truthseeker, check out the [thread I mentioned earlier](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=659787). Oldman had 70 votes, DiCaprio had 10. So yes, there are a few people who agree with you that he is the greatest, but the vast majority do not.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/17 "2012-10-13T09:19:26Z")
> [@Sudden\_Kestrel](#):
>
> Wha—? What steroid-based universe do you inhabit where Lawrence of Arabia is less than manly?
>
> But yeah, agree that DiCaprio’s manliness or lack thereof has nothing to do with it. He’s just not a very good actor.
O’Toole made himself appear manly enough to play Lawrence, and that’s the difference between him and DiCaprio.
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### Author:  [@truthSeeker2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthSeeker2)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/18 "2012-10-13T09:22:04Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#):
>
> truthseeker, check out the [thread I mentioned earlier](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=659787). Oldman had 70 votes, DiCaprio had 10. So yes, there are a few people who agree with you that he is the greatest, but the vast majority do not.
Thanks!! 10 Votes, not bad given that people many may ignore him for not looking manly enough. Alsogood enough to maybe be called a very good actor and one of the best, right?
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### Author:  [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/19 "2012-10-13T09:23:48Z")
Brad Pitt’s bland one-lines elicit more giggles and laughs at the wrong parts of the movie than does Dicaprio’s or Oldman’s. Therefore, Pitt is the greatest.
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### Author:  [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2012, 10:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-dicaprio-the-greatest/637592/20 "2012-10-13T10:38:08Z")
I’d say he’s in the top tier. In two fairly recent movies, **The Aviator** and **J. Edgar** , he made me root for two fairly controversial figures without backpedaling on the things about them that made them controversial. That takes some acting chops. His pretty-boy days are largely behind him and he ain’t slowing down.
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