Jim Henson
Fred Rogers
Walt Disney
I’ve been watching a couple George Lucas documentaries and I’m not sure if George himself is a once-in-a-lifetime talent, or if it was his leadership, or the Industrial Light & Magic team together, or the original ILM team individually.
These people pulled off the impossible and changed not only movies forever but also had a hand in changing technology. I don’t know if we’ll ever see this sort of inventive, gritty talent again.
Maybe I should 't have used ‘actor’, because Estwood isn’t any better as an actor than a number of other A-listers, and his movies didn’t make as much money as Cruise’s, as you point out.
I was thinking more aboutnthe fact that he has simultaneously been an A-liet actor AND an A-list director. He may even be remembered more as a director than as an actor. The only other actor I can thinkmof who transitioned from A-list acto4 to acclaimed director is Robert Redford, but he doesn’t come close to Eastwood ks output.
Other mediocre actors became good directors, like Penny Marshall, Rob Reiner and Ron Howard, but no one managed to top both fields for as long and with as high a quality as Eastwood, imo.
Tom Cruise is a good choice, though. And if he keeps going as long as Eastwood has, he’s still got a good 30,years to go.
Literally all of rock’s once in a lifetime talents have had their entire careers within my lifetime and I could easily list a hundred of them. Just like there’s at least a thousand songs in my top ten.
Yeah, I think it’s tough to identify an outstanding individual who is truly in a class apart, unmatched by even their outstanding peers.
That said, I think the Nicholas Brothers might qualify, even in an age that had Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly and other dance greats. I’ve heard it said that nobody could make a biopic about the Nicholas Brothers because no dancer alive could do their moves.
On the other end of the chronological spectrum, it’s probably too early to say that there will never be another gymnast in our lifetimes as great as Simone Biles. But AFAICT there certainly hasn’t been a comparable one before her.
I think Paul McCartney is contender. He was in a band that changed the world of Western music and much of pop culture. He’s multi-talented: a prodigious tune-smith of songs that appeal to the masses, one of the best R&R voices in the industry, a very-well regarded bass player and quite talented with a number of other instruments and music styles.
McCartney wasn’t my favorite Beatle, but I’m sure he was the Beatle most responsible for their success.
You are confusing popularity with talent.
mmm
So he has a talent for — maintaining popularity? Or: for staying on the A-list by consistently starring in films that people line up to pay to see? Or however you want to phrase it; seems to me that projects get bankrolled in, y’know, the movie industry with a goal of spending money to make money rather than lose money — and which ability would they prize, if not a talent for reliably headlining crowd-pleasing money-makers, decade after decade after decade?
Stock Car Racer: Richard Petty. Most wins, poles, and career starts of any driver.
Pilot: Jackie Cochran. Head of the WASPS, first woman past the sound-barrier, first woman to land/take-off from a carrier, first woman to perform an instrument landing, first woman pilot to cross the Atlantic, winner of the Bendix Air Races (in unlimited class, not powder-puff stuff), set multiple speed, distance, and transcontinental records. She held the Distinguished Service Medal and 3 Distinguished Flying Crosses. And she was a test-pilot who died of old age. This in itself was an incredible accomplishment for aviators from the 40s. One article claims she holds more speed, altitude, and distance records than any pilot on earth, living or dead, male or female.
I believe that some accomplishments by women/minorities are records in their own right, despite having been reached before. It’s my position that it qualifies for once-in-a-lifetime talent, given how difficult it was for them to compete at all.
Paul Simon. Billy Joel. Pink Floyd.
Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t think that’s what @CastletonSnob1 had in mind in their OP.
mmm
When it comes to film making, I doubt there will ever be another Charlie Chaplin. He understood acting better than the actors he was directing. He understood choreography better than the choreographers. He understood lighting better than the light operators. He understood cameras better than the camera operators. He understood set design better than the set designers. He understood editing better than the editors. He was a better writer than any writer he hired. (I think you get the idea.) He was like the Frank Zappa of film making.
Years ago at a backyard get-together I got into a debate with a friend over who was the better guitar player- Jimi Hendrix or Stevie Ray Vaughan (who did a few JH covers and was clearly influenced by JH, which is why we were comparing them). My friend maintained that SRV was technically more proficient.
I said that JH basically invented modern guitar-driven rock music, and as an innovator towers over SRV- there would be no SRV without JH. JH had an amazing talent for improvisation— the time I first really became a fan of JH was when I bought a CD called ‘Live at Winterland’ which was billed at the time as a rediscovered “lost recording”. Before that I had grown up listening to his radio hits, to the point they were background noise- I liked JH ok, but never gave his music a second thought. But listening to him breathe new life into his hit songs on ‘LaW’ I was just blown away. It really clicked for me just how much of a genius he was.
Not to take anything away from SRV, who was also a fantastic talent (I saw him live at a small club right after he left Bowie’s band, and it’s one of my favorite concert experiences of all time) but it’s easier to copy an existing style than to be a true original.
I agree with everything you say. SVR was indeed the technically better player, but stood on the shoulder of giants, namely Hendrix and Albert King. Hendrix played differently and technical brilliance just wasn’t his style, but the wild improvisations we all know him for, playing his guitar virtually with his whole body. Though I’m sure if Jimi had wanted to play more cleanly, he could have done so. And let’s not forget that he also had a unique lyrical style in songs like “The Wind Cries Mary” or “Little Wing” that was totally his own and which was emulated better by SVR than by anyone else. I especially like his long instrumental cover of “Little Wing”.
Ballet dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov. I did manage to see him perform when I was a little girl and I wanted to jump like that. I hear Nijinsky was also worth seeing, despite his sad bio.
Bruce Lee, perhaps, as a martial artist.
Obama.
I wanted to mention President Obama, with the hope that Fetterman will one day shine similarly.
I think you’re confusing him with George. George Martin.
As far as bassists - Jaco Pastorius. This is a niche instrument and he played in a niche genre so many people won’t really understand this, but nobody before or since has ever been able to do the things he did with the bass. He was really a one-off fluke. Just for context: this recording here is an OUTTAKE from a DEMO TAPE that he recorded BEFORE he even joined Weather Report, collaborated with Joni Mitchell, or released any of his solo albums:
He was one of a kind.
George Martin certainly had a great deal to do with the Beatles sound and success, but without McCartney’s seemingly endless generation of broad-appealing melodies, his input wouldn’t have amounted to much.
This isn’t the thread for it, but…
Most of the early Beatles’ tune were John’s rather than Paul’s, even if they “wrote together.” From the beginning, Beatles’ songs had a glow to them that couldn’t be found on any other group’s, no matter how great the songs were. Listen to early Stones or Who or Kinks. That bubble of power and clarity was due to Martin, the extra instruments that made them orchestral were due to Martin, the later experiments in tape collage were due to Martin, the failure of the Let It Be album was due to the lack of Martin.
I would nominate George Martin as a once in a lifetime producer (along with all the other once in a lifetime producers).