Done and done. I wouldn’t bitch if somebody added Gandolfini to the guys’ side, either. But we’re up to 52 guys and 29 gals. Too many for reasonable polls for Best, I submit.
We need to start stripping away the lesser folks.
Top 5 lists, please. And if you already voted, let others speak, please.
What does Johnny Depp have to apologize for with regards to those films? He was fantastic in them.
I like all of the fine actors mentioned, but in semi-rough order of preference. I know you said Top 5, but damn, I can’t not mention some of these.
Men:
Daniel Day-Lewis
Sean Penn
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Gary Oldman (Happy birthday today)
Don Cheadle (not previously mentioned)
Robert De Niro
Dustin Hoffman
Al Pacino
Russell Crowe
Leonardo DiCaprio (not previously mentioned)
Women:
Meryl Streep
Kate Winslet
Sissy Spacek
Julianne Moore
Cate Blanchett
Patricia Clarkson
Helen Mirren
Judi Dench
Laura Linney
Joan Allen (not previously mentioned)
Not mentioned yet, but, IMO excellent actors, so even if considered “lesser” I thought their names should be mentioned at least once in the thread:
Nicole Kidman
George Clooney
Forrest Whitacre
Naomi Watts
Billy Bob Thornton
Carey Mulligan
Tobey Maguire
Jake Gyllenhaal
Another Progress Report
Total Posts: 43 / 22 Unique Names
As of Post #43
Men:
Marlon Brando 3
Russell Crowe 3
Daniel Day-Lewis 5
Robert De Niro 8
Johnny Depp 3
Robert Duvall 5
Henry Fonda 2
Morgan Freeman 2
Gene Hackman 4
Tom Hanks 3
Dustin Hoffman 4
Philip Seymour Hoffman 2
Heath Ledger 2
Ian McKellen 2
Paul Newman 2
Jack Nicholson 3
Edward Norton 4
Gary Oldman 4
Laurence Olivier 2
Al Pacino 2
Sean Penn 4
Brad Pitt 2
Kevin Spacey 3
Jimmy Stewart 3
Spencer Tracy 2 59 Total Names 25 w/ multiple
Women:
Cate Blanchett 5
Patricia Clarkson 2
Judi Dench 6
Sally Field 2
Jodie Foster 2
Katharine Hepburn 4
Jessica Lange 2
Laura Linney 4
Frances McDormand 2
Helen Mirren 5
Julianne Moore 2
Susan Sarandon 2
Sissy Spacek 3
Meryl Streep 9
Kate Winslet 6 33 Total Names 15 w/ multiple
At this stage I believe it will be fairest if this thread stays as a collection source until 40 unique posters have been heard from, or until Wednesday, whichever comes first.
At that time I will trim the two lists to 25 each with the higher number of votes determining who stays on the lists. Until then, vote your top 5 (or more) to help make that decision.
Thanks for all the input so far!
OK, here are my top 5, along with a few thoughts.
Men (in no particular order):
Robert DeNiro
Gene Hackman
Al Pacino
Paul Newman
Forrest Whittaker
Women (again, in no particular order):
Helen Mirren
Kate Winslet
Laura Dern
Laura Linney
Maura Tierney
OK, my list is a bit idiosyncratic. And it’s really, really hard to keep it to five. I’ve seen a number of performances by each of the actors I mentioned, enough so that I’m not basing their inclusion on one great performance, although Paul Newman comes close. He turned in a few brilliant performances (Cool Hand Luke, The Verdict), but made plenty of junk, too.
Laura Linney is brilliant, but I put her in the same category as Meryl Streep. They’re both very “actressy”, for want of a better word. And if we’re going to include them, why not the less well-known Lindsay Crouse? She acts in a similar vein, with similar technique. I fear that she didn’t get the great roles only because she didn’t have the looks, which would be a tragedy.
Laura Dern may be best known for Jurassic Park, but then there’s We Don’t Live Here Anymore.
And Maura Tierney has been, for the most part, restricted to television, but shouldn’t go unrecognized. She has amazing range, going from *News Radio *to ER. Edie Falco is in the same boat.
I don’t think anyone has mentioned Ben Kingsley yet. The same actor who portrayed Gandhi also played the most psycopathic of psychopaths in Sexy Beast. He could fairly be said to have range.
I wonder if there’s a site that hosts Instant Run-off Voting for these sort of polls?
Interesting idea. Hadn’t thought of such.
GARY OLDMAN
And because he could probably play a woman convincingly:
GARY OLDMAN
Men:
Paul Newman
Jimmy Stewart
Edward Norton
Gary Oldman
Peter O’Toole
Women:
Katharine Hepburn
Helen Mirren
Kate Winslet
Cate Blanchett
Judi Densch
Full Summary
As of Post #50
Men:
Alec Baldwin 1
Marlon Brando 3
Jeff Bridges 1
Steve Buscemi 1
Michael Caine 1
Don Cheadle 1
George Clooney 1
Brian Cox 1
Russell Crowe 3
Billy Crudup 1
Daniel Day-Lewis 5
Robert De Niro 9
Johnny Depp 3
Leonardo DiCaprio 1
Robert Duvall 5
Ralph Fiennes 1
Henry Fonda 2
Morgan Freeman 2
Paul Giamatti 1
John Gielgud 1
Jake Gyllenhaal 1
Cary Grant 1
Alec Guinness 1
Gene Hackman 5
Tom Hanks 3
Charlton Heston 1
Dustin Hoffman 4
Philip Seymour Hoffman 2
Ian Holm 1
Harvey Keitel 1
Ben Kingsley 1
Heath Ledger 2
Jack Lemmon 1
John Lithgow 1
Tobey Maguire 1
Ian McKellen 2
Ian McShane 1
Toshiro Mifune 1
Robert Mitchum 1
Liam Neeson 1
Paul Newman 4
Jack Nicholson 3
Edward Norton 5
Gary Oldman 6
Laurence Olivier 2
Peter O'Toole 1
Al Pacino 3
Sean Penn 4
Brad Pitt 2
Geoffrey Rush 1
Kurt Russell 1
Liev Schreiber 1
Gerorge C. Scott 1
Kevin Spacey 3
James Spader 1
Jimmy Stewart 4
Patrick Stewart 1
Billy Bob Thornton 1
Spencer Tracy 2
John Wayne 1
Forest Whitaker 2 61
Women:
Joan Allen 1
Kathy Bates 1
Cate Blanchett 6
Patricia Clarkson 2
Glenn Close 1
Joan Crawford 1
Lindsay Crouse 1
Bette Davis 1
Judy Davis 1
Judi Dench 7
Laura Dern 1
Edie Falco 2
Sally Field 2
Jane Fonda 1
Jodie Foster 2
Katharine Hepburn 5
Diane Keaton 1
Nicole Kidman 1
Jessica Lange 2
Laura Linney 5
Nancy Marchand 1
Frances McDormand 2
Helen Mirren 7
Julianne Moore 2
Carey Mulligan 1
Joan Plowright 1
Vanessa Redgrave 1
Mercedes Ruehl 1
Susan Sarandon 2
Sissy Spacek 3
Meryl Streep 10
Elizabeth Taylor 1
Maura Tierney 1
Naomi Watts 1
Kate Winslet 8
Joanne Woodward 1 36
Men:
Robert Downey Jr
Johnny Depp
Colin Farrell
Ewan McGregor
Gary Oldman (sp?)
Women:
Maggie Gyllenhaal
Sally Field
Mary McDonnell
Angelina Jolie
Uma Thurman
*** ATTENTION POSTERS ***
I have started a separate thread Some Issues with Cafe Society Pollswhere we can discuss methods for dealing with this large number of candidate actors in a poll or polls. Please contribute ideas if you have some – in that thread. Thanks.
I have to add one to my list.
I hate to admit it, because I think the woman is a perfect flake, but Cher was amazing in Moonstruck, and Silkwood.
.
Hard to argue with that! Added her.
Men:
Daniel Day-Lewis
Gray Oldman
Gene Hackman
Marlon Brando
Laurence Olivier
Peter O’Toole
Women:
Meryl Streep
Jodie Foster
Julianne Moore
Toni Collette
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Sally Field
Since I was born in 1945, I can almost say that ***all ***great actors have been in my lifetime. Unless we’re counting people like Sara Bernhardt and John Wilkes Booth.
I was just looking at the stats for actors/actresses (or, if you prefer, just actors) and if you go by the #s, its pretty hard to argue against Hepburn as the best of all time. 4 Best Actress wins (most for male or female), 12 nominations, an emmy, an gobs of secondary awards. Not to mention the longest gap between first and last wins (48 years). Pretty remarkable career.
It doesn’t look as if 40 unique posters will make it by Wednesday. So if you want to vote for any of those in the latest summary (top of this page – Post #51) who have only received one mention thus far, now is the time. Otherwise, the polls will be posted tomorrow and will be composed of these actors:
Men:
Marlon Brando 4
Russell Crowe 3
Daniel Day-Lewis 6
Robert De Niro 9
Johnny Depp 4
Robert Duvall 5
Henry Fonda 2
Morgan Freeman 2
Gene Hackman 6
Tom Hanks 3
Dustin Hoffman 4
Philip Seymour Hoffman 2
Heath Ledger 2
Ian McKellen 2
Paul Newman 4
Jack Nicholson 3
Edward Norton 5
Gary Oldman 8
Laurence Olivier 3
Peter O'Toole 2
Al Pacino 3
Sean Penn 4
Brad Pitt 2
Kevin Spacey 3
Jimmy Stewart 4
Spencer Tracy 2
Forest Whitaker 2 27
Women:
Cate Blanchett 6
Patricia Clarkson 2
Judi Dench 7
Edie Falco 2
Sally Field 4
Jodie Foster 3
Katharine Hepburn 5
Jessica Lange 2
Laura Linney 5
Frances McDormand 2
Helen Mirren 7
Julianne Moore 3
Susan Sarandon 2
Sissy Spacek 3
Meryl Streep 11
Kate Winslet 8 16
Men:
Top 5:
Gary Oldman
Russel Crowe
Tom Hanks
Val Kilmer (Tombstone, Heat, and Spartan sold me)
Denzel Washington
Honorable Mentions:
William Fichtner
Jean Reno
Tcheky Karyo
Zjelko Ivanek
Harrison Ford
John Cusack
Ralph Fiennes
Richard Schiff
Women:
Top 5:
Julie Delpy
Jorja Fox
Kate Winslet
Glenn Close
Julia Stiles
Honorable Mentions:
Cate Blanchett
Susan Sarandon
Robin Wright Penn
Minnie Driver
Judi Dench
-DF