# Top 10 actors in great roles.

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-10-actors-in-great-roles/190981
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 25, 2003, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-10-actors-in-great-roles/190981 "2003-07-25T22:40:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 2

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### Author: ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2003, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-10-actors-in-great-roles/190981/21 "2003-07-26T20:36:45Z")

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A big second vote for **Kenneth Branagh** in _Henry V_.

**Alan Arkin** - Yossarian in _Catch-22_

**Paul Newman** - The Hustler

**Gene Hackman** - Popeye Doyle in _The French Connection_

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### Author: ![Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f07891/32.png) [@Little\_Plastic\_Ninja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Plastic_Ninja)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2003, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-10-actors-in-great-roles/190981/22 "2003-07-26T20:54:07Z")

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Actor is a gender-neutral word.

Actress is specifically feminine, but Dame Judi Densch, for example, is an actor. You can also call her an actress if you want.

-or is a masculine ending IIRC, but it is collectively male and female.

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### Author: ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2003, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-10-actors-in-great-roles/190981/23 "2003-07-26T21:20:36Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Little Plastic Ninja \*  
> \*\*Actor is a gender-neutral word.
> 
> Actress is specifically feminine, but Dame Judi Densch, for example, is an actor. You can also call her an actress if you want.
> 
> -or is a masculine ending IIRC, but it is collectively male and female. \*\*

Oh, well, had **towel2** included any “female actors” in his OP, I would have caught on. In any case, then, please ignore my list, as I was only including “male actors.”

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### 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: [July 26, 2003, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/top-10-actors-in-great-roles/190981/24 "2003-07-26T23:20:36Z")

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Dustin Hoffman - The Graduate  
Dustin Hoffman - Rainman  
Jack Nicholson - Chinatown  
Jack Nicholson - The Last Detail  
Bogart - African Queen  
Pacino - Dog Day Afternoon  
Paul Newman - Nobody’s Fool  
Henry Fonda - Grapes of Wrath  
Adrien Brody - The Pianist  
Steve Buscemi - Fargo

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