# what actor/actress has the "best" filmography?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-has-the-best-filmography/448579>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [May 8, 2008, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-has-the-best-filmography/448579 "2008-05-08T17:37:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 3

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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:** [May 10, 2008, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-has-the-best-filmography/448579/41 "2008-05-10T19:23:20Z")

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I’d have to throw in **Tom Hanks**. at least the Tom Hanks from 1992 until 2002, when he didn’t make a single bad movie. Look at this list - this was every movie he made for a decade:

Sleepless in Seattle  
Philadelphia  
Forrest Gump  
Apollo 13  
Toy Story  
That Thing You Do!  
From the Earth to the Moon  
Saving Private Ryan  
You’ve Got Mail  
Toy Story 2  
The Green Mile  
Castaway  
Band of Brothers  
The Road to Perdition  
Catch Me if you Can

Since then, he’s made some flops, and earlier in his career he had quite a few (“The Money Pit”, anyone?) But for a prolific actor, he put together one hell of a run of good movies without a stinker in the mix for more than a decade.

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**Author:** ![Clark\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c77e96/32.png) [@Clark\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clark_K)\
**Post date:** [May 10, 2008, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-has-the-best-filmography/448579/42 "2008-05-10T20:17:34Z")

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I was going to nominate Ward Bond, who I believe was in more movies on the AFI’s 100 Greatest list than any other actor. He appeared in such classics as “The Grapes of Wrath,” “The Searchers,” “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “The Maltese Falcon,” “Sergeant York” and “Fort Apache.”

But I see that you have to wade through a lot of dreck to find those gems. That’s the lot of a character actor in the 30s and 40s, I suppose.

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**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\
**Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-actor-actress-has-the-best-filmography/448579/43 "2008-05-11T15:41:28Z")

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As far as I’m concerned Alan Rickman is faultless whatever movie he appears in.

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