40 replies and nobody’s mentioned Gary Oldman yet? The guy has specialized in portraying villians, but he has incredible range. I’m thinking True Romance, Immortal Beloved, Sid & Nancy, The Professional, JFK, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, The Scarlett Letter. They aren’t all great films and they weren’t all important roles, but Oldman gave great performances in all of them.
I think we’re overlooking supporting actors, character actors. I think that’s a shame, because a lot of the best actors don’t get the lead role. Robert Duvall has been mentioned already. He’s consistently believable in everything of his I’ve seen, from The Godfather, to Slingblade, Apocalypse Now, Days of Thunder. Gene Hackman is also completely believable when he’s not in a shoot’em up action film.