DUH, I forgot Marlon Brando.
Don’t forget Laurence Tierney in The Devil Thumbs a Ride…
Degrance, Marjorie Main but no Percy Kilbride? Shame, shame!
And what of ZaSu Pitts? :>
Buster Keaton. He could bring the pieces of a joke together like the instruments of an orchestra. Think there’s nothing funny about a chase between two trains? Watch The General.
Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. I saw The Big Sleep a while ago, and it’s brilliant. By the end, you don’t know who commited all the crimes, you don’t know why some people are being blackmailed, none of the usual detective-movie payoffs are there; and it doesn’t matter. Bogart and Bacall, and Raymond Chandler’s dialog, make it work.
A bit too recent for this thread, but I will someday add Vanessa Redgrave. When everyone else was cowering, she went eye-to-eye with Hercule Poirot in Murder on the Orient Express. And in one of those late-career, big-name casting moves, she almost rescues Mission: Impossible with five minutes of screen time.
Richard Burbage?
A little too old school, Cervaise… 
Joan Crawford, Susan Hayward, Barbara Stanwyck
Gary Cooper, Spencer Tracy
Tie between Rosalind Russel and Barbara Stanwyck
Tie between Frederick March and Edward G. Robinson
That’s Russell dammit!
I didn’t see any mention of Jean Arthur, but I adored her.
Gary Cooper, Bogart/Bacall, Katherine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Cagney, Claudette Colbert, Clark Gable, Gregory Peck, most definitely Jean Arthur(wow!), Gene Tierney(double wow!), Maureen O’Hara(wowee!), Maureen O’Sullivan(love those Jane costumes!)
Jimmy Stewart,of course, and the two women I’ve always condered the most beautiful and desirable actresses EVER; Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn. Perhaps not the most talented, but I am totally captivated when either is on the screen.
Joseph Cotten, William Holden, Gary Cooper, Joel McCrea and Buster Keaton.
Myrna Loy, Jean Arthur and Dorothy McGuire.
[Nitpick]
Chandler wrote the novel, of course, but the dialog really has to be credited to the screenwriter, William Faulkner.
[/Nitpick]
Gregory Peck-we need more men like Greg around.
Audrey Hepburn-my idol!
Omar Sharif
Olivia deHaviland
Jimmy Stewart
Alec Guiness
John Gielgud
I vote for:
-Humphrey Bogart: great actor, great persona
-Edward G, Robinson: “now do it my way, see”…he always defined the gangster role for me
-Sidney Greenstreet: excellent when teamed up with Bogie; he came to the movies late in life, so only made a few movies
-Boris Karloff: will always be “Frankenstein’s monster” for me, and talented in other roles
Yes, the 30’s and the 40’s were a great time for the movies, sad that that era is so long in the distant past!
I understand Jean Harlow, Theda Bara, Anna Held and Kay Kendall were all quite some pun’kins. Maybe y’all could find some sort of books about ‘em, or somethin’ . . .
Eve Eve Eve, I was just about to come in here and mention Theda Bara and plug your fabulous book, but now I can’t lest I be both late to the ball and wearing the same gown as you.
Oh, you can wear the same gown. I’m sure there are plenty of us who’d love to see you to gals fight it out.
d&r
Oh! Here’s another one. Susan Hayward.
I hear nary a voice raised for Natalie Wood? Ah, I’ve got her all to myself then! If she had only kissed me the way she did James Dean in Rebel…
Add Susan Hayward and Bogy to my list also, please.
Oh, that’s easy. Audrey Hepburn and Vincent Price 
This is giving me such a jones for a wide-screen TV and a Netflix subscription!
You know what I liked about these movies? I could sit down in the middle of any of them, pick up the plot and enjoy them. Even if I wasn’t interested in the story, there was bound to be something to look at, or hear, or see.
Like seeing Eddie Robertson speaking fluent Italian to his mama
Or the Korngold music swelling up as the pirate ship crests the horizon
Or just watching Kelly or Astaire move. Not dance, just move.
So let me add my favorites:
Errol Flynn for the obvious reasons
Basil Rathbone, even in the horrible “The Magic Sword,” he carried himself like a pro.
Edward Everett Horton. When I discovered that the man with three names was more than a voice from the Rocky and Bullwinkle show but a real actor, I had to look for him in the movies. Caught him playing opposite Fred Astaire.
Paulette Goddard, I first saw her playing opposite Charlie Chaplain, and her beauty was simply stunning.
Barbara Stanwyk. Always keep your eye on her. She defines charisma.