Bronson did act in Magnificent Seven he was brilliant and believable as a bad ass whose heart was touched by those kids to the degree that he willingly died for them. I am guessing that in his life at the time, Bronson really loved kids and he let that part of his personality shine through his usually cold movie exterior.

Eastwood has acted in Unforgiven, Line of Fire and Million Dollar Baby. When his characters have and arc and decisions to make in a movie. He portrays the feelings and the thought process.

Costner is OK when the rule suits who he is, But after Field of Dreams he tended to choose roles based on an ego which is much larger than his range.

When an actor gets hot he gets lots of roles and then he gets to show how good he is.

I am glad that Jim Cary got "Spotless mind" that Russell Crowe got A Beautiful Mind and that Matt Damon got a lot of the roles he got.
Matt's buddy Ben, has shown less range but is still good in some roles.

Actors hate being typecast, but some, especially Costner deserve to be. Governor Arnold is the classic example of a movie star who doesn't act. But he has been smart enough only to take roles that suit the personality he projects.