BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Beccy
Date: 21 May 03 - 03:17 PM

Jet Li's fantastic. Have you seen any of the Deadly China Hero series? It's about foreign encroachment on traditional China during the beginning of the last century. It's really fascinating.

Beccy

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: GUEST
Date: 21 May 03 - 01:22 PM

i like kung fu movies too...but really am starting to like Jet Li....

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Beccy
Date: 21 May 03 - 01:19 PM

One more thing, Doug. Matrix was LOADED with wirework. I just read an interview with the fight choreographer and he said he looks forward to the day that he can combine the extensive wirework he did in "Matrix" and "Matrix Reloaded" with a super-star martial artist. He can't wait for a modern Bruce Lee.

Beccy

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Beccy
Date: 21 May 03 - 01:04 PM

Doug_Remley... I didn't say I dig it 'cause of the realism... I just said I dig it (kung fu films, that is.)

I'm with ya on the Chow Yun Fat, Kim C. He's pretty nice to look at, eh? His fighting style is quite graceful, too.

Beccy

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: mutineer
Date: 21 May 03 - 02:26 AM

Sean Connery would have to be my favourite, just the presence he has on stage...

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Cluin
Date: 21 May 03 - 12:17 AM

Nope. Nor Billy Bob Thorton. I liked him in "A Simple Plan".

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Kim C
Date: 20 May 03 - 01:29 PM

Kevin Spacey is awesome.

Hey, Beccy, I like kung fu movies too! Jackie Chan is my favorite - but golly I sure love Chow Yun-Fat. So easy on the eyes.

Okay, Fred, but SIL is still one of my favorite movies. The sappiness of it greatly appeals to me.

Has anyone mentioned Cate Blanchett?

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Branwen23
Date: 20 May 03 - 10:41 AM

Kevin Spacey must make the list somewhere... Incredibly versatile and believeable in every role

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Doug_Remley
Date: 20 May 03 - 08:26 AM

Russian bears fly with lots of wire work, too, Beccy. The best story line without gratuitous wirework, I thought, was "Matrix" and I'm not into that genre.

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Beccy
Date: 20 May 03 - 07:50 AM

I have to admit to being a HUGE Kung Fu fan (in the loving it hugely sense... I'm quite slim...) First and foremost, Gordon Liu, then in no particular order, Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee, Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh, Chow Yun Fat, Sammo Hung, and many more.

I LOVE "Fist of the White Lotus" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"

Beccy

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Cluin
Date: 19 May 03 - 11:25 PM

"The Crimson Pirate"... the faggiest (in a 12 year old boy's sense of the word) hero on the silver screen. Not Burt's best role.

Besides, nobody buckled on a swash like Errol Flynn (unless it was Fairbanks, Sr.)

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: The Walrus
Date: 19 May 03 - 07:16 AM

I note that no-one has mentioned Douglas Fairbanks, the man who gave us the 'athletic hero' bouncing around the screen like a rubber ball, and was thereby a precuror of other such 'heros' from Lancaster(?) swinging through the rigging in the likes of 'The Crimson Pirate' to Jackie Chan using everything and anything as a prop in a fight or as an escape route out of one.
Nor has anyone mentioned Yacamo Cnut (spelling?), in his day, the King of stuntmen.

Regards

Walrus

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Cluin
Date: 19 May 03 - 02:35 AM

Bob Denver (was also Maynard G. Krebbs in Dobie Gillis).

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 19 May 03 - 12:28 AM

Odd that you didn't see fit to mention Jerry Lewis, Don Knotts, and William Shatner.

And who was that guy who played "Gilligan"?

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Peter Kasin
Date: 18 May 03 - 02:31 AM

My list:

Lon Chaney, Sr.
Laurence Olivier
Meryl Streep
Robert DeNiro
Marlon Brando
Daniel Day Lewis
Jeremy Irons
Robert Mitchum
James Dean
Jim Broadbent
Toshiro Mifune
Alec Guinness
Buster Keaton
Dustin Hoffman
Judi Dench
Charles Laughton
Lillian Gish
Sidney Poitier
Kenneth Branagh
Debra Winger
Al Pacino
Stuart Whitman (Underrated, in my book)
Aidan Quinn
Bette Davis
Lee J. Cobb
Edward G. Robinson
Katherine Hepburn
Charlie Chaplin
Tom Hanks
Marisa Tomei
James Cagney
Henry Fonda
Johnny Depp
John Barrymore
Janet Margolin

I'm sure I'll think of more.

Chanteyranger

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Peg
Date: 17 May 03 - 10:51 AM

Giok; if you are a Jane Horrocks fan, try to see Mike Leigh's "Life is Sweet." This actress is like a chameleon. In this film she plays a depressed teen...whose twin sister (Claire Skinner) works as a plumber. Jim Broadbent, Alison Steadman and Timothy Spall also star.

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Sam L
Date: 17 May 03 - 08:51 AM

Thanks Peg, I was trying to remember P. S. Hoffman.

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 17 May 03 - 04:59 AM

Peg. Thanks for mentioning Jane Horrocks, I loved her in Little Voice, and the character of Bubble in Absolutely Fabulous is uproariously funny. I just have to see her in one of the crazy outfits she wears, and I corpse......Giok

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 16 May 03 - 03:39 PM

Well, I just saw "A Mighty Wind", and I have to say that Catherine O'Hara's acting in that was utterly superb!

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Peg
Date: 16 May 03 - 03:34 PM

ooh ooh ooh! and FIONA SHAW and BRIAN COX!!!!! (both of whom I got to interview)

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Peg
Date: 16 May 03 - 03:32 PM

gosh, I forgot to mention Angus MacFadyen! and Ian McKellen! and Timothy Spall! and Rupert Graves! and Miranda Richardson! and John Gielgud! and Stellan Skaarsgard! and Martin Donovan! and Sidney Poitier! and Paprika Steen! and Fairuza Balk! and Philip Seymour Hoffman (whose name someone in this thread seemed to be fishing for earlier)...

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 16 May 03 - 03:26 PM

Then there was Nixon. Greatest impersonation of a used-car-salemsan-cum-life-insurance-agent-cum-undertaker ever done by anyone in politics...

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Cluin
Date: 15 May 03 - 09:56 PM

I still think Ronald Reagan never got the credit as an actor that he deserved. In his role as President, he was eerily lifelike.

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 15 May 03 - 09:02 PM

Kathy Bates! Kathy Bates! Kathy Bates!

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: GUEST,maire-aine, not home yet
Date: 15 May 03 - 05:06 PM

No Orson Welles?
No Helen Hayes?
No John Barrymore?

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Sam L
Date: 15 May 03 - 04:43 PM

yes Kim C, I was aware of that, I did watch it. In the film it adds a second degree--a woman playing a man playing a woman, so the historical basis seems a little beside the point. And Leonardo painted himself as a woman in the Mona Lisa--a deep notion recently reprised about a different painter and a different picture. I used to have a handy list, but one forgets.

   Romeo and the Pirate captain's daughter, haw! Oh, stop! Yer killin' me! The parody of psychoanalysis was a hoot, too. The sweetest part was his relationship with his wife and son, I thought. If you did hokey pointless stuff like that about real people who were great in any field but arts, everyone would throw up.

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: MMario
Date: 15 May 03 - 01:33 PM

I think that technically - a lot of the bit actors and charactor actors are much better then most of the "stars" - and there are a number of them that pop up in movie, after movie, after movie, after movie, after movie, after movie, after movie

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Kim C
Date: 15 May 03 - 01:30 PM

Fred - back in Shakespearean times, women weren't allowed to act in the theater (just like in the movie), and men played all the parts. So in that regard, high art sometimes does have something to do with cross-dressing - in this instance it's based on history.

I think Shakespeare in Love is a very sweet and entertaining movie.

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: GUEST
Date: 15 May 03 - 01:19 PM

what about georgie juniior? he sure is play acting well enough at being a president...

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 May 03 - 08:19 AM

I find it surprising...very surprising...that NO ONE has mentioned the greatest actor of all time...

* * * William Shatner * * *

(hee! hee!)



Well...no, I guess I don't find it all that surprising...





But my vote for at least one of the greatest actors of all time is Daniel Day Lewis. The guy is amazing. Did you see him in "Gangs of New York"? Di Caprio was quite good in that one too, and he was superb in "Catch Me If You Can". Harrison Ford is usually very good. Clint Eastwood is very good at being himself...which is useful in the right movie. I always thought Burt Lancaster had a lot of class, and an incredible smile! Christopher Plummer is marvelous, no matter what part he plays.

Now...actresses. Well, Kathleen Turner was riveting in "Body Heat". Great movie. And I have a preference for Winona Ryder, but that's just me...I like her. I also like Sigourney Weaver.

Bogart and Bacall were the most memorable screen couple of all time. Wow. Talk about chemistry.

I think Cher has been consistently great as an actress, although her singing is a little odd at times.

Okay, gotta go to Toronto now. See ya later.

- LH

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 14 May 03 - 01:56 PM

My Gawd Peg, that's an amazing list! Where have you been all my life?!!!

Cheers

Rick

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Peter T.
Date: 14 May 03 - 12:00 PM

I don't know about great acting overall, but I just saw Year of Living Dangerously again with Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver, and there is all kinds of fine acting in it, including Mel being not only amazingly handsome, but also revealing a moral weakness that is quite convinving. The best moment of the movie is a brief scene where Sigourney Weaver is walking in the rain drunk with desire for Mel Gibson that I found quite amazing, something I had not seen in her acting before -- Linda Hunt was also quite superb. As someone who spent a bit of time wandering around countries and cities in the 3rd world, I always recommend the film -- but I hadn't seen it in awhile. yours, Peter T,

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Peg
Date: 13 May 03 - 12:12 PM

Those reader polls tend to not address classic films or vetarn actors IMHO...a recent poll on greatest foreign films at a local theatre was a revelation: the top choice was Run Lola Run which came out the year of the poll! Others in the top 20 were films that were made and that people had obviously seen *recently*, and many greats from Italy, Germany, France etc. from the last twent years, even, were in ridiculously low positions...

anyway my favorite actors:

(in no way an exhaustive list; trying to focus on Brits though in keeping with the thread)

Ian Holm
Helen Mirren!!!
Ewan MacGregor
Clive Owen
Jane Horrocks
Daniel Day-Lewis
Judi Dench
Meryl Streep
Raul Julia (the two of them did an amazing Taming of the Shrew!)
Jeremy Northam
Hugo Weaving
Johnny Depp
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Colin Firth
Nicole Kidman
Jeremy Irons
Julianne Moore
Toni Collette
Kerry Fox
Mark Rylance!!!!!
Denzel Washington (amazing in Training Day)
Martin Sheen
Sissy Spacek
Cloris Leachman
Rowan Atkinson (comedy!)
Dianne Wiest
Maggie Smith
Kevin McKidd
Jennifer Ehle
Simon Callow
Harriet Walter
Tom Hollander!!!
Helena Bonham-Carter

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Sam L
Date: 13 May 03 - 10:12 AM

The only thing I enjoyed in Shakespeare in love was the loan shark who got caught up in the play. That was vintage Shaw. The rest I found lame, full of dopey tired jokes--the Hamlet on Gilligan's Island was funnier--and it was too late to try to be serious in the last few minutes.

   Why in the popular imagination does high art always have something to do with cross-dressing?

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 13 May 03 - 04:46 AM

Hey GUEST! I didn't say I WASN'T afraid of Meryl, Barbra, Bette, and Joan.....I am! Still can't watch 'em though.

Do like Emma though!

Rick

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Kim C
Date: 12 May 03 - 10:50 AM

PS - I don't think anyone has mentioned Johnny Depp. He is just about the only pretty-boy actor I like at all. He has made some bombs but I think he is under-rated.

Everytime I see Brad Pitt, I want to turn him over my knee and spank him - and not for kinky reasons.

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Kim C
Date: 12 May 03 - 10:48 AM

Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman are GREAT in Glory. Morgan Freeman has been one of my favorites for a long time.

Laugh if you want, but I really liked Brendan Fraser in the Mummy movies.

Haven't seen the Klaus Kinski Nosferatu, but I'd like to.

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Beccy
Date: 12 May 03 - 10:40 AM

Laugh if you must, but Leo DiCaprio in "This Boy's Life" with DeNiro was amazing! DiCaprio was also great in "What's Eating Gilbert Grape". My poor husband thought the guy was really retarded until I told him differently.

Beccy

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Peter T.
Date: 12 May 03 - 10:00 AM

We will have to disagree on this one, Carol. I was in a production of the play (played Guildenstern) in London, and was amazed how brilliant it was. The movie is slow and dull. I cannot imagine what was on Stoppard's mind -- I revere him, but he does occasionally fall flat -- and that was one occasion. Learning the film business I guess. He has written some tedious screenplays. On the other hand, Shakespeare in Love is vintage Stoppard, what a great film.

yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: CarolC
Date: 12 May 03 - 09:47 AM

The film "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" is one of the worst travesties of a wonderful play ever.

Apples and oranges, Peter T. The movie and the play were two entirely different animals (in my opinion). I loved them both. And they both came from one of my favorite of human minds.

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Sam L
Date: 12 May 03 - 09:44 AM

R&G are dead is more Godot than Hamlet to me, and I think it's a good dark comedy--but I've only read it. But that reminds me of the awful handling of their deaths in Zefferelli's film. The reading of the letter, with the two trustfully standing there is what I'd show.

I found nothing promising in the business of Elsinore Corporation. And R&G was a travesty of a wonderful play? I suppose there are different ways to look at things.

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Peter T.
Date: 12 May 03 - 09:07 AM

The film "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" is one of the worst travesties of a wonderful play ever.


I thought Mel Gibson was ok as Hamlet, but none of the films have been very satisfactory, even the Olivier film is dull -- the ultramodern one of a year or two ago was a great idea, but it waned as the film moved on. The best thing about the Branagh film was Derek Jacobi, he was terrific. yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: GUEST
Date: 12 May 03 - 08:25 AM

Rick, your aversion to the strong, power wielding female actors you list looks more like sexism than an aesthetic preference.

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: alison
Date: 12 May 03 - 04:03 AM

another vote for Mel Gibson's "Hamlet"... I expected to loathe it and was very pleasantly surprised......
I absolutely hate him in most other things since being trapped on a long distance flight with only "the patriot" as a choice for the movie... now that is horrible!!!!

I quite liked Pfeiffer and Kline in "A Midsummer night's dream".... but the old black and white version with ?James Cagney as "Puck"... (is it him or Mickey Rooney?... its been a long time)is a classic...


slainte

alison

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: mg
Date: 12 May 03 - 01:00 AM

I don't watch enough movies to even comment...but I love watching Dianne Keaton for some reason. You know who I love on TV...that Dan-Jumbo guy on one of those home improvement shows..apparently so do others because he was just named one of the most beautiful people..I hope he gets his own show...also saw a most beautiful woman today making really quick food out of mostly lemons..Nigella I think her name was...I also love Norm Abrams and Lynette Jennings and Phoebe on Friends...Juan whats his name on Fox..oh yeah..Sean Hannerty..people I just can't stand to watch..Katy Couric..Jerry Seinfeld...Aaron Brown...Barney...

mg

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 11 May 03 - 05:53 PM

I just watched three quarters of an hour of a film in which Kevin Bacon held Meryl Streep and her obnoxious kid hostage, in a WHITE WATER RAFT! I was screaming at the screen (well politely talking to it actually) KEVIN! SHOOT HER!...and her little kid too!

Some actors just do that to me!

Cheers

Rick

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: CarolC
Date: 11 May 03 - 12:01 PM

My favorite version of Hamlet on film is the little snippets you see in between the real action in Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. I love the rest of that film even more than the Hamlet bits. That one's got Gary Oldman, Tim Roth, and Richard Dreyfuss, each of whom did an excellent job. Originally a play by Stoppard, the film was directed by him as well.

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Sam L
Date: 11 May 03 - 09:38 AM

But, CarolC, to be fair, Brannaugh's Hamlet "did" less to the text than Zefferelli's did. I also don't find anachronistic setting choices interesting, I think it ruins most stage productions with self-conscious po-mo armature, but I was able to pass over it in K.B.'s Hamlet without much trouble. It seemed rushed sometimes, and Zefferelli took time for some priceless little details. A woman in the audience at the play laughed in such a way you could see her entire life, Ophelia's uncertain manner at the table and the look in her eyes--things like that. I see your point, but only to a point.

   I don't think anyone ever does the killing the prisoners scene in Henry V. I'm surprised Brannaugh didn't.

Anyway, neither are as magnificent as the version I'll direct, when I have a little free time, and a few extra bucks.

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 11 May 03 - 09:22 AM

Jeez, Malkovitch! Another fascinating actor. I've completely changed my mind about the state of acting cuz' of this thread. There are one hell of a lot of very convincing performers working today. I have to agree with Carol, in that I can hardly watch Brannagh....not sure why...probably for the same reasons I can't watch Streisand, Crawford (Joan not Broderick) Garbo, or Davis. Just personal, can't figure it out.

Hmmmm.....what about directors? Maybe I'll push this and start another thread.

Rick

P.S. Better get back to chord positions soon though.....

Subject: RE: BS: Greatest Actors, Harrison, Brad, MEL??!!
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 11 May 03 - 05:08 AM

Interesting thread, I saw part 1 of the programme, the whole thing was played over two consecutive nights in 3 hour portions. Each actor was given 5 minutes or more, with suitable clips, and spoken about by other actors and reviewers/ critics etc.,
Whilst everyone will have their own favourites, and queries about who was omitted, a quick read through this thread suggests that keeping it down to 100 would be difficult without offending someone.
I may not agree with some of the selections, but what I saw made an entertaining evening. (My wife forgot to tape part 2, the 'Top' of the list!)

Nigel