The Best Best Actors

A list like this is highly subjective; there's no way around it. But I think we can all say that some bests are better than others. How many of us would argue that Rex Harrison gave one of the greatest performances ever in My Fair Lady? Exactly. Don't make me bring up Roberto Benigni... So ranking the best Best Actors involves an awful lot of conjecture. There are a couple on our list that might not be as high on your list and vice versa, but the real question is how well this year's winner - whether it's Sean Penn or Mickey Rourke - stacks up against the others. On first glance, I've gotta say the advantage goes to history in this case. 1 - Robert De Niro - Raging Bull (1980) Without a doubt, this is the most significant performance in one of the most significant acting careers of the 20th century. Think not just of the high-wire act - the weight gain, the weight loss, the boxing - but focus on the intensity of Jake LaMotta as a young fighter and the pathetic, bloated shell of a man who remained decades later. Today, the physical transformation is taken for granted, and it's not really acting, anyway. So just watch the performance. It truly is one of a kind. Other nominees: John Hurt (The Elephant Man), Robert Duvall (The Great Santini), Peter O'Toole (The Stunt Man), Jack Lemmon (Tribute) 2 - Daniel Day- Lewis - My Left Foot (1989) We'll see his name again, for a performance that speaks just as loudly to this man's versatility, but the amount of concentration involved in every shot of this performance is astonishing. I'd also like to deflect the Sgt. Osiris argument right now. You know the one, the Oscar theory Robert Downey Jr. shares with Ben Stiller in Tropic Thunder. Why doesn't it count in this case? Because Daniel Day-Lewis was nobody's idea of a movie star, for starters, and also because his entire career is defined by roles like this. Other nominees: Kenneth Branagh (Henry V), Tom Cruise (Born on the Fourth of July), Morgan Freeman (Driving Miss Daisy), Robin Williams (Dead Poets Society) 3 - Marlon Brando - On the Waterfront (1954) Here it is: The movie performance that guided movie acting for a good 30 years or more. Even though Brando was a product of the Method school like many of his contemporaries, there is simply no argument that acting as we know it changed in 1954. These days, the performance doesn't seem as ahead of its time as it truly is. And if you want more proof about Waterfront's importance, look at the other nominees that year. Other nominees: Humphrey Bogart (The Caine Mutiny), Bing Crosby (The Country Girl), James Mason (A Star is Born), Dan O' Herlihy (The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe) 4 - Jack Nicholson - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) Only three films have ever capture the big five Oscars, called a grand slam in those circles where they talk about those things. It Happened One Night, Silence of the Lambs, and Cuckoo's Nest all grabbed Best Picture, Actor, Actress, Director, and Screenplay awards. The important thing about Nicholson's portrayal as McMurphy is that it's much better than the character Ken Kesey had written. Oh, and it's the best performance ever by the most nominated actor of all time. Other nominees: Walter Matthau (The Sunshine Boys), Al Pacino (Dog Day Afternoon), Maximilian Schell (The Man in the Glass Booth), James Whitmore (Give 'em Hell, Harry!) 5 - Alec Guinness - Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) Though an entire generation only knows Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi, that role came after several distinct careers as an actor. Before Peter Sellers inhabited three characters in the dark comedy Dr. Strangelove, his mentor had portrayed eight characters, several on screen at once, in Kind Hearts and Coronets. But comedy, while a successful venture for Guinness, was only part of his easy genius. The Shakespearean actor's best dramatic work can be found here, in the first of David Lean's back-to-back-to-back Best Picture winners as the captured and tortured British colonel during WWII. Other nominees: Marlon Brando (Sayonara), Anthony Franciosa (A Hatful of Rain), Charles Laughton (Witness for the Prosecution), Anthony Quinn (Wild is the Wind) 6 - Marlon Brando - The Godfather (1972) Brando's other defining moment, it is hard to imagine the undying impact of this film without its Don Vito Corleone. And Brando knew it was a role he wanted, putting up a $1 million bond against his reputation as an on- set terror. Did you know that he's only 47 here, only seven years older than Robert Duvall and 16 years older than Caan and Pacino. Incidentally, Brando would also come out on top of the Best Bizarre Oscar Acceptance/Rejection list, thanks to Sacheen Littlefeather. Other nominees: Michael Caine (Sleuth), Laurence Olivier (Sleuth), Peter O'Toole (The Ruling Class), Paul Winfield (Sounder) 7 - Anthony Hopkins - Silence of the Lambs (1991) Nobody ever did more with less than Hopkins in this film. On screen for a whopping seventeen minutes, Hannibal Lecter is either in a cell or harnessed to a gurney in all but one scene. However, Lecter's legacy will grow and grow, and may eventually rise even higher on lists like these. Like Nicholson, the performance outstrips the characters as it's written by leaps and bounds. A purely singular creation. Other nominees: Warren Beatty (Bugsy), Robert De Niro (Cape Fear), Nick Nolte (The Prince of Tides), Robin Williams (The Fisher King) 8 - Daniel Day- Lewis - There Will Be Blood (2007) The best performance by anyone since Cate Blanchett was Queen Elizabeth for the first time, there's only one side to the character of Daniel Plainview. And it's a very, very dark side. In other hands, there's simply no way a guy like this could work in such a heavy drama. That's why you hire Daniel Day-Lewis. Having reviewed both films in the past year, there's definitely some Bill "The Butcher" here from Gangs of New York, but somehow, Plainview is a much bleaker soul. Other nominees: George Clooney (Michael Clayton), Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd), Tommy Lee Jones (In the Valley of Elah), Viggo Mortensen (Eastern Promises) 9 - Laurence Olivier - Hamlet (1948) When you're talking about acting, you have to talk about Hamlet. He's the dramatic character by which all others are measured, even 400 years later. And when you talk Hamlet, you talk Olivier. It's certainly not the best interpretation of Shakespeare's most-performed drama, but Olivier's performance is flawless. In fact, it's almost too easy; we tend to forget it in discussions like this. Other nominees: Lew Ayers (Jonny Belinda), Montgomery Clift (The Search), Dan Dailey (When My Baby Smiles at Me), Clifton Webb (Sitting Pretty) 10 - Gregory Peck - To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) It may not look like much, but then, Gregory Peck was never that showy. However, he's ideal to play Atticus Finch, and like De Niro as Jake La Motta or Brando in The Godfather, I simply can't see anyone else in this role. And he sells not just the character but the ideals of the novel and the times beautifully.The quiet calm, the intelligence, and the decency are hard to match. It's helpful that Peck is relying on one of the great American novels of the past 100 years, but he was definitely the right man for a big job. Other nominees: Burt Lancaster (The Birdman of Alcatraz), Jack Lemmon (The Days of Wine and Roses), Marcello Mastroianni (Divorce, Italian Style), Peter O'Toole (Lawrence of Arabia)

Comments

[knives]

While it seems you're dismissing some of the earlier Oscars, I mostly agree with what you've shown.

[Get The Big Picture]

Oh, the next ten is full of older performances: Paul Scofield, Ray Milland, Fredric March, Cagney, Jose Ferrer, Poitier, George C. Scott...

[Zack Solomon]

I love what this list represents in terms of the style range of great acting, but I have a few problems with the list. The Godfather would be number 2 on my list, and I have always felt that Guinness's performance in that film was a little bit over-rated, not bad, maybe even great, but not great. His career proves he is one of the greatest actors ever, but not b/c that is one of the ten best oscar performances of all time. Jack should be in the top ten, but not that high, and to be honest I think he is better in a film he was not even nominated for, The Shining. And on a final note, Peter Finch would be in my top ten.

[knives]

I forgot all about Scott! He'd probably be my two. Glad to hear about the Cagney love also.

[D]

I think the truly amazing thing about Hopkins' performance isn't that he won the award for Best Actor in a Leading Role despite only being on screen for 16 minutes; it's that he won the award and absolutely no one objected. I don't think I have ever seen a movie where one performer so thoroughly dominates ever scene he (or she for that matter) appears in. While it's true that Hopkins did not have to carry his movie the way the other actors on this list did (all of whom played the character around whom the movie was built), Hopkins may have done an even more impressive job by turning what was on paper a very small part into the character who defined his movie and became the most iconic villain in the history of American cinema.

[Me]

PETER O'TOOLE !!!!!!!!!!

[Matt Sil]

You can't mention Hopkins' performance without discussing Jodi Foster. Much of what made him so scary was how she reacted to him. She was terrified, but held it together, so we were terrified and held it together.

[Me]

Sorry that i just screamed Peter O'Toole, i didn't realize this was only the best actor best actors, yeah i know I'm an idiot. So your list is actually pretty good and like you said, this is all very subjective but heres what i think the list should be and then afterwards the list of the greatest acting performances ever with some not winning oscars because as you all know the oscars do get it wrong on many occasions.

Oscar winning Best Actors:
1. Robert DeNiro - Raging Bull
2. Marlon Brando - on the waterfront
3. Daniel day Lewis - there Will be blood
4. Anthony Hopkins - silence of the Lambs
5. George c. Scott - Patton
6. Jack Nicholson - one Flew over The Cuokoo's Nest
7. Marlon Brando - the Godfather
8. Gregory Peck - to kill A Mockingbird
9. Laurence olivier - Hamlet
10. Ray Milland - Lost Weekend

Best Acting performances no matter what:
1. Robert deNiro - Raging Bull
2. Marlon brando - On the waterfront
3. Peter O'Toole - Lawrence of Arabia
4. Daniel day lewis - There will be blood
5. Anthony Hopkins - Silence of the lambs
6. Robert DeNiro - Taxi Driver
7. Marlon Brando - A Streetcar named desire
8. George C. Scott - Patton
9. Humphrey bogart - The treasure of the sierra madre
10. Henry Fonda - The Grapes of Wrath