Top 25 Actors

From the Left: Newman, Stewart, Day-Lewis, Nicholson, Brando, Gable, Clift, Fiennes, Grant, Pitt, Cotten, Beatty, DeNiro, Olivier, Bogart, Duvall, Caan, von Sydow, Tracy, Lancaster, Rains, Holden, Hopkins, Howard and Depp.



Nathaniel R over at filmexperience.blogspot.com asked everyone to post his or hers top 25 actors on his or hers website or blog so here comes mine.

Top 5
1. Paul Newman
2. James Stewart
3. Daniel Day-Lewis
4. Jack Nicholson
5. Marlon Brando

1938-1940 Best Actor

Best Actor 1938

Oscar Nominees (My Ranking):

1. Leslie Howard - Pygmalion

2. Spencer Tracy - Boys Town

3. Charles Boyer - Algiers

4. Robert Donat - The Citadel

5. James Cagney - Angels With Dirty Faces

A Really weak line up with only the top 2 having some sort of good performances. The rest could be replaced Erroll Flynn in "The Adventures of Robin Hood", Cary Grant in either "Bringing Up Baby" or "Holiday" and James Stewart in "You Can't Take It With You".

Best Actor 1939

The Oscar Nominees (My Ranking):

1. Clark Gable - Gone With the Wind

2. James Stewart - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

3. Robert Donat - Goodbye Mr. Chips

4. Laurence Olivier - Wuthering Heights

5. Mickey Rooney - Babes In Arms



As for the actress it was a great year for actors, all except Rooney was well deserved nominees

Clark Gable gives his best performance ever in this movie, funny, witty, dramatique, he is everything and has great chemistry with Vivien Leigh.

There Were Some other memorable performances this year coming from Erroll Flynne in "The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex", Charles Laughton in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", Charles Boyer "Love Affair", Henry Fonda in "Young Mr. Llincon". I Would replace Rooney with Fonda.





Who's your favourite?

Best Actor 1940

The First Edition of Best Actor is in 1940:



Oscar Nominees (My Ranking):

1. James Stewart - The Philadelphia Story

2. Charles Chaplin - The Great Dictator

3. Laurence Olivier - Rebecca

4. Raymond Massey - Abe Lllincoln

5. Henry Fonda - Grapes of Wrath



A weeker than usual year for actors, James Stewart made a fine performance but not anything groundbreaking. I usually love Laurence Oliviers performance, but this was not his strongest performance. Charles Chaplin is the only one who gives a memorable performance you remember in the 21st Century, but I think Jimmy was better.



I would replace either one of Massey and Fonda with Cary Grant In "The Philadelphia Story" and with the clips i've seen from "His Girl Friday" he's also deserving for that performance. Both Laurence Olivier and James Stewart has other performance Oscar worthy too in "Pride and Prejudice" (Maybe some people call it a supporting performance but I'm not) and "The Shop Around the Corner" respective.

Top 20 Actors of all Time

I think it's unfair I do a Top 20 Actress when I'm not doing a Top 20 actor!

So here it Comes

1. Jack Nicholson
2. James Stewart
3. Daniel Day-Lewis
4. Paul Newman
5. Marlon Brando
6. Clark Gable
7. Ralph Fiennes
8. Robert DeNiro
9. Cary Grant
10. Laurence Olivier
11. Humphrey Bogart
12. Henry Fonda
13. Peter O'Toole
14. Anthony Hopkins
15. Dustin Hoffman
16. Spencer Tracy
17. Harrison Ford
18. Anthony Perkins
19. Robert Redford
20. Alec Guiness