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The Top 100 Living Actors 2008 - 7/7/2008 1:15:36 PM   
Beetlejuice!


Posts: 3251
Joined: 24/11/2005
As some of you may or may not remember last summer I did a run down of the 100 greatest living actors (using my fool proof secret formula). And as promised, the list is refreshed for this year. I have a website for this list but I will debut 2008's top 100 here.

Some ground rules:
  • The actor has to have had at least one Oscar nomination.
  • Why? There are over 400 living Oscar nominees, you can probably times that by at least 100 the amount of non-Oscar nominees there are out there in the acting world. I'm one man, I can only do so much. Besides Oscar is the sign of quality so we're judging by that - for better or worse. If the list continues, each year will bring new hopefuls to the list after each ceremony. Sadly it does mean however that some truly excellent actors don't qualify to enter but hopefully their time will come.

  • The actor has to be alive but not necessarily working.
  • Why? Again just a matter of only being able to do so much. The good thing is that the list will have an interesting mix of the modern actors with the classics. Even if the actor has retired they will still qualify to be on the list because you never know when they might pop up again.


The list contains a lot of movement, this is due to the work that each actor has done over the past year. A few excellent performances will gaurantee a good jump up the list. On the other hand, those that are falling a few spaces haven't dropped in quality, it'sjust they have been surpassed.

Sadly we also say a fond farewell to both Deborah Kerr and Charlton Heston who both passed away since last year's list.


So without further ado, here is the Top 100 Living Actors....

< Message edited by Beetlejuice! -- 7/7/2008 1:16:10 PM >
Post #: 1
RE: The Top 100 Living Actors 2008 - 7/7/2008 1:24:36 PM   
Beetlejuice!


Posts: 3251
Joined: 24/11/2005
100. William H. Macy
 
 
One of the few American actors whose stage experience equals that of their film work, William H. Macy (sometimes credited as W.H. Macy) struggled for years to make others realize what mentor David Mamet knew from the very beginning, that here was an astonishing "cleanup hitter" (Macy's description for a character actor).
 
2007 position: #95
 
Top 5 Performances
 
 
1. Fargo (1996) - Jerry Lundegaard
Macy did not hit his stride until Fargo. The career surge that followed his battle of wits with Frances McDormand's pregnant police chief more than justified his threats to kill the Coens' dogs if they didn't give him the role.
 
2. Seabiscuit (2003) - Tick Tock McGlaughlin
The actor added a welcome dose of comic verse to this reverent historical film, the true-life story of the Depression Era racehorse-turned-folk hero, as the fast-talking, rumor-spreading sports announcer.
 
3. Magnolia (1999) - Donnie Smith
Reuniting with Paul Thomas Anderson. Portraying damaged former "Quiz Kid" Donnie Smith, reduced to a routine job in an electronics store and hoping that some pricey dental work will revive his love life.
 
4. Homicide (1991) - Tim Sullivan
David Mamet promoted him to a major part as a doomed police detective.
 
5. Boogie Nights (1997) - Little Bill
Delivering a touching performance as the cuckolded assistant director to a pornographic filmmaker in Paul Thomas Anderson's epic comedy drama.

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RE: The Top 100 Living Actors 2008 - 7/7/2008 1:28:52 PM   
Halloweenfreak


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 He's such an azming actor...in the remake of 'Psycho' as P.I. Arbogast I thought he did a really good job and he was really funny in
'Wild Hogs'

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RE: The Top 100 Living Actors 2008 - 7/7/2008 1:30:31 PM   
elab49


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Macy seems awful low and Seabiscuit awful high - I like his performance in The Cooler very much. Can't argue with Fargo.

I await the 99 better actors.



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FORUM POLL – Best Films 2009

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May 09 Invisible Man (1933)
Jun 09 You, The Living (2007)
Jul 09 Watchmaker of St Paul (1974)
Aug 09 An Actor's Revenge (1963)
Sep 09 A Canterbury Tale (1944)
Oct 09 Up (2009)
Nov 09 Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988)
Dec 09 Longest Day (1962)
Jan 10 Hue and Cry (1947)

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RE: The Top 100 Living Actors 2008 - 7/7/2008 1:42:20 PM   
DaveNewman18


Posts: 1645
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From: Brighton
 As you say it's a shame that so many talented actors will miss out due to not receiving an Oscar nomination (Gael Garcia Bernal), but I was impressed with the list last time around, so I am sure you will once again be spot on Beetlejuice.  Great start, Macy is cracking, would love to be able to see him on stage, in American Buffalo or something, gotta love Mamet.

< Message edited by DaveNewman18 -- 7/7/2008 1:51:15 PM >

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RE: The Top 100 Living Actors 2008 - 7/7/2008 2:06:44 PM   
Beetlejuice!


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I'm a big Macy fan and wasn't pleased to see him almost drop off the chart. Hopefully he'll have something excellent coming up over the next year to gaurantee him climbing in the right direction. And elab, I agree that he should be higher but unfortunately i get no say in the placements as it's not a personal list. 

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RE: The Top 100 Living Actors 2008 - 7/7/2008 2:12:00 PM   
elab49


Posts: 19527
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Beetlejuice!

i get no say in the placements as it's not a personal list. 


I didn't see the rundown last year so I hadn't really picked that up - I should probably check your site.

Sounds like my other halfs scoring system for Eurovision - it keeps giving him results he isn't entirely in agreement with too!

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FORUM POLL – Best Films 2009

SAVE THE KAKAPO!

May 09 Invisible Man (1933)
Jun 09 You, The Living (2007)
Jul 09 Watchmaker of St Paul (1974)
Aug 09 An Actor's Revenge (1963)
Sep 09 A Canterbury Tale (1944)
Oct 09 Up (2009)
Nov 09 Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988)
Dec 09 Longest Day (1962)
Jan 10 Hue and Cry (1947)

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RE: The Top 100 Living Actors 2008 - 7/7/2008 2:26:45 PM   
Beetlejuice!


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99. Joan Allen
 
 
Largely underappreciated for years in Hollywood, Allen has developed a restrained acting style that enabled her to disappear into her parts. She has always possessed a genius for subtext, projecting so much more than what is on the printed page, and over the years quietly emerged as one of the most underrated actresses around.

2007 position: n/a (NEW ENTRY)
 
Top 5 Performances
 
 

1. Nixon (1995) - Pat Nixon
Allen's breakthrough came with her eerily on-target performance as the long-suffering Pat in Oliver Stone's political drama, representing the last hope for honesty and true feeling in the White House. Not known as a women's director, Stone worked hard with the actress to achieve the character's humanity, and aided immensely by her striking resemblance to the former First Lady, Allen responded with a sympathetic, subtle turn, earning an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress.

2. The Crucible (1996) - Elizabeth Proctor
The conscience in "Nixon", she was once again the moral center here, garnering a second consecutive Oscar nod as Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of Daniel Day-Lewis' unforgiving wife.

3. Pleasantville (1998) - Betty Parker
Having cornered the market on woebegone, tortured wives, Allen began to break the mold of her typecasting. Though her June Cleaver-like black-and-white TV mom was certainly repressed, she shrugged off her shackles in color, discovering both art and sexuality.

4. The Bourne Supremacy (2004), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) - Pam Landy
Allen dug into a meaty, sympathetic supporting role as an all-business CIA agent who pursues the framed title character for the Bourne sequels.

5. The Upside of Anger (2005) - Terry Ann Wolfmeyer
Allen was uniformly praised for her convincing, edgy turn in writer-director Mike Binder's seriocomic drama playing an abandoned suburban wife who shares her dilemmas and dramas with her four daughters and an old family friend (Kevin Costner) who may have been the right man for her all along.

< Message edited by Beetlejuice! -- 7/7/2008 2:27:29 PM >

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RE: The Top 100 Living Actors 2008 - 7/7/2008 2:35:15 PM   
Dantes Inferno


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 Since your formula is secret, does that mean that we get no sense of how you placing works?

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RE: The Top 100 Living Actors 2008 - 7/7/2008 2:38:12 PM   
homersimpson_esq


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From: Springfield, USA
 Have to agree with elab about The Cooler - that deserves to be in the list. Also, little mention for Macy's guest starring as the POTUS in "The Unit", which considering it was created by David Mamet isn't too surprising. Interesting there's only one of the Macy/Mamet collaborations in your top 5 there. They have a good working relationship. I have yet to see Spartan, but it's meant to be quite good. State and Main is great fun too.

And no The Ice Storm for Joan Allen?

Looking forward to this list - I enjoyed it last year (has it really been a year?)!


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RE: The Top 100 Living Actors 2008 - 7/7/2008 2:39:48 PM   
elab49


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quote:

ORIGINAL: homersimpson_esq

And no The Ice Storm for Joan Allen?



I hadn't noticed that - sorry to see it isn't there.

_____________________________

FORUM POLL – Best Films 2009

SAVE THE KAKAPO!

May 09 Invisible Man (1933)
Jun 09 You, The Living (2007)
Jul 09 Watchmaker of St Paul (1974)
Aug 09 An Actor's Revenge (1963)
Sep 09 A Canterbury Tale (1944)
Oct 09 Up (2009)
Nov 09 Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988)
Dec 09 Longest Day (1962)
Jan 10 Hue and Cry (1947)

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RE: The Top 100 Living Actors 2008 - 7/7/2008 4:17:28 PM   
Beetlejuice!


Posts: 3251
Joined: 24/11/2005
quote:

ORIGINAL: Dantes Inferno

Since your formula is secret, does that mean that we get no sense of how you placing works?


It mainly involves a couple of the main movie sites on the web interspersed with critical acclaim and award nominations. But a secret formula wouldn't be one unless it remained just that...

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RE: The Top 100 Living Actors 2008 - 7/7/2008 4:19:44 PM   
Beetlejuice!


Posts: 3251
Joined: 24/11/2005
quote:

ORIGINAL: homersimpson_esq

Have to agree with elab about The Cooler - that deserves to be in the list. Also, little mention for Macy's guest starring as the POTUS in "The Unit", which considering it was created by David Mamet isn't too surprising. Interesting there's only one of the Macy/Mamet collaborations in your top 5 there. They have a good working relationship. I have yet to see Spartan, but it's meant to be quite good. State and Main is great fun too.

And no The Ice Storm for Joan Allen?

Looking forward to this list - I enjoyed it last year (has it really been a year?)!



It has indeed, how time flies in movieland.

And unfortunately yes, as I've limited it to 5 performances per actor it also means that a lot of their best work has to be side stepped. But then that's what you guys are here for to give a shout out for all the other great performances.

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RE: The Top 100 Living Actors 2008 - 7/7/2008 4:36:24 PM   
Beetlejuice!


Posts: 3251
Joined: 24/11/2005
98. Michelle Pfeiffer
 
 
A classically beautiful blonde whose striking good looks, poise and talent have made her one of Hollywood's most valuable--and likeable--assets.
 
2007 position: n/a (NEW ENTRY)
 
Top 5 Performances
 
 
1. Dangerous Liaisons (1988) - Madame Marie de Tourvel
The prim-turned-passionate lover Madame de Tourvel garnered her a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award nomination.
 
2. Scarface (1983) - Elvira Hancock
The portrayal of Al Pacino's wife in Brian De Palma's classic garnered the actress favorable attention and great opportunities.
 
3. Stardust (2007) - Lamia
Pfeiffer's comeback seems to be predicated on getting in touch with her inner bitch. She's splendidly nasty and scary as Lamia. And the uglier and older she gets, the meaner and funnier she gets.
 
4. The Age of Innocence (1993) - Ellen Olenska
Perhaps one of Pfeiffer's most demanding roles was that of Countess Olenska in Martin Scorsese's period drama, playing the seductively bruised, married woman who is scorned by New York's upper class, yet adored by Daniel Day-Lewis.
 
5. White Oleander (2002) - Ingrid Magnussen
Pfeiffer is amazingly beautiful and strong as Ingrid, and she manages to burn the character into our brains even when she's not on the screen.
 

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RE: The Top 100 Living Actors 2008 - 7/7/2008 4:41:43 PM   
Beetlejuice!


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97. Isabelle Adjani
 
 
A luminous brunette with porcelain skin and expressive blue eyes, Isabelle Adjani brings a mixture of fragility and fierceness to her screen portrayals.
 
2007 position: #94
 
Top 5 Performances
 
 
1. The Story of Adele H (1975) - Adele Hugo
Adjani earned international stardom as Victor Hugo's love-obsessed daughter in Francois Truffaut's biographical drama. That film earned her a number of awards and her first Oscar nomination as Best Actress. It also laid the groundwork for what has become Adjani's signature role in films: the intense, unstable, infatuated female.
 
2. Camille Claudel (1988) - Camille Claudel
Teaming (as producer and star) with former companion and first-time director Bruno Nuytten, Adjani had one of her best screen roles portraying sculptor Camille Claudel, the mistress of August Rodin (Gerard Depardieu). As she had done over a decade earlier as Adele Hugo, the actress fully conveyed the passion and spirit of a strong-willed woman who descends into madness. Adjani earned her second Best Actress Oscar nomination.
 
3. One Deadly Summer (1983) - Eliane dite 'Ellie'
Adjani garnered both her second César and another helping of controversy. The film was a box-office hit and created many new fans for the actress.
 
4. La Reine Margot (1994) - Margot
Based on Victor Hugo's novel, Patrice Chereau's film provided the actress with another in her galaxy of fragile women surrounded by violence.
 
5. Possession (1981) - Anna/Helen
Named Best Actress at the 1981 Cannes Film Festival as the unfaithful wife of Sam Neill struggling with demons. She also won for her role in Quartet.

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RE: The Top 100 Living Actors 2008 - 7/7/2008 4:47:44 PM   
Beetlejuice!


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96. Willem Dafoe
 
 
Known for the darkly eccentric characters he often plays, Willem Dafoe is one of the screen's more provocative and engaging actors. Strong-jawed and wiry, he has commented that his looks make him ideal for playing the boy next door — if you happen to live next door to a mausoleum.
 
2007 position: #93
 
Top 5 Performances
 
 
1. Platoon (1986) - Sgt. Elias Grodin
Making his breakthrough in Oliver Stone's account of the Vietnam war. His portrayal of the insouciant, pot-smoking Sgt. Elias earned him Hollywood recognition and a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination.
 
2. Finding Nemo (2003) - Gill
Shifting to animation, Dafoe was the voice of Gil, the hard-edged, but noble angelfish plotting escape from an Australian fish tank.
 
3. Wild at Heart (1990) - Bobby Peru
Homicidal tendencies and a mouthful of rotting teeth, he played an ex-marine in David Lynch's surreal road movie.
 
4. Shadow of the Vampire (2000) - Max Schrek
A sensational performance as German actor Max Schreck, for which he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. In this speculative behind-the-scenes look at the filming of the 1922 classic "Nosferatu," Dafoe was cast as the ultimate Method actor, and his delicious impersonation—he was unrecognizable under makeup—anchors the film, especially when Schreck engages in a battle of wills with director F. W. Murnau (John Malkovich).
 
5. The Boondock Saints (1999) - Paul Smecker
Delivered a curiously eccentric turn as a gay FBI agent in this little-seen crime thriller.

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RE: The Top 100 Living Actors 2008 - 7/7/2008 4:56:47 PM   
Piles


Posts: 3177
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From: Oxford by way of Wolverhampton.
 Great to see this thread back. I'm happy to see Macy, Dafoe, and Pfeiffer in here so far. Will make sure to keep a close eye on proceedings as we go along!

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RE: The Top 100 Living Actors 2008 - 7/7/2008 5:46:49 PM   
no1psh


Posts: 651
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From: The Narrows
 Looking forward to this list, its a good start so far. I'm happy that William H.Macy is included he's a really good actor.

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RE: The Top 100 Living Actors 2008 - 8/7/2008 4:10:07 AM   
Gimli The Dwarf


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 A fine start. I'll echo other by saying that Macy is too low, but at least he makes the top 100. Nice to see Magnolia listed. Allen is great also, as is Dafoe. Pfeiffer is often under recognised I think, but I woulnd't have had Scarface in the top 5. And as for Adjani, I don't think I've actualy seen her in anything.

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RE: The Top 100 Living Actors 2008 - 8/7/2008 4:13:16 PM   
Beetlejuice!


Posts: 3251
Joined: 24/11/2005
95. Liam Neeson
 
 
Physically imposing but gentle in temperament, Irish born actor Liam Neeson has been called to play some of film's most interesting and paradoxical heroes. From real life legends like Oskar Schindler and Michael Collins to classic literature's Jean Valjean and even the modern day antihero Darkman, Neeson's masterful characterizations of flawed men capable of extraordinary things have established him as a performer of great note, bringing an uncommon humble grace to his profession.
2007 position: #92

Top 5 Performances
 
 
1. Schindler's List (1993) - Oskar Schindler
Neeson's soft-spoken masculinity and serene power made him a perfect choice to play the Austrian businessman who, while imperfect, was fundamentally a savior, rescuing over 1,000 Jews marked for death at the hands of the Nazis. His charismatic and nuanced performance won rave reviews and brought him a Best Actor Academy Award nomination. After dozens of film appearances, Neeson had finally arrived.
 
2. Kinsey (2004) - Alfred Kinsey
Neeson gave a bravura performance as the noted sex researcher Alfred Kinsey in writer-director Bill Condon's biopic opposite Laura Linney, for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actor, but snubbed out of a nomination at the Oscars.
 
3. Batman Begins (2005) - Henri Ducard
Neeson was appropriately ambiguous in the role of the malevolent Henri Ducard, a mysterious member of the League of Shadows and a key figure in Bruce Wayne early transformation into the Dark Knight.
 
4. Love Actually (2003) - Daniel
Dialing down into a more sensitive mode, Neeson appeared in the large ensemble of writer-director Richard Curtis' multi-arc romantic comedy effectively playing a recently widowed stepfather who struggles to forge a deeper relationship with his late wife's son (Thomas Sangster).
 
5. Michael Collins (1996) - Michael Collins
After over a decade of planning, Neil Jordan was finally able to make Michael Collins, due both to the success of Interview With the Vampire (1994) and the emergence of his chosen star [Neeson] as a box office draw. With a supporting cast featuring such notables as Aidan Quinn, Alan Rickman, Stephen Rea and Julia Roberts, the film told of the legendary Irish revolutionary who fought for a free and peaceful republic. The film was met with some political resistance, but was undeniable as a stirring, beautifully made and masterfully acted work, winning the highest prize of the Venice Film Festival, the Golden Lion as well as earning Neeson the festival's Best Actor award.

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RE: The Top 100 Living Actors 2008 - 8/7/2008 4:16:55 PM   
Beetlejuice!


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94. Gerard Depardieu
 
 
A burly, highly talented leading man and one of Europe's most prolific screen performers from the 1970s onward, Gerard Depardieu was once described as both a "loutish giant" and an international sex symbol, As an actor, he brings to his portrayals an intensity and attention to detail that endows all his characters with a sense of urgency.

2007 position: #91

Top 5 Performances
 
 
1. Cyrano de Bergerac (1990) - Cyrano de Bergerac
The actor earned some of the best reviews of his career (as well as a Best Actor Oscar nomination) for his interpretation of the classic role in Jean-Paul Rappeneau's screen version.
 
2. The Last Metro (1980) - Bernard Granger
Depardieu offered a sterling, award-winning performance as a Resistance fighter in this dark drama.
 
3. Jean de Florette (1986) - Jean de Florette
Delivering a terrific turn as a naive, inexperienced farmer.
 
4. Police (1985) - Mangin
He dominated this middling crime drama as a tough cop cracking down on a drug ring.
 
5. Danton (1983) - Danton
Giving a passionate interpretation of the title role in Andrzej Wajda's drama about the Reign of Terror following the French Revolution.

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RE: The Top 100 Living Actors 2008 - 8/7/2008 4:21:39 PM   
Beetlejuice!


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93. Tom Courtenay
 
 
Best known for his many distinguished years in British theater, Tom Courtenay is also a noted film star who, while never achieving the fame of his contemporaries Albert Finney and Alan Bates, has earned great respect for his memorable performances.
 
2007 position: #88
 
Top 5 Performances
 
 
1. The Dresser (1983) - Norman
Reprising his popular stage role, opposite Albert Finney in Peter Yates' film version, Courtenay received a Best Actor Academy Award nomination.
 
2. Doctor Zhivago (1965) - Pasha
An Oscar-nominated turn as the revolutionary Pasha in David Lean's lavish epic.
 
3. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962) - Colin Smith
His gaunt physique bespoke generations of malnutrition and lent itself perfectly to the Borstal boy of his memorable film debut in Tony Richardson's bleak "angry young man" drama.
 
4. Billy Liar (1963) - William Terrence 'Billy' Fisher
Equipped with hard, bitter eyes and a mouth that suited him well for sullen roles, Courtenay was equally effective early on playing naive or innocent parts, like the dreamy, Walter Mittyesque, reprising his West End stage role.
 
5. King & Country (1964) - Pvt. Arthur Hamp
Playing the World War I soldier on trial for desertion in Joseph Losey's war drama.


< Message edited by Beetlejuice! -- 8/7/2008 4:22:26 PM >

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RE: The Top 100 Living Actors 2008 - 8/7/2008 4:27:46 PM   
Beetlejuice!


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92. Judy Davis
 
 
If a woman with an opinion in Hollywood is considered hazardous then Australian Judy Davis could easily qualify as one dangerous female. The petite, pale redhead, whose slash of red or brown lipstick has almost become her trademark, is considered one of the finest actresses of contemporary cinema and has garnered a reputation for her passion, high artistic standards and frank speech. Not unlike Bette Davis in the 1930s and 40s, Judy Davis was not one to suffer fools and had no trouble expressing her feelings. To her, the work was paramount and she consistently has delivered superb performances whether acting on stage, screen or TV.
2007 position: #87

Top 5 Performances
 
 
1. My Brilliant Career (1979) - Sybylla Melvyn
Winning the star-making role of Sybylla Melvyn, the headstrong anti-heroine. Davis later admitted she had difficulties with the neurotic character and occasionally clashed with director Gillian Armstrong, but her performance was undeniably forceful and earned her numerous accolades including Best Actress citations from the British Film Academy and the Australian Film Institute.Sybylla Melvyn may not have been an appealing personage to portray but she represented what became a typical Judy Davis role--a strong, plain-speaking woman who shatters social mores.
 
2. Husbands and Wives (1992) - Sally
Davis received a well-deserved Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination playing a cynical, neurotic woman who sabotages her relationships until she discovers true love in Woody Allen's comedy drama.
 
3. Barton Fink (1991) - Audrey Taylor
Davis lent her careworn but attractive presence and edgy performance style to an intriguingly uptight but sympathetic character for the Coen brothers playing the lover of a William Faulkner-like author in their study of Hollywood.
 
4. A Passage to India (1984) - Adela Quested
Davis resisted Hollywood but did accept the leading role of the genteel cultural adventuress Adela Quested. Again, there were reports of conflict with aged director David Lean, but the ultimate onscreen result was a rich performance of grace and skill that earned her a Best Actress Academy Award nomination.
 
5. Impromptu (1991) - George Sand/Aurora
Another rich performance as the lusty George Sand in this period drama.

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RE: The Top 100 Living Actors 2008 - 8/7/2008 4:36:37 PM   
Beetlejuice!


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91. Laurence Fishburne
 
 
Possessing as much flash, energy and intelligence as anyone currently in the game, Laurence Fishburne has certainly played his share of regulation black hoodlums and threats but also has benefited from color-blind casting as his tour de force Broadway performance as England's King Henry II (opposite Stockard Channing as his Eleanor) in a 1999 revival of "The Lion in Winter" attests. His role as Cowboy Curtis, best buddy to Pee-wee Herman on TV's legendary kid series "Pee-wee's Playhouse", is another reminder of his tremendous versatility.
2007 position: #86

Top 5 Performances
 
 
1. What's Love Got to Do With It (1993) - Ike Turner
Fishburne earned a Best Actor Oscar nomination for his riveting, unflattering portrait of 60s pop star Ike Turner, so critical to the success of the Tina Turner biopic, which reunited the actor with Angela Bassett, his estranged wife in Boyz N the Hood.
 
2. Akeelah and the Bee (2006) - Dr. Larabee
What's Love Got to Do With It's stars Fishburne and Bassett team up again to add instant credibility to the film. As Larabee, Sir Laurence sports his usual stern persona, pouring on the tough love as he gets Akeelah to realize she's one smart cookie.
 
3. The Matrix (1999) - Morpheus
Enjoying his biggest commercial success to date with the sci-fi actioner. Finding a balance between action hero and Zen Master, Fishburne offered a commanding presence as the mysterious revolutionary Morpheus.
 
4. Mystic River (2003) - Sgt. Whitey Powers
The actor was used to strong effect by director Clint Eastwood, playing police detective Whitey Powers, who doubts the ability of his partner (Kevin Bacon) to stay impartial on a homicide case involving two of his childhood friends (Sean Penn and Tim Robbins).
 
5. Boyz n the Hood (1991) - Jason 'Furious' Styles
Providing the moral center of as Furious Styles, a model father who steers his son away from L.A. gang life.

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Post #: 24
RE: The Top 100 Living Actors 2008 - 8/7/2008 8:29:45 PM   
Harry Lime


Posts: 4234
Joined: 30/9/2005
Hurrah! It's back. Still a shame to see Joan Allen so low but nevermind. I will, once again, follow this with interest.

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Post #: 25
RE: The Top 100 Living Actors 2008 - 9/7/2008 1:24:21 AM   
Beetlejuice!


Posts: 3251
Joined: 24/11/2005
90. Dennis Hopper
 
 
The odyssey of Dennis Hopper has been one of Hollywood's longest, strangest trips. A onetime teen performer, he went through a series of career metamorphoses — studio pariah, rebel filmmaker, drug casualty, and comeback kid — before finally settling comfortably into the role of character actor par excellence, with a rogues' gallery of killers and freaks unmatched in psychotic intensity and demented glee. Along the way, Hopper defined a generation, documenting the shining hopes and bitter disappointments of the hippie counterculture and bringing their message to movie screens everywhere. By extension, he spearheaded a revolt in the motion picture industry, forcing the studio establishment to acknowledge a youth market they'd long done their best to deny.
 
 
2007 position: #84
 
Top 5 Performances
 
 
1. Blue Velvet (1986) - Frank Booth
Hopper returned to prominence with a vengeance. His role as the feral, psychopathic Frank Booth in David Lynch's masterpiece Blue Velvet was among the most stunning supporting turns in recent memory.
 
2. Easy Rider (1969) - Billy
His anti-establishment reputation was consolidated by his directorial debut of. A road movie on motorcycles through reactionary America--a trip in more than one sense--the film featured a notorious psychedelic sequence, shot in a cemetery in New Orleans. Hailed by critics, feted at the Cannes Film Festival as a major new filmmaker, Hopper also found success at home when the low-budget movie was a boxoffice smash--taking in over $50 million in Hopper's recent estimation. The Easy Rider phenomenon sent shockwaves through Hollywood, where dozens of production executives found themselves pink-slipped, and marked the changeover from the Old Guard to the youth culture inside the studios.

3. Apocalypse Now (1979) - Photojournalist
An interesting but bizarre appearance as a disturbed photojournalist in Francis Ford Coppola's war epic did little to repair most perceptions of his sanity.

4. Hoosiers (1986) - Shooter
His touching performance as an alcoholic assistant coach in the basketball drama earned an Academy Award nomination.

5. True Romance (1993) - Clifford Worley
Tony Scott gave him one of his favorite scenes of his film career. As the generally sympathetic former cop father of the anti-hero Christian Slater, Hopper gets tortured by gangster Christopher Walken before launching into an unforgettable Quentin Tarantino-scripted speech about the ancestry of Sicilians.


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Post #: 26
RE: The Top 100 Living Actors 2008 - 9/7/2008 2:02:45 AM   
rawlinson


Posts: 8923
Joined: 13/6/2008
This is a fascinating list so far. It's a shame that Out Of The Blue or The Last Movie didn't make the list of great Hopper performances though.

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Post #: 27
RE: The Top 100 Living Actors 2008 - 9/7/2008 5:50:54 AM   
Gimli The Dwarf


Posts: 58975
Joined: 30/9/2005
From: The spaceship Swine Trek
 Nice to see Schindler's List and The Dresser top the lists for Neeson and Courtenay. Neither have been better in my eyes. Also good to see Jean de Florette get a mention.

I can't even remember Fishburne in Mystic River!


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Post #: 28
RE: The Top 100 Living Actors 2008 - 9/7/2008 11:14:02 AM   
TRM


Posts: 2803
Joined: 20/10/2006
From: Bristol
quote:

ORIGINAL: Gimli The Dwarf

I can't even remember Fishburne in Mystic River!



I was just thinking the same thing

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Post #: 29
RE: The Top 100 Living Actors 2008 - 9/7/2008 11:23:34 AM   
Beetlejuice!


Posts: 3251
Joined: 24/11/2005
quote:

ORIGINAL: TRM

quote:

ORIGINAL: Gimli The Dwarf

I can't even remember Fishburne in Mystic River!



I was just thinking the same thing


lol, probably because there wasn't too much to do with the character but Fishburne as always gave a quietly dignified performance. Others may just say he was just forgettable.

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Post #: 30
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