DeNiro hasn't impressed me since RONIN...he hasn't carried a film on his own in over 10 years...and so jumped the shark when he played fearless Leader in Rocky & Bullwinkle...

To answer the question...EVER...Katherine Hepburn, Montgomery Clift, Brando, and maybe Pacino can be oin the BEST EVER catagory

Todays 30+ breed are quite impressive...DiCaprio...Depp...DelToro...Cheadle...Downey Jr and company  are quite strong...I also like Canada's Callum Keith Rennie as well as George Clooney.

It recent years i have really started to enjoy and even prefer ensemble casts...The Ocean movies for example...where the screen chemistry seem great fun and everyone feeds off each other.

I also think that Jack Black is (usually) funny and I thought Tropic Thunder was hilarious due to the many stars...that cold turkey scene almost made me piss myself.

I don't go see movies anymore simply because Blah Blah Blah is in it...

Brando
De Niro
Nicholson
Welles
Pacino
Olivier
Hoffmann (thanks, HoS - a terrible oversight on my part)
Chaplin
Bogie
Guinness
Keaton
Henry Fonda
Depp - possibly the best on current form. Tremendously versatile.
Gary Oldman would run him a close second though. Day-Lewis is terrific as well.


oh..and Laurel & Hardy.   Perfect comic timing isn't a talent that should be lightly regarded.


Could never see the attraction of Nicolas Cage, myself. Likewise with Brad Pitt.

Agree that De Niro hasnt done much in some time. However, just read today that Scorsese is talking about making another movie with him - their first since 'Casino' - and it'd be a gangster movie. Might be some life in the old dog yet.

Best female - Katherine Hepburn, Meryl Streep.
Currently - Cate Blanchett, by a mile.

Montgomery Clift-he was fucking brilliant.  Anyone saw "Misfits"?

Brando-Briiliant Actor; Ravaged Private Life.

Gary Cooper

I also like Depp, Mickey Rourke, Eric Roberts (Julia's talented older brother) and  Benicio Del Toro.

My favs:

Olivier
Rex Harrison
Harrison Ford
Richard Burton
Kirk Douglas
Yul Brenner
Spencer Tracy
Cary Grant
Robin Williams
Johnny Depp - Ed Wood alone is freaking brilliant


Honorable mention - Val Kilmer for Tombstone and Salton Sea

Females:
Katherine Hepburn
Vivien Leigh
Lauren Bacall
Helena Bonham Carter
Gene Tierney
Maureen O'Hara

" DeNiro .... hasn't carried a film on his own in over 10 years...  "

Concur .


However , there is ALWAYS Hope . 

Joey Shawshank ! ™

Factory Girl wrote on Feb 15^th, 2010 at 5:36pm:


Wow - pretty surprised that there are so many Montgomery Clift fans here! Count me in as well.



Ever see him in "Judgement at Nuremberg"? (It's about a military tribunal, btw)
It's a small role, and very late in his career, but DAMN.


Joe Strummer turned me on to Monty.

Jesus Christ wrote on Feb 16^th, 2010 at 12:57pm:


Ah, yes...The Left Profile...He's Montgomery Clift, Baby!!!

He was nominated for the role in Judgment...a retarded man who had been tortured by the Nazis by having electrodes attached to his balls...his first for Supporting actor...he had 3 previous nominations for best actor...all in a span of about 5 years!!!

Paranoid Android wrote on Feb 16^th, 2010 at 1:04pm:


Er...it was actually Monty's Right Profile which was less damaged in his catastrophic car wreck.

Say, where have I seen this guy?
In "Red River'?
Or "A Place in the Sun"?
Maybe "The Misfits"?
Or "From Here to Eternity"?

Everybody say, "What's he like?"
Everybody say, "Is he all right?"
Everybody say, "He sure looks funny."
That's...Montgomery Clift, honey!

New York, New York, New York, 42nd Street
Hustlers rustle and pimps pimp the beat
Monty Clift is recognized at dawn
He ain't got no shoes and his clothes are torn

I see a car smashed at night
Cut the applause and dim the light
Monty's face is broken on a wheel
Is he alive? Can he still feel?

Nembutol numbs it all
But I prefer alcohol
He said go out and get me my old movie stills
Go out and get me another roll of pills
There I go again shaking, but I ain't got the chills

ARRRGHHHGORRA BUH BHUH DO ARRRRGGGGHHHHNNNN!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wDqwm-Yhmo

Monty, Brando, Dean, the triumvant.
Although Dean was still a work in progress, these three helped set the tone for the of Pacinos and Deniros.
Cary Grant, underrated as an actor....he was a funny, serious, quirky man.
You know who Brando and Dean loved as young actors? Mickey Rooney....no joke, Rooney, in an era of matinee idols, was earthy and subtle in his better films...and kicked ass in The Comedian, a Playhouse 90 production from the 50s....
Rooney was also one of the few in the older generation who welcomed guys like Brando and Dean. .
There are many current actors i like now, but those old guys were pure magic.
Factory, , did you ever see Clift ini Indescretions of an American Wife with Jennifer Jones..? Her quiet intensity was a great match for his quiet intensity...which didn't happen often.
Glad you mentioned Eric Roberts, He was amazing in Star 80 and hilarious in Pope of Greenwich Village...
The crazy, reckless guys like Roberts and Rourke are worth 10 perfectly managed, charming and normal Matt Damons, Dicaprios and Clooneys....

Factory Girl wrote on Feb 16^th, 2010 at 3:16pm:


Yes, that's a good one.

I've read two bios of Monty - by Patricia Bosworth and Robert LaGuardia. I think Bosworth's was the best.

Robert De Niro
Al Pacino
Clint Eastwood
Morgan Freeman

Nobody can touch them 

Er...it was actually Monty's Right Profile which was less damaged in his catastrophic car wreck.


I am soooooooooo embarrassed!!!


Not only being a huge MC fan...but a JS/Clash fan as well...ohhhh, the shame Will Robinson!!!