People who are considered genuinely great actors who actually are

Margaret Sullavan

Jessica Tandy

Bette Davis, most (but not all) of the time.

Admired by his peers, and rightly so...

Gene Hackman.

Viola Davis

Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Watch TALENTED MR. RIPLEY again and see what he brings to his scenes.

Katharine Hepburn

Sylvester Stallone

[quote] Katharine Hepburn

But she was so "samey" in most of her roles.

Ah-hem. Weird to think he's 37.

R9. Yes but good acting isn't always about disappearing into a role. If so nearly all of old hollywood actors would be dismissed.

Ava Gardiner was the best actress of old hollywood. Far more talented than Hepburn or Davis. She could do comedy and drama magnificently. They could act as well ad her. And she was gorgeous.

That pic of a young Stanwyk is very modern looking. Looks a lot like Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Sorry meant to say Davis and Hepburn couldn't act as well as her.

Olivia de Havilland was better than Davis. Her acting in The Heiress was superior to anything Davis was doing.

Derek Jacobi

Vanessa Redgrave

Max Von Sydow

Davis couldn't act.

Even Gardner had a fairly low opinion of her own acting. I actually found she could be quite enjoyable (and very beautiful) and she acquitted herself decently in "The Night of the Iguana" (in the role Davis originated on Broadway, to be replaced by Shelley Winters pretty early in the run), but even Gardner would probably snort at your ranking her up there with Davis, et. al.

Gardiner was the best actress of Hollywood

Daniel Day Lewis.

Shelly Winters.

Glen Close.

Rosalind Russell

Russell was a great comedienne early in her career, but she became very arch later on.

She was not a great actress, however. Her superficial performance in Mourning Becomes Electra demonstrates that very well, even if she did get an Oscar nom (she lost to Loretta Young for The Farmer's Daughter for God's sake, so clearly the Academy members weren't so wowed by Roz either).

Chloë Sevigny

Romain Duris

Catherine Deneuve

Russell Crowe is a fat pig asshole but a good actor

Colin Firth

Streep.

Gena Rowlands

Johnny Depp, before the Pirates debacles.

Judy Davis

James Spader..

Steve Carrey.

Second R20's Daniel Day Lewis.

Some great nominations so far.

Don't agree with James Spader, and Ava Gardner (not "Gardiner') was to my mind a much, much better actress than most people gave her credit for being, was not what i would call a truly GREAT actress (of the level of a Stanwyck or a Judy Davis). But she is a very fine one.

I have never heard of Steve Carrey nor could I find him on imdb. Do you mean Steve Carrell, or Jim Carrey?

Uh, not saying some of these are wrong, but I love how nobody lists any criteria or reasons to support their claims but instead just lists the names of actors--'cough, cough' Ava Gardner--who they really like.

I thought OP's pic of Stanwyck was Kidman in :"The Hours:" (an outtake perhaps).

Joan Collins....So versatile. Her work on those 80s cinzano ads was comic genius.

Glenda Jackson: I saw her in 3 Sisters on Broadway and she was so present, nuanced, very funny, and able to command attention.

I am hoping to see her in King Lear (as Lear) on Broadway now.

Joan Collins did her best work for that perfume ad "scoundrel" "It's sophisticated and elegant, and there's something elegant about it too" great acting.

Tilda Swindon Paul Dano Benecio Del Toro Sissy Spacek Helen Mieren Lupita Marlon Brando

Robert Duvall

Yes, R33, I meant Steve Carrell.

Liv, obvs

Young Lucy was a comedic genius. Still easy to see despite all the shit she did when she became a bitter old hag.

Lucy? No bwhere near anyone on this thread.

Rachel Gurney as Lady Marjorie Bellamy on Upstairs Downstairs. She WAS Lady Marjorie not an actress playing a character.

Giulietta Masina

Setsuko Hara

Liv Ullmann

Ingrid Thulin

Wendy Hiller Alec Guinness John Gielgud

I'd make a case for Albert Finney; Diane Keaton; Robert DeNiro; and Ben Kingsley

I don't know if Sigourney Weaver is considered a great actress, but she has brought a consistent level of intensity to her performances. I would say the same of Kathleen Turner.

Everyone's entitled to their POV.

But few critics or those in the acting profession would champion Katharine Hepburn nowadays the same way they did when she was alive.

A lively, iconic screen presence? A personality? For sure.

But a great screen actor, let alone a versatile performer? Not really.

Just saying.

PS: any more than we actually believe that the old battle-axe was actually 1) charming and nice or 2) heterosexual.

Just saying.

Chloë Sevigny...she picks interesting roles, but her performances always seem a bit self-aware. Or that's how I feel, and it pulls me out of the story a bit.

Jodie, Jodie, Jodie.

Boris Karloff

Peter Cushing

Martin Sheen

Christian Bale. Sad but true.

Gene Hackman

Jack Nicholson

R56 No. one of the worst.

Charles Laughton anyone?

A big YES to Judy Davis! She's always fantastic in every role.

Quirky as she may be, I also think Frances McDormand is sensational.

Another one, who seems to be on no one's list, is Christine Lahti. Don't think she's ever given a bad performance.

Gene Hackman

Tom Hanks

Daniel Day Lewis

Laura Linney.

Isabelle Huppert.

Brenda Fricker.

Family member too.

Bogart. A great movie actor.

Leo Gorcey

Huntz Hall

Frankie Darro

Jane Frazee

Gabby Hayes

I don't think Bogart was great. Too samey. Hes like Hepburn, same in most roles, more personality than acting ability.

I give you Fredric March. No credentials required.

P.S. Everyone is entitled to their opinions. Here's mine: anybody who thinks Ava Gardner was a good actress is high, later improvements notwithstanding.

Colin Farell

I think Cary Grant was a great actor. He could do it all. Slapstick screwball comedy, light romantic comedy, sophisticated comedy, Hitchcock suspense thrillers, war epics and dramatic leads. He could be goofy, he could be sexy or he could be cold blooded. His distinctive voice and his other worldly good looks might have worked against him getting the credit he deserves.

Have you people learned NOTHING from prior threads?

With 31 Oscars, 25 Tonys, 19 Emmys, 15 Grammys, 11 Sarah Siddonses, 9 SAGs, 6 Pulitzers and one Nobel Peace Prize:

Estelle Parsons!

Sissy Spacek

Jessica Lange Veronica Cartwright Jean-Pierre Cassel I would make a tentative case for Tim Roth

"Another one, who seems to be on no one's list, is Christine Lahti. Don't think she's ever given a bad performance."

To borrow from Pauline Kael (when she was discussing Robert Duvall): "She's a great actress. She bores me blind."

Miriam Hopkins

Tilda Swinton

Michael Caine

Maggie Smith

I hear you, OP. However I prefer Stanwyck in her EVIL roles such as:

Maureen Stapleton. What a privilege to have seen her on stage. There have some as good as Maureen, but none were better.

Judy Holliday - gave one of the most sustained hilarious performances that won the Best Actress Oscar in "Born Yesterday". Yes, Bette Davis and Gloria Swanson were also great that year. But Judy could be funny, she could also be serious (see "The Marrying Kind"), she could sing (beating out Julie Andrews in "My Fair Lady" for a Tony in "Bells Are Ringing"), she was touching, she was lovable, and she was a brilliant actress.

Fredric March - a true acting chameleon - always different and equally good at drama and comedy

John Garfield -- did everything Marlon Brando is lauded for being the first before Brando and with much better diction, and also looked good shirtless and usually was even more soulful

Miriam Hopkins -- brilliant, natural actress with surprising but believable reactions in her films who successfully went from leading roles to character ones

Glenn Close -- a lot more consistent high quality performances in more varied roles than most of her contemporaries

Barbara Stanwyck - superb in drama, comedy, westerns, pre-code, post-code, tv, nearly everything she made believable

Irene Dunne -- all of the above like Barbara Stanwyck, plus she could sing Jerome Kern's music beautifully

Not usually mentioned - Herbert Marshall - always quite wonderful from the villain in "Foreign Correspondent" to Bette Davis' ill husband in "The Little Foxes" to Miriam Hopkins partner in crime in Lubitsch's "Trouble in Paradise", among many others

Herbert Marshall also did his films and stage work while mostly being able to conceal that he had lost one of his legs while fighting in WWI.

Willem Dafoe

Donald Sutherland

Myrna Loy

Robert Mitchum

Shirley Booth

Sorry, Lucy O'Ball was not great.

She had brilliant writers with ILL, which can be seen by listening to the radio version, which is every bit, if not better, but has different actors.

Even Gale Gordon is hysterical on 'My Favorite Husband.'

r24 It does not mean she wasn't a great actress.

Sometimes you are just wrong for the part.

r51

Comer Comer Comer?

Glenn Close

Daniel Day Lewis (as stated above).

Garland was a great actress when she got the chance. MGM rarely let her stop singing long enough to act. But she was wonderful in The Clock. Her A Star Is Born was too over the top with hystrionics, I feel, to really showcase her true acting talent but her later work in Judgment at Nuremburg and A Child is Waiting showed it.

Great singers like Garland also are acting while they sing.

Sorry, r91: acting while singing doesn't count.

the End.

Vivien Leigh, Eileen Atkins

R92 Guess you've never done a musical audition.

Hepburn, Bogart, and Grant were three actors who I think could be greaat when the occaasion demanded it, but they were most famous as personalities on the screen than as actors. For all three of them their voices were so distinctive (and never varied), so it was often hard to realize they had more versatility than people remember.

Hepburn could be genuinely great, and was a few times on the screen in dramatic roles, miost notably "Alice Adams" and "Long Day's Journey into Night." But she could also rely on shtick in drama, and sometimes gave dramatic performances that impressed people more for her being gallant and.or hammy rather than being convincing. "The Lion in Winter" is a classic example: many Dataloungers are CONVINCED it';s a great performance, but she's mostly just being entertaining delivering bitchy one-liners and then relying on her usual shtick while trying to b e intensely emotional. But she was almost always first-rate in comedy, particularly in "Bringing Up Baby" and "Woman of the Year."

Bogart's voice is so strangely memorable that in the memory he always seems like he's the same, but all you have to do is see one of his greatest performances (like "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre") to see how great he could truly be.

One of his directors said Cary Grant's curse was that he made everything seem so easy that it was hard to catch how fine he truly was, and i think that's true. It's easiest to see how superb he could be if you see him in his rare dramatic roles, like "Penny Serenade" and "None But the Lonely Heart." One of his problems as an actor was sometimes he took roles for which he was not right, such as the creepy "I Was a Male War Bride," or the films he unwisely made in the Sixties where he was still playing the romantic lead opposite a heroine he was much too old for (like "That Touch of Mink"). But Hepburn also took roles for which she was entirely wrong ("Dragon Seed" being ther most godawful).

Hi!

Joaquin Phoenix Christian Bale

ALbert Finney. It’s a shame he was so rarely discussed Inc these kind of discussions until he death. Even more a shame he never won an Oscar. Ultimately he was a great who was underrated because he did his own thing,

"The calla lilies are in bloom again, such a strange flower, suitable to any occasion. I carried them on my wedding day and now I place them here in memory of something that has died."

R96 well said

Anna Magnani.

Ralph Fiennes.

Michael Caine.

Sranwyck was versatile but too melodramatic. She is godawful in Sorry Wrong Number. They should have got Agnes Moorhead.

Sidney Poitier.

I disagree with the assessment of Rosalind Russell above. She could be mannered when the role demanded it. (Mame). But she was also capable of drama. Her acting in Gypsy is better and more "real" than most stage actresses who are claimed to own that role.

check out 1:30-2:45 in link:

John Hurt Alan Rickman

Edward G. Robinson

r62 I just adore Laura Linny ever since I saw the Nanny Diaries. Terrible movie, but I loved what she did with the rather one-dimensional Fifth Avenue Mom character.

Paul Newman and the best thing about him was he just got better and better as he got older. The Verdict can stand with any of the best film performances and then some.

Gena Rowlands

Imogene Coca

Lana Turner

Za su pitts

Jayne Mansfield

R107 you are right

Ben Whishaw

Mark Rylance

F. Murray Abraham

Kerry Fox

Cillian Murphy

Sir John Hurt Peter Capaldi

Christian Bale.

118 entries and no mention of the best-- on stage and screen--Ingrid Bergman

+1 with r114 on Mark Rylance.

I'm not going to articulate this clearly because I find it hard to describe my reaction to his Thomas Cromwell in "Wolf Hall" but, I'll try.

Laugh if you will, but he made me feel like I was along side him seeing and hearing what he was seeing and hearing in the court of Henry VIII; it's almost as though I wasn't a mere observer through the TV, but part of the court, too.

Of course, the story actually isn't told by Thomas Cromwell, it's told by the courtiers and he's reacting to them not with his voice, but , as with his eyes and ears. As soon as I caught on to that I was mesmerized.

Cicely Tyson.

"but, as the spy he was, with his eyes and ears."

Jeremy Irons Jack Cassidy

Jeff Bridges (minus the pay check crap)

Today, most people would interpret “great actor” as “believable as a real person” in a role. Another kind of great acting isn’t believable, but is transporting. Bette Davis was great in that respect (as opposed to Joan Crawford, whom many compare with Davis because both were melodramatic, but Crawford rarely hit emotional chords for audiences).

You’ll probably tear me apart for some of these, but to me these are all truly great performers of our time:

—Cate Blanchett

—Nicole Kidman

—Kate Winslet

—Judi Dench

—Glenn Close (The Wife blew me away, and I just saw the 1990 Hamlet this weekend not realizing she played Gertrude in it—she is fucking incredible and so woefully underrated.)

—GOOP (I’m sorry!!! But she was too good in too many roles, from Emma to Proof to The Talented Mr. Ripley to discount her just because she is a con artist with a repulsive personality.)

—Claire Danes (Not an icon, but she doesn’t get the credit she deserves for her acting ability.)

Bette Midler - who else can bring the bawdy and the tears

Second Judy Davis and Christina Bale. The latter is so good I think his peers dont even know how he does it'.

Thoughts on Leonardo DiCaprio? He is popularly celebrated as great, but he usually seems like a middling (at best) actor to me. I think it’s his manner of speaking—like Ryan Phillippe, I just can’t take it seriously. I liked Romeo + Juliet despite Leo’s speak-and-spell utterances of Shakespeare’s dialogue.

Deborah Kerr

Spencer Tracy

Too bad ‘Edward My Son’ was so boring.

Emmanuelle Riva

Alan Bates was a tremendous actor...sexy as hell too.

Nathalie Baye, Dirk Bogarde, Charlotte Rampling, Carmen Maura, Burt Lancaster, Jean Simmons, Therese Russell, Mia Farrow

Julie Andrews was able to portray absolute joy in pictures such as SOM without wandering into treacly territory. Her intro scene in SOM conveys something ethereal. That is as hard to do that going to the other end of the spectrum and portraying Hannibal Lecter.

Harvey Keitel

R37 I saw Glenda in "King Lear" on Saturday. If there is evidence needed as to why we need great theater, this production is it. Between Glenda & Bryan Cranston in "Network", this has been a terrific year for plays, with Elaine May equally breathtaking in "The Waverly Gallery" and a terrific ensemble in "The Ferryman". Jeff Daniels is also supposed to be terrific in "To Kill a Mockingbird" which I see in May.

But back to the question of genuinely great actors who actually are, seeing Glenda reminded me of the legendary Dame Judith Anderson who photographed hard later in life but could be quite beautiful when the camera caught that certain angle. I saw this production of "MacBeth" with Maurice Evans last week, and she had me as riveted as Glenda did. (They both played Lady MacBeth and Queen Herodias of Judeah.)

I don't think she got the acclaim she deserved at the time, but every time I see Kay Francis on screen, I am just fascinated by her presence. Her performance in "Confession" is one of the great underrated acting jobs of all time, and she is stunning with bleached blonde hair as she makes it known to the judge in a closed courtroom as to why she shot Basil Rathbone in cold blood.

Two powerhouses whom I never can get enough of: Judith Anderson and Barbara Stanwyck in the western film noir "The Furies" (1950) with a terrific Oscar worthy performance by Walter Huston.

The great Blanche Yurka who worked on stage almost up until the end, best known on screen as Madame DeFarge in "A Tale of Two Cities" (1935). She was delightfully evil in the Republic drama "Lady For a Night" starring Joan Blondell and John Wayne, here seen with Edith Barrett playing her fragile, bullied sister.

Another vote for Sidney Poitier, Paul Newman, Gene Hackman, Fredric March, and Burt Lancaster. I'd also like to add Maggie Smith, Claude Rains and Kirk Douglas.

So many great choices here.

Mine:

Kathy Bates. Just watch Delores Claiborne.

Judith Anderson. The birthday cake scene in Cat on a hot tin roof is brilliant.

Cate Blanchett. I first noticed her in The Shipping News.

Tilda Swinton. We need to talk about Kevin. Heart breaking.

and of course my friend, ex employer and golden globe winner Pia Zadora. The lonely Lady. Film classic.

Just kidding but I love to drag her out from time to time.

I second Nicole Kidman. I don't like the idea of her - such a cold presence - but every time I see her, I'm reminded how good she is.

Charles Boyer - wonderful actor, now too frequently overlooked - probably nowadays his most seen films are "Gaslight" and more atypical (for him) "Barefoot in the Park", but he's wonderful in "Lilliom", playing Napoleon to Greta Garbo in "Conquest" and in many other films

Maggie Smith -- especially great in comedy from "Hot Millions", "California Suite", "Murder by Death" to "Downtown Abbey" and in everything from Shakespeare to Miss Jean Brodie

Deborah Kerr - such a lovely speaking voice and great in things like "Black Narcissus", "An Affair to Remember", "The King & I", "From Here to Eternity", "Tea and Sympathy", etc.

R139 I second Maggie Smith. She should have been nominated for an Oscar for the heartbreaking "The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne". Her scene in the church is one of the great breakdowns in movie history. And of course, her in comedy: "Murder By Death" and "California Suite", complaining that Glenda Jackson is nominated for an Oscar every year and never shows up, and the fact that she's done serious film and when she does get nominated, it is for a damned comedy.

Judi Dench

R24

You have it somewhat reversed. Russell started off in dramas. She had to screen test for THE WOMEN as her comedic abilities had not been used. That btw was her first major comedy role, Sylvia Fowler.

Russell was quite good in "Craig's Wife", shown recently on TCM. Apparently she read several different ways for Sylvia in "The Women" and director Cukor had her go all out in one reading. She was rather aghast at first that he wanted her to play Sylvia so over the top, but Cukor said that she had to be funny and the audience had to like her for that, otherwise she'd just be the bitchiest bitch ever. Of course, Russell was a smash in the role, and that led to her being thought more of and cast as a top comedienne from then on.

Joan Collins owns one thing. The flounce. No one has quite flounced since Alexis Carrington strutted in a miff.

Jussie Smollett . Need you ask?

Oscar Winner Natalie Portman

R147 Joan Collins in "The Opposite Sex", She was great as "Crystal" (IRONY!), conspiring with the future Mrs. Aaron Spelling (Carolyn Jones). Of course to see two women who were both married to Dick Powell (June "Miss Peter Pan Collar" Allyson and Joan "no use crying over spilled milkshake" Blondell) there makes it camp too.

Irony of ironies for "The Opposite Sex" is that aside from the opening credits, fabulous chanteuse Dolores Gray does't sing, yet sandpaper-voice June Allyson gets two songs (and one of them is dubbed!).

Peter O'Toole

R150

I'd read that there was some contention with the two Mrs. Powells; past & then current. Carolyn Jones' character wasn't a conspirator rather merely Crystal' friend who did as she was told by the stronger manipulative Crystal.

Joan Collins is not generally considered a great actor. The same is true for Ava Gardner.

This thread is not to discuss actors who are underappreciated: it is to discuss actors who ARE CONSIDERED genuinely great who actually ARE great.

If you want a thread about underappreciated actors, go start your own separate thread.

Joan Fontaine

Olivia De Havilland

or vice versa -- don't get those two started! :)

Vanessa Redgrave

Olympia Dukakis

Jane Russell

R157 Not in musicals, with her face still in hers script trying to get every "Boom Ditty Boom" in "70, Girls, 70"

John Gielgud owns this thread. He just did movies for easy cash, but could change himself just by his voice and slight body movements. While Oliver was too physical in movies, inching towards curtain chewing, Gielgud always kept the role under control. Anna Magnani was a wonderful actress, she burnt the screen with intensity. Just the final shot from Mamma Roma is so powerful. Judy Dench and Maggie Smith are both exceptional, Vanessa Redgrave is very good, but sometimes errs onto Vanessa playing the role of territory. Old stars needed charisma as well as talent, and Cary Grant had both, he was great as a movie star.

r133 one thing I've noticed about musical performances from long ago is that the actors often would fix their gaze above the horizon, off in the distance, or like looking up to "god". When I watch that I feel elevated and I feel them being elevated with their gaze. A lot of the technique singers of long ago used worked to bring us into the song or sell a mood. It's old fashioned but it definitely gives their performances that magical feeling.

Sylvia Sidney, from the waif-like heroine in films like "City Streets", "An American Tragedy" (so different than Shelley Winters in "A Place in the Sun"), "Street Scene", "Fury" and "You Only Live Once", to feisty older women from "Summer Wishes, Summer Dreams" (for which she should have won the Oscar), "An Early Frost", "Used People" and her scene-stealing comic roles directed by Tim Burton in "Beetlejuice" and "Mars Attacks!" ("They blew up congress!")

In real life, Sylvia was a very serious dramatic actress trained for the stage, which saw her departure from the movies other than a few sporadic ones in the 1940's and 50's (only seen on TV in the 1960's), but in real life could be hysterically funny. I saw her in an interview from sometime in the 1990's where she was told that Bette Davis had thought her a superb actress and was stunned and obviously touched by that revelation. I knew costume designer Michael Woulfe who was a friend of hers, and he sent her copies of films I had. After a few of the 1930 melodramas, she sent him back a note, exclaiming "Enough already!" We both had a good laugh over her bluntness, refreshing considering the phoniness today.

Sir Ralph Richardson

Vera Miles

who never achieved the stardom that she should have

"Another World" legend Constance Ford was awesome in her brief Warner Brothers contract player career, here going up against fellow future soap diva Jeanne Cooper in "House of Women". As evil as her character was in "A Summer Place", for some reason, I rooted for her, simply because it was Ada, and Sandra Dee was no Rachel Davis!

Judith Anderson

R166 I can't get enough of Dame Judith being mentioned. She appeared in three films with the great Walter Huston: "Edge of Darkness" (see below), "And Then There Were None", and his very last film, "The Furies".

R166 I can't get enough of Dame Judith being mentioned. She appeared in three films with the great Walter Huston: "Edge of Darkness" (see below), "And Then There Were None", and his very last film, "The Furies".

Thelma Ritter. Not only great in comedy, but also terrific in dramas like "Pickup on South Street" and "Birdman of Alcatraz".

Here's a recent pic of Stanwyck, she's still got it! I wonder why she doesn't work anymore?

No, 170, that's Michael Jackson in light disguise.

Peggy Ashcroft. Main reason she's not mentioned is that she did little film work, but you can catch some of her genius in the Jewel in the Crown series as a little old lady missionary having a breakdown. Won a supporting actress as Mrs. Moore in A Passage to India

Anne Bancroft

Orson Welles

Richard Harris

The great Eileen Heckart would have turned 100 tomorrow. In her first year in film alone, she gave great performances in four films: "The Bad Seed" (Oscar nomination), "Somebody Up There Likes Me", "Bus Stop", and "Miracle in the Rain", granted not a great film, but a guilty pleasure. Footage of the original "Waverly Gallery" (Off Broadway, 2000) shows an actress at the end of her career, still mesmerizing, a performance that is a combination of wit and pathos, but never sentimental to the point of annoyance.

On sitcoms, Eileen could steal a scene with a single word. On "The Five Mrs. Buchannan's", she worked opposite stage actresses Judith Ivey and Harriett Harris (no slouches either!), and got big laughs with her entrance line: "Hello." In an later episode, she is confronted over the location of the house she wanted to purchase for her newly married son and dizzy wife (basically to have free range to interfere in their lives) as being next door, and she responds hysterically with clenched teeth, "Maybe." The laughs she got were never polite, but sustained and often accompanied with applause. This woman could do it all, even musical comedy!

Emily Watson

Samantha Morton

Toni Collette

Olivia Colman

Sally Hawkins

Ben Whishaw

Mark Rylance

James McAvoy

Anthony Hopkins

Joan Collins--you must be kidding Lucille Ball--she really always played variations on her character from Sateg Door, no range and couldn't sing; her pal Ann Sothern was better on both counts but still not one of the greats. Ball could only do comedy if it was heavily scripted and teh first to admit she was a comic actress and not a comedienne. Any number of actresses were more natural comic actresses and could play straight drama well--Blondell, Lombard, Goddard among them.

Cicely Tyson Cissy Spacek Laurie Metcalf (have seen her several times on Broadway--always better than the material) John Garfield--mesmerizing on screen Barbara Stanwyck--took me a while to realize her versatility Thelma Ritter--alaways seemed to be playing teh same part but could be funny or dark Alfre Woodard--not enough good roles for her

The classic golden age types mostly worked within a screen personality. The best of them could play sympathetic and unsympathetic parts in spite of that---Davis, Boagrt, Cagney, Cary Grant

Paul Muni

Olivia, like Jane Wyman, had the acting chops, but was a tad deficient in the charisma category.

Paul Newman

Davis is iconic in Now, Voyager. I think she could have easily handled The Heiress.

Mark Ruffalo. I was watching Sharp Objects and wishing he played the Chris Messina character.

Dear OP and person who keeps bumping these Barbara Stanwyck threads.....

Are you a Stanwyck heir who gets a dollar for every post created about Barbara, or are ya just a fucking obsessive nut?

Or perhaps a little from column A and a little from column B?

Ball had so much more potential and versatility but nobody wanted to see her as anybody other than Lucy. It took her so long to get her great success she wasn't going to risk losing that. And just when she started achieving great success in middle age she started getting old very fast. I think that's why she got so bitter and foolish. A lifetime career and only one good decade.

Dame Judi Dench

Harry Baur. I rank him with Setsuko Hara.

MERYL STREEP