Who started as a singer and eventually starred in movies?
Who's the best singer-turned-actor (male edition)?
by Anonymous | reply 49 | December 3, 2021 4:31 PM |
Desi Arnaz!
by Anonymous | reply 1 | November 27, 2021 5:42 PM |
I love Bing's old films.
by Anonymous | reply 2 | November 27, 2021 6:16 PM |
Toss up between Sinatra and Crosby. Both were great singers and actors. Sinatra wins as a singer but I can't decide on who was the better actor.
by Anonymous | reply 3 | November 27, 2021 6:21 PM |
Since when was Liberace a singer?
by Anonymous | reply 4 | November 27, 2021 6:57 PM |
Mario Lanza became a huge box office star
by Anonymous | reply 6 | November 27, 2021 7:03 PM |
Vic Damone appeared in a few MGM musicals.
Tony Bennett was in one of the worst movies of all time, "The Oscar."
Perry Como did a few musicals.
Sammy Davis, Jr. did some movies and TV.
But one who DEFINITELY belongs on OP's list is Dean Martin.
by Anonymous | reply 7 | November 27, 2021 9:05 PM |
Pia Zadora
by Anonymous | reply 8 | November 27, 2021 9:07 PM |
Kris Kristofferson
Ice-T and Ice Cube, if you can call what they do "singing." Same for Ludacris and Common.
by Anonymous | reply 9 | November 27, 2021 9:09 PM |
Dean Martin was a very good dramatic actor.
Check out "Some Came Running".
by Anonymous | reply 10 | November 27, 2021 9:10 PM |
Davy Jones
by Anonymous | reply 11 | November 27, 2021 9:11 PM |
Fabian
Frankie Avalon
Bobby Rydell
by Anonymous | reply 12 | November 27, 2021 9:11 PM |
Bobby Darin
by Anonymous | reply 13 | November 27, 2021 9:12 PM |
Roy Rogers
by Anonymous | reply 14 | November 27, 2021 9:13 PM |
Will was a rapper not a singer. But yeah, he's a Hollywood blockbuster star.
I don't remember Elvis doing much acting in his films. He seemed to be imitating Brando and Dean in Jailhouse Rock.
David Bowie was great in most of what I saw him in. It helps he was trained in theatre.
I need to watch some Sinatra films.
by Anonymous | reply 15 | November 27, 2021 9:17 PM |
Marky Mark Wahlberg
by Anonymous | reply 16 | November 27, 2021 9:21 PM |
Donnie and Mark Wahlberg both became successful actors.
Nick Jonas does acting as well.
Ricky Martin acts from time to time.
Bow Wow too.
Not saying any of them are great though.
by Anonymous | reply 17 | November 27, 2021 9:23 PM |
What a ridiculous list OP.
by Anonymous | reply 18 | November 29, 2021 4:34 AM |
Kristofferson was a much better actor than singer, though he was a good songwriter.
Dennis Wilson and James Taylor were both used effectively in Two Lane Blacktop, though they were more presences than actors. Or maybe they were just super hot. At any rate, I don't think either one acted again.
by Anonymous | reply 19 | November 29, 2021 5:52 AM |
Definitely NOT Eddie Fisher in "Butterfield 8".
by Anonymous | reply 20 | November 29, 2021 9:40 AM |
Well, I never!
by Anonymous | reply 21 | November 29, 2021 9:44 AM |
OP is from Kentucky, apparently.
And how could she not add Johnny Hallyday to her list?
by Anonymous | reply 22 | November 29, 2021 9:53 AM |
As an earlier poster noted, Crosby and Sinatra definitely made some real transformations of singer-to-actor, especially Sinatra who was nothing but a skinny "boy crooner" who has bobby soxers screaming and swooning for him at the Paramount theatre in New York City.
However, if you want to see a fresh-faced, harmless, boy-next-door male singer/actor really become the "best", read up on Dick Powell. Originally the male singer for a some big band orchestras, he was then cast over and over by Warner in musicals like 42nd Street, Goldiggers of 1933, The Singing Marine.
From Wikipedia, "Powell's career changed dramatically when he was cast in the first of a series of films noir, as private detective Philip Marlowe in Murder, My Sweet (1944), directed by Edward Dmytryk at RKO. The film was a big hit, and Powell had successfully reinvented himself as a dramatic actor." Later, "For Columbia, he played a casino owner in Johnny O'Clock (1947) and made To the Ends of the Earth (1948). Also in 1948, he stepped out of the brutish type when he starred in Pitfall, a film noir in which a bored insurance-company worker falls for an innocent but dangerous woman, played by Lizabeth Scott."
He had an interesting life, starting in Arkansas, traveling with a big band, landing contracts to become an actor, etc... but is not as well-remembered as Crosby or Sinatra - Powell died much earlier, from cancer, and his personal/family life was not a tumultuous as Bing and Frank's.
by Anonymous | reply 23 | November 29, 2021 10:17 AM |
Does someone like Dick Powell qualify? Did he have a recording career before he started acting? Irene Dunne was a very successful Broadway musical comedy star and became an excellent actress also. Ginger Rogers (ugh) sang in movies before going on to win an Oscar (which should be snatched away). By R23's measure, I'd include them too, but I don't think that's what the OP meant. Points for remembering Dick Powell though!
by Anonymous | reply 24 | November 29, 2021 5:37 PM |
I wonder if Dick Powell knew that June was cheating on him with Jerry Lewis, and if so, did he try to rub her out?
by Anonymous | reply 25 | December 1, 2021 11:33 PM |
Kristofferson is a good choice, r9
by Anonymous | reply 26 | December 1, 2021 11:36 PM |
Who could forget Lance Bass in On the Line!
by Anonymous | reply 27 | December 1, 2021 11:37 PM |
These are some awful choices.
by Anonymous | reply 28 | December 1, 2021 11:37 PM |
Diana Ross
by Anonymous | reply 29 | December 1, 2021 11:37 PM |
Absolutely Frank. He could play a swinger, soldier, sailor, detective, junkie, assassin, gambler, and more.
by Anonymous | reply 30 | December 1, 2021 11:40 PM |
Just like Streisand and Garland have no peers in this category, ditto Sinatra (and I think he was a thug half the time). He was a fine singer and pretty effective actor too- very natural.
by Anonymous | reply 31 | December 1, 2021 11:41 PM |
I really, I mean *really* like Bowie as an actor, and I think it's a shame he didn't appear in more movies. He was amazingly photogenic, and in a highly unusual way where he read as both handsome and disturbing, and was a good actor as well as an extremely interesting screen presence.
Of course I understand that acting was always a secondary interest for him, that music gave him a primary creative outlet, where he wrote everything and ran the show. But I still think it's a pity he didn't find more time for his second job.
by Anonymous | reply 32 | December 1, 2021 11:43 PM |
I will say Elvis showed some promise in his early roles. Sadly, especially after his stint in the Army, he was just cast in an endless parade of formulaic films, which made a lot of money but didn't stretch him. the only reason "Viva Las Vegas" rose above his usual fare is because the pairing of him and Ann-Margaret was electric.
There are two movies, which he didn't do because of Colonel Tom Parker, that I would've liked to see how he would've been in them. Famously, Babs wanted him for "A Star Is Born," in his later years, which would've either been sublime or a disaster. But, according to a few books I have read there were also discussions about him and Sammy Davis, Jr. starring in the roles played by Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis in "The Defiant Ones." Roles that earned both of them Best Actor nominations. If he had got to star in a serious film like that early on, his career might have been different. It might have also helped Sammy Davis Jr. to earn the recognition he deserved. Also, having Elvis in such a picture would've been huge when it came to discussions about civil rights.
by Anonymous | reply 33 | December 1, 2021 11:50 PM |
Beginning your poll with Liberace invalidates it.
by Anonymous | reply 34 | December 2, 2021 3:43 AM |
R25, June was cheating on Dick Powell with Dean Martin, not Jerry Lewis.
While Dean was screwing June, Jerry was screwing Gloria DeHaven.
by Anonymous | reply 35 | December 2, 2021 3:58 AM |
R34, au contraire, it generates attention and causes the DLers to wonder what other unexpected nominees await them.
by Anonymous | reply 36 | December 2, 2021 4:08 AM |
R35 I know it probably happened but I just can't even imagine Jerry Lewis, especially young Jerry Lewis, fucking anyone. Especially not a starlet like Gloria DeHaven. I mean physically I just can't imagine it.
Dean, I can very much picture, and I enjoy picturing it.
by Anonymous | reply 37 | December 2, 2021 4:38 AM |
Chris Isaak
by Anonymous | reply 38 | December 2, 2021 5:01 AM |
Thanks for clearing that up R35. I guess I wasn't wearing my Depends when I wrote that. But please, please, please don't tell Richard!
by Anonymous | reply 39 | December 2, 2021 6:41 AM |
R24, Powell qualifies. He was the singer for a touring orchestra in the late20s, even had some records produced. He started singing/acting in the early 1930s.
I think Powell and Crosby were closer contemporaries, Sinatra came along later. Each made the leap in their own way. I chose Powell because of how many silly and cheesy films he made before showing up and wowing audiences as Marlowe.
by Anonymous | reply 40 | December 2, 2021 9:10 AM |
R39, Hedda Hopper was so irate that Dean and Jerry were openly cheating on their wives, she threatened to expose them in her column, which ended the flings with Allyson and DeHaven.
by Anonymous | reply 41 | December 2, 2021 10:06 AM |
R43 No, still no.
by Anonymous | reply 44 | December 2, 2021 4:23 PM |
Andre Holland.
by Anonymous | reply 45 | December 2, 2021 4:34 PM |
Andre Holland is a singer?
by Anonymous | reply 46 | December 3, 2021 1:14 PM |
r47 Andre Holland and Andre 3000 are not the same person.
by Anonymous | reply 48 | December 3, 2021 2:10 PM |
[quote][R47] Andre Holland and Andre 3000 are not the same person.
Well whaddya know, you're right. I've believed that incorrectly for years.
by Anonymous | reply 49 | December 3, 2021 4:31 PM |