Everybody has a purpose in life
a disillusioned man of no productive occupation
can be productive by serving as a bad example
Best actors
- Thread starter birch
- Start date
Everybody has a purpose in life
a disillusioned man of no productive occupation
can be productive by serving as a bad example
that's ubiquitous of this world. it's a stage and most people are impostors (of the likeness of real people). identity theft of real people from another universe, perhaps?
you know you are in a freak society and don't belong here if you think the likes of madonna is trash. what kind of society would help someone like her become famous? a trashy, excessively shallow one. i can't even call it human. are they even human or below animals?
also, what was the big deal about that wench elizabeth taylor? she was not the most beautiful woman in the world nor was she a great actress but she was a fuking materialistic and animalistic slut. she was authentic in who is afraid of virginia woolf because she was playing herself which the role required. she was a poor actress in other roles because she could only play herself but no one noticed that.
i must be an alien as i don't get it.
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There are really good actors, obviously very good, impressive in range and ability and dedication, who for some reason I don't care to watch. Like some musicians, even whole genres - yes it's very good, rich, skilled, impressive stuff, I admire it no end, but if it disappeared tomorrow I wouldn't notice. Dustin Hoffman.
And then there are actors of obviously limited range and shallow abilities, who can play one role and barely that - but enjoyable, rewarding, a draw. They bring a great deal to that role, they provide a narrow window into a deep world. I would miss them, if they vanished. Clint Eastwood.
So who's a "best" actor? Best of kind, maybe, would work better. I'm still occasionally surprised to read the credits and discover that one of the characters I was watching, and worth watching, was Gary Oldman. But he can also hold the center, carry a film, at need - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. So that's this week's nominee for "chameleon" actor. And then there's this other kind: I can still remember watching this one mediocre war movie, title and plot long forgotten, a forgettable scene on a Navy ship's deck between a couple of officers - and for some damn reason my eye locked unto one of the background sailors. This guy was doing nothing - stage business, background to the scene, one of a dozen crew - and yet the eye kept drifting to him and staying there, whenever he showed up. Never spoke, or did anything furthering the plot - a minor, crowd scene role - and stole every scene he was in.
Marlon Brando.
Lots of good ones working now, but I don't see enough movies to know.
And then there are actors of obviously limited range and shallow abilities, who can play one role and barely that - but enjoyable, rewarding, a draw. They bring a great deal to that role, they provide a narrow window into a deep world. I would miss them, if they vanished. Clint Eastwood.
So who's a "best" actor? Best of kind, maybe, would work better. I'm still occasionally surprised to read the credits and discover that one of the characters I was watching, and worth watching, was Gary Oldman. But he can also hold the center, carry a film, at need - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. So that's this week's nominee for "chameleon" actor. And then there's this other kind: I can still remember watching this one mediocre war movie, title and plot long forgotten, a forgettable scene on a Navy ship's deck between a couple of officers - and for some damn reason my eye locked unto one of the background sailors. This guy was doing nothing - stage business, background to the scene, one of a dozen crew - and yet the eye kept drifting to him and staying there, whenever he showed up. Never spoke, or did anything furthering the plot - a minor, crowd scene role - and stole every scene he was in.
Marlon Brando.
Lots of good ones working now, but I don't see enough movies to know.
Like me!
professorpunctual
Registered Member
Top 5 in no particular order
1. Cate Blanchett
2. Denzel Washington
3. Gary Oldman
4. Leonardo DiCaprio
5. Brad Pitt
1. Cate Blanchett
2. Denzel Washington
3. Gary Oldman
4. Leonardo DiCaprio
5. Brad Pitt
That's charisma. It can detract from an interesting film when it's not about him; if he's central, like a Godfateher, such a magnetic personality tends to carry the whole movie and waste the efforts of other fine actors. It's what I always disliked about Richard Burton.
For chameleon of the week, I nominate Sharon Small.
DaveC426913
Valued Senior Member
This is amusing - to ascribe this to a man who played one of the most limelight-seeking, garish characters in cult film history.
(It doesn't take away your point; I just think it's an amusing juxtaposition.)
I spoke to him once, about 12 years back, in the gift shop of a gallery, along with Jennifer Tilly. They were doing a shoot of something here in T.O.
I was perfectly Canadian about it. Even he hardly noticed my presence.
Ah, "Bailey's Billions".
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There are very few actors I do not like. My favorite list would probably include several thousand.
At stage theatres, directors complain that I clap too much.
A few who come to mind presently are Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton (tho most of the times I mention Richard Burton, I am referring to the other 1), Buster Keaton, Walter Brennan, Barbara Stanwyck, Sheree North, Montgomery Cliff, Jack Elam, Ben Johnson, Jim Davis, Dennis Weaver, Jane Alexander, Mare Winningham, Jodie Foster & Sue Randall.
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At stage theatres, directors complain that I clap too much.
A few who come to mind presently are Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton (tho most of the times I mention Richard Burton, I am referring to the other 1), Buster Keaton, Walter Brennan, Barbara Stanwyck, Sheree North, Montgomery Cliff, Jack Elam, Ben Johnson, Jim Davis, Dennis Weaver, Jane Alexander, Mare Winningham, Jodie Foster & Sue Randall.
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DaveC426913
Valued Senior Member
I do not think that meets the definition of a "favorite" list.
I think probably the most famous actor still alive today: Harrison Ford.
I do not think that meets the definition of a "favorite" list.
Favorite = a person or thing that is popular or well liked by someone
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DaveC426913
Valued Senior Member
If they're all favorites, then none of them are favored.
Kirk Douglas is still alive. Just a mere 100 years young.
Peter Cushing. I like hammer films. He was also a man of substance. I respected his quote after his wife passed away. A man who obviously knows what a real bond borne of mutual respect and relationship is.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Cushing
"Since Helen passed on I can't find anything; the heart, quite simply, has gone out of everything. Time is interminable, the loneliness is almost unbearable and the only thing that keeps me going is the knowledge that my dear Helen and I will be reunited again some day. To join Helen is my only ambition. You have my permission to publish that ... really, you know, dear boy, it's all just killing time. Please say that."[10]
In his autobiography, Cushing implies that he attempted suicide on the night of his wife's death by running up and down stairs in the vain hope that it would induce a heart attack. He later stated that this had simply been a hysterical response borne out of grief, and that he had not purposely attempted to end his life; a poem left by Helen had implored him not to die until he had lived his life to the full, and he had resolved that to commit suicide would have meant letting her down. Although not conventionally religious, Cushing maintained a belief both in God and an afterlife.[11] Cushing's colleagues of that period commented on his deeply Christian faith and his conviction that his separation from his wife was only temporary.[12]
The effects of his wife's death proved to be as much physical as mental. For his role in Dracula A.D. 1972, Cushing had originally been cast as the father of Stephanie Beacham's character, but had aged so visibly and lost so much weight that the script was hastily re-written to make him her grandfather: it was done again in the last Dracula film from Hammer, The Satanic Rites of Dracula.[13] In a silent tribute to Helen, a shot of Van Helsing's desk includes a photograph of her. He repeated the role of the man who lost family in other horror films, including Asylum (1972), The Creeping Flesh (1973), and The Ghoul (1975). In 1986, Cushing appeared on the BBC TV show Jim'll Fix It, his wish being to have a strain of rose named after Helen; the "Helen Cushing Rose" was the result.[14]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Cushing
"Since Helen passed on I can't find anything; the heart, quite simply, has gone out of everything. Time is interminable, the loneliness is almost unbearable and the only thing that keeps me going is the knowledge that my dear Helen and I will be reunited again some day. To join Helen is my only ambition. You have my permission to publish that ... really, you know, dear boy, it's all just killing time. Please say that."[10]
In his autobiography, Cushing implies that he attempted suicide on the night of his wife's death by running up and down stairs in the vain hope that it would induce a heart attack. He later stated that this had simply been a hysterical response borne out of grief, and that he had not purposely attempted to end his life; a poem left by Helen had implored him not to die until he had lived his life to the full, and he had resolved that to commit suicide would have meant letting her down. Although not conventionally religious, Cushing maintained a belief both in God and an afterlife.[11] Cushing's colleagues of that period commented on his deeply Christian faith and his conviction that his separation from his wife was only temporary.[12]
The effects of his wife's death proved to be as much physical as mental. For his role in Dracula A.D. 1972, Cushing had originally been cast as the father of Stephanie Beacham's character, but had aged so visibly and lost so much weight that the script was hastily re-written to make him her grandfather: it was done again in the last Dracula film from Hammer, The Satanic Rites of Dracula.[13] In a silent tribute to Helen, a shot of Van Helsing's desk includes a photograph of her. He repeated the role of the man who lost family in other horror films, including Asylum (1972), The Creeping Flesh (1973), and The Ghoul (1975). In 1986, Cushing appeared on the BBC TV show Jim'll Fix It, his wish being to have a strain of rose named after Helen; the "Helen Cushing Rose" was the result.[14]