A Tribute to the Actor


This blog now pays tribute to the actor.

What is the hallmark of a good actor?

A good actor passionately transforms himself to become the character he plays. To boot, a better actor inspiringly performs a wide and varied range of characters successfully. Every role an actor plays is different and equally challenging to him; truly demanding fully his heart, his mind and his soul. In fact, he has to give his altogether to meaningfully authenticate his role.

The actor is grand-master in what he does. A great actor ‘sees’ the persona in his mind’s eye every time. He imagines; he interprets; he then acts out. He breathes life into the persona. Then,he provides substance and breadth to the character; thereby enriching it.

Screen presence is the holy grail of every great actor. In whatever role he plays, the successful actor creates an aura of emotional reality – to conjure screen presence! Without speaking, Marlon Brando exhibited great screen presence. The same goes for Charlton Heston,John Wayne and Richard Burton. Such is the magic divide that separates great actors from the mediocre ones. These were giants in their times. Except for a few, the crop of actors today cannot hold a candle to them.

Here are the 50 actors and the films where I thought,they have performed best. Sadly,not all of them won the Academy Award in these movies but they all deserved it, nonetheless! I applaud them. They are more than actors. They are megastars in their own right!

The following are my 50 favorite actors and the films where they have performed consummately.

Charlie Chaplin in Modern Times
James Stewart in It’s a Wonderful Life!
Henry Fonda in 12 Angry Men
Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront
Charlton Heston in Ben-Hur
Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady
David Niven in Around the World in 80 Days
Gregory Peck in Guns of Navarone
Richard Burton in Becket
Kirk Douglas in Spartacus
Rozzanno Brassi in South Pacific
Yul Brynner in The King and I
Peter O’ Toole in Lawrence of Arabia
Omar Sharif in Dr. Zhivago
Richard Harris in Camelot
Lee Marvin in Point Blank
Burt Lancaster in The Professionals
Steve McQueen in Pappilon
Jack Lemmon in Irma La Douce
Topol in Fiddler on the Roof
Sean Connery in From Russia with Love
George C Scott in Patton
Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Al Pacino in Serpico
Gene Hackman in French Connection
Roy Scheider in All That Jazz
Sylvester Stallone in Rocky
Richard Dreyfuss in The Goodbye Girl
Bill Murray in Groundhog Day
Clint Eastwood in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Dustin Hoffman in Rainman
Christopher Walken in The Deerhunter
Ben Kingsley in Gandhi
Ralph Fiennes in The English Patient
Mel Gibson in Braveheart
Russell Crowe in Gladiator
Richard Gere in Pretty Woman
Denzel Washington in Man on Fire
Tom Hanks in Road to Perdition
Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs
Robert DeNiro in Cape Fear
Adrien Brody in The Pianist
Jim Carrey in The Majestic
Kevin Costner in Dances with Wolves
Kevin Spacey in American Beauty
Nicholas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas
Don Cheadle in Hotel Rwanda
Jude Law in Cold Mountain
Jamie Foxx in Ray
Will Ferrell in The Producers

If you are a film buff, you will certainly have your own great list as well.

Care to comment on mine?


Quote of the Day:

“The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that you've got it made.” Jean Giraudoux

Heartsong-Heartstrong