Who's you're favourite actor/ess?

[AverageJoe]

Had a quick check and don't think this has been done. And if it has then delete.

Mine is James Woods, followed by John Hurt. But we can only choose one. So James Woods it is.

 

[petee]

Actress: Agnes Morehead, for Ambersons and Kane alone
Actor: Takashi Shimura, for everything but especially Drunken Angel and Stray Dog

 

[Ax^]

Hepburn because reason


Shaw because

 

[Elpenor]

Clint Eastwood

That said I have found that I have enjoyed Robert Shaw in everything I’ve seen him in.

 

[Spandex]

Ernest Borgnine.

How many Oscar winning actors have had such a long and varied career? Drama, Western, Action, Historical, Adventure, Sci Fi, Comedy, Disaster, Animation. Acting with everyone from Frank Sinatra to Spongebob Squarepants, Lee Marvin to Bart Simpson. Every time he appears on the screen puts a smile on my face. He appears in sooo many classic films: The Wild Bunch, From Here to Eternity, The Dirty Dozen, Escape from New York, The Poseidon Adventure, The Flight of the Phoenix, Ice Station Zebra, The Vikings, Convoy, The Black Hole, Gattaca. And All Dogs Go to Heaven 2.

 

[Sue]

Ernest Borgnine.

How many Oscar winning actors have had such a long and varied career? Drama, Western, Action, Historical, Adventure, Sci Fi, Comedy, Disaster, Animation. Acting with everyone from Frank Sinatra to Spongebob Squarepants, Lee Marvin to Bart Simpson. Every time he appears on the screen puts a smile on my face. He appears in sooo many classic films: The Wild Bunch, From Here to Eternity, The Dirty Dozen, Escape from New York, The Poseidon Adventure, The Flight of the Phoenix, Ice Station Zebra, The Vikings, Convoy, The Black Hole, Gattaca. And All Dogs Go to Heaven 2.

(((Marty)))

 

[maomao]

I'm faceblind and it's an actors job to persuade me that they are someone else. So any actor that is recognisable to me from film to film is not doing their job properly. All my favourites are the ones that manage to stay anonymous.

 

[maomao]

Also the word actress is no longer cool. They're all actors.

 

[philosophical]

If it is about live theatre, the best actress (female actor I suppose I should say) I ever saw was Vanessa Redgrave, but that was until I saw Juliet Stevenson in Happy Days at the Young Vic. The best male actor I have seen live is Timothy Spall in various roles.
I don't know whether considering somebody as the best is the same as favourite.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

I'm faceblind and it's an actors job to persuade me that they are someone else. So any actor that is recognisable to me from film to film is not doing their job properly. All my favourites are the ones that manage to stay anonymous.

Depends. The classic Hollywood star mostly played the same character. Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant. They were expected to be recognisably 'them'.

It's impossible to have one favourite actor imo. At this moment, I'll plump for Peter Lorre.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Ah, theatre actor is easier, perhaps because I've seen fewer plays. Anthony Sher. Saw him in two things. In one, he was on his own. In the other, he acted everyone else off the stage so clearly it felt embarrassing for them.

 

[Sue]

Also the word actress is no longer cool. They're all actors.

It's a personal preference thing. I generally use 'actor' for both but I certainly hear some female actors refer to themselves as 'actresses'.

(I know a lot of actors.)

 

[A380]

Celia Johnson.

Mark Rylance.

 

[MrSki]

Dudley Sutton

 

[cesare]

Meryl Streep

I can't think of a favourite male actor. Perhaps Alan Rickman.

 

[Humberto]

I watched the Irishman the other night so De Niro. Don't know was always the man in the best films despite making it look easy.

 

[platinumsage]

Not sure I have a favourite. Probably quite a long list of “if X has agreed to star in that film there’s at least a 50% it’ll be good” people, and a much smaller list of “oh it’s got X in, must be crap” people.

Also the word actress is no longer cool. They're all actors.

My aunt refers to female authors as authoresses. That sounds very weird to me so not sure how actress has survived so long.

 

[Steel Icarus]

My aunt refers to female authors as authoresses. That sounds very weird to me so not sure how actress has survived so long.

Hollywood/The Oscars?

 

[Reno]

I'm faceblind and it's an actors job to persuade me that they are someone else. So any actor that is recognisable to me from film to film is not doing their job properly. All my favourites are the ones that manage to stay anonymous.

There are different types of actors and movie stars. Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn for instance were always recognisable, with a distinctive persona that didn't change too much from film to film. They weren't the type of actors to disappear into a role and yet they were always a joy to watch. That's true for a lot of movie stars, especially those in classic movies.

 

[maomao]

There are different types of actors and movie stars. Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn for instance were always recognisable, with a distinctive persona that didn't change too much from film to film. They weren't the type of actors to disappear into a role and yet they were always a joy to watch. That's true for a lot of movie stars, especially those in classic movies.

Yes. I don't like those ones (modern equivalent Nicholas Cage, I can always recognise him). I like the ones who do their jobs (as I see it) properly.

 

[Reno]

Louise Brooks
Faye Dunaway
Gena Rowlands
Gloria Grahame
Robert Mitchum
Cary Grant
Charlotte Rampling
Jeff Goldblum
Judy Garland
Bette Davis
Madeline Kahn
Jeff Bridges
Ruth Gordon
Kathryn Hunter
Anton Walbrook
Olivia Colman
Lauren Bacall
Isabelle Adjani
Shelley Duvall
Ingrid Bergman
Vincent Cassel
Divine
Pam Grier
Walter Matthau
Sylvia Sidney

 

[Reno]

Hepburn because reason

Which one ?

 

[surreybrowncap]

Which one ?

Out of the Hepburn's - Katharine for me...

 

[Reno]

Yes. I don't like those ones (modern equivalent Nicholas Cage, I can always recognise him). I like the ones who do their jobs (as I see it) properly.

 

[Mrs Miggins]

I absolutely adore Shirley Henderson.

 

[Tanya1982]

I watch everything with Timothée Chalamet. I find his beauty completely hypnotic on screen.

 

[DotCommunist]

Sean Bean. One does not simply watch Sharpe re-runs on youtube

If I forgive him for being posh, Jeremy Irons. But only in historical things. Jeremy Irons as Borgia Pope is a highpoint, as is his role as the kings man in Kingdom of Heaven

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Jeremy Irons should get the maomao seal of approval, I think. In an otherwise rather ordinary film, The Man Who Knew Infinity, Irons was really good as mathematician GH Hardy. He played him as a fair way a long way along the autism spectrum, but the performance didn't feel forced. Living a part from the inside out. Unlike, imo, Dustin Hoffman's creations, which seem all outside to me.

 

[marshall]

I watch everything with Timothée Chalamet. I find his beauty completely hypnotic on screen.

Me too! Even The King when they did something horrible to his gorgeous hair.

 

[Part 2]

There are different types of actors and movie stars. Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn for instance were always recognisable, with a distinctive persona that didn't change too much from film to film. They weren't the type of actors to disappear into a role and yet they were always a joy to watch. That's true for a lot of movie stars, especially those in classic movies.

This probably explains why my first thought was for Chishu Ryu. I've seen a very small amount of his output of films and TV but I imagine he'll always be the same and his face always makes me smile.