10 Best Actors of All Time - Relay Race

This actor's relay ace, originated at My Film Reviews by Nostra has been doing round of the blogosphere for quite some time now. I have already seen it on at least dozen blogs that I follow and now finally due to our very own Nikhat@Being Norma Jeane, I have got an opportunity to add my two bits to it as well. Basic Idea in Nostra's own words is -

"I've created a list of what I think are the best actors. At the end I, just like in a real relay race, hand over the baton to another blogger who will write his own post. The blogger will have to remove one actor (that is an obligation) and add his own choice and describe why he/she did this. At the end the blogger chooses another blogger to do the same. We will end up with a list (not ranked in order) which represents a common agreement of the best actors."

Just look at how far this race has traveled, so far -

• My Film Reviews
• The Focused Filmographer
• Front Room Cinema
• I Love That Film
• Flixchatter
• All Eyes On Screen
• Time Well Spent
• The Warning Sign
• moviesandsongs365
• And So it Begins...
• Cinematic Corner
• And Buckle's Film Emporium
• Duke and the Movies
• Southern Vision
• Defiant Success
• Cinematic Paradox
• Encore Entertainment
• Okinawa Assault
• Amiresque
• Flickers
• Aziza's Picks
• "...lets be splendid about this..."
• Being Norma Jeane

The Actors

Humphrey Bogart

Robert De Niro

Marlon Brando

Daniel Day Lewis

Jack Nicholson

Paul Newman

James Stewart

Gary Oldman

 

Johnny Depp

 

Who I Replaced ?

Ralph Fiennes

He is been in and out few times already. Sorry Stevee! There is nothing wrong with this dude. He was phenomenal in Schindler's List(1993) and In Bruges(1997).  His Voldemort was one of the very few things I liked about the whole Harry Potter movies and even though I remember these for their actresses, he does quite a good job in The Constant Gardener(2005) and The English Patient(1994) as well. I haven't seen likes of Quiz Show(1994) but as the word goes, he is good in it too. So, not a bad filmography for an actor at all. But I have to remove someone and almost everyone else on this list is a legend. I just can not bring myself to remove anyone else. So, it has to be Ralph Fiennes.

My Addition: Tom Hanks

 

Growing up, I always considered Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts to be my favorite Actor and Actress mostly because Indian channels used to show their movies a lot. Over the years as I have watched more and more films and got acquainted to more actors, I stopped doing it. I probably will not make a case for Julia Roberts, but even today I think Tom Hanks is still one of the great actors in the Industry as long as you don't judge his career based on Larry Crown(2011) and The Da Vinci Code(2006). Starting with family friendly comedy movies like Big(1988) to much more serious and dramatic roles like Catch Me if You Can(2004) and Cast Away(2002), Tom Hanks has come a long way in his career over more than three decades. From playing a love interest in movies like You've Got Mail(1997) to a war hero in Saving Private Ryan(1997) and bringing life to Woody in Toy Story Franchise, he has taken versatility in his stride. If I was asked to give my take earlier in the series, I would have added Jimmy Stewart - someone I really admire for playing very believable, normal characters - which Ruth did couple of hops back. Naturally, my next choice as well is someone known for playing an ordinary guy extremely well. An Actor and Star in equal major, this two time Oscar Winner for brilliant portrayals of Forrest Gump in Forrest Gump(1994) and Andrew Backett in Philadelphia(1993), is also a great person - both his acceptance speeches bear testimony to that and also is one of the industry's most well known and loved persons. I will also mention his name for producing Band of Brothers(2001) and The Pacific(2010) for doing some of most elaborate and visually stunning work on TV.

And now hoping that Tom Hanks will survive for some rounds in the list, I will say thanks to Nikhat for giving me this opportunity and welcome Lesya@Eternity of Dream back from her blogging hiatus and pass this on to her.