My Favourite 300 Male Film Stars

1. Montgomery Clift

Edward Montgomery Clift (nicknamed 'Monty' his entire life) was born on October 17, 1920 in Omaha, Nebraska, just after his twin sister Roberta (1920-2014) and eighteen months after his brother Brooks Clift. He was the son of Ethel "Sunny" Anderson (Fogg; 1888-1988) and William Brooks Clift (1886-...

Greatest Performances: A Place In The Sun (1951), From Here To Eternity (1953), Judgement At Nuremberg (1961), The Heiress (1949), Wild River (1960), I Confess (1953), The Search (1948), Red River (1948), The Misfits (1961), The Young Lions (1958), Freud (1962), Lonelyhearts (1958), Raintree County (1957), The Big Lift (1950), Indiscretion Of An American Wife (1953), Suddenly Last Summer (1959)

2. Steve McQueen

Actor | The Great Escape

He was the ultra-cool male film star of the 1960s, and rose from a troubled youth spent in reform schools to being the world's most popular actor. Over 40 years after his untimely death from mesothelioma in 1980, Steve McQueen is still considered hip and cool, and he endures as an icon of popular ...

Greatest Perfermances: Papillon (1974), The Great Escape (1963), Love With The Proper Stranger (1963), The Sand Pebbles (1966), Bullitt (1968), The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Reivers (1969), The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), The Towering Inferno (1974), The Getaway (1972), Nevada Smith (1966), The Cincinnati Kid (1965), Never So Few (1959), Hell Is For Heroes (1962) Soldier In The Rain (1963), Wanted Dead Or Alive (1958-1961)

3. Van Heflin

Actor | Shane

Craggy-faced, dependable star character actor Van Heflin never quite made the Hollywood "A" list, but made up for what he lacked in appearance with hard work, charisma and solid acting performances. He was born Emmett Evan Heflin in Oklahoma in December 1908, the son of Fanny Bleecker (Shippey) and...

Greatest Performances: 3:10 To Yuma (1957), The Prowler (1951), Act Of Violence (1948), The Raid (1954), Count Three And Pray (1955), Johnny Eager (1942), Possessed (1947), The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers (1946), East Side West Side (1949), Grand Central Murder (1942), Patterns (1956), They Came To Cordura (1959)

4. Humphrey Bogart

Actor | Casablanca

Humphrey DeForest Bogart was born in New York City, New York, to Maud Humphrey, a famed magazine illustrator and suffragette, and Belmont DeForest Bogart, a moderately wealthy surgeon (who was secretly addicted to opium). Bogart was educated at Trinity School, NYC, and was sent to Phillips Academy ...

Greatest Performances: Casablanca (1942), The Maltese Falcon (1941), The Big Sleep (1946), Dead Reckoning (1947), In A Lonely Place (1950), The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre (1948), Passage To Marseille (1944), Across The Pacific (1942), Key Largo (1948), The Roaring Twenties (1938), High Sierra (1941), The Desperate Hours (1955)

5. Cary Grant

Actor | North by Northwest

Once told by an interviewer, "Everybody would like to be Cary Grant", Grant is said to have replied, "So would I."

Cary Grant was born Archibald Alec Leach on January 18, 1904 in Horfield, Bristol, England, to Elsie Maria (Kingdon) and Elias James Leach, who worked in a factory. His early years in ...

Greatest Performances: The Awful Truth (1947), Charade (1963), Penny Serenade (1941), North By Northwest (1959), The Bishop's Wife (1947), Bringing Up Baby (1938), An Affair To Remember (1957), My Favorite Wife (1940), Arsenic And Old Lace (1944), Topper (1937), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), Talk Of The Town (1942), Destination Tokyo (1943), Notorious (1946), Monkey Business (1952), Suspicion (1941)

6. William Powell

Actor | The Thin Man

William Powell was on the New York stage by 1912, but it would be ten years before his film career would begin. In 1924 he went to Paramount Pictures, where he was employed for the next seven years. During that time, he played in a number of interesting films, but stardom was elusive. He did ...

Greatest Performances: The Thin Man (1934), After The Thin Man (1936), The Kennel Murder Case (1933), One Way Passage (1932), Jewel Robbery (1932), The Thin Man Goes Home (1944), The Ex-Mrs Bradford (1936), Crossroads (1942), Rendezvous (1935), Another Thin Man (1939), Shadow Of The Thin Man (1941), Love Crazy (1941), Manhattan Melodrama (1934), The Canary Murder Case (1929), Mister Roberts (1955)

7. Jack Lemmon

Actor | The Apartment

Jack Lemmon was born in Newton, Massachusetts, to Mildred Lankford Noel and John Uhler Lemmon, Jr., the president of a doughnut company. His ancestry included Irish (from his paternal grandmother) and English. Jack attended Ward Elementary near his Newton, MA home. At age 9 he was sent to Rivers ...

Greatest Performances: The Apartment (1960), Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), Avanti! (1972), Days Of Wine And Roses (1962), Some Like It Hot (1959), Irma La Douce (1963), The Odd Couple (1968), My Fellow Americans (1996) The China Syndrome (1979), The Great Race (1965), Good Neighbor Sam (1964), The Notorious Landlady (1962), The Fortune Cookie (1966), The Front Page (1974), Mister Roberts (1955)

8. Peter Lorre

Actor | M - Eine Stadt sucht einen Mörder

Peter Lorre was born László Löwenstein in Rózsahegy in the Slovak area of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the son of Hungarian Jewish parents. He learned both Hungarian and German languages from birth, and was educated in elementary and secondary schools in the Austria-Hungary capitol Vienna, but did ...

Greatest Performances: The Maltese Falcon (1941), M (1931), The Mask Of Dimitrios (1944), The Big Circus (1959), Secret Agent (1936), The Verdict (1946), Mad Love (1935), Mr. Moto In Danger Island (1939), Mr. Moto Takes A Vacation (1939), Mr. Moto's Gamble (1938), Arsenic And Old Lace (1942), The Face Behind The Mask (1941), Crime And Punishment (1935), Casablanca (1942)

9. Robert Redford

Actor | The Natural

Born on August 18, 1936, in Santa Monica, California, to Charles Robert Redford, an accountant for Standard Oil, and Martha Redford, Charles Robert Redford, Jr. was a scrappy kid who stole hubcaps in high school and lost his college baseball scholarship at the University of Colorado because of ...

Greatest Performances: All The Presidents Men (1976), Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid (1969), The Way We Were (1973), The Sting (1973), The Chase (1966), Jeremiah Jonhson (1972), Three Days Of The Condor (1975), Spy Game (2001), Barefoot In The Park (1967), The Natural (1984), The Old Man And The Gun (2018), Downhill Racer (1969), The Great Waldo Pepper (1975), Sneakers (1992)

10. Robert Shaw

Actor | Jaws

Robert Archibald Shaw was born on August 9, 1927, in Westhoughton, Lancashire, England, the eldest son of Doreen Nora (Avery), a nurse, and Thomas Archibald Shaw, a doctor. His paternal grandfather was Scottish, from Argyll. Shaw's mother, who was born in Piggs Peak, Swaziland, met his father while...

Greatest Performances: Jaws (1975), A Man For All Seasons (1966), The Sting (1973), The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three (1974), Battle Of The Bulge (1965), From Russia With Love (1963), Robin And Marian (1976), Battle Of Britain (1969), The Hireling (1973), The Birthday Party (1968), Black Sunday (1977)

11. John Garfield

Actor | Four Daughters

John Garfield was born Jacob Julius Garfinkle on the Lower East Side of New York City, to Hannah Basia (Margolis) and David Garfinkle, who were Jewish immigrants from Zhytomyr (now in Ukraine). Jules was raised by his father, a clothes presser and part-time cantor, after his mother's death in 1920,...

Greatest Performances: Body And Soul (1947), Humoresque (1946), The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), Four Daughters (1938), Force Of Evil (1948), The Fallen Sparrow (1943), Out Of The Fog (1941), He Ran All The Way (1951), Air Force (1943), Dust Be My Destiny (1939), They Made Me A Criminal (1939), Pride Of The Marines (1945), The Sea Wolf (1941), We Were Strangers (1949)

12. Kirk Douglas

Actor | The Final Countdown

Cleft-chinned, steely-eyed and virile star of international cinema who rose from being "the ragman's son" (the name of his best-selling 1988 autobiography) to become a bona fide superstar, Kirk Douglas, also known as Issur Danielovitch Demsky, was born on December 9, 1916 in Amsterdam, New York. ...

Greatest Performances: Lonely Are The Brave (1962), Lust For Life (1956), Champion (1949), The List Of Adrian Messenger (1963), Seven Days In May (1964), In Harm's Way (1965), Gunfight At The OK Corral (1957), Build My Gallows High (1947), The Bad And The Beautiful (1952), The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers (1946), Spartacus (1960), Strangers When We Meet (1960), Paths Of Glory (1957), The Vikings (1958), 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1954), Detective Story (1951), I Walk Alone (1947), Ace In The Hole (1951), The Arrangement (1969), A Gunfight (1971)

13. Douglass Montgomery

Actor | Waterloo Bridge

Tall, oval-faced, fair-haired, sensitive-looking Douglass Montgomery was born in Los Angeles on October 29, 1909, the son of a jeweler. Graduating from Los Angeles High School, he sought early experience at the Pasadena Playhouse. Deciding to move to New York to pursue the stage, he was quickly ...

Greatest Performances: The Way To The Stars (1945), The Cat And The Canary (1939), Little Man What Now (1934), Little Women (1933), Waterloo Bridge (1931), Mystery Of Edwin Drood (1935), Forbidden (1949), Music Of The Air (1934)

14. Michael Caine

Actor | The Dark Knight

Michael Caine was born as Maurice Joseph Micklewhite in London, to Ellen (née Burchell), a cook, and Maurice Micklewhite Sr., a fish-market porter. He had a younger brother, Stanley Caine, and an older maternal half-brother named David Burchell. He left school at age 15 and took a series of ...

Greatest Performances: Get Carter (1971), Sleuth (1972), The Prestige (2006), The Ipcress File (1965), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), Educating Rita (1983), Deathtrap (1982), Billion Dollar Brain (1967), Dressed To Kill (1980), Batman The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Children Of Men (2006), The Italian Job (1969), The Man Who Would Be King (1975), Youth (2015), Without A Clue (1988), Hannah And Her Sisters (1986), Zulu (1964), Last Love (2013), Best Sellers (2021), Play Dirty (1969), Gambit (1966), Harry Brown (2009), Mona Lisa (1988)

15. Ethan Hawke

Actor | Training Day

Ethan Green Hawke was born on November 6, 1970 in Austin, Texas, to Leslie Carole (Green), a charity worker, and James Steven Hawke, an insurance actuary. His parents were students at the University of Texas at the time but divorced when Ethan was 5 years old. His mother raised him alone for the ...

Greatest Performances: Gattaca (1997), Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004), Before The Devil Knows You're Dead (2007), Lord Of War (2005), Reality Bites (1994), Training Day (2001), Dead Poets Society (1989), Before Midnight (2013), In A Valley Of Violence (2016), The Magnificent Seven (2016), Brooklyn's Finest (2009), The Black Phone (2021), Juliet Naked (2018), First Reformed (2017)

16. Zachary Scott

Actor | Mildred Pierce

American leading man of suave or sinister roles. A collateral relative of George Washington and William Barclay 'Bat' Masterson, Scott was the son of a wealthy surgeon. Intending to follow his father into medicine, Scott studied at the University of Texas, but found he preferred the theater. He ...

Greatest Performances: The Mask Of Dimitrios (1944), The Young One (1960), Mildred Pierce (1945), Ruthless (1948), Flamingo Road (1949), Lightning Strikes Twice (1951), Whiplash (1948), Flaxy Martin (1948), The Unfaithful (1947), The Southener (1945), Danger Signal (1945), Her Kind Of Man (1946), The Secret Of Convict Lake (1951), Guilty Bystander (1950), Bandido! (1956)

17. Gilbert Roland

Actor | The Bad and the Beautiful

Luis Antonio Damaso de Alonso, later known as Gilbert Roland, was born in 1905 in Mexico. Following his parents to the USA, he did not become the bullfighter he had dreamed of being but became an actor instead. His Mexican roots, his half macho half romantic ways, his handsome virile figure helped ...

Greatest Performances: The Big Circus (1959), The Furies (1950), Bandido! (1956), The Midnight Story (1957), The French Line (1954), The Bad And The Beautiful (1952), The Midnight Story (1957), We Were Strangers (1949), Beneath The 12 Mile Reef (1953), The Sea Hawk (1940), Cheyenne Autumn (1964), Thunder Bay (1953)

18. Robert Mitchum

Actor | Out of the Past

Robert Mitchum was an underrated American leading man of enormous ability, who sublimated his talents beneath an air of disinterest. He was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, to Ann Harriet (Gunderson), a Norwegian immigrant, and James Thomas Mitchum, a shipyard/railroad worker. His father died in a ...

Greatest Performances: Night Of The Hunter (1955), Cape Fear (1962), The Big Steal (1949), Macao (1952), The Longest Day (1962), Build My Gallows High (1947), El Dorado (1967), Five Card Stud (1968), The Enemy Below (1957), The Wonderful Country (1959), The Lusty Men (1952), Track Of The Cat (1954), Ryan's Daughter (1970), Till The End Of Time (1946), His Kind Of Woman (1951), The Friends Of Eddie Coyle (1973), The Yakuza (1974), Scrooged (1988), Not As A Stranger (1955), Crossfire (1947)

19. Fredric March

Actor | Inherit the Wind

Fredric March began a career in banking but in 1920 found himself cast as an extra in films being produced in New York. He starred on the Broadway stage first in 1926 and would return there between screen appearances later on. He won plaudits (and an Academy Award nomination) for his send-up of ...

Greatest Performances: Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde (1931), Seven Days In May (1964), Les Miserables (1935), Inherit The Wind (1960), The Dark Angel (1935), The Desperate Hours (1955), The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946), The Road To Glory (1936), The Eagle And The Hawk (1933), Hombre (1967), The Iceman Cometh (1973), The Man In The Gray Flannel Suit (1956), Executive Suite (1954), Another Part Of The Forest (1948), Man On A Tightrope (1953), Anna Karenina (1935)

20. Sydney Greenstreet

Actor | The Maltese Falcon

Sydney Greenstreet's father was a leather merchant with eight children. Sydney left home at age 18 to make his fortune as a Ceylon tea planter, but drought forced him out of business and back to England. He managed a brewery and, to escape boredom, took acting lessons. His stage debut was as a ...

Greatest Performances: The Verdict (1946), The Maltese Falcon (1941), Across The Pacific (1942), The Mask Of Dimitrios (1944), Flamingo Road (1949), Background To Danger (1943), Passage To Marseille (1944), The Velvet Touch (1948), Ruthless (1948), The Conspirators (1944), Casablanca (1942), The Woman In White (1948)

21. Gene Wilder

Actor | Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

When he was 11, he wanted to be a comedian like Sid Caesar. Then, when he was 15 and saw Lee J. Cobb in 'Death of a Salesman,' he decided he would be a comedy actor and found that Mel Brooks was a great influence on his screen writing. He combined both talents with directing in The World's Greatest...

Greatest Performances: Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory (1971), Blazing Saddles (1974), The Producers (1967), Silver Streak (1977), Stir Crazy (1980), Young Frankenstein (1974), The Woman In Red (1984), Bonnie And Clyde (1967), Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex But Were Afraid To Ask (1972), The Lady In Question (1999)

22. Laurence Harvey

Actor | The Manchurian Candidate

Laurence Harvey was a British movie star who helped usher in the 1960s with his indelible portrait of a ruthless social climber, and became one of the decade's cultural icons for his appearances in socially themed motion pictures.

Harvey was born Zvi Mosheh Skikne on October 1, 1928 in Joniskis, ...

Greatest Performances: The Manchurian Candidate (1962), The Wonderful World Of The Brothers Grimm (1962), The Silent Enemy (1958), Room At The Top (1959), Expresso Bongo (1959), The Good Die Young (1954), A Dandy In Aspic (1968), The Running Man (1963), The Outrage (1964), WUSA (1970), The Most Dangerous Match (1973)

23. Steve Cochran

Actor | White Heat

Born Robert Alexander Cochran, son of a California lumberman, he worked mostly in the theatre before landing a contract with Samuel Goldwyn in 1945. His debut was Wonder Man (1945) with Virginia Mayo and Danny Kaye. From 1949 to 1952, he was signed to Warner Brothers, then started up his own ...

Greatest Performances: Come Next Spring (1956), White Heat (1949), Il Grido (1957), Storm Warning (1951), The Chase (1946), Raton Pass (1951), Operation Secret (1952), The Deadly Companions (1961), Inside The Walls Of Falsom Prison, Private Hell 36 (1954), Slander (1957), The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946), Tomorrow Is Another Day (1951), The Damned Don't Cry (1951), Highway 301 (1950)

24. Burt Lancaster

Actor | From Here to Eternity

Burt Lancaster, one of five children, was born in Manhattan, to Elizabeth (Roberts) and James Henry Lancaster, a postal worker. All his grandparents were immigrants from the north of Ireland. He was a tough street kid who took an early interest in gymnastics. He joined the circus as an acrobat and ...

Greatest Performances: Atlantic City (1980), From Here To Eternity (1953), Sweet Smell Of Success (1957), Trapeze (1956), The Killers (1946), Seven Days In May (1964), The Professionals (1966), Field Of Dreams (1989), The Leopard (1963), The Train (1964), Vera Cruz (1954), Gunfight At The OK Corral (1957), The Swimmer (1968), Separate Tables (1958), Sorry Wrong Number (1948), Brute Force (1947), Birdman Of Alcatraz (1962), I Walk Alone (1947), 1900 (1976), Judgment At Nuremberg (1961), All My Sons (1948), The Devil's Disciple (1959), Kiss The Blood Of My Hands (1948), Run Silent Run Deep (1958)

25. Lee Marvin

Actor | Paint Your Wagon

American actor Lee Marvin was born Lamont Waltman Marvin Jr. in New York City. After leaving school aged 18, Marvin enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserve in August 1942. He served with the 4th Marine Division in the Pacific Theater during World War II and after being wounded in action ...

Greatest Performances: The Dirty Dozen (1967), Point Blank (1967), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), The Killers (1964), Bad Day At Black Rock (1954), Emperor Of The North (1973), The Big Heat (1953), The Professionals (1966), Attack (1956), Raintree County (1957), A Life In The Balance (1955), Ship Of Fools (1965), The Raid (1954), Death Hunt (1981), Hell In The Pacific (1968), Gorky Park (1983), Donovan's Reef (1963), The Iceman Cometh (1973), Eight Iron Men (1952)

26. Arthur Kennedy

Actor | Lawrence of Arabia

Arthur Kennedy, one of the premier character actors in American film from the late 1940s through the early 1960s, achieved fame in the role of Biff in Elia Kazan's historic production of Arthur Miller's Pultizer-Prize winning play "Death of a Salesman." Although he was not selected to recreate the ...

Greatest Performances: City For Conquest (1940), Lawrence Of Arabia (1962), Desperate Journey (1942), The Lusty Men (1952), Bend Of The River (1952), Murder She Said (1961), Air Force (1943), Champion (1949), Day Of The Evil Gun (1968), The Window (1949), Boomerang! (1947), Fantastic Voyage (1966), Elmer Gantry (1960), Rancho Notorious (1952), Nevada Smith (1966), Crashout (1955), The Desperate Hours (1955), Peyton Place (1957), High Sierra (1941)

27. Clifton Webb

Actor | Laura

Already trained in dance and theater, he quit school at age 13 to study music and painting. By 19 he was a professional ballroom dancer in New York, and by his mid-twenties he was performing in musicals, dramas on Broadway and in London, and in silent movies. His first real success in film came in ...

Greatest Performances: Laura (1944), The Dark Corner (1946), Woman's World (1954), The Man Who Never Was (1956), Dreamboat (1952), Sitting Pretty (1948), Titanic (1953), Three Coins In The Fountain (1954), Cheaper By The Dozen (1950), For Heaven's Sake (1950)

28. Lionel Atwill

Actor | To Be or Not to Be

Lionel Atwill was born into a wealthy family and was educated at London's prestigious Mercer School to become an architect, but his interest turned to the stage. He worked his way progressively into the craft and debuted at age 20 at the Garrick Theatre in London. He acted and improved regularly ...

Greatest Performances: Son Of Frankenstein (1939), Mystery Of The Wax Museum (1933), Murders In The Zoo (1933), Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise (1940), Sherlock Holmes And The Secret Weapon (1942), Doctor X (1932), Secret Of The Blue Room (1933), Mr. Moto Takes A Vacation (1939), The Ghost Of Frankenstein (1942), The Hound Of The Baskervilles (1939), The Vampire Bat (1933), The Devil Is A Woman (1935), Boom Town (1940), The Sphinx (1933), Three Comrades (1938), Rendezvous (1935), Night Monster (1942), Charlie Chan In Panama (1941)

29. Bob Hope

Actor | The Ghost Breakers

Comedian Bob Hope was born Leslie Townes Hope in Eltham, London, England, the fifth of seven sons of Avis (Townes), light opera singer, and William Henry Hope, a stonemason from Weston-super-Mare, Somerset. His maternal grandmother was Welsh. Hope moved to Bristol before emigrating with his parents...

Greatest Performances: The Cat And The Canary (1939), The Ghost Breakers (1940), The Seven Little Foys (1955), The Paleface (1948), My Favorite Blonde (1942), Road To Morocco (1942), The Facts Of Life (1960), Son Of Paleface (1952), My Favorite Brunette (1947), My Favorite Spy (1951), Nothing But The Truth (1941), They Got Me Covered (1943), Alias Jesse James (1959), Road To Zanzibar (1941), The Great Lover (1949)

30. James Cagney

Actor | Angels with Dirty Faces

One of Hollywood's preeminent male stars of all time, James Cagney was also an accomplished dancer and easily played light comedy. James Francis Cagney was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City, to Carolyn (Nelson) and James Francis Cagney, Sr., who was a bartender and amateur ...

Greatest Performances: White Heat (1949), The Public Enemy (1931), Angels With Dirty Faces (1938), Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), City For Conquest (1940), The Roaring Twenties (1939), Each Dawn I Die (1939), Man Of A Thousand Faces (1957), G Men (1935), Mister Roberts (1955), Ragtime (1981), The Seven Little Foys (1955), The Fighting 69th (1940), Tribute To A Bad Man (1956), One Two Three (1961), The Oklahoma Kid (1939), Hard To Handle (1933), 13 Rue Madeleine (1946), Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950), Smart Money (1931) Picture Snatcher (1933)

31. Peter Sellers

Actor | Being There

Often credited as the greatest comedian of all time, Peter Sellers was born Richard Henry Sellers to a well-off acting family in 1925 in Southsea, a suburb of Portsmouth. He was the son of Agnes Doreen "Peg" (Marks) and William "Bill" Sellers. His parents worked in an acting company run by his ...

Greatest Performances: Dr Strangelove (1964), A Shot In The Dark (1964), I'm All Right Jack (1959), The Pink Panther (1963), The Ladykillers (1955), The Return Of The Pink Panther (1975), What's New Pussycat (1965), The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976), Murder By Death (1976), Tom Thumb (1958), The Naked Truth (1957), Two Way Stretch (1960), After The Fox (1966), Never Let Go (1960), The Wrong Arm Of The Law (1963)

32. Robert Walker

Actor | Strangers on a Train

He possessed the same special brand of rebel/misfit sensitivity and charm that made superstars out of John Garfield and (later) James Dean and Montgomery Clift. In the war-torn 1940s, Robert Walker represented MGM's fresh, instinctive breed of up-and-coming talent. His boyish good looks combined ...

Greatest Performances: Strangers On A Train (1951), The Clock (1945), One Touch Of Venus (1948), Since You Went Away (1944), Till The Clouds Roll By (1946), Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944), Bataan (1943), Vengeance Valley (1951)

33. Edward G. Robinson

Actor | Double Indemnity

Emanuel Goldenberg arrived in the United States from Romania at age ten, and his family moved into New York's Lower East Side. He took up acting while attending City College, abandoning plans to become a rabbi or lawyer. The American Academy of Dramatic Arts awarded him a scholarship, and he began ...

Greatest Performances: Key Largo (1948), The Cincinnati Kid (1965), Little Caesar (1931), The Woman In The Window (1944), Double Indemnity (1944), The Sea Wolf (1941), The Stranger (1946), Scarlet Street (1945), The Prize (1963), All My Sons (1948), Bullets Or Ballots (1936), Manpower (1941), A Slight Case Of Murder (1938), Two Weeks In Another Town (1962), Tales Of Manhattan (1942), The Violent Men (1955), Black Tuesday (1954), House Of Strangers (1949), A Slight Case Of Murder (1938), Smart Money (1931), Confessions Of A Nazi Spy (1939)

34. Robert Ryan

Actor | The Wild Bunch

Distinguished U.S. actor and longtime civil rights campaigner Robert Bushnell Ryan was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Mable Arbutus (Bushnell), a secretary, and Timothy Aloysius Ryan, whose wealthy family owned a real estate firm. His father was of Irish ancestry, and his mother was of English and ...

Greatest Performances: Bad Day At Black Rock (1955), The Naked Spur (1953), Act Of Violence (1948), Berlin Express (1948), Crossfire (1947), The Iceman Cometh (1973), The Proud Ones (1956), The Set Up (1949), The Professionals (1966), The Dirty Dozen (1967), The Racket (1951), Clash By Night (1952), Lonelyhearts (1958), Men In War (1957), On Dangerous Ground (1951), The Tall Men (1955), The Longest Day (1962)

35. John Mills

Actor | Great Expectations

Sir John Mills, one of the most popular and beloved English actors, was born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills on February 22, 1908, at the Watts Naval Training College in North Elmham, Norfolk, England. The young Mills grew up in Felixstowe, Suffolk, where his father was a mathematics teacher and his ...

Greatest Performances: The Way To The Stars (1945), Tunes Of Glory (1960), Morning Departure (1950), The October Man (1947), The Long Memory (1953), In Which We Serve (1942), Ryan's Daughter (1970), Cottage To Let (1941), The Wrong Box (1966), Mr. Denning Drives North (1951), Great Expectations (1946), Ice Cold In Alex (1958), The Rocking Horse Winner (1949)

36. George Sanders

Actor | All About Eve

George Sanders was born of English parents in St. Petersburg, Russia. He worked in a Birmingham textile mill, in the tobacco business and as a writer in advertising. He entered show business in London as a chorus boy, going from there to cabaret, radio and theatrical understudy. His film debut, in ...

Greatest Performances: All About Eve (1950), Foreign Correspondent (1940), The Falcon Takes Over (1942), Journey To Italy (1954), Witness To Murder (1954), A Shot In The Dark (1964), Rebecca (1940), This Land Is Mine (1943), Man Hunt (1941), The Saint Strikes Back (1939), Uncle Harry (1945), The Jungle Book (1967), Village Of The Damned (1960), Lured (1947), A Date With The Falcon (1942), The Gay Falcon (1941), Quiet Please Murder (1942), The Last Voyage (1960), While The City Sleeps (1956), Call Me Madam (1953), In Search Of The Castaways (1962), Assignment: Paris (1952), The Picture Of Dorian Gray (1945), Hangover Square (1945), The Falcon's Brother (1942), Mr. Moto's Last Warning (1939), Four Men And A Prayer (1939)

37. Stanley Baker

Actor | Zulu

Stanley Baker was unusual star material to emerge during the Fifties - when impossibly handsome and engagingly romantic leading men were almost de rigueur. Baker was forged from a rougher mould. His was good-looking, but his features were angular, taut, austere and unwelcoming. His screen persona ...

Greatest Performances: Hell Drivers (1957), The Guns Of Navarone (1961), Zulu (1964), The Criminal (1960), Accident (1967), Robbery (1967), Hell Is A City (1960), Yesterday's Enemy (1959), The Man Who Finally Died (1963), Violent Playground (1958), The Good Die Young (1954), Campbell's Kingdom (1957), The Girl With A Pistol (1969), Blind Date (1959), Sands Of The Kalahari (1965), A Lizard In A Woman's Skin (1971)

38. Stephen Boyd

Actor | Ben-Hur

Stephen Boyd was born William Millar on July 4, 1931, at Glengormley, Northern Ireland, one of nine children of Martha Boyd and Canadian truck driver James Alexander Millar, who worked for Fleming's on Tomb Street in Belfast. He attended Glengormley & Ballyrobert primary school and then moved on to...

Greatest Performances: The Man Who Never Was (1956), Ben Hur (1959), Fantastic Voyage (1966), The Third Secret (1964), The Bravados (1958), The Squeeze (1977), Assignment K (1968), The Fall Of The Roman Empire (1964), Woman Obsessed (1959), Seven Thunders (1957), Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962), Lisa (1962)

39. Alastair Sim

Actor | Scrooge

The son of Alexander Sim JP and Isabella McIntyre, Alastair Sim was educated in Edinburgh. Always interested in language (especially the spoken word) he became the Fulton Lecturer in Elocution at New College, Edinburgh University from 1925 until 1930. He was invited back and became the Rector of ...

Greatest Performances: Green For Danger (1946), Scrooge (1951), An Inspector Calls (1954), The Happiest Days Of Your Life (1950), The Belles Of St. Trinian's (1954), Hue And Cry (1947), The Green Man (1956), London Belongs To Me (1948), Inspector Hornleigh (1939), Laughter In Paradise (1951), The Riverside Murder (1937)

40. Alec Guinness

Actor | Star Wars

Alec Guinness was an English actor. He is known for his six collaborations with David Lean: Herbert Pocket in Great Expectations (1946), Fagin in Oliver Twist (1948), Col. Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor), Prince Faisal in Lawrence...

Greatest Performances: The Ladykillers (1955), Father Brown (1954), Tunes Of Glory (1960), The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957), Murder By Death (1976), Lawrence Of Arabia (1962), Doctor Zhivago (1965), Our Man In Havana (1959), The Captain's Paradise (1953), The Man In The White Suit (1951), Oliver Twist (1948), Great Expectations (1946), The Quiller Memorandum (1966), The Captain's Paradise (1953)

41. George Raft

Actor | Some Like It Hot

George Raft was born and grew up in a poor family in Hell's Kitchen, at the time one of the roughest, meanest areas of New York City. He was born George Ranft, and was the son of Eva (Glockner) and Conrad Ranft, a department store deliveryman. His parents were both of German descent. In his youth, ...

Greatest Performances: Each Dawn I Die (1938), The Bowery (1933), Nocturne (1946), They Drive By Night (1940), Some Like It Hot (1959), Scarface (1932), You And Me (1938), Red Light (1949), Johnny Angel (1945), Background To Danger (1943), Johnny Allegro (1949), A Dangerous Profession (1949), Christmas Eve (1947), Manpower (1941), Black Widow (1954), If I Had A Million (1932)

42. Jeffrey Hunter

Actor | The Searchers

Jeffrey Hunter was born Henry Herman McKinnies Jr. on November 25, 1926 in New Orleans, Louisiana, an only child. His parents met at the University of Arkansas, and when he was almost four his family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In his teens, he acted in productions of the North Shore Children's ...

Greatest Performances: The Longest Day (1962), Single-Handed (1953), The Searchers (1956), Gun For A Coward (1956), The Proud Ones (1956), The Cage (1966), The True Story Of Jesse James (1957), No Man Is An Island (1962), Brainstorm (1965), Sergeant Rutledge (1960), A Kiss Before Dying (1956), No Down Payment (1957), Count Five And Die (1957), The Frogmen (1951)

43. Boris Karloff

Actor | Bride of Frankenstein

Along with fellow actors Lon Chaney, Bela Lugosi and Vincent Price, Boris Karloff is recognized as one of the true icons of horror cinema, and the actor most closely identified with the general public's perception of the "Monster" from the classic Mary Shelley novel "Frankenstein". William Henry ...

Greatest Performances: Frankenstein (1931), The Body Snatcher (1945), Bride Of Frankenstein (1935), The Black Cat (1934), Abbott And Costello Meet The Killer Boris Karloff (1949), Charlie Chan At The Opera (1936), The Old Dark House (1932), Son Of Frankenstein (1939), The Raven (1935), Black Friday (1940), The Mystery Of Mr. Wong (1939), The Man They Could Not Hang (1936), The Man Who Lived Again (1936), Lured (1947), British Intelligence (1939), The Walking Dead (1936)

44. Dana Andrews

Actor | Laura

American leading man of the 1940s and 1950s, Dana Andrews was born Carver Dana Andrews on New Years Day 1909 on a farmstead outside Collins, Covington County, Mississippi. One of thirteen children, including fellow actor Steve Forrest, he was a son of Annis (Speed) and Charles Forrest Andrews, a ...

Greatest Performances: Where The Sidewalk Ends (1950), Laura (1944), Beyond A Reasonable Doubt (1956), The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946), The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), Fallen Angel (1945), While The City Sleeps (1956), Boomerang! (1947), Three Hours To Kill (1954), Night Song (1947), Edge Of Doom (1950), The Purple Heart (1944), Daisy Kenyon (1947), Assignment: Paris (1952), Canyon Passage (1946), Brainstorm (1965), Smoke Signal (1955), Swamp Water (1941), I Want You (1951), Night Of The Demon (1957), My Foolish Heart (1949), Berlin Correspondent (1942)

45. Tom Cruise

Actor | Top Gun

In 1976, if you had told fourteen-year-old Franciscan seminary student Thomas Cruise Mapother IV that one day in the not too distant future he would be Tom Cruise, one of the top 100 movie stars of all time, he would have probably grinned and told you that his ambition was to join the priesthood. ...

Greatest Performances: Rain Man (1988), Top Gun: Maverick (2022), Minority Report (2002), Collateral (2004), A Few Good Men (1992), Valkyrie (2008), Born On The Fourth Of July (1989), Edge Of Tomorrow (2014), Magnolia (1999), Mission: Impossible (1996), Jack Reacher (2012), American Made (2017), The Firm (1993), Interview With The Vampire (1994), Tropic Thunder (2008), The Last Samurai (2003), Jerry Maguire (1996), Cocktail (1988)

46. Richard Conte

Actor | The Godfather

Richard Conte was born Nicholas Richard Conte on March 24, 1910, in Jersey City, New Jersey, the son of an Italian-American barber. He held a variety of jobs before becoming a professional actor, including truck driver, Wall Street clerk and singing waiter at a Connecticut resort. The gig as a ...

Greatest Performances: 13 Rue Madeleine (1946), Call Northside 777 (1948), Cry Of The City (1948), New York Confidential (1955), The Brothers Rico (1957), The Big Combo (1955), House Of Strangers (1949), Thieves' Highway (1949), Hollywood Story (1951), The Sleeping City (1950), The Spider (1945), The Blue Gardenia (1953), The Purple Heart (1944), The Four Just Men 1959-60), They Came To Cordura (1959), The Godfather (1972), The Big Tip Off (1955)

47. Terry-Thomas

Actor | It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

One of Britain's most beloved eccentric comedians, the irrepressible, gap-toothed Terry-Thomas was born Thomas Terry Hoar-Stevens in Lichfield Grove, Finchley. He was the son of Ellen Elizabeth (Hoar) and Ernest Frederick Stevens, a fairly well-to-do London businessman. He was afforded a private ...

Greatest Performances: Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines (1965), I'm All Right Jack (1959), Too Many Crooks (1959), Tom Thumb (1958), Carlton-Browne Of The F.O. (1959), The Naked Truth (1957), It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963), How To Murder Your Wife (1965), The Green Man (1956), Make Mine Mink (1960), The Wonderful World Of The Brothers Grimm (1962), Those Daring Young Men In Their Jaunty Jalopies (1969), School For Scoundrels (1960)

48. Matt Damon

Actor | Good Will Hunting

Matthew Paige Damon was born on October 8, 1970, in Boston, Massachusetts, to Kent Damon, a stockbroker, realtor and tax preparer, and Nancy Carlsson-Paige, an early childhood education professor at Lesley University. Matt has an older brother, Kyle, a sculptor. His father was of English and ...

Greatest Performances: The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), The Bourne Supremacy (2004), The Bourne Identity (2002), The Departed (2006), We Bought A Zoo (2011), Ford v Ferrari (2019), Jason Bourne (2016), Saving Private Ryan (1998), The Martian (2015), Contagion (2011), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Air (2023), The Adjustment Bureau (2011), Green Zone (2010), Stillwater (2021), Good Will Hunting (1997), Elysium (2013)

49. Al Pacino

Actor | Serpico

Alfredo James "Al" 'Pacino established himself as a film actor during one of cinema's most vibrant decades, the 1970s, and has become an enduring and iconic figure in the world of American movies.

He was born April 25, 1940 in Manhattan, New York City, to Italian-American parents, Rose (nee Gerardi)...

Greatest Performances: The Godfather Part II (1974), The Godfather (1972), Serpico (1973), Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), Heat (1995), Dick Tracy (1990), Dog Day Afternoon (1975), Scarecrow (1973), The Irishman (2019), The Insider (1999), Stand Up Guys (2012), Danny Collins (2015), Sea Of Love (1989), Insomnia (2002)

50. Robert De Niro

Actor | Cape Fear

One of the greatest actors of all time, Robert De Niro was born on August 17, 1943 in Manhattan, New York City, to artists Virginia (Admiral) and Robert De Niro Sr. His paternal grandfather was of Italian descent, and his other ancestry is Irish, English, Dutch, German, and French. He was trained ...

Greatest Performances: Heat (1995), The Godfather Part II (1974), Midnight Run (1998), Taxi Driver (1978), Once Upon A Time In America (1984), Ronin (1998), Silver Linings Playbook (2012), The Untouchables (1987), Goodfellas (1990), The Deer Hunter (1978), 1900 (1976), Bang The Drum Slowly (1973), Joker (2019), The Irishman (2019), The Intern (2015), True Confessions (1981), The Last Tycoon (1976), Angel Heart (1987), Awakenings (1990), Jackie Brown (1997), Mean Streets (1973), Sleepers (1996), The Family (2013), Stardust (2007)

51. James Coburn

Actor | The Great Escape

Lanky, charismatic and versatile actor with an amazing grin that put everyone at ease, James Coburn studied acting at UCLA, and then moved to New York to study under noted acting coach Stella Adler. After being noticed in several stage productions, Coburn appeared in a handful of minor westerns ...

Greatest Performances: The Last Of Sheila (1973), Charade (1963), The Magnificent Seven (1960), The Great Escape (1963), Cross Of Iron (1977), Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid (1973), Affliction (1997), Duck You Sucker (1971), The Internecine Project (1974), Our Man Flint (1966), In Like Flint (1967), Hell Is For Heroes (1962), The Carey Treatment (1972), The Last Hard Men (1976)

52. Dean Martin

Soundtrack | The Dean Martin Show

Martin was born Dino Paul Crocetti in Steubenville, Ohio, to Gaetano Alfonso "Guy" Crocetti, an Italian immigrant and barber, and his Ohio-born wife, Angela (Barra) Crocetti. He spoke only Italian until age five. Martin came up the hard way, with such jobs as a boxer ("Kid Crochet"), a steel mill ...

Greatest Performances: Rio Bravo (1959), The Young Lions (1958), Five Card Stud (1968), The Sons Of Katie Elder (1965), Scared Stiff (1953), The Silencers (1966), Ocean's 11 (1960), Airport (1970), Some Came Running (1958), The Cannonball Run (1981)

53. Alain Delon

Actor | Le samouraï

Alain Fabien Maurice Marcel Delon was born in Sceaux, Hauts-de-Seine, France, to Édith (Arnold) and Fabien Delon. His father was of French and Corsican Italian descent, and his mother was of French and German ancestry. His parents divorced early on, and Delon had a stormy childhood, being ...

Greatest Performances: Le Cercle Rouge (1970), The Leopard (1963), Rocco And His Brothers (1960), Borsalino (1970), The Yellow Rolls Royce (1964), Swann In Love (1984), Le Samourai (1967), Red Sun (1971), L'eclisse (1962), Plein Soleil (1962), La Piscine (1969), Once A Thief (1965), Scorpio (1973)

54. Basil Rathbone

Actor | The Adventures of Robin Hood

Basil Rathbone was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1892, but three years later his family was forced to flee the country because his father was accused by the Boers of being a British spy at a time when Dutch-British conflicts were leading to the Boer War. The Rathbones escaped to England, ...

Greatest Performances: The Adventures Of Robin Hood (1938), The Scarlet Claw (1944), The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes (1939), The Mark Of Zorro (1940), The House Of Fear (1945), Son Of Frankenstein (1939), Sherlock Holmes And The Voice Of Terror (1942), The Dawn Patrol (1938), The Pearl Of Death (1944), Pursuit To Algiers (1945), Sherlock Holmes Faces Death (1943), Anna Karenina (1935), The Black Cat (1941), David Copperfield (1935), Captain Blood (1935), Crossroads (1942), Terror By Night (1946), Above Suspicion (1943), Tales Of Terror (1962), The Bishop Murder Case (1929)

55. Claude Rains

Actor | Casablanca

William Claude Rains, born in the Clapham area of London, was the son of the British stage actor Frederick Rains. The younger Rains followed, making his stage debut at the age of eleven in "Nell of Old Drury." Growing up in the world of theater, he saw not only acting up close but the down-to-earth...

Greatest Performances: Casablanca (1942), The Invisible Man (1934), Notorious (1946), The Adventures Of Robin Hood (1938), The Unsuspected (1947), They Won't Forget (1937), Passage To Marseille (1944), Lawrence Of Arabia (1962), The Passionate Friends (1949), Four Daughters (1938), The Sea Hawk (1940), Kings Row (1942), Where Danger Lives (1950), The Clairvoyant (1935), Now Voyager (1942), Mr Smith Goes To Washington (1939), The Wolf Man (1941)

56. Sidney James

Actor | Carry on Cleo

The star of the Carry On series of films, Sid James originally came to prominence as sidekick to the ground breaking British comedy actor Tony Hancock, on both radio and then television. Born in Johannesburg, South Africa and named Solomon Joel Cohen, James arrived in England in 1946, second wife ...

Greatest Performances: Carry On Up The Khyber (1968), Carry On Cleo (1964), The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), Carry On Cowboy (1965), Trapeze (1956), Father Brown (1954), What A Carve Up! (1961), Carry On Cruising (1962), Carry On Constable (1960), Hell Drivers (1957), Carry On Don't Lose Your Head (1967), Carry On Cabby (1963), Carry On Regardless (1961), The Silent Enemy (1958), The Titfield Thunderbolt (1953), Carry On At Your Convenience (1971)

57. Bruce Willis

Actor | Die Hard

Actor and musician Bruce Willis is well known for playing wisecracking or hard-edged characters, often in spectacular action films. Collectively, he has appeared in films that have grossed in excess of $2.5 billion USD.

Walter Bruce Willis was born on March 19, 1955, in Idar-Oberstein, West Germany,...

Greatest Performances: Die Hard (1988), Lucky Number Slevin (2006), Die Hard 2 (1990), Looper (2012), Moonlighting (1985-1989), Red (2010), The Sixth Sense (1999), Sin City (2005), Pulp Fiction (1994), Unbreakable (2000), Glass (2019), Split (2016), Die Hard With A Vengeance (1994), Sin City: A Dame To Kill For (2014), Mercury Rising (1998), Red 2 (2013), Moonrise Kingdom (2012)

58. Dick Powell

Actor | Murder, My Sweet

Few actors ever managed a complete image transition as thoroughly as did Dick Powell: in his case, from the boyish, wavy-haired crooner in musicals to rugged crime fighters in film noirs. Powell grew up in the town of Little Rock, Arkansas, one of three brothers (one of them, Howard, ended up as ...

Greatest Performances: Murder My Sweet (1944), Johnny O'Clock (1947), The Tall Target (1951), Cornered (1945), Pitfall (1948), The Bad And The Beautiful (1952), Station West (1948), Cry Danger (1951), Christmas In July (1940), It Happened Tomorrow (1944), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935)

59. Sidney Toler

Actor | Charlie Chan at Treasure Island

The son of Colonel H.G. Toler, breeder of trotting horses, Sidney Toler acted on stage by the time he was seven years old. He was an established star of the theater by the 1890s, long before his career in motion pictures began. He was also active as a playwright and had a good enough voice to be ...

Greatest Performances: Charlie Chan At Treasure Island (1939), Charlie Chan's Murder Cruise (1940), A Night To Remember (1942), Charlie Chan At The Wax Museum (1940), Castle In The Desert (1942), Dead Men Tell (1941), Murder Over New York (1940), Charlie Chan In Reno (1939), Charlie Chan In Honolulu (1938), City In Darkness (1939), Charlie Chan In Panama (1940), The Jade Mask (1945), The Shanghai Cobra (1945)

60. Tom Conway

Actor | Cat People

Tom Conway played "The Falcon" in ten of that series' entries. He starred in three Val Lewton horror classics. He appeared in comedies, musicals, two Tarzan films and even science fiction films.

He was early television's Detective Mark Saber, but Conway will probably be best remembered as George ...

Greatest Performances: Cat People (1942), The Falcon Strikes Back (1943), The Falcon In Danger (1943), I Walked With A Zombie (1943), Grand Central Murder (1942), The Falcon's Brother (1942), The Seventh Victim (1943), The Last Man To Hang (1956), Criminal Court (1946), The Falcon In San Francisco (1945), Two O'Clock Courage (1945), The Falcon's Alibi (1946), The Falcon Out West (1944), The Falcon In Mexico (1944), The Falcon In Hollywood (1944)

61. Brad Pitt

Actor | Fight Club

William Bradley "Brad" Pitt was born on December 18, 1963 in Shawnee, Oklahoma and raised in Springfield, Missouri to Jane Etta Pitt (née Hillhouse), a school counselor & William Alvin "Bill" Pitt, a truck company manager. At Kickapoo High School, Pitt was involved in sports, debating, student ...

Greatest Performances: Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2019), Spy Game (2001), Se7en (1995), Bullet Train (2022), The Tree Of Life (2011), Inglourious Basterds (2010), The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (2007), Fury (2014), World War Z (2013), Ad Astra (2019), Fight Club (1999), Sleepers (1996), Moneyball (2011), Ocean's Eleven (2001), True Romance (1993)

62. Willem Dafoe

Actor | Spider-Man

Having made over one hundred films in his legendary career, Willem Dafoe is internationally respected for bringing versatility, boldness, and daring to some of the most iconic films of our time. His artistic curiosity in exploring the human condition leads him to projects all over the world, large ...

Greatest Performances: Mississippi Burning (1988), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), Platoon (1986), Born On The Fourth Of July (1989), The Lighthouse (2019), Shadow Of The Vampire (2000), The English Patient (1996), The Fault In Our Stars (2014), Nightmare Alley (2021), Spider-Man (2002), John Wick (2014), Murder On The Orient Express (2017)

63. Trevor Howard

Actor | The Third Man

The son of an insurance underwriter who represented Lloyd's of London in Ceylon, Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith was born in Margate, Kent. He spent his early childhood globetrotting with his mother, frequently left in the care of strangers. After attending private school he went on to study drama at ...

Greatest Performances: Green For Danger (1946), Von Ryan's Express (1965), Sons And Lovers (1960), The Cockleshell Heroes (1955), Brief Encounter (1945), I See A Dark Stranger (1946), Outcast Of The Islands (1951), Odette (1950), The Clouded Yellow (1950), The Night Visitor (1971), Stowaway Girl (1957), Golden Salamander (1950), The Key (1958), They Made Me A Fugitive (1947), The Passionate Friends (1949), The Third Man (1949)

64. John Wayne

Actor | True Grit

John Wayne was born Marion Robert Morrison in Iowa, to Mary Alberta (Brown) and Clyde Leonard Morrison, a pharmacist. He was of English, Scottish, Ulster-Scots, and Irish ancestry.

Clyde developed a lung condition that required him to move his family from Iowa to the warmer climate of southern ...

Greatest Performances: Red River (1948), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), The Shootist (1976), The Searchers (1956), Stagecoach (1939), The Longest Day (1962), The Cowboys (1972), El Dorado (1967), Rio Bravo (1959), True Grit (1969), In Harm's Way (1965), The Comancheros (1961), Trouble Along The Way (1953), The Sons Of Katie Elder (1965), The Spoilers (1942), Fort Apache (1948), Tall In The Saddle (1944), Rooster Cogburn (1975), Operation Pacific (1951), Donovan's Reef (1963), A Lady Takes A Chance (1943), Without Reservations (1946), The Quiet Man (1952), Circus World (1964)

65. Lee Van Cleef

Actor | Escape from New York

One of the great movie villains, Clarence Leroy Van Cleef, Jr. was born in Somerville, New Jersey, to Marion Lavinia (Van Fleet) and Clarence LeRoy Van Cleef, Sr. His parents were of Dutch ancestry. Van Cleef started out as an accountant. He served in the U.S. Navy aboard minesweepers and sub ...

Greatest Performances: For A Few Dollars More (1965), The Good The Bad And The Ugly (1966), High Noon (1952), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), Escape From New York (1981), Death Rides A Horse (1967), The Young Lions (1958), Day Of Anger (1967)

66. Charles Laughton

Actor | Witness for the Prosecution

Charles Laughton was born in Scarborough, Yorkshire, England, to Eliza (Conlon) and Robert Laughton, hotel keepers of Irish and English descent, respectively. He was educated at Stonyhurst (a highly esteemed Jesuit college in England) and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (received gold medal). ...

Greatest Performances: The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1939), Witness For The Prosecution (1957), This Land Is Mine (1943), Les Miserables (1935), Mutiny On The Bounty (1935), The Big Clock (1948), The Suspect (1944), If I Had A Million (1932), Island Of Lost Souls (1932), The Old Dark House (1932), Advise And Consent (1962), Spartacus (1960)

67. Pierre Fresnay

Actor | La grande illusion

Pierre Fresnay was born on April 4, 1897 in Paris, France. He was an actor and writer, known for The Grand Illusion (1937), The Murderer Lives at Number 21 (1942) and Monsieur Vincent (1947). He was married to Berthe Bovy and Rachel Bérendt. He died on January 9, 1975 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, ...

Greatest Performances: The Murderer Lives At Number 21 (1942), La Grande Illusion (1937), Marius (1931), Le Corbeau (1943), Fanny (1932), Cesar (1936), La Main Du Diable (1943), The Last One Of The Six (1941), Monsieur Vincent (1947)

68. Charles Bronson

Actor | Death Wish

The archetypal screen tough guy with weatherbeaten features--one film critic described his rugged looks as "a Clark Gable who had been left out in the sun too long"--Charles Bronson was born Charles Buchinsky, one of 15 children of struggling parents in Pennsylvania. His mother, Mary (Valinsky), ...

Greatest Performances: The Great Escape (1963), Once Upon A Time In The West (1968), The Magnificent Seven (1960), Breakheart Pass (1975), The Dirty Dozen (1967), Death Wish (1974), The Mechanic (1972), St. Ives (1976), Chato's Land (1972), The Indian Runner (1991), Death Hunt (1981), Guns For San Sebastian (1968), Rider On The Rain (1970), Red Sun (1971), Battle Of The Bulge (1965), Telefon (1977)

69. Anthony Quinn

Actor | Alexis Zorbas

Anthony Quinn was born Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca (some sources indicate Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca) on April 21, 1915, in Chihuahua, Mexico, to Manuela (Oaxaca) and Francisco Quinn, who became an assistant cameraman at a Los Angeles (CA) film studio. His paternal grandfather was Irish, ...

Greatest Performances: Lust For Life (1956), Zorba The Greek (1964), La Strada (1954), The Guns Of Navarone (1961), Lawrence Of Arabia (1962), The Black Orchid (1958), Last Train From Gun Hill (1959), The Shoes Of The Fisherman (1968), Behold A Pale Horse (1964), Blowing Wild (1953), The Passage (1979), Man From Del Rio (1956), The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), The Naked Street (1955), The Ghost Breakers (1940), Guns For San Sebastian (1968), The Ride Back (1957), Only The Lonely (1991), Warlock (1959), The Secret Of Santa Vittoria (1969)

70. Richard Attenborough

Actor | Jurassic Park

Richard Attenborough, Baron Attenborough of Richmond-upon-Thames, was born in Cambridge, England, the son of Mary (née Clegg), a founding member of the Marriage Guidance Council, and Frederick Levi Attenborough, a scholar and academic administrator who was a don at Emmanuel College and wrote a ...

Greatest Performances: 10 Rillington Place (1971), Brighton Rock (1947), The Great Escape (1963), Miracle On 34th Street (1994), London Belongs To Me (1948), The Flight Of The Phoenix (1965), Guns At Batasi (1964), The Sand Pebbles (1966), Morning Departure (1950), Seance On A Wet Afternoon (1964), I'm All Right Jack (1959), Ten Little Indians (1974), Brothers In Law (1957)

71. Vincent Price

Actor | The Abominable Dr. Phibes

Actor, raconteur, art collector and connoisseur of haute cuisine are just some of the attributes associated with Vincent Price. He was born Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. in St. Louis, Missouri, to Marguerite Cobb "Daisy" (Wilcox) and Vincent Leonard Price, who was President of the National Candy ...

Greatest Performances: Theatre Of Blood (1973), Witchfinder General (1968), Laura (1944), House On Haunted Hill (1959), The Bat (1959), The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971), The Fly (1958), Edward Scissorhands (1990), The Big Circus (1959), Shock (1946), House Of Wax (1953), His Kind Of Woman (1951), The Great Mouse Detective (1986), The Invisible Man Returns (1940), The Three Musketeers (1948), Tales Of Terror (1962), The Last Man On Earth (1964)

72. Jake Gyllenhaal

Actor | Nightcrawler

Jake Gyllenhaal was born on December 19, 1980 in Los Angeles, California as Jacob Benjamin Gyllenhaal, the son of producer/screenwriter Naomi Foner and director Stephen Gyllenhaal, and the younger brother of actress Maggie Gyllenhaal. He is of Ashkenazi Jewish (mother) and Swedish, English, and ...

Greatest Performances: Nocturnal Animals (2016), Prisoners (2013), Zodiac (2007), Donnie Darko (2000), Source Code (2011), The Covenant (2023), Jarhead (2005), Enemy (2013), Nightcrawler (2014), Brokeback Mountain (2005), October Sky (1999), Southpaw (2015), Ambulance (2022), Brothers (2009), The Sisters Brothers (2018), Life (2017), Stronger (2017)

73. Morgan Freeman

Actor | Driving Miss Daisy

With an authoritative voice and calm demeanor, this ever popular American actor has grown into one of the most respected figures in modern US cinema. Morgan was born on June 1, 1937 in Memphis, Tennessee, to Mayme Edna (Revere), a teacher, and Morgan Porterfield Freeman, a barber. The young Freeman...

Greatest Performances: Se7en (1995), Lucky Number Slevin (2006), Red (2010), Unforgiven (1992), Million Dollar Baby (2004), Wanted (2008), The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Outbreak (1995), A Good Person (2023), Olympus Has Fallen (2013), Now You See Me (2013), High Crimes (2002), Under Suspicion (2000), Angel Has Fallen (2019), Deep Impact (1998), The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

74. Tony Curtis

Actor | Some Like It Hot

Tony Curtis was born Bernard Schwartz, the eldest of three children of Helen (Klein) and Emanuel Schwartz, Jewish immigrants from Hungary. Curtis himself admits that while he had almost no formal education, he was a student of the "school of hard knocks" and learned from a young age that the only ...

Greatest Performances: Sweet Smell Of Success (1957), Some Like It Hot (1959), Trapeze (1956), The Boston Strangler (1968), The Defiant Ones (1958), Trapeze (1956), Spartacus (1960), The Persuaders (1971-1972), The Great Race (1965), The Midnight Story (1957), The Vikings (1958), Those Daring Young Men In Their Jaunty Jalopies (1969), Captain Newman M.D (1963), The Last Tycoon (1976), The Mirror Crack'd (1980)

75. Paul Douglas

Actor | Executive Suite

A rare breed this guy. Paul Douglas became an unlikely middle-aged cinema star by simply capitalizing on his big, burly, brash and boorish appeal to the nth degree. The 5'11", 200 lb. actor was a bold, unabashed risk taker. He forsook an extremely successful career as one of the country's top radio...

Greatest Performances: Everybody Does It (1949), A Letter To Three Wives (1949), Fourteen Hours (1951), Angels In The Outfield (1951), Panic In The Streets (1950), Executive Suite (1954), The Big Lift (1950), Clash By Night (1952)

76. Gene Hackman

Actor | The French Connection

Eugene Allen Hackman was born in San Bernardino, California, the son of Ann Lydia Elizabeth (Gray) and Eugene Ezra Hackman, who operated a newspaper printing press. He is of Pennsylvania Dutch (German), English, and Scottish ancestry, partly by way of Canada, where his mother was born. After ...

Greatest Performances: Mississippi Burning (1988), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), Night Moves (1975), Unforgiven (1992), Enemy Of The State (1998), Scarecrow (1973), Superman (1978), Bonnie And Clyde (1967), The Firm (1993), Under Suspicion (2000), Downhill Racer (1969), Class Action (1991), Runaway Jury (2003), Superman II (1980), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Heartbreakers (2001), Heist (2001), Get Shorty (1995)

77. Fred MacMurray

Actor | Double Indemnity

Fred MacMurray was likely the most underrated actor of his generation. True, his earliest work is mostly dismissed as pedestrian, but no other actor working in the 1940s and 50s was able to score so supremely whenever cast against type.

Frederick Martin MacMurray was born in Kankakee, Illinois, to ...

Greatest Performances: Murder He Says (1945), The Apartment (1960), Double Indemnity (1944), Above Suspicion (1943), Gun For A Coward (1956), Pushover (1954), Too Many Husbands (1940), Woman's World (1954), There's Always Tomorrow (1956), A Good Day For A Hanging (1959), Face Of A Fugitive (1959), The Egg And I (1947)

78. William Bendix

Actor | Lifeboat

William Bendix was not a son of Brooklyn, New York, although because of his stereotypical "Brooklyn accent" it has been widely supposed that he was. Bendix was actually born in the Borough of Manhattan (New York City proper), in a midtown flat hard by the tracks of the long-since defunct ...

Greatest Performances: The Big Steal (1949), Macao (1952), The Dark Corner (1946), The Blue Dahlia (1946), Detective Story (1951), Who Done It? (1942), The Glass Key (1942), Crashout (1955), The Web (1947), Lifeboat (1944), Johnny Nobody (1961), Wake Island (1942), White Tie And Tails (1946), Submarine Command (1951), Race Street (1948)

79. Lee J. Cobb

Actor | 12 Angry Men

Lee J. Cobb, one of the premier character actors in American film for three decades in the post-World War II period, was born Leo Jacoby in New York City's Lower East Side on December 8, 1911. The son of a Jewish newspaper editor, young Leo was a child prodigy in music, mastering the violin and the...

Greatest Performances: Twelve Angry Men (1957), On The Waterfront (1954), Johnny O'Clock (1947), The Dark Past (1948), Sirocco (1951), The Trap (1959), Boomerang! (1947), The Man Who Cheated Himself (1950), Call Northside 777 (1948), How The West Was Won (1962), Our Man Flint (1966), Thieves Highway (1949), Party Girl (1958), Mafia (1968)

80. Spencer Tracy

Actor | Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

Spencer Tracy was the second son born on April 5, 1900, to truck salesman John Edward and Caroline Brown Tracy in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. While attending Marquette Academy, he and classmate Pat O'Brien quit school to enlist in the Navy at the start of World War I. Tracy was still at Norfolk Navy Yard...

Greatest Performances: Bad Day At Black Rock (1955), Boom Town (1940), Judgment At Nuremberg (1961), Guess Who's Coming To Dinner (1967), Father Of The Bride (1950), It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963), Inherit The Wind (1960), Libeled Lady (1936), Woman Of The Year (1942), Test Pilot (1938), Desk Set (1957), San Francisco (1936), Adam's Rib (1949), The Murder Man (1935), Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944)

81. Jack Nicholson

Actor | Chinatown

Jack Nicholson, an American actor, producer, director and screenwriter, is a three-time Academy Award winner and twelve-time nominee. Nicholson is also notable for being one of two actors - the other being Michael Caine - who have received an Oscar nomination in every decade from the '60s through ...

Greatest Performances: Chinatown (1974), One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975), A Few Good Men (1992), Terms Of Endearment (1983), As Good As It Gets (1997), The Departed (2006), The Pledge (2001), Reds (1981), The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), The Shining (1980), Heartburn (1986), Five Easy Pieces (1970), The Last Tycoon (1976)

82. Denzel Washington

Actor | Fences

Denzel Hayes Washington, Jr. was born on December 28, 1954 in Mount Vernon, New York. He is the middle of three children of a beautician mother, Lennis, from Georgia, and a Pentecostal minister father, Denzel Washington, Sr., from Virginia. After graduating from high school, Denzel enrolled at ...

Greatest Performances: Philadelphia (1993), The Pelican Brief (1993), Inside Man (2006), Fallen (1998), Mo Better Blues (1990), Remember The Titans (2000), Fences (2016), The Great Debaters (2007), Training Day (2001), Flight (2012), Roman J Israel Esq (2017), Deja Vu (2006), Unstoppable (2010), Safe House (2012), Man On Fire (2004), The Equalizer (2014), The Little Things (2021), John Q (2002), The Equalizer 2 (2018), The Magnificent Seven (2016), Malcolm X (1992), Antwone Fisher (2002)

83. Tom Hanks

Producer | Cast Away

Thomas Jeffrey Hanks was born in Concord, California, to Janet Marylyn (Frager), a hospital worker, and Amos Mefford Hanks, an itinerant cook. His mother's family, originally surnamed "Fraga", was entirely Portuguese, while his father was of mostly English ancestry. Tom grew up in what he has ...

Greatest Performances: Saving Mr. Banks (2013), Big (1988), Saving Private Ryan (1998), The Green Mile (1999), You've Got Mail (1998), Philadelphia (1993), Toy Story (1995), Toy Story 3 (2010), Sully (2016), Splash (1984), The Money Pit (1986), A Man Called Otto (2022) A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood (2019), Larry Crowne (2011), The Polar Express (2004), The Terminal (2004), Sleepless In Seattle (1993), Charlie Wilson's War (2007), The Post (2017), News Of The World (2020)

84. Paul Lukas

Actor | Watch on the Rhine

Oscar-winning actor Paul Lukas was born in Hungary and graduated from the School for Dramatic Arts. In 1916 he went to Kosice (Kassa) to be an actor; in 1918 he became an actor specializing in comedy. For ten years he was the most popular character player and romantic lead of the company. In 1918 ...

Greatest Performances: The Lady Vanishes (1938), Berlin Express (1948), Deadline At Dawn (1946), Watch On The Rhine (1943), 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1954), The Ghost Breakers (1940), Dodsworth (1936), Uncertain Glory (1944), Experiment Perilous (1944), Secret Of The Blue Room (1933), Little Women (1933), The Casino Murder Case (1935), Secret Of The Blue Room (1933), Confessions Of A Nazi Spy (1939), A Window In London (1940)

85. Christian Bale

Actor | The Dark Knight

Christian Charles Philip Bale was born in Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK on January 30, 1974, to English parents Jennifer "Jenny" (James) and David Bale. His mother was a circus performer and his father, who was born in South Africa, was a commercial pilot. The family lived in different countries ...

Greatest Performances: The Prestige (2006), Ford v Ferrari (2019), The Pale Blue Eye (2022), American Hustle (2013), American Psycho (2000), The Machinist (2004), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Thor: Love And Thunder (2022), Vice (2018), Little Women (1994), Empire Of The Sun (1987), Rescue Dawn (2006), Out Of The Furnace (2013)

86. James Stewart

Actor | Vertigo

James Maitland Stewart was born on May 20, 1908, in Indiana, Pennsylvania, to Elizabeth Ruth (Johnson) and Alexander Maitland Stewart, who owned a hardware store. He was of Scottish, Ulster-Scots, and some English descent. Stewart was educated at a local prep school, Mercersburg Academy, where he ...

Greatest Performances: Vertigo (1958), It's A Wonderful Life (1946), Rear Window (1954), The Naked Spur (1953), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), After The Thin Man (1936), The Shop Around The Corner (1940), Destry Rides Again (1939), The Flight Of The Phoenix (1965), The Greatest Show On Earth (1952), Anatomy Of A Murder (1959), Winchester 73 (1950), The Mortal Storm (1940), Bend Of The River (1952), Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939), Thunder Bay (1953), Shenandoah (1965), The Man From Laramie (1955), Night Passage (1957), The Shootist (1976), How The West Was Won (1962), It's A Wonderful World (1939)

87. Henry Fonda

Actor | 12 Angry Men

This remarkable, soft-spoken American began in films as a diffident juvenile. With passing years, he matured into a star character actor who exemplified not only integrity and strength, but an ideal of the common man fighting against social injustice and oppression. He was born in Grand Island, ...

Greatest Performances: Once Upon A Time In The West (1968), Twelve Angry Men (1957), The Grapes Of Wrath (1940), My Darling Clementine (1946), The Mad Miss Manton (1938), The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), A Big Hand For The Little Lady (1966), Fail-Safe (1964), The Lady Eve (1941), The Tin Star (1957), Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), The Best Man (1964), The Wrong Man (1956), Mister Roberts (1955), Battle Of The Bulge (1965), You Only Live Once (1937), Sometimes A Great Notion (1971), The Big Street (1942), The Long Night (1947), Jezebel (1938), Advise & Consent (1962), Fort Apache (1948), Drums Along The Mohawk (1939), Warlock (1959)

88. Dan Duryea

Actor | Too Late for Tears

Dan Duryea was educated at Cornell University and worked in the advertising business before pursuing his career as an actor. Duryea made his Broadway debut in the play "Dead End." The critical acclaim he won for his performance as Leo Hubbard in the Broadway production of "The Little Foxes" led to ...

Greatest Performances: Along Came Jones (1945), Winchester 73 (1950), Scarlet Street (1945), The Woman In The Window (1944), Black Angel (1946), Night Passage (1957), The Flight Of The Phoenix (1965), One Way Street (1950), Silver Lode (1954), Thunder Bay (1953), Storm Fear (1955), The Little Foxes (1941), Another Part Of The Forest (1948), White Tie And Tails (1946), Manhandled (1949), Larceny (1948), Lady On A Train (1945), Too Late For Tears (1949), The Underworld Story (1950), The Valley Of Decision (1945)

89. Sean Connery

Actor | The Rock

The tall, handsome and muscular Scottish actor Sean Connery is best known as the original actor to portray James Bond in the hugely successful movie franchise, starring in seven films between 1962 and 1983. Some believed that such a career-defining role might leave him unable to escape it, but he ...

Greatest Performances: The Hill (1965), Robin And Marian (1976), The Untouchables (1987), Murder On The Orient Express (1974), The Rock (1996), From Russia With Love (1963), The Name Of The Rose (1986), Outland (1981), The Man Who Would Be King (1975), Family Business (1989), Goldfinger (1964), Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade (1989), The Molly Maguires (1970), The Hunt For Red October (1990), The Offence (1973), Marnie (1964), Rising Sun (1993)

90. Ralph Richardson

Actor | Doctor Zhivago

Sir Ralph Richardson was one of the greatest actors of the 20th Century English-language theater, ascending to the height of his profession in the mid-1930s when he became a star in London's West End. He became the first actor of his generation to be knighted. He became Sir Ralph in 1947, and was ...

Greatest Performances: The Heiress (1949), The Fallen Idol (1948), The Wrong Box (1966), O Lucky Man! (1973), Doctor Zhivago (1965), Q Planes (1939), The Sound Barrier (1952), On The Night Of The Fire (1939), The Silver Fleet (1943), Things To Come (1936), Home At Seven (1952), Outcast Of The Islands (1951), The Holly And The Ivy (1952), The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936)

91. Lloyd Nolan

Actor | Hannah and Her Sisters

It would no doubt be a real shock to most people to discover that the rich baritone Bronx-like accent of great veteran character actor Lloyd Nolan was a product of the San Francisco streets--not the urban jungle of New York City. Nolan was born in the City by the Bay, and his father, James Nolan, ...

Greatest Performances: The Man Who Wouldn't Die (1942), Blue White And Perfect (1941), Hannah And Her Sisters (1986), Michael Shayne Private Detective (1940), Sleepers West (1941), "G" Men (1935), Time To Kill (1942), Just Off Broadway (1942), Dressed To Kill (1941), Bataan (1943), Peyton Place (1957), Ice Station Zebra (1968)

92. Warren William

Actor | The Wolf Man

Warren William, the stalwart leading man of pre-Production Code talkies, was born Warren William Krech on December 2, 1894 in Aitkin, Minnesota, the son of a newspaper publisher. William originally planned to become a journalist, but he had a change of heart, and instead went to the American ...

Greatest Performances: The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt (1939), Passport To Suez (1943), Arsene Lupin Returns (1938), The Dragon Murder Case (1934), Employees' Entrance (1933), Lady For A Day (1933), Counter-Espionage (1942), The Case Of The Howling Dog (1934), The Wolf Man (1941), Arizona (1940), The Mouthpiece (1932), The Lone Wolf Strikes (1940), The Lone Wolf Meets A Lady (1940), The Case Of The Howling Dog (1934), Secrets Of The Lone Wolf (1941)

93. Brendan Gleeson

Actor | Calvary

Brendan Gleeson was born in Dublin, Ireland, to Pat and Frank Gleeson. From a very young age, he loved to learn, especially reading classical text in and outside the classroom. He took great attention to Irish play writers such as Samuel Beckett, which eventually led to him performing in his high ...

Greatest Performances: In Bruges (2008), The Guard (2011), The Banshees Of Inisherin (2022), Paddington 2 (2017), Edge Of Tomorrow (2014), Calvary (2014), Gangs Of New York (2002), The Raven (2012), Safe House (2012)

94. Stanley Tucci

Actor | Big Night

Actor Stanley Tucci was born on November 11, 1960, in Peekskill, New York. He is the son of Joan (Tropiano), a writer, and Stanley Tucci, an art teacher. His family is Italian-American, with origins in Calabria.

Tucci took an interest in acting while in high school, and went on to attend the State ...

Greatest Performances: Murder One (1995-1997), Lucky Number Slevin (2006), Spotlight (2015), Supernova (2020) Conspiracy (2001), Margin Call (2011), Julie & Julia (2009), The Witches (2020), Beauty And The Beast (2017)

95. Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Actor | Inception

Joseph Leonard Gordon-Levitt was born February 17, 1981 in Los Angeles, California, to Jane Gordon and Dennis Levitt. Joseph was raised in a Jewish family with his late older brother, Dan Gordon-Levitt, who passed away in October 2010. His parents worked for the Pacifica Radio station KPFK-FM and ...

Greatest Performances: Looper (2012), 500 Days Of Summer (2009), The Walk (2015), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Sin City: A Dame To Kill For (2014), Inception (2010), Premium Rush (2012), Brick (2012), Snowden (2016), The Trial Of The Chicago 7 (2020), Don Jon (2013), Mysterious Skin (2004), 50/50 (2011), The Night Before (2015), Treasure Planet (2002)

96. Steve Martin

Writer | Roxanne

Steve Martin was born on August 14, 1945 in Waco, Texas, USA as Stephen Glenn Martin to Mary Lee (née Stewart; 1913-2002) and Glenn Vernon Martin (1914-1997), a real estate salesman and aspiring actor. He was raised in Inglewood and Garden Grove in California. In 1960, he got a job at the Magic ...

Greatest Performances: Planes Trains And Automobiles (1987), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), Roxanne (1987), Little Shop Of Horrors (1986), Leap Of Faith (1992), The Big Year (2011), The Man With Two Brains (1983), The Jerk (1979), Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982), Bowfinger (1999), Parenthood (1989), Three Amigos! (1986), Grand Canyon (1991)

97. Roddy McDowall

Actor | Fright Night

Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude McDowall was born in Herne Hill, London, to Winifriede Lucinda (Corcoran), an Irish-born aspiring actress, and Thomas Andrew McDowall, a merchant seaman of Scottish descent. Roddy was enrolled in elocution courses at age five and by ten had appeared in his first film, ...

Greatest Performances: Planet Of The Apes (1968), Fright Night (1985), Five Card Stud (1968), The Legend Of Hell House (1973), Lassie Come Home (1943), Tales Of The Gold Monkey (1982-1983), Midnight Lace (1960), Evil Under The Sun (1982), Columbo: Short Fuse (1972), Bedknobs And Broomsticks (1971), Dead Of Winter (1987), Macbeth (1948), The Longest Day (1962), Charlie Chan And The Curse Of The Dragon Queen (1981)

98. Nigel Patrick

Actor | Raintree County

This droll, urbane, dry-witted gent was born Nigel Dennis Patrick Wemyss-Gorman in London on May 2, 1912. Coming from a family of actors, his parents were actors Charles Wemyss and Dorothy Turner.

Nigel made his stage debut in the 1932 play "The Life Machine" and continued on the stock and repertory...

Greatest Performances: Morning Departure (1950), Raintree County (1957), The League Of Gentlemen (1960), Sapphire (1959), The Sound Barrier (1952), The Mackintosh Man (1973), The Man Inside (1958), Encore (1951), The Browning Version (1951), The Informers (1963), How To Murder A Rich Uncle (1957), Pandora And The Flying Dutchman (1951), A Prize Of Gold (1955), Count Five And Die (1957), Johnny Nobody (1961)

99. Charles Coburn

Actor | The More the Merrier

A cigar-smoking, monocled, swag-bellied character actor known for his Old South manners and charm. In 1918 he and his first wife formed the Coburn Players and appeared on Broadway in many plays. With her death in 1937, he accepted a Hollywood contract and began making films at the age of sixty.

Greatest Performances: The Devil And Miss Jones (1941), Has Anybody Seen My Gal (1952), The More The Merrier (1943), Monkey Business (1952), Trouble Along The Way (1953), Kings Row (1942), In This Our Life (1942), Lured (1947), The Lady Eve (1941), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), How To Murder A Rich Uncle (1957), Town On Trial (1957)

100. David Niven

Actor | Murder by Death

His mother was the French Lady Comynyplatt Henrietta de Gacher, his father was the British Lieutenant William Graham Niven, who died in the war when David was six years old. Niven was considered a difficult child to educate and had to change schools often until he finally went to Sandhurst Military...

Greatest Performances: The Bishop's Wife (1947), A Matter Of Life And Death (1946), Enchantment (1948), Separate Tables (1958), Murder By Death (1978), Around The World In Eighty Days (1956), The Dawn Patrol (1938), Bedtime Story (1964), Dodsworth (1936), Four Men And A Prayer (1938), Paper Tiger (1975), The Pink Panther (1963), Death On The Nile (1978), Raffles (1939), Wuthering Heights (1939), The Other Love (1947), Bedtime Story (1964), The Way Ahead (1944), Eternally Yours (1939), The Sea Wolves (1980)