Favorite actor

[AZGiantFan]

The best character thread got me thinking about favorite actors.

My #1 favorite actor has to be Robert Duvall.  To me he is a true actor, not just a movie star.  I love John Wayne, but his strength is just his pure presence on the screen, not his acting.  Duvall, though, has played an incredibly wide range of characters,

A couple of examples will show his range.  The first is Mac Sledge in Tender Mercies.  He plays an ex-country music star whose career was destroyed by alcoholism.  He finds himself down and out in a run down motel owned and run by a young woman, with her young son.  It is one of the quietest, most human movie you'd ever want to see.  It is essentially a movie about redemption.  The closing scene where he asks all of the classic questions about why things happens is very quietly electric.

The second role is the apostle E. F. in the movie The Apostle.  This movie was a passion project for Duvall.  He spent years traveling and visiting Pentecostal churches in the south and listening to Pentecostal preachers.  Unlike Mac Sledge the apostle E.F. is a flamboyant character.  It would be easy to chalk him up as a phony, but the way Duvall plays him we see that his is both deeply sincere and deeply flawed. And he gets the Pentacostal preacher rhythms down cold.  Many of the characters in the movie aren't actors, but real life preachers.  Three that are actors who also give fine performances are a young Walton Goggins, another favorite of mine, a young Billy Bob Thornton, and an almost unrecognizable Farrah Fawcett.

Add to these three roles all of the other fantastic roles he's played like Bull Meechum in the Great Santine, Col. Kilgore in Apocalypse Now, Tom Hagan, Gus Macrae in Lonesome Dove, Boss Steadman in Open Range, Hub inSecond Hand Lions, Frank Burns in Mash, Stalin in Stalin, John J in Assassination Tango, just to name a few iconic roles and you have a helluva career.

[Jolly Blue Giant]

Duvall is one of my favorite as well. Never disappoints. He was amazing in "Lonesome Dove" (Gus MaCrae). One scene from "Phenomenon" sticks out to me, is also from one of my favorite movies of all time. John Travolta stars as a country bumpkin nice guy with a low IQ, but out of the clear is the most intelligent and fastest learner in the world, with an IQ way over 200...making his past friends afraid of him

And of course, as the old retired soldier in another of my favorite movies, "Second Hand Lions" (best family movie ever). He stops for a bite to eat on the way home from the hospital after having a heart attack

and the trailers to the movies:

[LennG]

My list of favorite actors and actresses always starts with Humphrey Bogart. He is, without a doubt, my favorite all-time actor and his movie The Maltese Falcon is my favorite all-time movie.

He has made so many roles that just cannot be  repeated and so many outstanding movies

After Bogey, I would say my second favorite is Gregory Peck

His portrayal of Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird is one of the best ever in the movies

After Mr, Peck I would go with Henry Fonda who was simply amazing in any role he took on, from comedy to drama, from an Okie to the President of the USA, from Cowpoke to lawyer.

And to keep going, I always liked Spencer Tracy

Maybe my favorite more modern day actor is Jack Nicholson, maybe the best pure actor that has graced the American movie scene in many years

[Trench]

I'm gonna throw in The Great One
Jackie Gleason

[EDjohnst1981]

De Niro and DiCaprio for me.

I loved the latter in Inception

[kartanoman]

Great choices and I like nearly all of them!

I've written novels today so I'll be brief.

My all-time favorite actor remains Carroll O'Connor for both his television AND big screen acting. All in the Family remains my most beloved television program of all time, and Carroll, along with the great Jean Stapleton, remain one of the greatest deals in the history of American television.

A predominant television actor who also produced and sometimes directed his programs, whom I loved watching growing up, and whose sudden death from cancer left a tremendous hole in the hearts of his fans, friends and family, was none other than the legendary Michael Landon. Known for bringing wholesome, values-based television to families across the country, the original "Teen Werewolf" became a legend as "Little Joe" on Bonanza before teaming up with the lovely Karen Grassle, and spunky little Melissa Gilbert, for the 10-year run of "Little House on the Prairie." Both programs have continued on in rerun form for multiple generations. Those timeless classics are a reminder of the good that television entertainment is capable of providing. No less inspirational, at the conclusion of "Little House," was his teaming up with Victor French in the heartwarming series "Highway to Heaven" which ran for five seasons before Victor French lost his battle to cancer and, not long after, Michael's diagnosis and rapid deterioration. He left this world way too early. His legacy lives on through his masterpieces which continue to be broadcast over three and a half decades following his passing. He remains a beloved actor and I miss him on a personal level for the inspiration his programs provided me in my younger days.

Another of my favorites who shared both the big stage and television screen was Tony Randall. The Odd Couple, partnered with Jack Klugman, was another of my all-time favorites.

One of my favorite historical big screen actors is Jimmy Stewart. Cart Grant, Jimmy Durante and Edward G. Robinson all rank high on my favorites list as well in the historical category.

Moving closer to the present, in no special order, are my favorites:

 - Clint Eastwood
 - Ray Liotta
 - Robert DeNiro
 - Morgan Freeman
 - Joe Pesci
 - Sylvester Stallone


I could go on but I've more than gone over the time limit I tried to impose on myself. It is amazing that one's artistic gift of acting can inspire others. The names I have mentioned here, as well as the others you all have called out, not to mention the many others we truly enjoy, have each touched us in a manner we will never forget throughout our lives. That, in and of itself, is a tremendous gift.

Peace!