Oh man, that's a tough one. I can't narrow it down to just two, but two
of my favorites that haven't been mentioned:
Peter O'Toole (
The Lion in Winter is one of my all-time favorite films). Plus, who else would have the range to play Henry II (
Becket, 1964), star in a Woody Allen sex comedy (
What's New Pussycat?) in the next year (1965), and then come back to star as an older Henry II (
The Lion in Winter, 1968)?
Plus, I just tend to think stage-trained Shakespearean actors are the bomb in general. O'Toole, Laurence Olivier, Richard Burton, Anthony Hopkins, Ian McKellen, Ian Holm, Kenneth Branagh, the list goes on and on. These are people who had to learn to project their character across a crowded theater hall without the benefit of cameras or post-production. When you put them in front of a 35mm lens...it's almost too intense at times.
One of my favorite non-Shakespearean actors would be
Andy Garcia. Dude just oozes suave. And his turn in
Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead was a knockout performance. Other favorite American actors: Steve Buscemi, William H. Macy, Johnny Depp, Robert DeNiro, Gene Hackman, Leonardo DiCaprio (when Titanic came out, I thought he was a no-talent pretty boy. He has since proven me incredibly wrong.)
Bottom line: I appear to prefer my actors British and stage-trained, or Italian-American with a penchant for mob roles.
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Topic: Who are your favorite actors? (Read 5086 times)