Personal Ratings of Actors

[Prunepicker]

This is something I've been thinking about for several years. Here's my take
on who's a good actor and who isn't.

At the moment Don Johnson rates as the worst of the worst. I'm not sure
how anyone can think of him as being a good actor. I will admit, he stars
in one of my favorite cult movies, "Zachariah".

At any rate, at the moment I want to put Alan Alda just above Johnson.
Alda can't act himself out of a Chinese Take Out sack. In fact I believe
the sack is a better actor.

As far as the Best Actor/Actress goes, I'm not so sure that one exists.
However there are some who are definitely better actors than most.
Jimmy Stewart, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Bette Davis, John Wayne,
et al are amongst the most credible actors and actresses.

As far as modern actors/actresses go, Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep are
certainly in the running. I'm not sure how Leonardo DiCaprio won an
Oscar. Were the movies really that bad that year? Seriously. He's not
that good of an actor. Had Dean Martin been in a movie that year nobody
would even know who DiCaprio was and Martin was a marginal actor at
best.

What do you think? I promise not to criticize anybody's selection. I'll only
ask about it. I hope you'll do the same for me.

[Chadanth]

This is something I've been thinking about for several years. Here's my take
on who's a good actor and who isn't.

At the moment Don Johnson rates as the worst of the worst. I'm not sure
how anyone can think of him as being a good actor. I will admit, he stars
in one of my favorite cult movies, "Zachariah".

At any rate, at the moment I want to put Alan Alda just above Johnson.
Alda can't act himself out of a Chinese Take Out sack. In fact I believe
the sack is a better actor.

As far as the Best Actor/Actress goes, I'm not so sure that one exists.
However there are some who are definitely better actors than most.
Jimmy Stewart, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Bette Davis, John Wayne,
et al are amongst the most credible actors and actresses.

As far as modern actors/actresses go, Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep are
certainly in the running. I'm not sure how Leonardo DiCaprio won an
Oscar. Were the movies really that bad that year? Seriously. He's not
that good of an actor. Had Dean Martin been in a movie that year nobody
would even know who DiCaprio was and Martin was a marginal actor at
best.

What do you think? I promise not to criticize anybody's selection. I'll only
ask about it. I hope you'll do the same for me.

Leonardo Dicaprio hasn't won an oscar. He probably should have for WOWS, but he didn't. He's one of the best without one.

Dean Martin is still one of the all time greats. Really, really great. No doubt.

[Prunepicker]

Leonardo Dicaprio hasn't won an oscar.

I thought he won an Oscar for Titanic. I'm relieved to know that he didn't.
Thanks for the information. He's not that good of an actor. I just saw that
he was nominated or an Oscar for Titanic. I still don't see it.

Dean Martin is still one of the all time greats. Really, really great. No doubt.

Dino was a fantastic entertainer. No doubt, but not near Oscar proportions.
He's far better, in my opinion, than DiCaprio can aspire to be.

Hmmm... In my opinion? I believe I'll change my statement to an absolute.
"He isn't that good of an actor." However, from what I've seen he's better
than Alan Alda, who is a terrible actor but better than Don Johnson.

[ljbab728]

Maybe I missed something. When did DiCaprio win an oscar?

Whoops, Chadanth got there first.

I'm not really a fan of his either. His best work, by far, was The Basketball Diaries.

[Chadanth]

Maybe I missed something. When did DiCaprio win an oscar?

Whoops, Chadanth got there first.

I'm not really a fan of his either. His best work, by far, was The Basketball Diaries.

Leo?

He was amazing in "The Departed". He was very good in WOWS.

[ljbab728]

Leo?

He was amazing in "The Departed". He was very good in WOWS.

Well, everyone has their opinion and I gave mine. (And I'm not going to provide "evidence".) LOL

[Chadanth]

Well, everyone has their opinion and I gave mine. (And I'm not going to provide "evidence".) LOL

Honestly, I haven't seen Basketball Diaries in a long time. Did you see the departed or WOWS? The departed is far better, IMHO.

[Achilleslastand]

Leo?

He was amazing in "The Departed". He was very good in WOWS.

He was also pretty good in "This boys life".
And what no love for Frank Sinatra? Von Ryans Express.

[Jim Kyle]

And what no love for Frank Sinatra? Von Ryans Express.

Much better, though, in "From Here to Eternity."

Some on prunie's "best" list were simply reprising the same character in role after role. Having once interviewed Jimmy Stewart, I know that he was by no means playing himself, ever, on the screen. However he did reprise Elwood Dowd, Harvey's friend, many times over. I think the same sort of thing was true for The Duke. Nevertheless they remain among my favorites -- along with quite a few others from that era, and almost none of the modern crew.

For sheer acting ability, though, my nominee is Edward G. Robinson. A close second is Henry Fonda. And don't forget Burgess Meredith, who hardly ever had a lead role, and Walter Brennan...

[Prunepicker]

Stephen Segal approaches Johnson-esque proportions. He's somewhere
between Alda and Johnson and that's not good.

[ljbab728]

Yes, and I'm just not a big fan of his acting.

[Chadanth]

Yes, and I'm just not a big fan of his acting.

Fair enough. It's highly subjective. Did you catch 12 Years a Slave? I though the overall film was fantastic, but nothing really stood out in terms of individual performance.

[ljbab728]

Fair enough. It's highly subjective. Did you catch 12 Years a Slave? I though the overall film was fantastic, but nothing really stood out in terms of individual performance.

Sorry, I haven't seen it.

[Prunepicker]

Should Don Johnson be considered an actor? Seriously. Should he be
considered an actor. I've always thought that an actor should be able to act.
Don Johnson shows no ability to act.

He's not anywhere in the same league as Alan Alda or Tom Cruise and both
are horrible, terrible, no good and very bad actors.

Don Johnson is definitely the worst person to appear in a movie or a serial.
Period. Can anyone think of a worse actor? (the term is used loosely)

Hey, the Three Stooges were definitely far and above the qualifications of
being Oscar nominees compared to Johnson.

[Chadanth]

Should Don Johnson be considered an actor? Seriously. Should he be
considered an actor. I've always thought that an actor should be able to act.
Don Johnson shows no ability to act.

He's not anywhere in the same league as Alan Alda or Tom Cruise and both
are horrible, terrible, no good and very bad actors.

Don Johnson is definitely the worst person to appear in a movie or a serial.
Period. Can anyone think of a worse actor? (the term is used loosely)

Hey, the Three Stooges were definitely far and above the qualifications of
being Oscar nominees compared to Johnson.

I suppose if you like the 80's and pastel suits, he's an actor. I can't think of anything of substance he's done.

[trousers]

I suppose if you like the 80's and pastel suits, he's an actor. I can't think of anything of substance he's done.

You guys obviously havent seen his classic film "A Boy and His Dog".
A Boy and His Dog is a cycle of narratives by science fiction author Harlan Ellison. The cycle tells the story of a boy (Vic) and his telepathic dog (Blood), who work together as a team to survive in the post-apocalyptic world after a nuclear war.

[Snowman]

Should Don Johnson be considered an actor? Seriously. Should he be
considered an actor. I've always thought that an actor should be able to act.
Don Johnson shows no ability to act.

He's not anywhere in the same league as Alan Alda or Tom Cruise and both
are horrible, terrible, no good and very bad actors.

Don Johnson is definitely the worst person to appear in a movie or a serial.
Period. Can anyone think of a worse actor? (the term is used loosely)

Hey, the Three Stooges were definitely far and above the qualifications of
being Oscar nominees compared to Johnson.

While he mostly struck me as kind of average for acting but was fun in some roles, though the only shows I saw him in were ones the show was written around him so probably hid weaker parts of his acting. His forte at least for a while was on the production end after he made a name for himself.

Since you mentioned poor performances, I checked and it looks like he had money problems starting a few years ago for not getting payments he was due and the issue was in court for a long time. So if you are judging by anything in the last few years it may be because it was taking whatever he could get, even ones with known problems he would have otherwise avoided. There are a lot of things that have to go right between managing, subject selection, story arc, dialog, casting, directing/filming, editing, scoring, promotion, distribution, (probably others) for a film/TV to be it's best. Though given how few roles I have seen him in, he might just have a history of taking the money and running on bad projects that I never saw.

[Prunepicker]

... (Don Johnson) His forte at least for a while was on the production end
after he made a name for himself.

I didn't know that. I immediately think of Tommy Lasorda. He wasn't a
good pitcher but was a fantastic manager.

[Prunepicker]

I don't believe it's possible to honestly say who the best actor is/was. Every
time I use that label I see a movie the makes me say otherwise.

However, I've not seen a worse actor than Don Johnson and lord know I've
seen my fair share of community plays and musicals and Japanese monster
movies.

[ljbab728]

I don't see anyone here singing the praises of Don Johnson. He was just a "flavor of the month" actor many years ago.

[Prunepicker]

James Bond.

Who was your favorite or what's your take on each actor who played him.

[hoya]

There are a lot of actors who made a career out of basically playing themselves (or at least, playing the same part). I think Don Johnson was probably one of those. Miami Vice was cool in the 80s, but that's about it. I did like him as a southern plantation owner in Django Unchained. Jeff Goldblum is the same type of actor. He plays Jeff Goldblum a lot.

Stephen Root is one of the best character actors around. And Charles Durning was a great one as well.

[Prunepicker]

There are a lot of actors who made a career out of basically playing themselves...

I immediately think of Jimmy Stewart. I can't think of a role that he wasn't
Jimmy Stewart.

Stanislavski (sp) began producing "method actors." Marlon Brando was one
of many.

[Jim Kyle]

I immediately think of Jimmy Stewart. I can't think of a role that he wasn't
Jimmy Stewart.

I agree fully that he pretty much always played the same character, but that character was in NO way based on himself! Back in the mid-50s I was assigned to interview him; in person, he was a very quiet but immensely self-assured person, and extremely well-educated and intellectual, not at all like the character he had perfected for his many roles.

Most of us probably know that he was one of the very small number of entertainers who in WW2 refused assignment to slots that made use of their professional skills, but insisted on a combat assignment. A private pilot since his youth, h became a B-17 pilot and personally led many missions over Europe. In fact, the lead role played by Gregory Peck in "Twelve O'Clock High" was, according to a Stewart biography I read, based almost literally on Stewart's wartime actions. And he remained an officer in the USAF Reserve after the war, retiring as a Brigadier General. That's a very far cry from his familiar "Aw, shucks!" screen character!!!

[Prunepicker]

I agree fully that he pretty much always played the same character, but that
character was in NO way based on himself!

I didn't mean that his roles were based on himself. He simply played the
same character because he played it as Jimmy Stewart. I never saw him act
in any role that he wasn't himself. The Thin Man, Mr. Smith goes to DC,
Liberty Valance, Destry, A Wonderful Life, Anatomy of a Murder, etc...
The roles were how Jimmy Stewart would play a cowboy, a lawyer,
a murderer, a cop, a banker, etc...

Cool that you interviewed him. A cousin of mine has his autograph. He'd
draw Harvey and sign his name.