Tuesday, May 19, 2020

The Hall of Actors

The Saxcademy decided, in these uncertain times (as all coronavirus era blogposts must be qualified), to select a Hall of Fame for Actors. This is an imperfect science to put it lightly. Literally millions of individuals have been actors in films and distinguishing them is nearly 100% subjective. However, listing and ranking things is one of the more satisfying processes available to some bored, locked-in, and in one case unemployed people - so we set out to do it.

The initial phase was a compilation of 300 names across 10 decades from the 1920s to today with an additional mark for "active" Actors in an 11th column. Then each member of the Saxcademy selected 15 names from the following eras; the 20s-40s: The Early Era, the 50s-70s: The Golden Era, the 80s-90s: The Expansion Era, and the 2000s-now: The Modern Era. As actors career's span several decades in most cases, they were eligible to be added to any list during which they were active. Then each actors total inclusions were summed and the aggregate gave us a 75-man HOF of actors who appeared on 2 or more lists, and an additional 53-man honorable mention list and single-vote getters.

First, the honorable mentions in Alphabetical order by first name:

Alan Arkin, Benedict Cumberbatch, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Bruce Lee, Burt Reynolds, Charles Bronson, Christopher Lee, Colin Farrell, Derek Jacobi, Ed Harris, Errol Flynn, Fred Astaire, Gene Hackman, Geoffrey Rush, Groucho Marx, Harvey Keitel, Heath Ledger, Hugh Jackman, Idris Elba, James Garner, Jeff Bridges, Jim Carrey, John Cleese, John Hurt, John Huston, Jude Law, Kevin Costner, Kevin Kline, Kurt Russell, Laurence Fishburne, Leonard Nimoy, Lee Van Cleef, Mark Ruffalo, Matthew McConaughey, Oliver Hardy, Oscar Isaac, Paul Newman, Peter Lorre, Ralph Fiennes, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Downey Jr, Robert Duvall, Robert Mitchum, Rossano Brazzi, Ryan Gosling, Sam Elloitt, Sidney Poitier, Sylvester Stallone, Tim Curry, Tony Curtis, Tyrone Power, William Shatner, Yul Brynner

Presenting the Saxcademy Hall of Actors

Tier 1, appearing on 2 lists, or the "Superstars"

Alan Ladd - Shane, The McConnell Story, Red Mountain, The Gun for Hire, The Blue Dahlia

Alec Guinness - Star Wars, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Horse's Mouth, Kafka, Cromwell, Doctor Zhivago; 1 Academy Award, 5 nominations

Basil Rathbone - The Adventures of Robin Hood, Romeo and Juliet, The Court Jester, We're No Angels, The Mask of Zorro; 2 Academy Award nominations

Ben Kingsley - Gandhi, Schindler's List, Ender's Game, Stonehearst Asylum, Tuck Everlasting; 1 Academy Award, 4 nominations

Bradley Cooper - A Star Is Born, Silver Linings Playbook, American Sniper, American Hustle; 8 Academy Award nominations

Bruce Willis - Die Hard, Pulp Fiction, The Sixth Sense, Looper, Hart's War, Armageddon
Christopher Walken - Catch Me If You Can, The Deer Hunter, Pulp Fiction, Seven Psycopaths, Man on
Fire, True Romance, King of New York; 1 Academy Award, 2 nominations

Dustin Hoffman - Tootsie, Rain Man, Hook, Finding Neverland, All the President's Men, Kramer vs. Kramer, Runaway Jury; 2 Academy Awards, 7 nominations

Ian McKellan - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Gods and Monsters, X-Men, The Da Vinci Code, Last Action Hero; 2 Academy Award nominations

James Earl Jones - Empire Strikes Back, The Lion King, Hunt for Red October, The Great White Hope, Field of Dreams, The Sandlot; 1 Academy Award nomination

Jeff Daniels - The Squid and the Whale, Dumb and Dumber, Gettysburg, Steve Jobs, Good Night and Good Luck.

Jeff Goldblum - Jurassic Park, The Fly, Independence Day, Thor: Ragnarok, Holy Man; 1 Academy Award nomination

John Malkovich - In the Line of Fire; Being John Malkovich; RED, Burn After Reading, Johnny English; 2 Academy Award nominations

Keanu Reeves - The Matrix, Speed, John Wick, Point Break, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

Kenneth Branagh - Henry V, Hamlet, Murder on the Orient Express, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Dunkirk; 5 Academy Award nominations

Orson Welles - Citizen Kane, Touch of Evil, The Lady from Shanghai, The Trial; 1 Academy Award. 3 nominations

Patrick Stewart - Star Trek: First Contact, X-Men, Dune, Robin Hood: Men in Tights

Peter Ustinov - Spartacus, Logan's Run, We're No Angels, Death on the Nile, Robin Hood, Luther; 2 Academy Awards, 4 nominations

Spencer Tracy - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Judgment at Nuremberg, It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, Cass Timberlane, Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, Captain Courageous; 2 Academy Awards, 9 nominations

Willem Dafoe - Spider-man, The Lighthouse, At Eternity's Gate, Paris, je t'aime, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Grand Budapest Hotel; 4 Academy Award nominations

William Holden - Stalag 17, Network, The Towering Inferno, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Force of Arms; 1 Academy Award, 3 nominations


Tier 2, appearing on 3 lists, "The Greats"

Adam Driver - Star Wars: The Force Awakens; Marriage Story; Paterson; The Report; Logan Lucky; BlacKkKlansman; 2 Academy Award nominations - Best Character: Kylo Ren

Al Pacino - The Godfather, Serpico, Dick Tracy, Scent of a Woman, The Irishman, Carlito's Way, Scarface, Dog Day Afternoon; 1 Academy Award, 9 nominations - Best Character: Michael Corelone

Alan Rickman - Die Hard; Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince; Galaxy Quest; Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves; Love Actually; Best Character: Hans Gruber

Bill Murray - What About Bob?; Ghostbusters; Lost In Translation; Groundhog Day; Moonrise Kingdom; The Man Who Knew Too Little; 1 Academy Award nomination - Best Character: Peter Venkman

Boris Karloff - Bride of Frankenstein; How the Grinch Stole Christmas; Black Friday; The Black Cat; Best Character: The Monster

Clark Gable - Gone with the Wind; Mutiny on the Bounty; It Happened One Night; Red Dust; North Star; 1 Academy Award, 3 nominations - Best Character: Rhett Butler

David Niven - The Pink Panther; Murder by Death; Separate Tables; Around the World in 80 Days; Three Blind Mice; 1 Academy Award - Best Character: Dick Charleston

Gary Oldman - Darkest Hour; Bram Stoker's Dracula; Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban; The Dark Knight; True Romance; Air Force One; The Fifth Element; 1 Academy Award, 2 nominations - Best Character: Sirius Black

Gene Kelly - Singin' in the Rain; On the Town; An American in Paris; Xanadu; 1 Academy Award nomination - Best Character: Don Lockwood

Henry Fonda - 12 Angry Men; The Battle of the Bulge; The Rounders; Madigan; Once Upon a Time in the West; On Golden Pond; 1 Academy Award, 3 nominations - Best Character: Juror #8

Jack Nicholson - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; Chinatown; The Departed; As Good as It Gets; The Shining; Batman; Terms of Endearment; The Postman Always Rings Twice; 3 Academy Awards, 12 nominations - Best Character: RP McMurphy

Jake Gyllenhaal - Nightcrawler; Prisoners; Donnie Darko; Brokeback Mountain; Southpaw; Zodiac; October Sky; 1 Academy Award nomination - Best Character: Louis Bloom

James Coburn - The Great Escape; Affliction, The Magnificent Seven; Duck, You Sucker; Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid; Charade; 1 Academy Award - Best Character: Britt

Johnny Depp - Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl; Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street; Edward Scissorhands; Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them; Public Enemies; Finding Neverland; Sleepy Hollow; Platoon; 3 Academy Award nominations - Best Character: Jack Sparrow

Liam Neeson - Taken; The Grey; Schindler's List; Silence; Kinsey; Star Wars: The Phantom Menace; Gangs of New York; The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe; 1 Academy Award nomination - Best Character: Bryan Mills

Marlon Brando - The Godfather; On the Waterfront; Apocalypse Now; Julius Caesar; A Streetcar Named Desire; Last Tango in Paris; 2 Academy Awards, 8 nominations - Best Character: Vito Corleone

Matt Damon - The Departed; Good Will Hunting; The Bourne Identity; The Martian; Ocean's Eleven; The Talented Mr. Ripley; True Grit; Rounders; Saving Private Ryan; 1 Academy Award, 5 nominations - Best Character: Jason Bourne

Mel Gibson - Braveheart; Lethal Weapon; The Patriot; Payback; We Were Soldiers; Mad Max; Signs; Pocahontas; Hamlet; Gallipoli; 2 Academy Awards, 3 nominations - Best Character: William Wallace

Peter O'Toole - Lawrence of Arabia; Troy; The Lion in Winter; The Stunt Man; How to Steal a Million; Sherlock Holmes and the Sign of Four; Caligula; Man of La Mancha; Goodby Mr. Chips; Kidnapped; 8 Academy Award nominations - Best Character: TE Lawrence

Peter Sellers - Dr. Strangelove; The Pink Panther; The Ladykillers; Lolita; The Mouse That Roared; 3 Academy Award nominations - Best Character: Jacques Clouseau

Philip Seymour-Hoffman - Capote; The Master; Moneyball; Synecdoche, New York; Charlie Wilson's War; Patch Adams; Punch-Drunk Love; Magnolia; Boogie Nights; 1 Academy Award, 4 nominations - Best Character: Truman Capote

Samuel L Jackson - Pulp Fiction; Star Wars: The Phantom Menace; Jackie Brown; Shaft; The Hateful Eight; Snakes on a Plane; Captain America: The First Avenger; Coach Carter; Unbreakable; Jurassic Park; Jungle Fever; Black Snake Moan; Juice; 1 Academy Award nomination - Best Character: Jules Winnfield

Tommy Lee Jones - Lincoln; No Country for Old Men; The Fugitive; Men in Black; The Hunted; Rules of Engagement; JFK; Rolling Thunder; Cobb; 1 Academy Award, 4 nominations - Best Character: Agent K

Viggo Mortensen - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring; Eastern Promises; Green Book; Appaloosa; GI Jane; Carlito's Way; Crimson Tide; Hidalgo; 3 Academy Award nominations - Best Character: Aragorn son of Arathorn, and Elessar the Elfstone, Dunadan. Heir of Isildur Elendil's son of Gondor.

Dick Van Dyke - Marry Poppins; Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; Lt. Robinson Crusoe, USN; Dick Tracy; Curious George; Best Character: Bert


Tier 3 appearing on 4 lists "The All-Timers"

Denzel Washington - Training Day, Remember the Titans, The Book of Eli, Fences, Inside Man, American Gangster, Glory, Deja Vu, The Taking of Pelham 123, He Got Game, The Pelican Brief; 2 Academy Awards, 9 nominations - Best Character: Alonzo

To protect the sheep you gotta catch the wolf, and it takes a wolf to catch a wolf.                    -Alonzo, Training Day
Anthony Hopkins - The Silence of the Lambs, Hitchcock, The Rite, Fracture, All the King's Men, Amistad, Nixon, Chaplin, Shadowlands, The Good Father, The Elephant Man, The World's Fastest Indian; 1 Academy Award, 5 nominations - Best Character: Hannibal Lecter

Well, Clarice - have the lambs stopped screaming?                                                                       -Hannibal, The Silence of the Lambs
Gregory Peck - To Kill a Mockingbird, Roman Holiday, Cape Fear, MacArthur, Arabesque, The Big Country, Moby Dick, Captain Horatio Hornblower RN, The Gunfighter, Duel in the Sun; 1 Academy Award, 5 nominations - Best Character: Atticus Finch

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.                                                                -Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird
Humphrey Bogart  - Casablanca, The African Queen, The Maltese Falcon, We're No Angels, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Key Largo, Dark Passage, The Big Sleep, Invisible Stripes, San Quentin, The Great O'Malley; 1 Academy Award, 3 nominations - Best Character: Rick Blaine

Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine.
       -Rick Blaine, Casablanca
John Wayne - True Grit, Stagecoach, The Alamo, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Shootist, Rio Lobo, The Green Berets, El Dorado, McLintock!, The Greatest Story Ever Told, The Comancheros, Rio Bravo, The Conqueror, Hondo, Rio Grande, Dakota, The Longest Day, Texas Terror, Baby Face; 1 Academy Award, 3 nominations - Best Character: Rooster Cogburn

Backward. I always go backward when I'm backin' away.
       -Rooster Cogburn, True Grit
Kirk Douglas - Spartacus, The Vikings, Ace in the Hole, Lust for Life, The Man from Snowy River, The Brotherhood, Catch Me a Spy, The Hook, Paths of Glory, The Racers, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Big Sky, The Walls of Jericho; 3 Academy Award nominations - Best Character: Spartacus

When a free man dies, he loses the pleasure of life. A slave loses his pain. Death is the only freedom a slave knows.
        -Spartacus, Spartacus
Laurence Olivier - Spartacus, Sleuth, Hamlet, Clash of the Titans, A Bridge Too Far, The Shoes of the Fisherman, Othello, Richard III, Battle of Britain, Henry V, That Hamilton Woman, Fire Over England, Westward Passage, Wuthering Heights, Adventure for Two; 1 Academy Award, 11 nominations - Best Character: Hamlet

Frailty, thy name is woman.
         -Hamlet, Hamlet
Michael Caine  - The Prestige, The Dark Knight, The Quiet American, Youth, Now You See Me, Inception, Children of Men, Secondhand Lions, Get Carter, The Island, A Bridge Too Far, Kidnapped, Gambit, Alfie, The Italian Job, Battle of Britain, The Man Who Would Be King; 2 Academy Awards, 6 nominations - Best Character: Alfred Pennyworth

Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn                        -Alfred Pennyworth, The Dark Knight
Morgan Freeman - Driving Miss Daisy, Invictus, Million Dollar Baby, Glory, Se7en, The Lego Movie, The Dark Knight, Evan Almighty, Dreamcatcher, The Shawshank Redemption, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Blade; 1 Academy Award, 5 nominations - Best Character: Red Redding

There's not a day goes by I don't feel regret. Not because I'm in here, because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then: a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him. I want to try and talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can't. That kid's long gone, and this old man is all that's left. I got to live with that.                                                                                                                                          -Red Redding, The Shawshank Redemption
Robert De Niro - Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Cape Fear, Goodfellas, Mean Streets, The Irishman, Joker, The Good Shepherd, Shark Tale, Ronin, Sleepers, The Deer Hunter, Casino, Heat, The Untouchables, One Upon a Time in America, The Godfather: Part II, The King of Comedy; 2 Academy Awards, 8 nominations - Best Character: Travis Bickle

Loneliness has followed me my whole life. Everywhere. In bars, in cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere. There's no escape. I'm God's lonely man...
         -Travis Bickle, Taxi Driver
Robert Redford - All the President's Men, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Natural, Spy Game, A Bridge Too Far, The Way We Were, The Sting, The Chase, The Last Castle; 1 Academy Award, 3 nominations - Best Character: Roy Hobbs

And then when I walked down the street people would've looked and they would've said there goes Roy Hobbs, the best there ever was in this game.
       -Roy Hobbs, The Natural
Sean Connery - Dr. No, The Man Who Would Be King, The Untouchables, The Great Train Robbery, Robin and Marian, The Hunt for Red October, Highlander, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, First Knight, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen; 1 Academy Award - Best Character: James Bond

The name's Bond, James Bond.
       -James Bond, A View to Kill
Steve McQueen - Bullitt, The Great Escape, The Magnificent Seven, Papillon, The Getaway, The Thomas Crown Affair, The Cincinnati Kid, The Sand Pebbles, Never Call Me a Stranger, The Towering Inferno; 1 Academy Award nomination - Best Character: Hilts 'The Cooler King'

I haven't seen Berlin yet, from the ground or from the air, and I plan on doing both before the war is over. 
       -Hilts, The Great Escape
Tom Cruise - Mission: Impossible, Top Gun, Edge of Tomorrow, Rock of Ages, Jerry Maguire, The Last Samurai, Minority Report, Magnolia, Days of Thunder, A Few Good Men, Rain Man, Vanilla Sky, War of the Worlds, Jack Reacher, The Mummy; 3 Academy Award nominations - Best Character: Ethan Hunt

Can I ask you something, Kittridge? If you're dealing with a man who has crushed, shot, stabbed, and detonated five members of his own IMF team, how devastated do you think you're gonna make him by hauling Mom and Uncle Donald down to the county courthouse?
      -Ethan Hunt, Mission: Impossible
Tom Hardy - Inception, Mad Max: Fury Road, Locke, The Dark Knight Rises, The Revenant, Legend, Bronson, Lawless, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Child 44, RocknRolla, Dunkirk, Venom; 1 Academy Award nomination - Best Character: Bane

Oh, you think darkness is your ally. But you merely adopted the dark; I was born in it, molded by it. I didn't see the light until I was already a man, by then it was nothing to me but blinding!
       -Bane, The Dark Knight Rises
Will Smith - I Am Legend, Bad Boys, Wild Wild West, Men in Black, Concussion, Hancock, I, Robot, Shark Tale, Hitch, Ali, Enemy of the State, Focus, Seven Pounds; 2 Academy Award nominations - Best Character: Agent J

You know what the difference is between you and me? I make this look good.                               -Agent J, Men in Black

Tier 4 appearing on all 5 lists "The Pantheon"




Jimmy Stewart - Vertigo, Harvey, It's a Wonderful Life, Anatomy of a Murder, The Philadelphia Story, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Rear Window, The Greatest Show on Earth, You Gotta Stay Happy, You Can't Take It with You, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Last Gangster; 1 Academy Award, 5 nominations

Mount Rushmore of Characters: Jefferson Smith, Elwood P. Dowd, George Bailey, Macauley Connor
You want the moon? Just say the word and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down.                     -George Bailey, It's a Wonderful Life


Brad Pitt - 12 Monkeys, Moneyball, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Fight Club, Se7en, Ocean's Eleven, The Big Short, 12 Years a Slave, Inglourious Basterds, Troy, Snatch, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, World War Z, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Burn After Reading, Ad Astra, Fury; 2 Academy Awards, 7 nominations

Mount Rushmore of Characters: Tyler Durden, Billy Beane, Aldo Raine, Rusty Ryan
Warning: If you are reading this then this warning is for you. Every word you read of this useless fine print is another second off your life...are you so impressed with authority that you give respect and credence to all that claim it?
        -Tyler Durden, Fight Club


Cary Grant - Charade, His Girl Friday, Father Goose, An Affair to Remember, North by Northwest, I Was a Male War Bride, The Bishop's Wife, Aresenic and Old Lace, Penny Serenade, Only Angels Have Wings, My Favorite Wife, Gunga Din, Bringing Up Baby, The Eagle and the Hawk, Holiday, The Philadelphia Story, The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer; 2 Academy Award nominations

Mount Rushmore of Characters: Roger Thornhill, Peter Joshua, Nickie Ferrante, CK Dexter Haven
Well, in this highly competitive world, when a man has no profession, there isn't much choice, so I began looking for people who had more money than they needed...                             -Adam Canfield, Charade
 

Charlton Heston - Ben-Hur, The Ten Commandments, Planet of the Apes, Julius Caesar, Khartoum, Major Dundee, The Pigeon That Took Rome, The Big Country, The Greatest Story Ever Told, Touch of Evil, El Cid, Lucy Gallant, The President's Lady, The Awakening, Tombstone; 1 Academy Award

Mount Rushmore of Characters: Judah Ben-Hur, Moses, George Taylor, John the Baptist
You may conquer the land; you may slaughter the people. But that is not the end. We will rise again.
          -Judah Ben-Hur, Ben-Hur


Christian Bale - Batman Begins, American Psycho, The Big Short, Vice, American Hustle, Reign of Fire, Equilibrium, Little Women, Shaft, I'm Not There, The Fighter, The Prestige, The Machinist, 3:10 to Yuma, Ford vs. Ferrari, Public Enemies, Terminator Salvation, Empire of the Sun, Newsies; 1 Academy Award, 4 nominations

Mount Rushmore of Characters: Bruce Wayne, Patrick Bateman, Alfred Borden, Dicky Eklund
There is an idea of Patrick Bateman; some kind of abstraction. But there is no real me...I simply am not there.
          -Patrick Bateman, American Psycho


Clint Eastwood - Dirty Harry, Unforgiven, Kelly's Heroes, Hang 'Em High, Where Eagles Dare, A Fistful of Dollars, Joe Kidd, The Outlaw Josey Wales, For a Few Dollars More, Bronco Billy, The Rookie, Space Cowboys, Gran Torino, The Mule, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, Pale Rider, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, Escape from Alcatraz, High Plains Drifter, Coogan's Bluff; 4 Academy Awards, 7 nominations

Mount Rushmore of Characters: Harry Callahan, Joe, The Stranger, Kelly
This is a 44. Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and it could blow your head clean off. Do you feel lucky?
         -Harry Callahan, Magnum Force


Daniel Day-Lewis - Lincoln, The Last of the Mohicans, Gangs of New York, There Will Be Blood, Phantom Thread, My Left Foot, The Boxer, Gandhi, The Ballad of Jack and Rose, Nanou, In the Name of the Father, The Crucible; 3 Academy Awards, 6 nominations

Mount Rushmore of Characters: Daniel Plainview, Abraham Lincoln, Bill 'The Butcher' Cutting, Reynolds Woodcock
Did you think your song and dance and your superstition would help you, Eli? I am the Third Revelation! I am who the Lord has chosen!                                                                             -Daniel Plainview, There Will Be Blood


Gary Cooper - Sergeant York, High Noon, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, You're in the Navy Now, Cloak and Dagger, The Cowboy and the Lady, The Plainsman, Design for Living, If I Had a Million, Seven Days Leave, Nevada; 2 Academy Awards, 5 nominations

Mount Rushmore of Characters: Will Kane, Alvin C York, Longfellow Deeds, Robert Jordan

People here are funny. They work so hard at living they forget how to live.                                         -Longfellow Deeds, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town


Harrison Ford - The Fugitive, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Witness, Air Force One, 42, Cowboys & Aliens, Patriot Games, Frantic, Blade Runner, American Graffiti, The Mosquito Coast, K-19: The Widowmaker, Ender's Game, Firewall; 1 Academy Award nomination

Mount Rushmore of Characters: Indiana Jones, Han Solo, Richard Kimble, Rick Deckard
Never tell me the odds.
        -Han Solo, Empire Strike Back


Joaquin Phoenix - Gladiator, The Master, Joker, Walk the Line, Her, Signs, I'm Still Here, You Were Never Really Here, 8MM, The Village, The Sisters Brothers; 1 Academy Award, 4 nominations

Mount Rushmore of Characters: Arthur Fleck, John R Cash, Commodus, Theodore
Sometimes I think I have felt everything I'm ever gonna feel. And from here on out, I'm not gonna feel anything new. Just lesser versions of what I've already felt.
        -Theodore, Her


Leonardo DiCaprio - The Departed, Inception, Titanic, Django Unchained, The Wolf of Wall Street, The Revenant, The Great Gatsby, Shutter Island, J. Edgar, Gangs of New York, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Blood Diamond, Catch Me If You Can, The Aviator, Romeo + Juliet, What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, The Quick and the Dead, The Man in the Iron Mask; 1 Academy Award, 7 nominations

Mount Rushmore of Characters: Rick Dalton, Jordan Belfort, Cobb, Billy
You sit there with a mass murderer. A mass murderer. Your heart rate is jacked, and your hand...steady. That's one thing I learned about myself in prison. My hand does not shake...ever.
        -Billy, The Departed


Russell Crowe - Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, Les Misérables, Noah, Robin Hood, American Gangster, The Quick and the Dead, L.A. Confidential, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, 3:10 to Yuma, State of Play, Man of Steel, The Nice Guys; 1 Academy Award, 3 nominations

Mount Rushmore of Characters: Maximus, John Nash, Ben Wade, Bud White
Brothers, what we do in life... echoes in eternity.
        -Maximus, Gladiator

Tom Hanks - Cast Away, Saving Private Ryan, Forrest Gump, Big, Bridge of Spies, Captain Philips, Toy Story, The Da Vinci Code, The Ladykillers, Philadelphia, The Green Mile, Apollo 13, Sleepless in Seattle, Turner & Hooch, A League of the Their Own, You've Got Mail, The Terminal, The Polar Express, Saving Mr. Banks; 2 Academy Awards, 6 nominations

Mount Rushmore of Characters: Woody, Captain Miller, Forrest Gump, Chuck Noland

My momma always said, "Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."
        -Forrest Gump, Forrest Gump



There it is. Authoritative, conclusive, and immutable. Or not - who'd we miss?