Find all movies
By theatre
By town
By movie
By genre
Search
Enter cinema name, movie title, or star's name:
Features
Top 50 film stars
Local films
MovieMail
Boston Globe
Action!
Jay Carr's tips
Movie capsules
Video watch
Other resources
Local links
Moviefone.com
Yellow Pages
Theatres
Video rentals
Movie posters
Movie studios
|
|
The envelope, please: A century of bright stars
By The Associated Press, 06/15/99
The complete list of the 25 most significant stars and star pairings of the century, as chosen by Associated Press entertainment writers and editors for their contributions to the art and lore of Hollywood. The list was released April:
CHARLIE CHAPLIN: The first great international movie star, a comedian whose artistry remains timeless. He and Buster Keaton defined screen comedy for generations.
MARY PICKFORD: She was called America's Sweetheart, but her sentimental films captured the world.
LILLIAN GISH: D.W. Griffith's favorite actress, she starred in his greatest films as well as others she produced.
DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS: A superb athlete with breathtaking stunts, he joined his wife, Mary Pickford, and Chaplin to form United Artists. With Erroll Flynn, he created the role of swashbuckling hero.
RUDOLPH VALENTINO: Women swooned over the first film matinee idol. His death at 31 contributed to his legend.
GRETA GARBO: She combined brooding drama and offscreen remoteness to create an aura of mystery.
STAN LAUREL and OLIVER HARDY: The greatest comedy team, with perfect slapstick timing and a wonderfully bumbling sweetness.
CLARK GABLE: His manly looks and unquestioned authority made him the No. 1 screen hero for decades.
JAMES CAGNEY: His vitality and machine-gun delivery captured the tempo of the gangster era. He hoofed his way to an Oscar as George M. Cohan.
JUDY GARLAND: If Garbo concealed; Garland revealed. One of the great screen show-stoppers and heartbreakers, in song, drama and comedy. A generation later, Barbra Streisand continued that tradition.
CARY GRANT: Who could have imagined that a former vaudeville acrobat named Archie Leach would become the ace practitioner of high comedy?
KATHARINE HEPBURN and SPENCER TRACY: Her idiosyncratic manner and Yankee briskness bolstered a long career that earned her a record four Oscars. He brought naturalness to the screen, often in sophisticated sparring with Hepburn.
FRED ASTAIRE and GINGER ROGERS: As Hepburn once said: ``Fred gives Ginger class, and she gives him sex appeal.'' The incomparable musical team.
BETTE DAVIS: An intelligent actress with a wide emotional range, her screen presence was electrifying.
SHIRLEY TEMPLE: A little girl's sunny optimism captivated the Depression generation.
HUMPHREY BOGART and LAUREN BACALL: He was a true original and an early portrayer of the anti-hero whose acting skill was little recognized until later in his career. Slender, stylish, cynical and smoky-voiced, she was his leading lady onscreen and off. They were married from 1945 until his death in 1957.
JOHN WAYNE: Larger than life on and off the screen, he became the epitome of the valiant frontiersman in a series of classic westerns.
JAMES STEWART: The quintessential American hero who could play a surprising range of roles. Except villains.
MARLON BRANDO: A student of the Method at the Actors Studio, his seemingly impromptu style influenced a generation of actors. With Laurence Olivier, one of the screen's greatest.
MARILYN MONROE: Blazing across the sky like a comet, she redefined sex appeal, then disappeared before she could prove her worth as an actress.
SIDNEY POITIER: The first black actor to win an Oscar (Hattie McDaniel was the first black actress to do so), he destroyed Hollywood stereotypes by playing normal black Americans with dignity and purpose.
JACK NICHOLSON: His sly cynicism fitted perfectly into an era of disillusion. With Robert De Niro, one of the two great actors of the late 20th century, screen descendants of Brando.
MERYL STREEP: Like Nicholson, she has earned 11 Academy nominations and two Oscars. Her powerful performances were notable at a time when worthy roles for women were in short supply.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER: His appeal defines international superstar; he and Sylvester Stallone were the first great high-tech action heroes.
MICKEY MOUSE: A true star though only celluloid, he is the timeless original of a genre, animation, that won hearts young and old.
|
|
|
