Happy Centennial to Gene Kelly (and all film fans who love him)!
100 years ago on this very day Eugene Curran Kelly was born in Pittsburgh. His mom pushed him into dance class but he didn't commit to becoming a dancer until the age of 15. At 29 fame hit with Broadway's "Pal Joey." Almost immediately thereafter he accidentally (or at least halfheartedly since he intended to return to stage) lept from the stage to the screen and stayed, starting with a co-starring role in For Me and My Gal (1942, previously covered -- he credits Judy Garland with teaching him how to act for cameras). Kelly remains the best silver screen song & dance man of all time (sorry Astaire!) and since musicals are the perfect genre, making full use of every tool available to filmmakers aurally and visually, he also happens to be one of my ten favorite movie stars ever of either gender. I'd hoped to celebrate Kelly all month long but time gets away from you in the dog days of summer. Ah well, at least we had Singin' in the Rain (1952)!!!
So herewith a quick semi-revised list...
Nathaniel's 50 Favorite Male Movie Stars of All Time
Tier 1 - Yin and Yang
neither my life nor the movies would be complete without them
MONTGOMERY CLIFT
GENE KELLY
Tier 2 -The Top Dozen
in no particular order but trust in my ♥ for each
Warren and Natalie at the Oscars in 1962
WARREN BEATTY
JAMES DEAN
JUDE LAW
JEFF BRIDGES
BRAD PITT
CARY GRANT
PAUL NEWMAN
GENE HACKMAN
TONY LEUNG CHIU-WAI
MARLON BRANDO
Tier 4 - Intermittent Passions
DUSTIN HOFFMAN
WILLIAM HOLDEN
RICHARD BURTON
STEVE MARTIN
William, Viggo, and Jimmy
JAMES STEWART
GAEL GARCIA BERNAL
JACK LEMMON
EWAN MCGREGOR
VIGGO MORTENSEN
Tier 5 - Old Faithful
Reliably worth loving
BURT LANCASTER
GREGORY PECK
ROCK HUDSON
RALPH FIENNES
Sir Ian McKellen. Claude Rains
SIR IAN MCKELLEN
BUSTER KEATON
PETER O' TOOLE
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS
SIR IAN HOLM
ALBERT FINNEY
DENZEL WASHINGTON
FREDRIC MARCH
JIM BROADBENT
MARK RUFFALO
TOM WILKINSON
CLAUDE RAINS
Tier 6 - It's a Love/Hate Thing
sometimes they just annoy me. Yet it's impossible to shake their best work
JACK NICHOLSON
JOHNNY DEPP
SEAN PENN
CHRISTIAN BALE
Tier 7- At This Very Moment
will these cinematic obsessions be shortlived moviegoer/moviestar flings or lifelong cinephile marriages?
RYAN GOSLING
MICHAEL FASSBENDER
CHANNING TATUM
Fassbender, dressing to impress
JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT
TOM HARDY
COLIN FARRELL
HUGH JACKMAN
JAKE GYLLENHAAL
Tier 8 - I Should See More Before Fully Committing
DANA ANDREWS
ALAIN DELON
I showed you my list, now you show me yours.
You don't have to go to 50 of course. That's for the truly insane with lots of time to kill today!
But What About...?
Actors I used to be wild for *or* thought I would love more by now when they first arrived but the passion has dwindled: SARSGAARD, OWEN, HARRIS, REDFORD, HURT, EVERETT, CRUDUP, GRAVES, ECCLESTON, MURPHY, WILSON, DICAPRIO, ANGLADE, AUTEUIL, KANESHIRO, BETTANY, DAMON, BANDERAS, BARDEM, QUAID, NORTON; Actors I maybe should reconsider on account of at least one performance *or* the regard in which they're held: WELLES, SCHEIDER, KINSKI, CHEUNG, FINCH, POWELL, COOPER, BOYD, CARREY, CROSBY, DEPARDIEU, GIELGUD, GUINNESS, HURT, HUSTON, IRONS, KAYE, KEITEL, BRYNNER, MASON, FONDA, GABLE, DUVALL, ALLEN, STAMP, YORK; Actors other people love a gazllion times more than me: ASTAIRE, BOGART, CAINE, CHAPLIN, CROWE, CRUISE, DENIRO, PACINO, HANKS, MITCHUM, OLIVIER, ROBARDS, MASTROIANNI, MIFUNE, FREEMAN, HOPKINS, SPACEY