The Greatest British Actor

[poliphilo]

Someone I know in Real Life has just got themselves an LJ. All hail playdreams. Up until now the only Real Life people I've known on LJ were my kids.

So who's the greatest British actor of all time? Channel 5 gave its viewers a list compiled by "experts" and asked them to put the names in their preferred order. And, no- Burbage, Garrick, Keane and Irving weren't on it. I hate that phrase "all time" because it never means what it says.

Anyway, the greatest British actor of all time turns out to be Anthony Hopkins. I guess it was the fava beans that did it. I saw Hopkins on stage once (in Lear) and thought he was ordinary.

But Cary Grant and Peter Sellers were on the list- they came in at 4 and 7 respectively- and this makes me happy.

Yes, Cary Grant was a Brit. Born in Bristol. Real name Archie Leach. Is this common knowledge? It should be. Surely it's time we put his head on a stamp or a bank note or something!

Comments

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's arguably Hopkins's best performance. I liked him in that film about C.S. Lewis too.

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

I had to see that three times (Shadowlands) before I could really judge his performance in that, Shadowlands is one of the most emotional movies I've ever seen...

anyone who doesn't 'get' Olivier should see him in Wuthering Heights, or in one of his Shakespearean movies. Or as the evil dentist in Marathon Man. no, they should see ALL of those performances. They they will understand what a great actor he was.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Olivier did some interesting work on TV too. I loved his TV King Lear. The production wasn't too brilliant, but his performance was superb