Tuesday, February 17, 2009 - Oscar Week Day #3--Actors
Earthling's Top Ten Favorite Actors
10. Gerard Butler
This Scottish actor, born in 1969, completed law school before starting a stage career. By 1997, he had been cast in his fist small film role. Over the next couple years, he appeared in small film roles and British television series. In 1999, he started filming his first American series as Attila the Hun, which made him famous. Since he has starred in several acclaimed movies, including 300, Beowulf and Grendel, The Game of Their Lives, Nim's Island, and P.S., I Love You.
Best Performance: Phantom of the Opera
9. Gregory Peck
Gregory Peck was born in 1916. After a Broadway career, he turned to film. He was nominated for Best Actor five times-winning the fifth due to his famous portrayal as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. He had five children and died in 2003.
Best Performance: Spellbound
8. Harrison Ford
Born in 1942, Ford was a college drop out wanting to make his way int he radio business. Instead, he was hired to play minor roles in films and tv series--but he was dissatisfied with these roles. He became a carpenter, and it was while building cabinets in George Lucas' home did the director discover him and cast him in his biggest role--that of Han Solo in Star Wars. Lucas then cast him as Indiana Jones--and, well, the rest is history. He received one Oscar nomination for Witness. Currently, Ford lives in Wyoming and has five children.
Best Performance: Empire Strikes Back
7. Walter Brennan
Born in 1894, Walter Brennan was a well known character actor of the thirties, forties, and fifties. He took small roles for the money in the late twenties but soon was cast in more well known films, and by 1936 had won his first Oscar. Because he looked older than he was, he often played older characters. He is probably most remembered for playing supporting roles in westerns. He is the only person to have won three Oscars for supporting actor; he was nominated for one in Sergeant York as well. He died in 1974 and was buried next to his wife of fifty-four years. They had three children.
Best Performance: To Have and to Have Not/Rio Bravo
6. Gary Cooper
Gary Cooper, born in 1901, earned money as an extra during the mid twenties. Soon, he began starring in films, and became one of the most popular actors of the thirties and forties. He was known for his quiet, but intense portrayals. His most famous roles include Sgt York, Friendly Persuasion, High Noon, and Pride of the Yankees. Cooper received six Oscar nominations and won three of them. He died in 1961 and had one daughter.
Best Performance: For Whom the Bell Tolls
5. John Wayne
John Wayne, or the Duke as he was known, was born in 1907. He was known for his portrayal of rugged, masculine characters and also for his involvement in conservative causes. Although Wayne wanted to go to the Naval Academy, he was not accepted into the school. He was very disappointed--but the rejection turned out for good, as Wayne probably never would have started acting if he had been in the service. He attended USC and played football--and during the summer he received jobs in first prop departments, then in minor roles as extras. Eventually he was given a starring role in a western, and his appearance in Stagecoach in 1939 made him a star. He went on to star in many more westerns and military dramas, and was nominated for three Oscars, but did not win one until 1070 for True Grit. He died in 1979 and had seven children.
Best Performance: The Searchers
4. Gene Kelly
Gene Kelly was born in 1912. Although he was an athletic child and teenager, and preferred sports, he reluctantly took dance when his mother insisted on it. He studied economics and entered Pitt Law School, and taught dance while in school. Eventually he dropped out of law school to perform full time, taking his talents to Broadway, and finally, to film. He was MGM's finest star, and appeared in many musicals, many of which he personally choreographed. His most admired films remain Singing' in the Rain and An American in Paris; he was nominated for an Oscar for Anchors Aweigh. Kelly had three children and died in 1996.
Best Performance: Anchors Aweigh
3. Humphrey Bogart
Bogart was born in 1898. During World War I, he enlisted in the Navy, and after being injured, took an office job with a small film company. Although he tried screen writing, directing and production, he was not interested in any of them. However, this job led him to Broadway, and during the late twenties, he moved to Hollywood, earning a spot in a few film roles. His film career finally had taken off--and he went from successful thirties gangster movies to starring in classics like Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, The African Queen, and The Caine Mutiny. Bogart was also, along with his wife Lauren Bacall, a founding member of the Rat Pack and was known for socially holding together Hollywood. He won one Oscar, out of three nominations. Bogie had two children with Lauren Bacall and died in 1957.
Best Performance: To Have and to Have Not
2. Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando was born in 1924. His mother was a local actress (teaching acting to Henry Fonda) and thus interested young Brando in the stage. Brando's oldest sister, Jocelyn studied acting first and appeared in film and television. Brando decided to follow his two sisters to New York and try his own hand at acting. He studied acting and preformed his first Broadway play in 1944, where he was highly acclaimed. He was most successful, however, in his Broadway version of Streetcar Named Desire. Critics were so happy with his stage portrayal in that, that they signed him on to do a movie version in 1951 (following his first movie appearance the year before in a war movie that received little attention). Brando was nominated for an Oscar in this movie, the first of his eight nominations (including one every year for four years). He would win two of these--one for The Godfather, and one for On the Waterfront. Brando was in a variety of roles--from war dramas like Sayonara and The Young Lions to Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, to his surprising role in the musical Guys and Dolls. His success declined in the late sixties, but picked up again with his famous role in The Godfather. He continued acting until his death in 2004--and even now is "still acting" as several movies he shot before his death are still in post-production. Brando had 11 children between 1958 and 1994.
Best Performance: On the Waterfront
1. Cary Grant
Cary Grant was born in England in 1904. At age sixteen he dropped out of school and came to America as an acrobat. His physical talents led him to Broadway, and he eventually signed onto a few films. Mae West was delighted with the young actor, and insisted she play opposite her in two of her more successful films. After that, Grant became one of the greatest stars of all time, due to his charming personality, his physical abilities, and his distinctive accent. He starred in numerous films--from screwball comedies to dramas to romantic comedies. The Philadelphia Story, To Catch a Thief, An Affair to Remember, and North by Northwest are a few of his most famous roles. Surprisingly, Cary Grant won only one Oscar--an honorary Oscar in 1970. He was nominated for two others, though, in the semi-biographical None But the Lonely Heart, and the tragic Penny Serenade. Grant had one daughter. He died in 1986.
Best Performance: Uh, just one? How about five or six? Arsenic and Old Lace, Charade, Father Goose, Only Angels Have Wings, Bringing Up Baby, Notorious...yeah, this guy did it all. You can't choose.
Comments
Tuesday, February 17, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Posted by ChristineDaae
Oliver Twist was great! The first episode anyway. The music is kind've weird...like too modern or something, but other than that, they did a great job following the story. The little boy who plays Oliver is sooo cute!
Oh, by the way we will be at Crabtowne Qualifier. I hope yoiu make it! Arya said she thought you were doing apologetics...? If you are, well, you're brave! I am not the impromptu type!
I like Ethel too. She is funny. She and Lucy, Ricky and Fred, they're all great:-)
In Christ,
Christine
Ps: Go Han Solo...or Harrison Ford;-)
Wednesday, February 18, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Posted by LeslieN
This does not relate at all to your post, but I wanted to share the recipe for the pink lemonade ice cream cake with you. I found it typed out at another blog.
http://interruptedwanderlust.blogspot.com/2008/07/pink-lemonade-ice-cream-cake.html
You were right on the book in the background too - good eyes!
Blessings,
Leslie
Friday, February 20, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Posted by CrossView
Goodness! You've been busy!
Gerard - *swoon*. But I loved him best in "300". And I'm not recommending it. Some inappropriate! But I loved him and his wife in it. I loved the story and the dialogue and did I mention his abs in there? *swoon again*
Great list!
Al my favorites are on it! Except for Mel Gibson - but he's on a list by himself! ;o)
Awarded By Crossview
Awarded by ChesapeakeSailor and Sassy92
Awarded by Sharla88
Awarded by Jocelyn Dixon
