Al Pacino voted Greatest Film Star of All Time. (1 Viewer)

"Godfather star Al Pacino has been named the greatest film star of all time, in a poll of British movie fans for Channel 4.
The Italian-American actor was picked just ahead of his contemporary Robert De Niro.

The highest placed British star in the top 100 list was Anthony Hopkins at number seven, ahead of eighth placed Sean Connery.

More than 25,000 votes were cast in the Channel 4 poll, with Scottish star Ewan McGregor the youngest actor in the top 10 at the age of 32.

No female stars made the top 10, with Breakfast at Tiffanys star Audrey Hepburn at number thirteen.
Sigourney Weaver, best known for her roles in the Alien movies, at number 20 is the second-highest placed woman in the poll." BBC News.

Channel 4's Top 20 movie stars of all time.

1. Al Pacino
2. Robert De Niro
3. Tom Hanks
4. Kevin Spacey
5. Harrison Ford
6. Jack Nicholson
7. Anthony Hopkins
8. Sean Connery
9. Ewan McGregor
10. Cary Grant
11. Samuel L. Jackson
12. James Stewart
13. Audrey Hepburn
14. Steve McQueen
15. Brad Pitt
16. Paul Newman
17. Mel Gibson
18. Clint Eastwood
19. Robin Williams
20. Sigourney Weaver

I have no problem with Pacino at no.1, he's always been a favorite of mine, De Niro too. Nice to see Sigourney Weaver rated so highly, biggest omission in my opinion is the great Gene Hackman, who should have been in the top 10.

Ironic, given Pacino's oft-stated preference for the theater. He's said that the main reason he acts in movies is to support his work on the stage.

M.

Greatest Stars of All-Time? Did they survey a bunch of 12 year olds?

No Bogart, Chaplin, Keaton, Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly, Bette Davis, etc, etc, etc, etc....

There's only 8 people in there that appeared before 1960, and that's if you include bit-part appearances by Eastwood, Nicholson, Connery, & McQueen. If you include people who were actually recognized before 1960, you've got 4 (Grant, Stewart, Hepburn, & Newman) and only Stewart & Grant were around before 1950.

Sorry for the rant, but it really !&@^*(&!#s me off when people forget completely about the old stars/movies, and please don't bring in the age thing, because I'm only 30 and have been watching the classics since I was a teenager.

I also think the following omissions are pretty bad:

Humphrey Bogart
Spencer Tracy
Katherine Hepburn
Jack Lemmon
Charlie Chaplin
Ingrid Bergman
Grace Kelly
Henry Fonda
Kirk Douglas
William Holden
Marlon Brando
Laurence Olivier
Alec Guinness
Sidney Poitier
Burt Lancaster
Gene Hackman

I could go on for pages, but I'm just going to stop with that.

I have no problem with anyone on the list except McGregor. Sorry but he doesn't belong there.

There are probably some glaring omissions but overall, it looks good to me.

Hackman: as excellent as it is, most featured on that list have tremendous star power (again except McGregor). Hackman is as fine an actor as anyone up there and while he is well known, he doesn't carry the same star power as the others. Would a Hackman movie do well at the BO without some other big name (actor or director) attached to it? Same with Weaver, I am surprised to see her up there as well.

BTW, what is McGreogor doing on this list? Damn brits...

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Holadem

Kevin Spacey at #4? Are you f*&%ing Kidding Me? He's not even one of the top 20 American Stars today? This poll was probably taken outside a strip mall or shopping center. Kevin Spacey, Jesus, I like the guy's work, but C'MON PEOPLE?

Also, Samuel L. Jackson? Look at previous rant for the gist of my fuming.

Brad Pitt? WTF?

Channel 4 "fans" obviously have no sense of film history, nor do they sound all that knowledgeable.

I can't believe some of the ranting going on in this thread, this is a poll of 'ordinary' movie fans, not movie geeks who watch Charlie Chaplin movies all day, so what if Marilyn Monroe or James Dean isn't listed?
I think it's a good mix of new and old movie stars, personally I'm surprised any of the old movie greats made the list, I thought it would have consisted solely of stars of the past 25 years.

The ones I would have omitted from this list are Ewan McGregor, Audrey Hepburn, Brad Pitt and Robin Williams.

My personal top 20 would have included Gene Hackman, John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Spencer Tracy and Jack Lemmon.

I don't mind there being obvious omissions, so long as they're not replaced with Brad Pitt. He's a pretty good actor, but not nearly as good as MANY, MANY actors in Hollywood, past and present, famous or not.

Bogart is the first to spring to mind. The man's an icon. He may not be the greatest ACTOR of all time, but he is very arguably the greatest STAR of all time.

John Wayne is another icon who has to be up there on any serious list.

Sorry, but this survey doesn't measure up.

This list (and every other list, for that matter) just goes to show how impossible it is to quantify things like this. What a waste of time!! We all know what actors we love and what movies we love. Any list that anyone makes will always have glaring ommissions in people's minds.

end of rant

tony

Well if current box office draw is their criterion, then Cary Grant, James Stewart, Audrey Hepburn and Steve McQeen are all rated too highly

At least the Brits picked Al Pacino and Robert De Niro as their top two, thats not too shabby is it? I can only imagine what a poll of 'ordinary' American movie fans would have picked as their greatest ever movie stars, guessing I'd say Will Smith, Mike Myers, Adam Sandler, Julia Roberts, Cameron Diaz, Reese Witherspoon all prob in the top 10, don't be too surprised.

I guess it's typical to overlook most pre-1970's actors and actresses.

After all, who likes those OLD MOVIES anyways?

I'll probably get flamed for this but I think Al Pacino's position on this list is grossly inflated. Granted he did tremendous work in the Godfather films, perhaps the best films of the last thirty years. I've been often unimpressed with his work in many other films. He tends to go over-the-top way too often and spends the film chewing the scenery. I'd make my vote for Robert DiNero, who has starred in classic films (The Godfather II, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver) but has also succeeded in comedy (Midnight Run, one of my favorite films).
I also share the frustration of many who note that many fine actors and actresses of the past were omitted.

Finally one personal favorite omitted: where is Meryl Streep? That woman has flawlessly created so many amazing characters (Silkwood, Sophie's Choice, Out of Africa, Kramer vs. Kramer). People joke about her accents, but her characters are flawless. I'd probably place her second behind Di Nero.

And no Toshiro Mifune either... I guess the people surveyed don't like subtitles.

I guess they forgot Ed Norton too.