Steven Spielberg didn't hesitate when naming who he thinks are the five greatest actors of all time

One of the greatest directors of all time fired off his list of who he believes are the five greatest actors of all time in quick succession.

When it comes to who are the best of the best to feature on our screens, there are so many illustrious actors that it would difficult to give a top five - but not for Steven Spielberg who showed no hesitation.

Director Steven Spielberg has worked with esteemed actors Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks, but neither received a mention (Dave J Hogan/Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)

Although why are we surprised? He lives and breathes cinema.

Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, Jurassic Park, Jaws, the Indiana Jones franchise... the 78-year-old will leave a legacy behind when he finally decides to fold away his director's chair, and those films are just out of the 20th century.

Since the 21st century, he has directed a further 19 to date, with Catch Me If You Can, Lincoln, Bridge of Spies, and The Post also making up that list.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Liam Neeson, Harrison Ford, and Whoopi Goldberg are just some of the talent that Spielberg has worked with on his movies, but who does the acclaimed filmmaker single out as his top five favourite actors?

In an interview, Spielberg recalled a conversation he had with fellow director Stanley Kubrick after he'd watched a screening of The Shining, and didn't much like it on the first watch.

Spielberg explained to the director that he thought that, while Jack Nicholson is a talented actor, the way he played the role of Jack Torrance in Kubrick’s movie was over the top, and compared it to Japanese Kabuki theatre - in which actors are heavily stylised and made up with larger-than-life costumes and makeup.

Defending Nicholson's performance, Kubrick asked Spielberg to list his five favourite actors of all time.

And surprisingly, none of the actors Spielberg had collaborated with himself made the list.

He said: “So, I quickly went ‘Spencer Tracy, Henry Fonda, Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, Clark Gable’.

Two-time Oscar-winning actor Spencer Tracy, who died in 1967, made the cut (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

“He stopped me and said, ‘Stop, okay, where was James Cagney on that list?’

“And I thought, he’s up there high, and he said, ‘Ah, but he’s not in [your] top five. You don’t consider James Cagney one of the five best actors around, but I do.

“‘And this is why Jack Nicholson’s performance is a great one'."

So essentially, Kubrick's point was that just because Nicholson's style of acting in The Shining wasn't to Spielberg's taste, it doesn't mean it's a bad movie.

Spencer Tracey is perhaps best known for his roles in the 1961 movie Judgement at Nuremberg and 1967’s Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner, while Henry Fonda was most well known for the 1940 film The Grapes of Wrath and 12 Angry Men (1957).

One-time Oscar-winner Cary Grant, who passed away in 1986, also got the nod (Herbert Dorfman/Corbis via Getty Images)

Jimmy Stewart was famed for roles in Anatomy of a Murder (1959), Vertigo (1958), and The Philadelphia Story, alongside another Spielberg favourite Cary Grant.

Clark Gable, meanwhile, is well known for the 1939 romance-drama Gone with the Wind.

Kubrick's preferred actor James Cagney, meanwhile, was known for his high energy performances, which bore similarities to Nicholson's turn in The Shining.

He is known for his roles in 1938's Angels with Dirty Faces and 1949's White Heat.