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Steven Spielberg didn't hesitate when naming the five greatest actors of all time

Home> Film & TV

Published 14:57 20 Sep 2024 GMT+1

Steven Spielberg didn't hesitate when naming the five greatest actors of all time

The director didn't name a group of five you'd necessarily expect

Michael Slavin

Michael Slavin

Steven Spielberg is one of, if not the greatest, directors of all time.

As such, if the big man says that an actor is great – you have to sit up and listen to him.

That’s exactly what Spielberg did when he once named what he believes are the five greatest actors to ever grace the screen.

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Surprisingly, the director did not name any of the actors that have appeared in his most famous work.

Spielberg is widely agreed to be the greatest blockbuster director ever (CBS Photo Archive via Getty Images)
Spielberg is widely agreed to be the greatest blockbuster director ever (CBS Photo Archive via Getty Images)

No Liam Neeson for Schindler’s List, no Sam Neill or Laura Dern for Jurassic Park, not even an iconic film like Indiana Jones earned any of the director’s actors a spot in his top five.

The revelation came in an interview after Spielberg voiced a deeply controversial opinion about an iconic film.

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Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining is widely considered to be one of the greatest horrors of all time, with an iconic performance from Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance.

Recounting a conversation with Kubrick after his first watch though, Spielberg actually said he was not a fan of Nicholson’s portrayal of the role.

He claimed he felt it was ‘over the top’, and even went as far as to compare it to Japanese Kabukmi theatre.

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When Kubrick pushed back on this summation, he asked Spielberg to name his five favourite actors of all time without thinking.

Watch the clip here:

Spielberg recounts telling Kubrick the five names, saying: “So, I quickly went ‘Spencer Tracey, Henry Fonda, Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, Clark Gable’.

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“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'."

In the interview, it seems as if Kubrick has almost Mr-Miyagied Spielberg into seeing things from his point of view – that just because he doesn’t appreciate Nicholson’s performance, doesn’t necessarily make it bad.

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Stanley Kubrick on the set of A Clockwork Orange (1971).
IMDb

His five actors, however, speak to Spielberg’s love of classic cinema, as he portrayed in his recent semi-autobiographical film The Fabelmans.

Of the five, none were alive in the 21st century, yet are still considered five of the greatest actors to have ever lived.

Jimmy Stewart, the actor who died most recently in 1997, is the one most likely to be known by modern audiences for his role in It’s a Wonderful Life, but is also beloved for classics like Vertigo and Rear Window.

Featured Image Credit: CBS Photo Archive via Getty Images / Bettmann via Getty Images

Topics: Film and TV, Jack Nicholson, Steven Spielberg, Celebrity, Entertainment

Michael Slavin
Michael Slavin

Michael Slavin is a Film and TV writer for UNILAD and LADbible. After completing an English Literature with Creative Writing degree at Surrey University, followed by a Masters in International Journalism at Salford University, he began working for the Warrington Guardian as a reporter. Throughout this though, he did freelance work about Film and TV for publications such as DiscussingFilm, looking for any excuse to get to rant about films. He has now finally got that wish.

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@MichaelSlavin98

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