The Best Actor 1978
by dziwnytenswiat | created - 3 weeks ago | updated - 3 weeks ago | PublicFrom my list: https://www.imdb.com/list/ls027013726/
1. Gary Busey
Actor | The Buddy Holly Story
A blond-haired, fair-complexioned actor with a toothy grin and capable of an unsettling glint in his eyes, Gary Busey was born in Goose Creek, Texas, and was raised in Oklahoma. He is the son of Sadie Virginia (Arnett), a homemaker, and Delmar Lloyd Busey, a construction design manager. He has ...
1488 points
2. Gottfried John
Actor | Astérix & Obélix contre César
Gottfried John was born on August 29, 1942 in Berlin, Germany. He was an actor, known for Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar (1999), GoldenEye (1995) and The Marriage of Maria Braun (1979). He was married to Brigitte. He died on September 1, 2014 in Utting am Ammersee, Bavaria, Germany.
1475 points
3. Bruno Ganz
Actor | Der Untergang
Bruno Ganz was an acclaimed Swiss actor who was a prominent figure in German language film and television for over fifty years. He is internationally renowned for portraying Adolf Hitler in the Academy Award-nominated film Downfall (2004).
Ganz was born in Zürich, to a Swiss mechanic father and a ...
1456 points
4. Halvar Björk
Actor | Höstsonaten
Halvar Björk was born on September 22, 1928 in Borgvattnet, Jämtlands län, Sweden. He was an actor, known for Autumn Sonata (1978), Badarna (1968) and Ödets man (1960). He died on November 12, 2000 in Huddinge, Stockholms län, Sweden.
863 points
5. Gunnar Björnstrand
Actor | Persona
Being the son of an acting father, Oscar Johanson, it isn't surprising that he wanted to be an actor already as a child. However, he first worked as a baker's apprentice, in a barber shop or in the docks. After the conscription he got his first role, a bit part on the theater Lilla Teatern in ...
863 points
6. Erland Josephson
Actor | Offret
Erland Josephson, the distinguished Swedish actor best known for his appearance in Ingmar Bergman's films, was born in Stockholm, Sweden on June 15, 1923. Josephson's relationship with Bergman, a long-time friend, began in the late 1930s when they first worked together in the theater.
Although he ...
863 points
7. Robert De Niro
Actor | Cape Fear
One of the greatest actors of all time, Robert De Niro was born on August 17, 1943 in Manhattan, New York City, to artists Virginia (Admiral) and Robert De Niro Sr. His paternal grandfather was of Italian descent, and his other ancestry is Irish, English, Dutch, German, and French. He was trained ...
858 points
8. Christopher Walken
Actor | The Deer Hunter
Lead and supporting actor of the American stage and films, with sandy colored hair, and pale complexion. He won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Deer Hunter (1978), and has been seen in mostly character roles, often portraying psychologically unstable individuals, though...
858 points
9. John Cazale
Actor | Dog Day Afternoon
John Cazale was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to an Irish-American mother, Cecilia (Holland), and an Italian-American father, John Cazale. Cazale made only five feature films in his career, which fans and critics alike call classics. But before his film debut, in the short The American Way (1962),...
858 points
10. John Savage
Actor | The Last Full Measure
John Savage is an American actor best known for his roles in The Deer Hunter (1978), The Onion Field (1979), Hair (1979), Salvador (1986), The Last Full Measure (2019), In Dubious Battle (2016), and the television shows Goliath (2016), Twin Peaks (2017), and Dark Angel (2000). He was born in Old ...
858 points
11. Richard Gere
Actor | Chicago
Humanitarian and actor Richard Gere was born on August 31, 1949, in Philadelphia, the second of five children of Doris Anna (Tiffany), a homemaker, and Homer George Gere, an insurance salesman, both Mayflower descendants. Richard started early as a musician, playing a number of instruments in high ...
815 points
12. Sam Shepard
Actor | August: Osage County
Sam Shepard was born Samuel Shepard Rogers in Fort Sheridan, IL, to Jane Elaine (Schook), a teacher, and Samuel Shepard Rogers, a teacher and farmer who was also in the army. As the eldest son of a US Army officer (and WWII bomber pilot), Shepard spent his early childhood moving from base to base ...
815 points
13. Dustin Hoffman
Actor | Tootsie
Dustin Lee Hoffman was born in Los Angeles, California, to Lillian (Gold) and Harry Hoffman, who was a furniture salesman and prop supervisor for Columbia Pictures. He was raised in a Jewish family (from Ukraine, Russia-Poland, and Romania). Hoffman graduated from Los Angeles High School in 1955, ...
778 points
14. Harry Dean Stanton
Actor | Lucky
Stanton was born in West Irvine, Kentucky, to Ersel (Moberly), a cook, and Sheridan Harry Stanton, a barber and tobacco farmer. He lived in Lexington, Kentucky and graduated from Lafayette Senior High School with the class of 1944. Drafted into the Navy, he served as a cook in the U.S. Navy during ...
778 points
15. Claude Brasseur
Actor | Bande à part
Claude Brasseur was born on June 15, 1936 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France. He was an actor, known for Band of Outsiders (1964), Pardon Mon Affaire (1976) and O Fio do Horizonte (1993). He was married to Michèle Cambon and Peggy Roche. He died on December 22, 2020 in Paris, France.
776 points
16. Bruno Cremer
Actor | Sorcerer
Bruno Cremer went to Paris following high school. He always knew he was made to be an actor and his mother helped him. He was admitted to the Paris Conservatory. He rose to prominence in the theater playing in Shakespeare's "Pericles," Oscar Wilde's "An Ideal Husband" and Jean Anouilh's "Poor Bitos...
776 points
17. Brad Davis
Actor | Midnight Express
Born in Florida in 1949, Brad Davis moved to Georgia after graduating from high school to pursue an acting career. From there, he moved to New York City, twice, to find work. By the early 1970s Davis was acting in off-Broadway plays while studying acting at the Academy of Dramatic Arts. His stage ...
773 points
18. Bo Hopkins
Actor | American Graffiti
Sandy-haired American actor Bo Hopkins was born William Mauldin Hopkins in Greenville, South Carolina, and was raised by his mother and grandmother after his father died when Bo was only nine years old. He joined the US Army at the age of 16. After serving his hitch he decided on acting as a career...
773 points
19. Randy Quaid
Actor | Independence Day
Randy Quaid is an Academy Award-nominated actor, for his performance in The Last Detail (1973). Hal Ashby directed Quaid in the role of Meadows opposite Jack Nicholson and Otis Young. Quaid is a great and much-admired actor that has been recognized by Hollywood and the world's finest directors, ...
773 points
20. John Hurt
Actor | Nineteen Eighty-Four
One of stage, screen and TV's finest transatlantic talents, slight, gravel-voiced, pasty-looking John Vincent Hurt was born on January 22, 1940, in Shirebrook, a coal mining village, in Derbyshire, England. The youngest child of Phyllis (Massey), an engineer and one-time actress, and Reverend ...
773 points
21. Oleg Yankovskiy
Actor | Nostalghia
Yankovsky was named best actor in a 1984 reader poll by Soviet Screen for his role in "In Love Because He Wants to Be." He was awarded the State Prize in 1987 for his role in "Flying Asleep and Awake." In 1989 he received the Vasiliev State Prize for his role in "The Kreutzer Sonata." Yakovsky was ...
772 points
22. Jack Thompson
Actor | 'Breaker' Morant
Australian actor Jack Thompson was born John Hadley Payne on August 31, 1940 in Manly, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney. Outside of Oz, he is best known for his appearances in The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978), Breaker Morant (1980), The Man from Snowy River (1982), Midnight in the Garden of...
768 points
23. Volker Spengler
Actor | Satansbraten
Volker Spengler was born on February 16, 1939 in Bremen, Germany. He was an actor and art director, known for Satan's Brew (1976), Chinese Roulette (1976) and In a Year with 13 Moons (1978). He died on February 8, 2020 in Berlin, Germany.
763 points
24. Vittorio Gassman
Actor | Sleepers
Vittorio Gassman studied theatre in his youth and was quite a good basketball player. He debuted on stage in 1943 and soon felt home in all classical theatre works. Since 1946 he also worked at the movies and his first big role there was the criminal in Bitter Rice (1949). This fixed him to his ...
761 points
25. Steve McQueen
Actor | The Great Escape
He was the ultra-cool male film star of the 1960s, and rose from a troubled youth spent in reform schools to being the world's most popular actor. Over 40 years after his untimely death from mesothelioma in 1980, Steve McQueen is still considered hip and cool, and he endures as an icon of popular ...
761 points
26. Donald Pleasence
Actor | Halloween II
Balding, quietly spoken, of slight build and possessed of piercing blue eyes -- often peering out from behind round, steel-rimmed glasses -- Donald Pleasence had the essential physical attributes which make a great screen villain. In the course of his lengthy career, he relished playing the ...
760 points
27. Donald Sutherland
Actor | The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The towering presence of Canadian actor Donald Sutherland is often noticed, as are his legendary contributions to cinema. He has appeared in almost 200 different shows and films. He is also the father of renowned actor Kiefer Sutherland, among others.
Donald McNichol Sutherland was born in Saint ...
753 points
28. Jeff Goldblum
Actor | Jurassic Park
Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum was born October 22, 1952 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, one of four children of Shirley (Temeles), a radio broadcaster who also ran an appliances firm, and Harold L. Goldblum, a doctor. His father was of Russian Jewish descent and his mother was of Austrian Jewish ancestry.
...
753 points
29. Eli Wallach
Actor | Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo
One of Hollywood's finest character / "Method" actors, Eli Wallach was in demand for over 60 years (first film/TV role was 1949) on stage and screen, and has worked alongside the world's biggest stars, including Clark Gable, Clint Eastwood, Steve McQueen, Marilyn Monroe, Yul Brynner, Peter O'Toole,...
751 points
30. Jean Carmet
Actor | Les misérables
Jean Carmet was born on April 25, 1920 in Tours, Indre-et-Loire, France. He was an actor and writer, known for Les Misérables (1982), Bouvard et Pecuchet (1990) and The Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe (1972). He was married to Raymonde Machet. He died on April 20, 1994 in Sèvres, ...
749 points
31. Alan Bates
Actor | Gosford Park
Alan Bates decided to be an actor at age 11. After grammar school in Derbyshire, he earned a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. Following two years in the Royal Air Force, he joined the new English Stage Company at the Royal Court Theatre. His West End debut in 1956, at 22...
743 points
32. Hans Alfredson
Actor | Den enfaldige mördaren
During 1956-60 Hans Alfredson worked at Sveriges Radio together with Tage Danielsson. They wrote, directed and starred in several revues 1962-1982. As a director and scriptwriter for the screen Alfredson tried many different genres. He had his greatest critical successes with Ägget är l&...
739 points
33. Richard Jordan
Actor | The Hunt for Red October
Harvard-educated stage and screen actor Richard Jordan was born into a socially prominent family on July 19, 1937 in New York City, the grandson of Learned Hand, the greatest American jurist never to have served on the U.S. Supreme Court. Newbold Morris, his stepfather, was a member of the New York...
738 points
34. E.G. Marshall
Actor | 12 Angry Men
With over 150 Film and TV appearances to his credit, E. G. Marshall was arguably most well known as the imperturbable Juror No. 4 in the Sidney Lumet legal drama 12 Angry Men (1957).
Some of his stand-out performances are in Creepshow (1982), Christmas Vacation (1989), and Nixon (1995).
Marshall ...
738 points
35. Sam Waterston
Actor | The Killing Fields
Sam Waterston was born on November 15, 1940 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for The Killing Fields (1984), The Great Gatsby (1974) and Law & Order (1990). He has been married to Lynn Louisa Woodruff since January 26, 1976. They have three children. He was ...
738 points
36. Alan Alda
Actor | M*A*S*H
Alan Alda (born under the name Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo) is an American actor, comedian, film director, and screenwriter from New York City. His father was the Italian-American actor Robert Alda. Alda's best known role was playing chief surgeon Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce in the ...
737 points
37. Richard Pryor
Actor | Superman III
Highly influential, and always controversial, African-American actor/comedian who was equally well known for his colorful language during his live comedy shows, as for his fast paced life, multiple marriages and battles with drug addiction. He has been acknowledged by many modern comic artist's as ...
737 points
38. Harvey Keitel
Actor | Reservoir Dogs
American actor and producer Harvey Keitel was born on May 13, 1939 in Brooklyn, New York City, to Miriam (Klein) and Harry Keitel. An Oscar and Golden Globe Award nominee, he has appeared in films such as Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets (1973) and Taxi Driver (1976), Ridley Scott's The Duellists (...
737 points
39. Yaphet Kotto
Actor | Alien
Physically imposing, intense Yaphet Kotto was one of the few actors of his generation to succeed in breaking racial stereotypes in Hollywood. He was born in Harlem, New York, the son of Gladys, a nurse and army officer, and Abraham Kotto, a businessman-turned-construction worker. His father was a ...
737 points
40. Zbigniew Zapasiewicz
Actor | Zycie jako smiertelna choroba przenoszona droga plciowa
Zbigniew Zapasiewicz was born on September 13, 1934 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland. He was an actor and director, known for Life as a Fatal Sexually Transmitted Disease (2000), Television Theater (1953) and Camouflage (1977). He was married to Olga Sawicka, Iwona Sloczynska and Krystyna ...
733 points
41. Andrzej Seweryn
Actor | Schindler's List
Andrzej Seweryn was born on April 25, 1946 in Heilbronn, Germany. He is an actor and director, known for Schindler's List (1993), The Last Family (2016) and Prymas. Trzy lata z tysiaca (2000). He has been married to Katarzyna Kubacka since August 30, 2015. He was previously married to Mireille ...
733 points
42. Elliott Gould
Actor | MASH
Elliott Gould is an American actor known for his roles in M*A*S*H (1970), his Oscar-nominated performance in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969), and more recently, his portrayal of old-time con artist Reuben Tishkoff in Ocean's Eleven (2001), Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (...
733 points
43. Christopher Plummer
Actor | Beginners
Legendary actor Christopher Plummer, perhaps Canada's greatest thespian, delivered outstanding performances as Sherlock Holmes in Murder by Decree (1979), the chilling villain in The Silent Partner (1978), the iconoclastic Mike Wallace in The Insider (1999), the empathetic psychiatrist in A ...
733 points
44. Anthony Quinn
Actor | Alexis Zorbas
Anthony Quinn was born Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca (some sources indicate Manuel Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca) on April 21, 1915, in Chihuahua, Mexico, to Manuela (Oaxaca) and Francisco Quinn, who became an assistant cameraman at a Los Angeles (CA) film studio. His paternal grandfather was Irish, ...
717 points
45. William Holden
Actor | Stalag 17
Billy Wilder proclaimed William Holden to be "the ideal motion picture actor". For almost four decades, the handsome, affable 'Golden Holden' was among Hollywood's most durable and engaging stars. He was born William Franklin Beedle Jr., one of three sons to a high school English teacher, Mary ...
712 points
46. José Ferrer
Actor | The Caine Mutiny
José Ferrer was a Puerto Rican actor and film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for playing the title character in Cyrano de Bergerac (1950). Ferrer was the first Puerto Rican actor to win an Academy Award, and also the first Hispanic actor to win an Academy Award.
In 1912, Ferrer was...
712 points
47. Mario Adorf
Actor | Die Blechtrommel
Mario Adorf, a tell-tale name indeed. Mario calls to mind the actor's Italian roots (his father was a Calabrian surgeon) whereas Adorf reveals his German origins (his mother was a radiologist from the German region Eifel). As for the full name Mario Adorf it echoes to perfection the international ...
712 points
48. Anthony Hopkins
Actor | The Silence of the Lambs
Anthony Hopkins was born on December 31, 1937, in Margam, Wales, to Muriel Anne (Yeats) and Richard Arthur Hopkins, a baker. His parents were both of half Welsh and half English descent. Influenced by Richard Burton, he decided to study at College of Music and Drama and graduated in 1957. In 1965, ...
710 points
49. Nanni Moretti
Producer | La stanza del figlio
Nanni Moretti was born on the 19th of August, 1953. He lives in Rome, where since he was a kid he devotes himself to his two passions: cinema and water-polo. In 1970 he also played in water-polo first division in Italy, and in the junior National team. In those years he was also very committed in ...
710 points
50. Gregory Peck
Actor | To Kill a Mockingbird
Eldred Gregory Peck was born on April 5, 1916 in La Jolla, California, to Bernice Mae (Ayres) and Gregory Pearl Peck, a chemist and druggist in San Diego. He had Irish (from his paternal grandmother), English, and some German, ancestry. His parents divorced when he was five years old. An only child...
705 points
51. Laurence Olivier
Actor | Sleuth
Laurence Olivier could speak William Shakespeare's lines as naturally as if he were "actually thinking them", said English playwright Charles Bennett, who met Olivier in 1927. Laurence Kerr Olivier was born in Dorking, Surrey, England, to Agnes Louise (Crookenden) and Gerard Kerr Olivier, a High ...
705 points
52. James Mason
Actor | Lolita
James Mason was born in Huddersfield and had a film career spanning over 50 years during which he appeared in over 100 films in England and America but never won an Oscar. Whatever role he played, from the wounded Belfast gunman in Odd Man Out to Rommel in The Desert Fox, his creamy velvet voice ...
705 points
53. Gérard Depardieu
Actor | Cyrano de Bergerac
Gérard Depardieu was born in Châteauroux, Indre, France, to Anne Jeanne Josèphe (Marillier) and René Maxime Lionel Depardieu, who was a metal worker and fireman. Young delinquent and wanderer in the past, Depardieu started his acting career at the small traveling theatre "Café de la Gare", along ...
704 points
54. Patrick Dewaere
Actor | Un mauvais fils
Popular but troubled renegade French actor Patrick Dewaere was christened Jean-Marie Patrick Bourdeaux on January 26, 1947, at Saint-Brieuc in Britanny in the north-west region of France. The third of six children born to actress Mado Maurin (1915-2011), his mother made acting a family affair. All ...
704 points
55. Michel Serrault
Actor | La Cage aux folles
As accomplished and versatile the well-loved French actor Michel Serrault proved to be over the course of five decades, American audiences still remember this actor for one role only - that of the neurotic, outrageously flamboyant drag performer Albin (aka Zaza) in the side-splitting French gay ...
704 points
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