With a huge roster of contemporary stars (including returns by Whoopi Goldberg, Julia Roberts and Dustin Hoffman) "100 Years... 100 Stars" provides an even closer look into Hollywood than it's predecessor, "100 Years... 100 Movies". It has practically every major star from the Golden Age of Hollywood on its list but there is bound to be some disagreement about some of them (i.e. Fred Astaire in 5th place? NO!!! Gary Cooper should have been in 5th place instead of being in 11th. Fred Astaire didn't have THAT much dramatic power to belong in the top five (which is where only the truly great dramatic and completely gifted comedians should be-Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn were the only two comedic actors (although both were MASTERS in dramatic roles too) who were in the top five. But other than that, I don't find that much to argue about except for the omission of Rosalind Russell from the ladies' list. She was an excellent actress with perfect presence for her time! I really recommend this to any film buff (it is available on DVD/VHS at amazon.com. It's truly worth it!
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars: America's Greatest Screen Legends
(1999 TV Special)
Even better than "...100 Movies"
12 October 2000