Who Played the Most Iconic Movie Characters?

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The discussion centers around iconic movie characters and the actors who portrayed them, with notable mentions including Marlon Brando as Don Vito Corleone and F. Murray Abraham as Antonio Salieri in "Amadeus." Participants highlight the depth of human emotion captured in performances, such as Jack Nicholson's role in "A Few Good Men" and Kathy Bates in "Misery." The conversation also touches on the challenge of forgetting an actor's real-life persona to fully appreciate their character, with examples like Morgan Freeman in "Shawshank Redemption" and Al Pacino in "Scent of a Woman." The debate extends to the merits of comedic versus dramatic acting, emphasizing the skill required in both genres. Overall, the thread showcases a rich appreciation for memorable performances across various films.
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Just wondering which actors played the very best movie characters and why...


Mine are ofcourse Brando as Don Vito Corleone, but that will be the same for many of us, so let us not go too deep into that.

However, apart from that, i found the Antonio Salieri character, played by F Murray Abraham in AMADEUS, outstanding...I mean, quasi all aspects of human behaviour are presented : jalousy, hate, love, longing, grieve, fear, agression, curiosity, crazyness...

I also very much enjoyed Jack Nicholson in a Few Good Men, in my opinion one of his best performances though it is not a big role. His character (Nathan Jessep) is omnipresent in the movie, you can feel him...and ofcourse, who else but Jack Nicholson, has the face to play the commander of guantanamo bay...

If you goto my journal at the 'celebrity prank calls'-entry, you can hear some guys using Nicholson's voice to fool other people over the phone...it is hilarious...(scroll down to entry nr 14)
https://www.physicsforums.com/journal.php?s=&action=view&journalid=13790&perpage=10&page=9
marlon

ohh, and did i mention Brando in Over the Waterfront and Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs ?


What about you , ?
 
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marlon said:
Just wondering which actors played the very best movie characters and why...


Mine are ofcourse Brando as Don Vito Corleone, but that will be the same for many of us, so let us not go too deep into that.

However, apart from that, i found the Antonio Salieri character, played by F Murray Abraham in AMADEUS, outstanding...I mean, quasi all aspects of human behaviour are presented : jalousy, hate, love, longing, grieve, fear, agression, curiosity, crazyness...

I also very much enjoyed Jack Nicholson in a Few Good Men, in my opinion one of his best performances though it is not a big role. His character (Nathan Jessep) is omnipresent in the movie, you can feel him...and ofcourse, who else but Jack Nicholson, has the face to play the commander of guantanamo bay...

If you goto my journal at the 'celebrity prank calls'-entry, you can hear some guys using Nicholson's voice to fool other people over the phone...it is hilarious...(scroll down to entry nr 14)
https://www.physicsforums.com/journal.php?s=&action=view&journalid=13790&perpage=10&page=9
marlon

ohh, and did i mention Brando in Over the Waterfront and Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs ?


What about you , ?
For the first time agre with you,our beloved Marlon Brando in Godfather(I)(I also like his interesting personality)My Dear Godfather,We All Miss you!I'll Try To Be As Honest As You Were. :cry:
I also like Al Pacino in Godfather(II) esp.in 1 scene
Tom Hanks in Furest Gump
Dustin Hoffman in all movie esp. Rain Man
Jack Nicholson In Shining(Where's my beloved Stanley :cry: )
Alain Delon in Un Flic
Diaz and Kidman in most of movies(except the silly ones)
 
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Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes
(still scares the hell out of me; compared to Annie, Hannibal Lecter is just a choir boy)
 
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Well how about characters played by Spencer Tracy, James (Jimmy Stewart), Gregory Peck, Sir Lawrence Oliver, Sir Alec Guinness, Sidney Portier, Richard Harris, Richard Burton, Russell Crowe (to name a contemporary) . . . . ? There have been many brilliant preformances!
 
Astronuc said:
Well how about characters played by Spencer Tracy, James (Jimmy Stewart), Gregory Peck, Sir Lawrence Oliver, Sir Alec Guinness, Sidney Portier, Richard Harris, Richard Burton, Russell Crowe (to name a contemporary) . . . . ? There have been many brilliant preformances!
Sure; so basically, everyone interprets "the greatest.." to mean "the first who happens to pop into my head.."
 
and ofcourse, who else but Jack Nicholson, has the face to play the commander of Guantanamo bay...

Why would the commander of Gitmo have to look like Jack Nicholson? IIRC he looked just like any other Naval officer when I was there (1970-71). It is not clear to me that there is a single base commander. Gitmo is actually divided into 2 commands, there is a Naval Air station which included the working airstrip and was for the most part located on the west side of the bay. The East side of the bay was the main base. Just to make my life difficult I was attached to the NAS, but lived and worked on the Main side. This meant that any payroll issues or other administrative details that I needed to deal with I had to catch the ferry to the other side of the bay, do my business and return. So even the most trivial detail took a half a day to deal with.


Oops now for something on topic
How about Morgan Freeman in that prison movie with Tim Robbins (Starts with an S.. but the name of the prison escapes me at this instant.
 
Shawshank Redemption; great film!
 
arildno said:
Shawshank Redemption; great film!
Yes,I haven't seen all Frank's movies but I think all are great.
Fear keep you prisoner.Hope can set you free.
 
arildno said:
Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes
(still scares the hell out of me; compared to Annie, Hannibal Lecter is just a choir boy)
I agree. She was great in that movie. I also liked her in Fried Green Tomatoes, especially when she rams the young girls' car in the parking lot "Yeah, but old people have more insurance." :smile:

I liked Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (and the nurse{edit: Louise Fletcher} was great - I finally remembered her name)

Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman

Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man

Gregory Peck in To Kill a Mockingbird

I think Shawshank Redemption is the only movie where I was really impressed with Timothy Robbins. Morgan Freeman is really good in that, as well.

Actually he was pretty good in Bull Durham, too, but I felt that Kevin Kostner and Susan Sarandon were even better.

The best performances by a star are when you forget who he is in real life and only see the character. That's hard for a lot of stars to do - it's always Paul Newman or it's always Marlon Brando or it's always Tom Cruise (except for Far and Away? the movie where he and Nicole Kidman come to America from Ireland)
 
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  • #10
BobG said:
Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman
agreed, indeed a very magic piece of acting, huuwaaa

Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man

i still wonder how you prepare for such a role


marlon
 
  • #11
arildno said:
Shawshank Redemption; great film!


yeahh...unfortunately i don't really like Tim Robbins...

Besides, how about Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean ? I geart movie that it, says I, savvy ? I also liked Geoffey Rush as captain Barbossa


marlon, parler ?
 
  • #12
BobG said:
The best performances by a star are when you forget who he is in real life and only see the character. That's hard for a lot of stars to do - it's always Paul Newman or it's always Marlon Brando or it's always Tom Cruise (except for Far and Away? the movie where he and Nicole Kidman come to America from Ireland)

True, though i never felt the weird behaviour for which Brando was known when he played in Last Tango in Paris...i don't really know why i like that movie so much. It is not spectacular but the setting of Paris in the seventies has something magical...but again i do not really know why

marlon
 
  • #13
Pirates of the Caribbean would have done a lot better if it hadn't starred a misplaced elf; but yes, both Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush made the movie into a lot of fun all nonetheless.
 
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  • #14
The only actor that has ever really impressed me was Charlize Theron in Monster. I was fully convinced that they casted someone from the street to play the lead role :rolleyes: , I could not believe that it was actually Charlize Theron until I looked it up on the internet :eek:
 
  • #15
Steve Mcqueen as Henri 'Papillon' Charriere and Dustin Hoffman as Louis Dega in the movie 'papillon'.
 
  • #16
Some personal favs:

- Mel Gibson in Braveheart.
- Morgan Freeman in Shawshank Redemption (good call guys).
- Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro in Heat.
- Cary Grant in pretty much anything he did.
- Samuel Jackson in Pulp Fiction
 
  • #17
Christian Bale - Equilibrium, Machinist ...wonder what batman will be like
Michael Keaton-Batman
Jack Nicholson-Batman
Patrick Stewart-Capt Picard(greatest captain of all time) and Xmen
Ian McKellen -Magneto/Lotr
Jet LI - Wong Fei Hong
Jackie Chan - 5 fists or something shaolin(with the ghosts)
Jackie Chan - some prison movie...actually there were like 5 asian stars
Robin William - What Dreams May Come
AlPacino and Robert Deniro - in heat
Robert Deniro -Ronin
ALpacino -yes he was good in scent of a women and narc.
Natalie Portman - Professional
?Jean Reno? -Professional/Ronin
gary oldman - professional
Morgan Freeman -alot of movies but yes Shawshank is a good one.
-driving miss daisy
Sean penn - I am sam, deadman walking
Susan Sarandon- Deadman walking/thelma louise
Dakota Fanning - I am sam.
Cary Elwes - THe princess bride.
Jim Carrey - Truman/Eternal sunshine...(if only batman 3 wasn't such a crappy movie
Jonny Depp - Benny& Joon
alan rickman - hans gruber
 
  • #18
Bladibla said:
Steve Mcqueen as Henri 'Papillon' Charriere and Dustin Hoffman as Louis Dega in the movie 'papillon'.

great movie indeed

marlon
 
  • #19
My favourite is Leslie Nielsen in the Naked Gun.

Outstanding performance.
 
  • #20
brewnog said:
My favourite is Leslie Nielsen in the Naked Gun.

Outstanding performance.
excuse me but we are talking about worthy/respectable acting performances here. In order to achieve that you needs ACTORS. The person you are referring is NOT. I mean, appearing in 'movies' does not make you an actor automatically. What range of human emotions does Nielsen express in this motion picture, hmm ? What ? Which ? Behaving as an idiot just to be funny is not acting

marlon
 
  • #21
marlon said:
excuse me but we are talking about worthy/respectable acting performances here. In order to achieve that you needs ACTORS. The person you are referring is NOT. I mean, appearing in 'movies' does not make you an actor automatically. What range of human emotions does Nielsen express in this motion picture, hmm ? What ? Which ? Behaving as an idiot just to be funny is not acting

marlon

Marlon, I can't believe you picked on my choice of Nielsen/Naked Gun, but didn't bat an eyelid at Fred's suggestion of Mel Gibson in Braveheart (officially some of the worst acting ever)!

In terms of comedy acting, I'd probably say the two are comparable.
 
  • #22
brewnog said:
Marlon, I can't believe you picked on my choice of Nielsen/Naked Gun, but didn't bat an eyelid at Fred's suggestion of Mel Gibson in Braveheart (officially some of the worst acting ever)!

In terms of comedy acting, I'd probably say the two are comparable.

true but you cannot deny the fact that Gibson is more talented when it comes to acting. Nielsen is more of a comedian but that is NOT an actor...

I once saw him in an episode of Columbo and trust me, it was awfull. He just is not credible for real acting roles. Why do you think that is ?

marlon
 
  • #23
marlon said:
excuse me but we are talking about worthy/respectable acting performances here. In order to achieve that you needs ACTORS. The person you are referring is NOT. I mean, appearing in 'movies' does not make you an actor automatically. What range of human emotions does Nielsen express in this motion picture, hmm ? What ? Which ? Behaving as an idiot just to be funny is not acting

marlon

I disagree. I'd like to see Brando do comedy. :rolleyes:

We are talking about two different forms of acting. Perhaps you meant to limit the field to the best dramatic performances, but it is simply untrue than any idiot can pull off a good comic performance. What is true is that it's easy to look silly or foolish, but to keep an audience laughing requires skill and talent. However, if you want to blast 95% of the "actors" on television, I'll agree with that. :biggrin:
 
  • #24
Gotta be 'Evil Roy Slade', portrayed by John Astin, because he's so much like me.
 
  • #25
Ivan Seeking said:
I disagree. I'd like to see Brando do comedy. :rolleyes:
I disagree...he'd do a terrific job at it. It would probably be a manifestation of comic acting that we have not yet seen. This cannot be said by 99.9% of these socalled comedy actors alla Nielse or Chase...They suck big time...


but to keep an audience laughing requires skill and talent.
agreed,

and this is something which most of these comedy actors out there donnot have. Apart from Jim Carry, where are the Chaplins, the Walther Mattaus or the Jack Lemmons of this day and age, hmm?

marlon
 
  • #26
marlon said:
This cannot be said by 99.9% of these socalled comedy actors alla Nielse or Chase...
Leslie Nielsen was actually trained as a classical actor and did a lot of Shakespeare at Stratford (Ontario, not England) before deciding that he preferred comedy. If you want to see some of his more serious stuff, check out 'Forbidden Planet'.
 
  • #27
Johnny Dep is my favorit all around actor of today.
Jimmy Stewart is my favorit from the past.
 
  • #28
Just out of curiosity, what do you all think of "the actor's actor", Patrick Stewart?

He once did some Shakespeare play in which he played, I kid you not, all of the characters! :smile: :smile: :smile: Frankly, I don't get it. I think he sucks! But then I talked with a director who worked with Stewart and considers him to be one of the nicest people in Hollywood. So I can't make fun of him and feel good about it anymore. :frown:
 
  • #29
I am not so sure Brando could do comedy well. Perhaps.

As for comedy, one of my favorites is Peter Sellers, aka Inspector Clouseau, in the Pink Panther movies.

Or how about Rowan Atkinson - Blackadder, Mr. Bean.

Or John Cleese and the other Monty Python crowd.

Perhaps the most veratile actor is Sir Alec Guinness who has done both comedy and drama.

As for women, Kathryn Hepburn is perhaps tops.
 
  • #30
marlon said:
I disagree...he'd do a terrific job at it. It would probably be a manifestation of comic acting that we have not yet seen. This cannot be said by 99.9% of these socalled comedy actors alla Nielse or Chase...They suck big time

Well I guess its a matter of taste. Nielson cracks me up but certainly not in the same way as does Chaplin - who is also very different from someone like Jack Lemmon.

I could cite many famous [better?] performances, but I remember being struck by the job Meryl Streep did in Out of Africa. For me it is difficult to forget that I'm watching an actor. Dramatic performances often seem contrived, or even trite to me. But when an actor makes me forget that I'm watching a movie, I consider that a great performance. In addition to many of the performances and movies mentions, this happened in particular with Out of Africa, and something else that comes to mind is Kafka, with Jeremy Irons.
 
  • #31
Danger said:
If you want to see some of Nielsen's more serious stuff, check out 'Forbidden Planet'.

Yeah, or 'Dracula - Dead and Loving It'.

Hmmmmnnnnn...
 
  • #32
Astronuc said:
Or how about Rowan Atkinson - Blackadder, Mr. Bean.

Uh oh, now don't even get me started! :smile:
 
  • #33
Patrick Stewart...{swoons} I just love that man..lol but it may have nothing to do with acting :blushing:
 
  • #34
marlon said:
excuse me but we are talking about worthy/respectable acting performances here. In order to achieve that you needs ACTORS. The person you are referring is NOT. I mean, appearing in 'movies' does not make you an actor automatically. What range of human emotions does Nielsen express in this motion picture, hmm ? What ? Which ? Behaving as an idiot just to be funny is not acting
Oh. Now you've done it. Making fun of a Canadian legend. Comedic timing is something that very few actors achieve. Nielsen is hillarious in NG I and II. Brando would be horrible in comedy...although, there was that Dr. Moreau movie...

'Nice beaver.'

[quote='nogsie]Marlon, I can't believe you picked on my choice of Nielsen/Naked Gun, but didn't bat an eyelid at Fred's suggestion of Mel Gibson in Braveheart (officially some of the worst acting ever)![/quote]Fie! That is my number 1 movie. Take it back. I'm not a huge Gibson fan, but I have to give him props for that movie.
 
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  • #35
Ivan Seeking said:
Just out of curiosity, what do you all think of "the actor's actor", Patrick Stewart?
I have liked him as an actor in what I have seen him in. Yes. Including Star Trek. I did see an interview with him on 'The Kumars at No. 42' and he was incredibly well spoken and appeared very genuine. He did some lines from King Lear and it reminded me of just how Shakespear sounds when spoken by someone with talent. I call him one of the good guys.
 
  • #36
FredGarvin said:
I have liked him as an actor in what I have seen him in. Yes. Including Star Trek. I did see an interview with him on 'The Kumars at No. 42' and he was incredibly well spoken and appeared very genuine. He did some lines from King Lear and it reminded me of just how Shakespear sounds when spoken by someone with talent. I call him one of the good guys.
I like Patrick Stewart. :approve:
 
  • #37
Evo said:
I like Patrick Stewart. :approve:
Did you see him in the I Claudius series... With hair!
 
  • #38
Integral said:
Did you see him in the I Claudius series... With hair!
Hair on him is wrong! That is one extremely handsome bald guy! :!)
 
  • #39
Frank Oz, Yoda.
Have you seen the movies?
 
  • #40
its not a movie, but a 10 yr TV series shows a lot of emotion...

Alan Alda-M*A*S*H

Movie acting:
Cary Elwes-(anything Mel Brooks but yes of course..) The Princess Bride
Viggo M.(dont want to look up his last name)- Strider/Aragorn in LOTR
 
  • #41
  • #42
Azimuth said:
its not a movie, but a 10 yr TV series shows a lot of emotion...

Alan Alda-M*A*S*H

It was a movie, but Hawkeye was played by Donald Sutherland.
 
  • #43
My favorite movie characters, in no particular order.

Samuel Jackson as Jules Winfield in Pulp Fiction
Vinnie Jones as Bullet Tooth Tony in Snatch
Ben Kingsley as Don Logan in Sexy Beast
Johnny Depp as Donnie Brasco in Donnie Brasco
Simon Pegg as Shaun in Shaun of the Dead
Robert DeNiro as Jimmy Conway in GoodFellas
Denzel Washington as Alonzo in Training Day
Sir Alec Guiness as Obi Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars Trilogy (the good one)
Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf in the LOTR Trilogy
Lawrence Fishburne as Morpheus in The Matrix Trilogy
Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles in Ray

I'm sure I'll think of more later.
 
  • #44
I can't believe all you Brando fans (and he's on of my favorites) are wondering if he'd be funny when he was in several funny roles and did well. The last one I saw was "The Freshman" with Matthew Broderick where he plays a Mafia guy supposedly having dinners featuring endangered species. I thought he was really funny in that. I liked him in "The Countess from Hong Kong" too, tho Sophia Loren was more fun to watch for some strange reason. And what about "Candy"? Not a good movie but Brando had his moments I thought.

Speaking of unfamiliar roles, my all time favorite performance by Pacino (but I'm not a fan of his) was in the true story "Donnie Brasco." I really liked Johnny Depp in that too.

Possibly the actor who played the most memorable characters for me was Henry Fonda. Some of the drama he's done first attracted me to film . . . "The Oxbow Incident," "12 Angry Men," "Failsafe," "My Darling Clementine," "The Grapes of Wrath," "Drums Along the Mohawk,"Midway," "Jezebel," "Fort Apache" . . .

Several people mentioned Morgan Freeman . . . my favorite role of his was in "Glory." That's another film where Matthew Broderick was very good. I liked Broderick as Ferris Bueller and in "War Games" too.
 
  • #45
I don't know why I hear a lot about Brando these days.I didn't care about him before his death.I'd accepted him as an excelllent actor but ?I liked another actors more than him.after his death,I read a lot about his life.He seems to have an intersting personality.maybe as his ex-wife said "impossible love".he's been really honest espp.with himself and of course very straightforward.
anyway,I really like Cruise and Kidman in "Eyes Wide Shut".
 
  • #46
Astronuc said:
As for comedy, one of my favorites is Peter Sellers, aka Inspector Clouseau, in the Pink Panther movies.

Or how about Rowan Atkinson - Blackadder, Mr. Bean.

Or John Cleese and the other Monty Python crowd.

:blushing: ok, i am starting to see it was not wise of me to critisize comic acting.
the people you mentioned here are indeed true geniuses. I especially like John Cleese in Fawlty Towers...great piece of comic art and yes Brando would not be able to do that...seconded :approve:



Perhaps the most veratile actor is Sir Alec Guinness who has done both comedy and drama.

yeah, didn't he play the first role of Obi Wan Kanobi ?

and he is the guy from Bridge over the River Kwai, isn't it ? I never saw that movie though

As for women, Kathryn Hepburn is perhaps tops.

yes, but you can give me Scarlett Johannson...though ofcourse you cannot compare these two based upon professional career-length.

I must admit, i do not really know any female role that has reached legendary status. I wonder why that is ?

marlon
 
  • #47
Les Sleeth said:
I can't believe all you Brando fans (and he's on of my favorites) are wondering if he'd be funny when he was in several funny roles and did well. The last one I saw was "The Freshman" with Matthew Broderick where he plays a Mafia guy supposedly having dinners featuring endangered species. I thought he was really funny in that.

SECONDED

Speaking of unfamiliar roles, my all time favorite performance by Pacino (but I'm not a fan of his) was in the true story "Donnie Brasco." I really liked Johnny Depp in that too.

you know, i am also not a big Pacino fan. He sure has talent but it seems to me he always plays the same role...and he always uses the same acting-assets. Just look at the parts he played in his last three or four movies. His best performance , according to me, is indeed the one part for which he received the academy award : Scent of a Woman.

But many people wonder why Pacino has only won one, well i say that is logic because he sure is not very volatile...De Niro is much more talented then Pacino, in my opinion...Besides i think Pacino can be very hysterical in his type-caracterization...


Les, how do you feel abut the Salieri-role of FM Abraham ? I would love to hear your opinion on that.


regards
marlon
 
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  • #48
wicked someone mentioned teh movie GLory..man that movie made me cry...and ha it had cary elwes in it too. but yes i'd agree morgan freemans role was excellent..
and ednorton role in AmericanX i think its called
ed norton has also had some pretty goood roles in 25th hour, red dragon,italian job and the score which i liked
chow yun fat in "the killer"
 
  • #49
What would Lord of the Rings have been without Christopher Lee's magnificently chilling performance as Saruman?
(As an aside, ROTK:EE is so much better than the cinematic release.)
 
  • #50
arildno said:
What would Lord of the Rings have been without Christopher Lee's magnificently chilling performance as Saruman?
yeah, definitely, "a new power is arising"

marlon
 

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