Top 25

Top 25 Actors

I never really watch movies for the actors. Though, there are films I avoid depending on the writers and directors. I can’t stand Woody Allen, so I’ll avoid any film he’s written and/or directed.

But actors’ jobs are to portray different people. So even if I’m not partial to an actor I’ll watch a film they’re in.

This list is based on actors who I like in more than just three films. What went on, or goes on in their personal lives has no bearing on this Top 25.

It’s the body of an actor’s work that I appreciate, and that’s why the following folks are considered my Top 25 favourite actors. Return to puffingod.com next week for my Top 25 Actresses.

25. Who: Peter Lorre
Born: June 26, 1904, Rózsahegy, Hungary, Austria-Hungary
Favourite movies: Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, Arsenic and Old Lace
Favourite quote:

“We got a hot stiff on our hands!” – Arsenic and Old Lace

24. Who: Cary Grant
Born: Jan. 18, 1904, Horfield, Bristol, England
Favourite movies: Arsenic and Old Lace, North By Northwest, Bringing Up Baby
Favourite quote:

“Look I probably should have told you this before but you see, well, insanity runs in my family. It practically gallops.” – Arsenic and Old Lace

23. Who: Sean William Scott
Born: Oct. 3 1976, Cottage Grove, Minnesota
Favourite movies: Evolution, The Rundown, The Dukes of Hazzard
Favourite quote:

“Ka Ka! Tukki Tukki!” – Evolution

22. Who: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Born: July 30, 1947, Thal, Styria, Austria
Favourite movies: Kindergarten Cop, True Lies, Predator
Favourite quote:

“Oh, come on stop whining! You kids are soft. You lack discipline. Well, I’ve got news for you. You are mine now. You belong to me.” – Kindergarten Cop

21. Who: Steve Guttenberg
Born: Aug. 24, 1958, Brooklyn, New York
Favourite movies: Police Academy, High Spirits, Three Men and a Baby
Favourite quote:

“How can something so small create so much of something so disgusting?” – Three Men and a Baby

20. Who: Harrison Ford
Born: July 13, 1942, Chicago, Illinois
Favourite movies: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Raiders of the Lost Ark, What Lies Beneath
Favourite quote:

“No ticket.” – Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

19. Who: Jeff Bridges
Born: Dec. 4, 1949, Los Angeles, California
Favourite movies: The Big Lebowski, Blown Away, The Fisher King
Favourite quote:

“That rug really tied the room together.” – The Big Lebowski

18. Who: Mel Gibson
Born: Jan. 3, 1956, Peekskill, New York
Favourite movies: Lethal Weapon, Payback, Maverick
Favourite quote:

“Well here at Air America, what is considered psychotic behavior anywhere else is just company policy.” – Air America

17. Who: Kevin Spacey
Born: July 26, 1959, South Orange, New Jersey
Favourite movies: L.A. Confidential, The Ref, Seven
Favourite quote:

“That is Lana Turner” – L.A. Confidential

16. Who: Robert Mitchum
Born: Aug. 16, 1917, Bridgeport, Connecticut
Favourite movies: Cape Fear, The Big Sleep, Scrooged
Favourite quote:

“I got something planned for your wife and kid that they ain’t never gonna forget. They ain’t never gonna forget it and neither will you, Counselor! Never!” – Cape Fear

15. Who: Jason Statham
Born: Sept. 12, 1967, London, England
Favourite movies: The Transporter, Crank, Snatch
Favourite quote:

“Next time, I’ll deflate all your balls, friend.” – The Expendables

14. Who: Matthew McConaughey
Born: Nov. 6, 1969, Uvalde, Texas
Favourite movies: Dazed and Confused, A Time To Kill, Sahara
Favourite quote:

“The older you get, the more rules they are going to try and get you to follow. You just gotta keep on livin’, man. L-I-V-I-N.” – Dazed and Confused

13. Who: Jimmy Stewart
Born: May 20, 1908, Indiana, Pennsylvania
Favourite movies: Rear Window, Harvey, It’s a Wonderful Life
Favourite quote:

“What is it you want, Mary? What do you want? You want the moon? Just say the word and I’ll throw a lasso around it and pull it down. Hey. That’s a pretty good idea. I’ll give you the moon, Mary.” – It’s A Wonderful Life

12. Who: Kurt Russell
Born: March 17, 1951, Springfield, Massachusetts
Favourite movies: Big Trouble in Little China, Backdraft, Tombstone
Favourite quote:

“Give my regards to King Tut, asshole.” – Stargate

11. Who: Clive Owen
Born: Oct. 3, 1964, Keresley, Coventry, Warwickshire, England
Favourite movies: Sin City, The International, Inside Man
Favourite quote:

“Fact is, all lies, all evil deeds, they stink. You can cover them up for a while, but they don’t go away.” – Inside Man

10. Who: Clint Eastwood
Born: May 31, 1930, San Francisco, California
Favourite movies: Dirty Harry, Any Which Way You Can, Every Which Way But Loose
Favourite quote:

“I know what you’re thinking. ‘Did he fire six shots or only five?’ Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?” – Dirty Harry

9. Who: Nicolas Cage
Born: Jan. 7, 1964, Long Beach, California
Favourite movies: Con Air, The Rock, Lord of War
Favourite quote:

“Got my first chemistry set when I was seven, blew my eyebrows off, we never saw the cat again, been into it ever since.” – The Rock

8. Who: Vince Vaughn
Born: March 28, 1970, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Favourite movies: The Wedding Crashers, The Break-Up, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story
Favourite quote:

“Here’s what’s gonna happen, Tonto. Kimosabe’s gonna have some flavor … I like to recharge my batteries and shut down the engines and get myself back to neutral. When the meal’s over with, I will talk to you. I don’t want to get into what happened last night, cause it’s only gonna make me mad …” – The Wedding Crashers

7. Who: Bill Murray
Born: Sept. 21, 1950, Wilmette, Illinois
Favourite movies: Ghostbusters, Groundhog Day, The Man Who Knew Too Little
Favourite quote:

“She’s not my girlfriend. I find her interesting because she’s a client and because she sleeps above her covers – four-feet above her covers. She barks, she drools, she claws!” – Ghostbusters

6. Who: Liam Neeson
Born: June 7, 1952, Ballymena, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland
Favourite movies: Taken, High Spirits, Batman Begins
Favourite quote:

“I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.” – Taken

5. Who: Gregory Peck
Born: April 5, 1916, La Jolla, California
Favourite movie: Spellbound, To Kill a Mockingbird, Cape Fear
Favourite quote:

“Well, I reckon because mockingbirds don’t do anything but make music for us to enjoy. They don’t eat people’s gardens, don’t nest in the corncrib, they don’t do one thing but just sing their hearts out for us.” – To Kill a Mockingbird

4. Who: Tom Selleck
Born: Jan. 29, 1945, Detroit, Michigan
Favourite movies: Quigley Down Under, Runaway, Three Men and a Baby
Favourite quote:

“The little insect was just waiting for that diaper to fall off.” – Three Men and a Baby

3. Who: John Cusack
Born: June 28, 1966, Evanston, Illinois
Favourite movies: High Fidelity, 1408, Pushing Tin
Favourite quote:

“Now, the making of a good compilation tape is a very subtle art. Many do’s and don’ts. First of all you’re using someone else’s poetry to express how you feel. This is a delicate thing.” – High Fidelity

2. Who: Denzel Washington
Born: Dec. 28, 1954, Mount Vernon, New York
Favourite movies: Man on Fire, Inside Man, Fallen
Favourite quote:

“Forgiveness is between them and God. It’s my job to arrange the meeting.” – Man on Fire

1. Who: Humphrey Bogart
Born: Dec. 25, 1899, New York, New York
Favourite movies: Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep
Favourite quote:

“I didn’t ask to see you. I don’t mind if you don’t like my manners, I don’t like them myself. They are pretty bad. I grieve over them on long winter evenings. I don’t mind your ritzing me or drinking your lunch out of a bottle. But don’t waste your time trying to cross-examine me.” – The Big Sleep (1946)

One Comment

  1. This is quite an interesting list. I probably would remove about half of yours from my list, although by your criteria of liking at least 4 films from each, there are a lot of possibilities. One glaring omission from yours that I would definitely include on mine is Tom Cruise. Anyone can find 4 of his films they like! And Woody Allen ain’t so bad, although I really only like two of his films: Annie Hall and Midnight in Paris (and if you haven’t seen the latter I think you should, it’s quite good and not as Woody Allen-y as some of his others).