Go!

I have 3, but don't want to prejudice the discussion before it starts, curious as to how others view it.

1. Cruise
2. Will Smith
3. Hanks
4. Streep
5. Jack Nicholson

Damn it, forgot about Leo. Think I'd put him above Nicholson.

Also depends on what "greatest" means in this instance. Popularity? Acting chops? Bankability?

I purposely left it open because different people view it different ways.
One of the people I was thinking of was Samuel L Jackson. Not because he is the greatest actor, but he is second all time in box office revenue from his movies. Remarkably, Stan Lee is number one, because of all of his cameos. But for actual actors, SLJ is number 1.
There are two others I was thinking of though that haven't been named yet.

There's one of the two!

TCTTS said:

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Also depends on what "greatest" means in this instance. Popularity? Acting chops? Bankability?

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The best at being a movie star who is currently alive. the end.

Philo B 93 said:

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Tom Cruise.

Not the greatest actor, not the most profitable, not in the greatest movies, but simply the greatest living star.

Hanks is a great actor. Ford was in great movies, Leo is cooler, Pitt is better looking, but I think Cruise is the Mick Jagger of acting. He walks into a room anywhere that has movies, and people are more in awe of him than any other movie star.

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So, I'm not sure I agree 100%. I was thinking along the same lines you were thinking as far as star power/awe.

I think the list for me would be as follows: Cruise, Clooney, DiCaprio, Ford, Pitt And Smith. All of those guys, if they walked into a party with other celebrities would have all eyes turn to them.

Here's how I thought of it - If they were in a room of other celebrities and fans, so say the Oscars or Golden Globes, and they were announced one by one to walk across the stage, who would get the loudest applause?

Thinking about it from that point of view, I think Cruise and Ford get the loudest cheers. I have to say, I think Ford might edge out Cruise.

So, gun to head, if I had to choose the greatest living actor, I would chose Harrison Ford.

I hear you, but the general consensus nowadays is that Ford kind of mails it in, and he's not really in big movies anymore, save for Star Wars. He might be the most legendary, sure, but I don't know that he's the greatest, in the present sense, if that makes any sense. That, and he's a fairly common man-around-town. He eats out around L.A./Brentwood without getting hassled much, does stuff in public with his kids, flies his planes, etc. On the other hand, it's simply impossible for Cruise not to be absolutely hounded wherever goes, and, more importantly, is still killing it at the box office and pushing the envelope on screen.

What about females?

Julianne Moore
Charlize Theron
Ana de Armas as up and coming
Anne Hathaway

Gotta be Leo.

Tom cruise is the best at being a movie star.

Goes to cool and exciting places to make movies. Gets to do cool and exciting stuff to make movies. Gets a new hot young wife every couple of years.

You think if why people want to be a movie star and it is his life.

When I saw this post I immediately thought of Kevin Costner because he always reminds me of a Gary Cooper type actor and is really cool in that respect. Or maybe he just looks like him lol. I don't think Costner is the answer for this thread at all but he's who immediately popped into my head when I read the title so I place him in the top 1/4 for sure lol.

At the moment, its gotta be Leonardo DiCaprio. He best combines bankability, fame and chops. Tom Hanks is probably #1 among living actors if factoring in an entire career. The biggest "movie star" may be Tom Cruise.

As for the real answer to this thread, that's really hard because there are so many choices and a lot of folks don't act much anymore but were legends in the past like Robert Redford or Clint Eastwood or the GREAT Robert Duvall. I think almost all of the names mentioned are great and worthy of consideration but it seems like if you're going on ACTING alone and nothing else that Leo, Denzel, Tom Hanks and Meryl Streep might be my top names? It's just hard to narrow it down to one. Tom Cruise can act but I don't know how the range of characters he has portrayed has varied enough in the last several years to put him over the ones I mentioned but he is definitely probably the biggest MOVIE STAR persona I would think. Tough list.

Didn't DDL retire?

Look guys... said:

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Didn't DDL retire?

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I think so. But he is still alive and someone mentioned Robert Redford

i think it's Tom Cruise without any question at this point.

Brad Pitt is a good call. He might actually give Tom Cruise a run for his money from a purely "walking into a room" perspective, especially here in the states. (But Cruise wins internationally, easily.)

From THAT perspective, I'd go:

1. Cruise
2. DiCaprio
3. Pitt
4. Clooney
5. Ford
6. Hanks

And if we're factoring in age, if you were to narrow it to people between the ages of 30-60 (my parents age), Harrison Ford wins it hands down, no contest whatsoever.

Ask this question in 1990, and the answer would likely be Harrison Ford ~100%. Maybe a couple years later, you might get Ford, Kevin Costner, Denzel Washington ...

Personally, I'd still say Ford despite his "phoning it in" in recent appearances; he was simply that strong of an on-screen presence when he wasn't "phoning it in".