Steven Spielberg has revealed his top list of the 5 greatest actors ever, and the results have shocked us all!
The director has worked with some of the biggest acting talents in Hollywood.
Read on for the full story.
Anyone who knows anything about movies has heard of Steven Spielberg.
The seventy-five-year-old is one of the biggest names to ever grace the film industry.
The Cincinnati native has won an impressive 3 Academy Awards during his time.
And 2 of those are for the prestigious Best Director award!
Aside from his critical acclaim, Spielberg also owns the title of the most commercially successful director.
He is known for being a pioneer in his field.
What’s more is just how prolific the director has been.
From war movies to adventure blockbusters, Spielberg can do it all!
Spielberg is also known for regularly collaborating with certain actors…
So much so that you would have thought these would be his favorite actors of all time!
One of his regular collaborators is none other than Harrison Ford.
The stars worked together on the legendary Indiana Jones movies.
Jeff Goldblum is another star who the director has worked with multiple times.
The pair united for Jurassic Park movies.
However, his top collaborator has to be Tom Hanks.
The pair have a legendary working relationship.
From Saving Private Ryan to The Terminal, the pair make a great team.
That’s what makes Spielberg’s list of top actors all the more shocking!
The director proclaimed his greatest 5 ever actors while in conversation with another movie great, Stanley Kubrick…
UNILAD reports that the chat happened after Spielberg first watched The Shining.
The movie’s director is of course none other than Kubrick himself.
The filmmaker is also known for movies such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and A Clockwork Orange.
However, during the pair’s conversation, Spielberg had something to say about Kubrick’s adaptation of the Stephen King novel…
He wasn’t a huge fan of Jack Nicholson’s highly stylized performance.
Kubrick then, naturally, defended his lead actor’s performance.
And in response asked Spielberg to list his top 5 actors.
Interestingly, none of the actors were ones that Spielberg himself has collaborated with.
Scroll down to see who he named…
First up was Spencer Tracy.
The star of Judgment at Nuremberg was the first actor to win 2 consecutive Academy Awards for Best Actor, so it’s no surprise he made it onto Spielberg’s list!
He also named Henry Fonda as one of the greats.
The actor was best known for his roles in The Grapes of Wrath and 12 Angry Men.
Spielberg stated Jimmy Stewart is up there too.
The star of It’s a Wonderful Life is also known for his roles in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window and Vertigo.
Cary Grant is another one of Spielberg’s favorite actors.
Grant’s big roles include his work in North by Northwest and Operation Petticoat.
Finally, the last actor on Spielberg’s list is, of course, Gone with the Wind star Clark Gable.
The actor starred in over sixty movies during his thirty-seven-year career.
So there’s Spielberg’s favorites, but what did Kubrick have to say?
Spielberg said of his fellow director: “He stopped me and said, ‘Stop, okay, where was James Cagney on that list?’”
James Cagney was best known for his work on Yankee Doodle Dandy.
He also starred in White Heat and Angels with Dirty Faces.
Spielberg continued: “And I thought, he’s up there high, and he said, ‘Ah, but he’s not in [your] top five. You don’t consider James Cagney one of the five best actors around, but I do.
And this is why Jack Nicholson’s performance is a great one.'”
So, there you have it!
Not only did Kubrick eloquent his point about Nicholson perfectly, but he also got Spielberg to reveal his top actors — a win, win situation.