FRwL

If you had to pick only one actor that owned each decade & who best encompasses the mood of it, what would it be?
I'd pick
20s: Lon Chaney Sr. (silent king)
30s: Charley Chaplin
40s: Humphrey Bogart (obviously)
50s: Marlon Brando
60s: Sean Connery (Peter Sellers would be second)
70s: Al Pacino
80s: Harrison Ford (Schwarzenneger would be second)
90s: Tom Hanks

PopcornTreeCt

Sean Connery? I would think someone like Paul Newman was more popular and had way better movies during the 60's.

chess

Exactly what I was going to say. All Connery did was play Bond, and Sellers is frankly a bit out of left field.

Newman was the f'ing man.

The Cow

Kevin Bacon pretty much covers the 80s+

obscurelabel

Chaplain only made a few movies during the 30s (of very high quality of course) so I'd have to give the 30s title to someone with more credits. Clark Gable, maybe? Cary Grant, perhaps?

FRwL

You'd be surprised at his non-Bond roles, Macbeth, a war film (memorable cameo anyway), a Hitchcock film, The Hill, A Fine Madness, a Western, versatile roles, proving he can go beyond Bond. It is my opinion of course. He's my favorite actor by the way.

Trelach24

2000s: Will Ferrell

Numanoid

Sean Connery? Bahahaahaaahaa!

But seriously...Sean Connery?! Wahahahahaaaaahahaa!

Numanoid

And the '70s belonged to Burt Reynolds, like it or not.

Shannon Nutt

I'm not sure I'd pick Harrison Ford for ANY decade. Sure, he made a lot of popular films, but was he really the best ACTOR out there? He's pretty much a one-note actor...he doesn't have a lot of range. I love his movies, but I've never thought of him as a "great" actor.

Might want to give Pacino the 70s (Godfather films, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon) and bump DeNiro into the 80s (Raging Bull, Once Upon A Time In America, The Untouchables).

EDIT: I guess the original poster was looking for the actors that best personified the decade...in that case, I suggest Stallone for the 80s.

chess

Don't get me wrong, I love Connery too. I just don't think he did enough interesting stuff in the 60s to merit the sort of thing we're talking about. Truth is, I like his stuff from the 80s and 90s best.

chess

Agree STRONGLY with the OP on Harrison Ford. Indy and Star Wars alone would make him a lock. I think he's in 5-6 of the top 20 rated films from the 80s on IMDB.

Stallone, with Rocky and Rambo certainly did capture the essence of the 80s though, didn't he?

masbrad

Nice list and a nice topic to think about.

I would agree in the 30s that Grant would be a stronger pick,

40s and 50s hard to argue ,

While I do like connery a lot I would have to give the nod to probably Henry Fonda or possibly Steve McQueen,

The seventies hard to argue with De Niro, Pacino, or even Nicholson for that matter but I just wanted to get a mention in with Dustin Hoffman who did some of his big name movies in late 60s right through Kramer and Kramer in the late 70s.

The 80s I was trying to think of someone besides Ford. While I dont think he is the "best' actor of the 80s it is hard to argue with his string of AWSOME films. Arnie would not even be on my list, in fact I would consider someone like Bill Murray before him.

90s-- I agree the modern day Jimmy stewart

jeffkjoe

70's - Burt Reynolds

80's aka, the Reagan era - Stallone and Schwarzenegger

90's - yeah, Tom Hanks is a good one

2000's - ?

FRwL

Look toward the 2nd half of the 80s to see his range and for something other than his blockbusters, it'll prove interesting!

flixtime

1920's - Douglas Fairbanks Sr.
1930's - Errol Flynn
1940's - John Wayne
1950's - James Dean
1960's - Sidney Poitier
1970's - Clint Eastwood
1980's - Tom Cruise

DRG

From a mainstream, overall popularity perspective:

For comedies:
60s - Jerry Lewis (alt. Peter Sellers)
70s - Richard Pryor (alt. Gene Wilder)
80s - Eddie Murphy (alt. Bill Murray)
90s - Jim Carrey (alt. Mike Myers)
00s - Ben Stiller (alt. Adam Sandler)

ktan1

When I think of 80's movies superstar, first name to pop up is Stallone & Arnold. Yeah Ford was in all the blockbusters, but you saw them because it was a Star Wars or Indy movie. You put any other actor, you'd still go see it because it was SW or Indy. Plus Indy had Spielberg's name on it. But Stallone & Arnold you went to see the movie for them, not the movie itself. Cobra, Over the Top would be straight to video if it wasn't for Stallone.

rw2516

They may not have been very artistic but Bond movies owned the 60s. The release of a Connery Bond was as big a deal as Empire Strikes Back in '80 or Jedi in '81. Stores would have an entire aisle devoted to James Bond toys and action figures. The media blitz was so huge Connery couldn't take a shit without the whole world knowing about it.Ticket sales, adjusted for inflation come to nearly $1 billion in world wide gross per movie for Thunderball through Diamonds Are Forever. The 60s was the spy decade do to the success of Bond with all kinds of imitation movies and tv series. From 64 to the end of the decade Connery was the biggest movie star in the world, and one of the highest paid. When he agreed to play Bond in Diamonds Are Forever, his $1 million fee was the highest ever paid to an actor to appear in a movie.

brainee

Changes I'd make to the first list:

Cary Grant for the 30's
Chaplin is still on the list ... for the 10's (that's when he made most of those "Little Tramp" films)
60's I'm not sure of, but I wouldn't say Connery. Newman and McQueen are good choices.
80's -- definitely Arnold ... quintesential 80's.

Count Dooku

So, you're not actually interested the question you put forth --"actor that owned each decade & who best encompasses the mood of it"-- but instead wanted an opportunity to post a Things I Like list.

1930s
Charlie Chaplin made two silent films during the 1930s. He was an anachronism.
Apart from the Sound vs Silent issue, he was an artist pursuing a personal vision in his filmmaking during a deacde in which film production was dominated by the factory mentality of the studios.

You may have heard of an actor named Clark Gable, the King of Hollywood.

1940s
No argument with Bogie.

1950s
Any answer that is not Marlon Brando is ridiculous.
Not answering Marlon Brando to the question "What actor owned the 50s?" is like not answering Hitler to the question "What dictator owned the 30s?".

1960s
Sean Connery? He played James Bond, and that means he owned the decade?
How about maybe Steve McQueen or, as a previously suggested, Paul Newman.

1970s
DeNiro is a great actor, but what mood of the 70s does he encompass?

The mood of the 70s?
How about: Disillusionment with, distrust of, cynicism about-- the establishment, the government, authority of any kind.

I could go with Pacino, who has a resume of great films that address those themes...

But I'll take Nicholson because he has the same kind of resume, and with Carnal Knowledge, he also has a film that addresses the questions about sexuality that are a part of the mood of the 70s.
And in his personal life, Jack was a personification of the "If it feels good, do it" sexual ethos.

Ginwen

1940's: Sure Bogart, why not.

1950's: I wasn't alive but from everything I've ever heard Brando was it.

1960's: I'm not sure, not Sean Connery though. Probably Steve McQueen.

1970's: Al Pacino. I know at the time I thought he was the greatest actor, maybe ever. Too bad he sucks now. Jack Nicholson is actually a pretty good choice too, especially if you could throw in some of his 60's stuff.

For the 80's: Arnold was the man--every movie he was in was an event.

For the 90's: I guess it has to be Tom Hanks as much as anyone, but that seems like such a boring choice.

For the 2000's: I have no idea.

Mondo Kane

Hoffman would've actually gotten my vote.

Legolas

He's NOT the actor of the 00s, but Samuel L. Jackson could STOP making movies for the next three years and still have made more movies this decade than the runner-up.

FRwL

Waking up on the wrong side of the bed sucks huh? No but seriously calm down, there's a "by the way" at the end, and you don't need to get red faced of what someone thinks is the definitive actor of some decade, remember the 'you' in 'what you think'. And what's up with your antagonism in your list? You don't see me pissing all over your choices...

I'd swap off Chaplin from the 30s now, and it's a close one with the #2 (Stewart) and #3 (Brando) greatest actors on AFI's list both having their best decade during the 50s, however there can only be one and i'd still give it to Stewart, one of the rare actors to achieve greatness without taking the dark, moody, and gritty route.