Was looking at a book about Steve McQueen and featuring pictures of his life and that got me thinking. Which actors are going to become the next actors that become so iconic people are still talking about them years after their death? Mot just McQueen but people like John Wayne, Bruce Lee, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, and John Belushi?

The only two I think are a lock for sure are Clint Eastwood and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The NEXT group? that's a hell of a broad group you have there. I wouldn't even jumble them in together, for some. Just in decades alone that "NEXT" group is fractured. Also why only actors that became a hit in the US?

Pretty broad question. Maybe Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie.

Pee-Wee Herman

*checks wikipedia*

Abe Vigoda

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Heath Ledger has already been deified for his overrated performance of The Joker. You would think that when he won the Oscar Sir Lawrence Olivier crawled out of his grave and saluted Ledger the way people carry one about it.

If Jennifer Lawrence dies before she turns thirty.

Nobody. Pop culture icons are a 20th century product. Media has evolved to a form that prevents their creation. It's over. Possible exception, advertising characters. ie: Geico lizard.

Yep, people are still talking about him years after his "death."

I get what the OP means. The actors from the Buster Keaton / John Belushi era. The ones who were big before the OP started watching movies.

My vote for the living actors who'll have the longest popular culture recognition after they're dead are Jackie Chan, Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. They are the most successful today at having built a strong identity, everywhere in the world. I can't think of any actresses who are that big.

Bill Fuckin' National US Treasure Goddamn Jesus Titty Fuckin' Paxton
Maggie Cheung
Jackie Chan
Stallone
Bill Kingsley
Ray Winstone
Guy Pearce
Tony Leung Chiu Wai
Chow Yun Fat
Michelle Yeoh
Kurt Russell
Denzel Washington
Julianne Moore
Meryl Streep
Gael Garcia Bernal
Christolph Waltz
Meryl Streep
Viggo Mortensen
Christian Bale
Liam Neeson
Daniel Day-Lewis
Tom Cruise
Leonardo DiCaprio
Matthew Mcconaughey
Russell Crowe
Stellan Skarsgård
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Morgan Freeman
Colin Firth
Emily Blunt
Don Fuckin' Cheadle
Kate Winslet
Hugo Weaving
Penelope Cruz
Javier Bardem
Monica Bellucci
Vincent Cassel
Lea Seydoux
Hugh Jackman
Tilda Swinton
Ed Harris
Patrick Stewart
Ian McKellan
Tom Hardy
Charlize Theron
Jake Gyllenhaal

I'm not sure if you still just misunderstand the original post, but I don't think most of those people you just listed as very memorable where there's still a lot of talk and discussion about them years after their careers are older. Let alone books and things about them.

The ones listed by Nick Danger has the right idea, from my interpretation. I'm not sure if any younger or current stars are on that path yet.

Iconography can be many things. Talented or not.

I bullshitted about 15 about of them, the "newer" ones mostly, just to be safe but most of them I think will be very memorable.

That's great that you think so, but like I said sounds like you're just throwing out random actors that you like opposed to what the original poster was talking about.

Describe an actor's characters in one or two words.
Jackie Chan is funny, nimble.
Schwarzenegger is big, tough.
Eastwood is strong, silent.
John Wayne was manly
Burt Reynolds was a stud
Marilyn Monroe was approachable, sexy

What is Meryl Streep?

Unholy Talented.

That puts her with the other great actors of cinema. But would you call Alec Guinness or Paul Muni iconic? Or will she be forgotten by everyone but film aficionados?

To be iconic a person has to be sharply defined. St George killed the dragon. Icarus flew too close to the sun and fell. Robin Hood robbed from the rich and gave to the poor. When I say the name, you immediately have the same picture in your head that I have in mine.

For an actor to be able to pull that off, he has to be talented and has to spend his whole career honing his characters down to something that can be described in a few words. The downside is that half-smart people say, "Oh, he always just plays himself." But if he does it well, he becomes an icon recognized by everyone.

If the 1950s era John Wayne were to put on a cowboy hat and walk into a bar in Uttar Pradesh today, he'd get free drinks before he introduced himself. That's iconic.

Let it go. Jesus.

Apparently Benedict Cumberbatch should be the male lead in every movie... so maybe him?

Yep. It'll be decades before people forget Bill Kingsley's name!

Dead on. There has to be a context an actor is associated with that makes them instantly recognizable to just about everybody in the same way.
Ford-Indiana Jones
Arnold-Terminator
Bogart-Casablanca
Eastwood-Man With No Name/Dirty Harry
Connery-Bond
Brando-The Wild One
There is usually a singular image involved:
Dirty Harry driving a car-not iconic
Dirty Harry aiming 44 magnum-iconic
Monroe- dressed being blown up by subway grate

Some actors are iconic in several ways with multiple images. Paul Newman as Hud or as Hustler.

Often the character is the icon rather than the actor.
Fonzie
Jeannie
Barbara Eden an icon? No. But everybody knows Jeannie.

In my earlier post I stated there will be no more icons because of the fractured way in which people consume media. No more shared experience.
On the 40th Anniversary SNL show Jerry Seinfeld referred to it as the "current media landscape". Referring to the popularity of Seinfeld, he and Larry David "had the last two tickets to Disneyland before it burned down."

He's on his way to becoming the male Jessica Chastain.

Chadwick Boseman