topic Re: Bette Davis-- Best Cinema Actor or Actress? in TV and Movies

Bette Davis-- Best Cinema Actor or Actress?

Oznell — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 14:00:07 GMT

Somehow I missed this snippet from James Woods on Bette Davis. He was very close friends with her and shot the cover of one of her books.

I appreciate the passion with which he expresses his critical judgments, not the least on Bette Davis! I have agreed with him that she is definitely ONE of the best, but I go back and forth.

Will need to think about that. Who do you think is the best cinematic actor/actress of all time?

He points to that incredible scene in Now, Voyager for proof:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pM3Ng8CY4sA

Re: Bette Davis-- Best Cinema Actor or Actress?

software — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 14:07:21 GMT

She is one who commands the stage!

She is amazing.

Re: Bette Davis-- Best Cinema Actor or Actress?

deepwaterdotter — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 14:18:30 GMT

Sir Laurence Olivier and Meryl Streep.

Re: Bette Davis-- Best Cinema Actor or Actress?

CANDLEQUEEN — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 14:19:55 GMT

Meryl Streep for sure. Bette Davis was phenomenal though. As far as Actor, I need to think about that a little more...

Re: Bette Davis-- Best Cinema Actor or Actress?

Libbylady — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 14:37:22 GMT

I find BD really creepy to watch on screen. Everything is so overdone.

JMHO

Re: Bette Davis-- Best Cinema Actor or Actress?

NicksmomESQ — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 14:38:15 GMT

For actor it's a tie for me between Paul Newman & Robert DeNiro. For best actress its definitely Meryl Streep.

Re: Bette Davis-- Best Cinema Actor or Actress?

IMW — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 14:58:24 GMT

Meyrl Streep for sure. BD very much overacts, as does

Kathyrn Hepburn.

For me there are so many male contenders: DeNiro, Duvall, Paul Giacometti, Philip Seymore Hoffman, James Gandofini, etc

Re: Bette Davis-- Best Cinema Actor or Actress?

stevieb — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 15:01:03 GMT

I'd probably have to agree with him... She's always been near or at the top of my list... When I look back on all the fabulous films she made and roles she played, and then realize that despite the nominations, she didn't win another Academy Award after the end of the 1930's, it just seems rather criminal... All About Eve, for me, is one of the finest films ever made and her performance was, to use an over-used word, rather stunning...

Re: Bette Davis-- Best Cinema Actor or Actress?

golding76 — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 15:02:57 GMT

Actresses who do not telegraph they are acting and just "are" the role they are playing earn my respect. There are several: Vivien Leigh, Maggie Smith, Meryl Streep, Judi Dench. And in a more casual vein, Maureen O'Hara. She was excellent into her 90s.

I am going to use the same measure for actors: Gary Cooper, Sidney Poitier, Cary Grant (because he was a natural sophisticate), Paul Newman, Tom Hanks, Robert De Niro.

Re: Bette Davis-- Best Cinema Actor or Actress?

cerb — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 15:13:55 GMT

Personally, I don't think that Bette Davis' acting has stood the test of time very well. I think some of the best are:

Female: Meryl Streep and Vanessa Redgrave

Male: Robert Duvall and Chris Cooper

Re: Bette Davis-- Best Cinema Actor or Actress?

kaydee50 — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 15:45:35 GMT

Bette Davis, defintely, she made many great movies. Meryl Streep, she can do everything--drama, comedy, musicals.

William Holden, Peter O'Toole, Cary Grant.

Re: Bette Davis-- Best Cinema Actor or Actress?

Tinkrbl44 — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 15:54:55 GMT

James Woods is such an egomaniac that I really have difficulty believing anything he says. ugh

Having said that, I believe that acting was MUCH better in the early years because the writing was better. The talent had a lot more to work with. Other than the occasional veiled innuendo, there was no sex or explosions, lol.

As for specific actors .... Hmm ...... I need to think about it, and will edit this post later.

Re: Bette Davis-- Best Cinema Actor or Actress?

stevieb — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 16:18:37 GMT

@Tinkrbl44 wrote:
James Woods is such an egomaniac that I really have difficulty believing anything he says. ugh

Having said that, I believe that acting was MUCH better in the early years because the writing was better. The talent had a lot more to work with. Other than the occasional veiled innuendo, there was no sex or explosions, lol.

As for specific actors .... Hmm ...... I need to think about it, and will edit this post later.

I tend to agree. The protrayal of the character and the exposition of the story were the focus, not special effects or gratuitous 'bedroom scene' diversions that really aren't there to advance the plot...

As for actors of yore 'overacting' different styles of acting (along with different camera, lighting, sound and editing techniques that help make nuance more effective) have clearly emerged over time and it would appear in the early days of film, the expectation was to be 'larger than life'... For me, even considering those differences, I'd still put Bette up there among the very best of them...

Re: Bette Davis-- Best Cinema Actor or Actress?

sunshine 919 — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 16:32:15 GMT

@Oznell wrote:
Somehow I missed this snippet from James Woods on Bette Davis. He was very close friends with her and shot the cover of one of her books.

I appreciate the passion with which he expresses his critical judgments, not the least on Bette Davis! I have agreed with him that she is definitely ONE of the best, but I go back and forth.

Will need to think about that. Who do you think is the best cinematic actor/actress of all time?

He points to that incredible scene in Now, Voyager for proof:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pM3Ng8CY4sA

Bette Davis and for actor Jimmy Stewart because he made every character believable and Earnest Borgenine. (Not sure of the spelling) He was in a lot of movies and was good in all of them. In fact he did a movie with Bette called Catered Affair and I love this movie. My favorite Bette Davis movie is Now Voyager and Earnest is Marty.

Re: Bette Davis-- Best Cinema Actor or Actress?

Reba055 — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 16:54:30 GMT

Jessica Chastain needs to be added to the list for newcomers. She is awesome imho.

Re: Bette Davis-- Best Cinema Actor or Actress?

Oznell — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 16:57:30 GMT

Gosh, I love getting your comments and see the validity in each one...

For me, for sheer film acting, it would veer between Bette Davis and George C. Scott, and with qualification, Lawrence Olivier. I have seen George C. Scott do incredible, subtle things on screen, even in mass-market crowd pleasers like "The List of Adrian Messenger". (By the way, that is one of the most fun mysteries, directed by John Huston, especially appealing to you Anglophiles out there, and it's on DVD).

Olivier was one of the GREAT stage actors, but I think his work on film was brilliant, as anyone who has seen "The Entertainer" and others would attest...

Bette sometimes had magnificent failures, because she took such risks with her creativity, but when she was good, wow. She burned up the screen with her scathing performance as the slatternly and sadistic "Mildred", in W. Somerset Maugham's "Of Human Bondage".

The young self-destructive actress in "Dangerous" is another tour de force. The complex murderer "Leslie" in "The Letter". The ambivalent New York poet in "Winter Meeting". Her range and depth astound.

Gene Hackman, Cate Blanchett and Daniel Day-Lewis are close in that league of talent.

Re: Bette Davis-- Best Cinema Actor or Actress?

Oznell — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 17:01:26 GMT

I just named in the previous post the ones i think are close to "Best". The ones I LOVE for various reasons, may not be BEST (or they may be) but I adore them regardless:

Jimmy Cagney

Barbara Stanwyck

Fred Astaire

Joseph Cotten

Claudette Colbert

Jimmy Stewart

Cary Grant

Re: Bette Davis-- Best Cinema Actor or Actress?

Tinkrbl44 — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 17:05:35 GMT

@Oznell

I wish more posters would also name their best actors in more modern times.

Yes, Jimmy Stewart, Bette Davis et al are excellent, obvious choices ..... but no one thinks we have any excellent actors now? (other than Meryl Streep)

Just an observation.

Re: Bette Davis-- Best Cinema Actor or Actress?

stevieb — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 20:24:57 GMT

Speaking of... Of Human Bondage, I read that Bette was not officially nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal in that film, but that a signficant number of the then movie 'community' felt so strongly that she should have been that there was a significant write-in vote on her behalf... Myrna Loy was also written in that year for The Thin Man... Claudette Colbert won the award.

Re: Bette Davis-- Best Cinema Actor or Actress?

Oznell — Wed, 26 Apr 2017 17:12:04 GMT

Well, Tinkrbl44, I named Cate Blanchett, Daniel Day-Lewis, for two.. Let's see, oh, Jeremy Irons (but he's got to be in his 50's at least), both of the Fiennes brothers, Eddie Redmayne. For "modern" actors, I tend to like the Brits.

Actors who are still in the middle or beginning of their careers, can be fab. To judge them "great", I might need more time!