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Post by superduper on Sept 5, 2010 22:21:49 GMT -6
Hmmm....I guess one can't complain too much for this ranking. To be considered #11 all time when Gregory Peck was #12, the Duke was #13, and Laurence Olivier is #14 is pretty impressive.
Still, of all the actors in the top 25, Coop is tied for 1st in Academy Award Best Actor wins (2) and has more nominations (5) than all of them except Spencer Tracy (9), Laurence Olivier (9) and Brando (7).
Each is an American Icon in their own right. Still, I would consider dropping Cary Grant a little below Coop considering he never won an Academy Award for his acting and I don't believe he was ever nominated. Henry Fonda was also a great actor but did not win until 1981 with On Golden Pond, which may have been more of a recognition for his career. Fred Astaire was a better dancer but not a better actor. I think that because Coop has been gone for almost 50 years, people may be starting to forget his accomplishments.
Below is American Film Institute's (AFI) list that was published in 1999:
#1 Humphrey Bogart #2 Cary Grant #3 James Stewart #4 Marlon Brando #5 Fred Astaire #6 Henry Fonda #7 Clark Gable #8 James Cagney #9 Spencer Tracy #10 Charlie Chaplin #11 Gary Cooper #12 Gregory Peck #13 John Wayne #14 Laurence Olivier #15 Gene Kelly #16 Orson Welles #17 Kirk Douglas #18 James Dean #19 Burt Lancaster #20 Marx Bros. #21 Buster Keaton #22 Sidney Poitier #23 Robert Mitchum #24 Edward G. Robinson #25 William Holden
I think that the next list that comes out will have Jack Nicholson (2 wins and 7 nominations) and perhaps Dustin Hoffman (2 wins and 7 nominations) cracking the top 20.
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Post by superduper on Sept 5, 2010 22:32:54 GMT -6
By the way, here is my ranking of the top 10:
#1 Marlon Brando #2 Humphrey Bogart #3 James Stewart #4 Clark Gable #5 Gary Cooper #6 Spencer Tracy #7 Gregory Peck #8 John Wayne #9 Laurence Olivier #10 Cary Grant
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Post by superduper on Sept 6, 2010 0:59:15 GMT -6
More ammo in support of Coop....
"Along with Sidney Poitier, he is the most represented actor on the American Film Institute's 100 Most Inspiring Movies of All Time, with five of his films on the list. They are: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) at #83, Sergeant York (1941) at #57, Meet John Doe (1941) at #49, High Noon (1952) at #27 and The Pride of the Yankees (1942) at #22."
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Post by girlfriday on Feb 10, 2011 18:41:02 GMT -6
I know this thread is a little old, but as a Cary Grant fan (sorry, but as much as I also love Gary Cooper, Cary Grant was my "first love"--at the ripe age of four!), I'd like to amend one point made in the original post: Grant WAS nominated for an Academy Award. For two, in fact. He was nominated in 1942 for Penny Serenade and in 1945 for None But the Lonely Heart.
He finally got an honorary Oscar in 1970.
I'm pretty happy with the AFI rankings, although I'd move Cooper into the top five, if I could! (I'd bump Astaire!)
It's lovely to see these men keeping such wonderful company with one another, though--a true list of legends, indeed!
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Post by superduper on Feb 27, 2011 19:02:05 GMT -6
LOL....Wikipedia has been updated since I last checked, and it now shows Cary Grant's two nominations. I wasn't sure if he had been nominated, and that's why I qualified my statement above by saying "I don't believe". Thanks for the clarification. Cary Grant was nominated in 41'. Hmmm...I wonder who beat him out for the award? I know the answer.
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Post by girlfriday on Feb 28, 2011 19:18:55 GMT -6
Yes, it’s true, and you’re right in your intimations, Superduper—at the 1942 Academy Awards, Cary lost to Gary for the latter’s performance in Sergeant York (1941).
(For those keeping track, Cary also lost in 1945 to Bing Crosby, who won for 1944’s Going My Way).
Coop's awards are warranted, of course. Nevertheless, I still think Grant deserved a couple of Oscars...and definitely more nominations!
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Post by superduper on May 1, 2011 17:47:45 GMT -6
GF, I think I am a little hard on CG because for me he seemed to play the same character in all his moves: the suave, James Bond type ladies man. Or maybe it's that I am not familiar enough with his movies and overall talent to know better. Of his movies, I have only seen "Philadelphia story", "Affair to remember", "Indiscreet", and "North by Northwest", and they are fine movies, but I was not overwhelmed by his performance in them.
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Post by Coopsgirl on May 1, 2011 18:20:35 GMT -6
I like Cary Grant too and he did some wonderful comedies that you might like Superduper. I would recommend that you watch The Awful Truth, My Favorite Wife, I Was a Male War Bride, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, Father Goose, Bringing Up Baby, The Talk of the Town, and Arsenic and Old Lace. I could keep going but that's a lot already . Another one of his more serious films with a touch of comedy is Room For One More. It's about a husband and wife (his real wife at the time costarred with him) who already have children but decide to adopt more so they can give the kids a happy home. It will make you bawl but it's such a good film. I think you'll see a different side of him that you might like better in these films.
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Post by itsadogslife on May 2, 2011 2:45:15 GMT -6
I like Cary Grant, too. He's one of my favorite classic actors just like Jimmy Stewart and Gary Cooper to name but a few and I never felt he had the same style in his movies. He was a very versatile actor if you ask me. Coopsgirl listed some very good movies as an example. One of my favorites which is not quite so well-known happens to be Wings in the Dark with Myrna Loy.
Some people say Gary Cooper is not much of an actor, he shows no emotions so he basically looks the same in all of his movies. I bet most of these people refer to his roles in westerns because if you show them one of his comedies such as Bluebeard's Eighth Wife what I did months ago, they are surprised and you even catch them smile once or twice.
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Post by girlfriday on May 7, 2011 18:12:41 GMT -6
Cary Grant was my first "film star infatuation"--it wasn't even so much as a "crush" as I was just attracted to him as an actor and a person. Even as a young child watching films like Arsenic and Old Lace, Bringing Up Baby, and The Philadelphia Story, I found him utterly charismatic. It wasn't long before I was devouring classic films in general, and Gary Cooper and James Stewart quickly became favorites, too.
Superduper, Coopsgirl offered pretty much all of the Cary Grant films I'd recommend, too. I'm also a huge Alfred Hitchcock fan, so I love the four that he made with Cary: Suspicion, Notorious, To Catch a Thief, and North by Northwest. Like ItsADogsLife has remarked, I never thought Cary was the "same" in all his roles. Yes, he has a certainly style and "aura" that is stereotypically Cary Grant, but I think he has range. I've seen all 72 of his films and I think he was a complex actor who could handle lightly-comic, grave, realistic, criminal, and outright zany roles. The Philadelphia Story has always been my favorite. He's fantastic in The Awful Truth (screwball) and Penny Serenade (drama/tragedy), both with Irene Dunne, and his two comedies with Myrna Loy--Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House and The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer--are also fun. (Myrna Loy is also in Wings in the Dark with him).
To turn this post/thread back to Coop: ItsADogsLife, yes, I agree! I saw Bluebeard's Eighth Wife for the first time just after the Claudette Colbert Collection was released and although I knew that Gary could be funny (for instance, despite what HE may have thought of the film, I love Friendly Persuasion!), that role took me by surprise a bit because the film begins so strongly. Cooper + Colbert + a squabble over pajamas = priceless. Honestly one of the most memorable film beginnings I can think of, at least at the moment. And then we have the “parallel” ending, but replace the pajamas with a straitjacket…just thinking about it makes me want to watch it again very soon!
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Post by Coopsgirl on May 7, 2011 20:12:26 GMT -6
I love Bluebeard! One of my favorite parts is when they have been in the bookstore and they get back to their apartment and Gary drops his books and as he's picking them up he mumbles to himself, "I wouldn't need these if you'd be a little nicer to me". Of course we know what he means by wanting Claudette to be "nice" to him and it's hilarious!! ;D
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