Who's the best actor ever?

[SteveSS]

My vote is Gene Hackman or Robert Duvall.

 

[Dave6T4]

Rock Hudson. In his movies, he acted like he liked women. LOL.

 

[Keith926]

I appreciate movies like the original Gone in 60 Seconds, Smokey and the Bandit, Blues Brothers, for the car chases. Clint, Redford or Newman might have a good western or cop movie. Mel Gibson in Lethal Weapon 2, pulling a house down with his pickup is hands down one of the best scenes ever

 

[WileE]

Very subjective and I believe the roles they played influence one's opinion. As mine. Clint Eastwood, Bruce Willis, Al Pacino, Charlton Heston, Mel Gibson, Jack Nicholson, Jon Voight, James Caan, Arnold Schwarznegger.

 

[Triplegreen500]

 

[polywideblock]

Clint Eastwood

 

[kiwigtx]

Three of my top actors .... Sean Connery, Joss Ackland and Michael Caine..... and not a lot of people know that.

 

[Under Pressure]

 

[Kern Dog]

The answer to the OPs question is such a broad and somewhat impossible one to answer.
The definition of "best" is subjective. One may think that to be the best, the actor would need acting skills that absolutely convince you that they actually are the person that they are pretending to be. One example might be where you forget for awhile that they are acting and just go along with the movie as if it were actually real.
I think of the actors and actresses that vary widely in the roles that they have played and each one is flawless. You just believe that they are that person onscreen.
Denzel Washington is one that (in my opinion) has never made a bad movie. He played good guys most of his life but went against the grain when he played a corrupt police drug detective in Training Day. He played a damaged alcoholic in Flight, a story about a man that was an airline pilot that flew planes while drunk until one fateful day. An actor that has range impresses me far more than an actor that plays the same type in every movie.
So many of today's movies rely on stunts, quick edits, loud music and other gimmicks to hide the **** acting.
Comedy actors seem to get totally overlooked at awards time. Some comedians do step outside their bubble to do drama and then they really shine. Robin Williams made a career out of jokes but it was his dramatic work that impressed me. Jim Carrey was actually good in The Truman Show despite everyone seeing him as only a sight gag comedy act.
So many actors have screwed themselves by expressing political opinions in public, STFU with your opinions and do what you're paid to do...look nice and entertain us.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Moe Howard, hands down.

 

[Outlawd]

Clint Eastwood
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[3sloppydogs]

Jimmy Stewart

 

[padam]

Burt Lancaster was great

 

[icetech]

John Cazale.

 

[DeltaV]

Stage actor? Screen actor? TV actor? Some combination?

 

[440plus6]

Tom Hanks

 

[DeltaV]

Alec Guinness​