10 Best Actors of All Time Relay Race

Nostra at My Film Views had started this blogathon quite a while ago but bloggers continue to write the update posts on the spin. I'm grateful to SDG from U, Me and Films for he passed the right to tackle this challenge to me. And Nostra's idea of it is the following:

"I've created a list of what I think are the best actors. At the end I, just like in a real relay race, hand over the baton to another blogger who will write his own post. The blogger will have to remove one actor (that is an obligation) and add his own choice and describe why he/she did this. At the end the blogger chooses another blogger to do the same. We will end up with a list (not ranked in order) which represents a common agreement of the best actors."

The previous participants are:

• My Film Views
• The Focused Filmographer
• Front Room Cinema
• I Love That Film
• Flixchatter
• All Eyes On Screen
• Time Well Spent
• The Warning Sign
• moviesandsongs365
• And So it Begins...
• Cinematic Corner
• And Buckle's Film Emporium
• Duke and the Movies
• Southern Vision
• Defiant Success
• Cinematic Paradox
• Encore Entertainment
• Okinawa Assault
• Amiresque
• Flickers
• Aziza's Picks
• "...lets be splendid about this..."
• Being Norma Jeane
• U, Me and Films

The Actors

(listed alphabetically)

Humphrey Bogart

Marlon Brando

Daniel Day Lewis

Robert De Niro

Johnny Depp

Tom Hanks

Paul Newman

Jack Nicholson

Gary Oldman

James Stewart

I've been reading some posts in terms of this blogathon and at times I thought that even though they all are great it would have been always easy for me to pick the one to bid goodbye to. However, now this task is extremely daunting, maybe because the list has molded into a close to perfection one. Yet it's rather impossible to squeeze both classic and modern names of truly outstanding actors into a ten, but we try.

I bid goodbye to…

I'm really sorry, SDG, but I have to remove Tom Hanks from the list. Like his peers, he is one of the remarkable actors that ever appeared on the silver screen and I bow to his work in, notably, Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan, The Green Mile, Philadelphia etc. If I could do it, I'd better add ten more actors to this list without getting rid of any, but I just have to adhere to the rules. Once again, Tom Hanks is a great actor and I can't stress it enough.

And my addition is Leonardo DiCaprio

Despite his staggering success and popularity, Leonardo DiCaprio has not been completely recognized as a brilliant actor. And he is. I believe that his filmography is the one to admire and lots of movies he has done are re-watchable and simply amazing, considering his collaborations with such directors as Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, Baz Luhrmann, Danny Boyle, Sam Mendes and others.

DiCaprio is known for playing complex or emotionally unstable characters and he brings intensity and strength into each and every portrayal. He proved himself to be a drama actor, and working in this genre brought him his best parts in What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), The Basketball Diaries (1995), Total Eclipse (1995), Catch Me If You Can (2002), Blood Diamond (2006), and Revolutionary Road (2008). An absolutely remarkable niche in his career is assigned to his cooperation with the above-mentioned Scorsese: Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004), The Departed (2006), and Shutter Island (2010), not to mention that their another film is on the way in a year or so,  The Wolf of Wall Street. DiCaprio proves that he can embody the romantic hero as well (even though he walked away from this career) in Romeo + Juliet (1996) and Titanic (1997). And speaking of the latter, he starred in one of the highest grossing films as well as a mega-blockbuster Inception (2010). We'll see him in Django Unchained and The Great Gatsby this year.

Can an actor get more versatile than that? I'm sure Leo DiCaprio will surpass himself in future but for now I hope bloggers will keep him in the race.

I'm passing the blogathon to Mette from Lime Reviews and Strawberry Confessions. Have fun with this race, Mette!