Daniel Day-Lewis
(1957- )

Handsome, articulate, and almost frighteningly intense, Day-Lewis is relentless in Gangs of New York and There Will Be Blood.

Best Films: Gandhi (1982), The Bounty (1984), My Beautiful Laundrette (1985), A Room With a View (1985), The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988), My Left Foot (1989), The Last of the Mohicans (1992), In the Name of the Father (1993), The Age of Innocence (1993), The Crucible (1996), The Boxer (1997), Gangs of New York (2002), The Ballad of Jack and Rose (2005), There Will Be Blood (2007), Nine (2009), Lincoln (2012)

James Dean
(1931-1955)

Dean tapped into the pure essence of teen misery in Rebel Without a Cause and Giant, then died before he grew old.

Best Films: East of Eden (1955), Rebel Without A Cause (1955), Giant (1956)

Robert DeNiro
(1943- )

De Niro is as mesmerizing in the low-rent Bloody Mama as he is in Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and GoodFellas.

Best Films: Bang the Drum Slowly (1973), Mean Streets (1973), The Godfather, Part II (1974), Taxi Driver (1976), The Deer Hunter (1978), Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1982), Once Upon a Time in America (1984), The Untouchables (1987), GoodFellas (1990), Backdraft (1991), Cape Fear (1991), A Bronx Tale (1993), Mad Dog and Glory (1993), Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994), Casino (1995), Heat (1995), Sleepers (1996), Wag the Dog (1997), Ronin (1998), Analyze This (1999), Meet the Parents (2000), The Score (2001), Analyze That (2002), Meet the Fockers (2004), The Good Shepherd (2006), Little Fockers (2010), New Year's Eve (2011), Silver Linings Playbook (2012)

Johnny Depp
(1964- )

Depp rejected pretty-boy stardom to play the soulful monster Edward Scissorhands and the cross-dressing moviemaker Ed Wood.

Best Films: A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), Edward Scissorhands (1990), Benny & Joon (1993), What's Eating Gilbert Grape? (1993), Ed Wood (1994), Don Juan DeMarco (1995), Donnie Brasco (1997), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998), The Astronaut's Wife (1999), The Ninth Gate (1999), Sleepy Hollow (1999), Blow (2001), From Hell (2001), Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), Finding Neverland (2004), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005), Corpse Bride (2005), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007), Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End (2007), The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009), Public Enemies (2009), Alice in Wonderland (2010), The Tourist (2010), Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)

Kirk Douglas
(1916- )

Douglas's insecurity and festering resentments gave depth to his best roles, like the cynical reporter in Ace in the Hole.

Best Films: Out of the Past (1947), Champion (1949), Ace in the Hole (1951), The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), Lust for Life (1956), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), Paths of Glory (1957), The Vikings (1958), Spartacus (1960), Lonely Are the Brave (1962), Seven Days in May (1964), It Runs in the Family (2003)

Clint Eastwood
(1930- )

In The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, the Man With No Name has a suspicion of authority that makes him the perfect anti-hero of the sixties.

Best Films: A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (1966), Coogan's Bluff (1968), Hang 'Em High (1968), Where Eagles Dare (1969), Paint Your Wagon (1969), Kelly's Heroes (1970), The Beguiled (1971), Dirty Harry (1971), Play Misty for Me (1971), High Plains Drifter (1972), Magnum Force (1973), The Enforcer (1975), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), Every Which Way But Loose (1978), Escape from Alcatraz (1979), Any Which Way You Can (1980), Bronco Billy (1980), Sudden Impact (1983), Pale Rider (1985), The Rookie (1990), Unforgiven (1992), In the Line of Fire (1993), A Perfect World (1993), The Bridges of Madison County (1995), Space Cowboys (2000), Million Dollar Baby (2004), Gran Torino (2008), Trouble With the Curve (2012)

Errol Flynn
(1909-1959)

Flynn defined the roguish swashbuckler in movies like Captain Blood, The Adventures of Robin Hood, and The Sea Hawk.

Best Films: Captain Blood (1935), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), The Dawn Patrol (1938), Dodge City (1939), The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex (1939), The Sea Hawk (1940), Santa Fe Trail (1940), They Died With Their Boots On (1941), Gentleman Jim (1942), Objective, Burma! (1945), Adventures of Don Juan (1948), The Sun Also Rises (1957)

Henry Fonda
(1905-1982)

For six decades -- in The Grapes of Wrath and Fail-Safe -- Fonda was so good people stopped appreciating his talent.

Best Films: Jezebel (1938), Drums Along the Mohawk (1939), Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), The Grapes of Wrath (1940), The Lady Eve (1941), The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), My Darling Clementine (1946), Fort Apache (1948), Mister Roberts (1955), The Wrong Man (1956), 12 Angry Men (1957), Advise and Consent (1962), Fail-Safe (1964), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968, It.), On Golden Pond (1981)

Morgan Freeman
(1937- )

If you need an actor who can play both a vicious pimp (Street Smart) and God (Bruce Almighty), you need Freeman.

Best Films: Street Smart (1987), Driving Miss Daisy (1989), Lean on Me (1989), Glory (1989), Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), Unforgiven (1992), The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Outbreak (1995), Se7en (1995), Kiss the Girls (1997), Amistad (1997), Deep Impact (1998), Nurse Betty (2000), Under Suspicion (2000), Along Came a Spider (2001), High Crimes (2002), The Sum of All Fears (2002), Bruce Almighty (2003), Guilty by Association (2003), Levity (2003), Dreamcatcher (2003), Million Dollar Baby (2004), Batman Begins (2005), Edison Force (2005), An Unfinished Life (2005), Lucky Number Slevin (2006), The Bucket List (2007), Gone Baby Gone (2007), Evan Almighty (2007), The Dark Knight (2008), Wanted (2008), Invictus (2009), The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Clark Gable
(1901-1960)

Jug-ears notwithstanding, Gable oozed uncomplicated sex appeal, especially as Gone with the Wind's Rhett Butler.

Best Films: A Free Soul (1931), No Man of Her Own (1932), Red Dust (1932), Dancing Lady (1933), It Happened One Night (1934), Manhattan Melodrama (1934), Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), San Francisco (1936), Gone With the Wind (1939), Boom Town (1940), Mogambo (1953), Run Silent, Run Deep (1958), The Misfits (1961)