Who should be considered a great actor? This question still hasn’t been answered, because there is no universally accepted measure of greatness. “In our business you can’t find anything better,” said the English actor Laurence Olivier. “After all, it isn’t about a sportsman running a hundred yards in nine seconds. He’s faster than anyone—so he’s the best.”
In the acting profession, there are only opinions about roles played brilliantly, but there is no role that would put the “i” above the dot. A perfect Hamlet can fail at Macbeth. No one has yet managed to confirm Henry Irving’s statement that “a great actor will never play badly.”
In this volume, we are told only about the most outstanding masters of dramatic theater and cinema.
Contents
INTRODUCTION
FESPID. (c. 580 BC – ?)
ROSSIY QUINT. (c. 130—62 BC)
BÉRBEDJ RICHARD. (1567—1619)
BARON MICHEL. (1653—1729)
OLDFIELD ANNE. (1683—1730)
LEKUEVRER ADRIENNE. (1692—1730)
GARRICK DAVID. (1717—1779)
VOLKOV FEDOR GRIGORIEVICH. (1729—1763)
SCHRÖDER FRIEDRICH LUDWIG. (1744—1816)
TALMA FRANÇOIS-JOSEPH. (1763—1826)
KEANE EDMUND. (1787—1833)
SHCHEPKIN MIKHAIL SEMENOVICH. (1788—1863)
FREDERICK-LEMÉTRE. (1800—1876)
MOCHALOV PAVEL STEPANOVICH. (1800—1848)
RASCHÉL ELIZA. (1821—1858)
ROSSI ERNESTO. (1827—1896)
SALVINI TOMMASO. (1829—1915)
IRVING HENRY. (1838—1905)
COQUELIN BENOIT-CONSTANT. (1841—1909)
BERNARD SARA. (1844—1923)
ERMOLOVA MARIA NIKOLAEVNA. (1853—1928)
DUZÉ ELEANORA. (1858—1924)
KOMISSARZHEVSKAYA VERA FEDOROVNA. (1864—1910)
MOSKVIN IVAN MIKHAILOVICH. (1874—1946)
KACHALOV VASILII IVANOVICH. (1875—1948)
NAZIMOVA ALLA. (1879—1945)
MOISEI ALEXANDER. (1880—1935)
NIELSEN ASTA. (1881—1972)
FERBENKS DOUGLAS. (1883—1939)
LINDER MAX. (1883—1925)
CHAPLIN CHARLES. (1889—1977)
MOZZHUKHIN IVAN IL’ICH. (1889—1939)
PIKFORD MARY. (1893—1979)
KHOLODNAYA VERA VASILIEVNA. (1893—1919)
VALENTINO RUDOLPH. (1895—1926)
RANEBSKAYA FAINA GRIGORIEVNA. (1896—1984)
KEATON BUSTER. (1896—1966)
BOGART HUMPHREY. (1899—1957)
LAUTON CHARLES. (1899—1962)
TRACY SPENCER. (1900—1967)
GABLE CLARK. (1901—1960)
COOPER GARY. (1901—1961)
ILINSKII IGOR VLADIMIROVICH. (1901—1987)
DIETRICH MARLENE. (1901—1992)
ORLOVA LYUBOV PETROVNA. (1902—1975)
CHERKASOV NIKOLAI KONSTANTINOVICH. (1903—1966)
GILGUD JOHN ARTHUR. (1904—2000)
GABEN JEAN. (1904—1976)
FONDA HENRY. (1905—1982)
GARBO GRETA. (1905—1990)
HEPBURN KATHERINE. (1907—2003)
OLIVIER LAURENCE. (1907—1989)
MAGNANI ANNA. (1908—1973)
DAVIS BETT. (1908—1989)
LANCASTER BERT. (1913—1994)
LI VIVIENNE. (1913—1967)
MARE JEAN. (1913—1998)
GINNE S ALEK. (1914—2000)
FUNES LOUIS DE. (1914—1983)
BERGMAN INGRID. (1915—1982)
MIFUNÉ TOSHIRO. (1920—1997)
MAZINA GIULIETTA. (1921—1994)
GASSMAN VITTORIO. (1921—2000)
SCOFIELD PAUL. (b. 1922)
PHILIP GÉRARD. (1922—1959)
MASTROIANI MARCELLO. (1923—1996)
BRANDO MARLON. (1924—2004)
KAPUR RAJ. (1924—1988)
NEWMAN PAUL. (b. 1925)
SMOKTUNOVSKIY INNOKENTIY MIKHAILOVICH. (1925—1994)
STAIGER ROD. (1925—2002)
MORDYUKOVA NONNA VIKTOROVNA. (b. 1925)
MONROE MERILYN. (1926—1962)
LEONOV EVGENIY PAVLOVICH. (1926—1994)
ULYANOV MIKHAIL ALEKSANDROVICH. (b. 1927)
HEPBURN AUDREY. (1929—1993)
CONNERY SEAN. (b. 1930)
TRENTIGNAN JEAN-LOUIS. (b. 1930)
RYBNIKOV NIKOLAI NIKOLAEVICH. (1930—1990)
TAYLOR ELIZABETH. (b. 1932)
O'TOOLE PETER. (b. 1932)
BELMONDO JEAN-PAUL. (b. 1933)
RICHARD PIERRE. (b. 1934)
LOREN SOPHIA. (b. 1934)
BARDO BRIGITTE. (b. 1934)
DELANE ALain. (b. 1935)
NICHOLSON JACK. (b. 1937)
HOFFMAN DUSTIN. (b. 1937)
HOPKINS ANTHONY. (b. 1937)
SCHNEIDER ROMY. (1938—1982)
CARDINALE CLAUDIA. (b. 1939)
PACHINO AL. (b. 1940)
MIRONOV ANDREY ALEXANDROVICH. (1941—1987)
DE NIRO ROBERT. (b. 1943)
CHURIKOVA INNA MIKHAILOVNA. (b. 1943)
DENEUVE CATHERINE. (b. 1943)
BRANDAUER KLAUS-MARIA. (b. 1944)
MINNELLI LIZA. (b. 1946)
DEPARTDIEU GERARD. (b. 1948)
STRIP MARYL. (b. 1949)