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Film Stars, Not Actors!Dateline: 11th May, 2003The Channel 4 website poll about who is the greatest film star, which we refer to in our news story this week, is sure to spark off arguments: "Tom Hanks better than Anthony Hopkins? No way!" or "Where's Alec Guinness?" are both reactions I've heard in the last few days. The first thing to remember, of course, is that votes will have been cast on personal preference, not actual talent. And the second thing is that we are talking here about film stars, not actors. There is a big difference! The top three Brits in the poll were Hopkins, Connery and McGregor. Are they the greatest actors we have? Of course they're not. I know that there are hundreds of thousands of Scots who will put me on a nationalist death list, but Sean Connery is not a great actor. He is a good actor, but a very limited one: as long as he can play Sean Connery, he's fine. I remember - because I am getting on - Connery in The Age of Kings on TV in 1960. He played Hotspur and was a big hit. My girlfriend at the time thought he was wonderful. I didn't see him again until Dr No came along, and there he was - James Bond a.k.a Harry Hotspur! (Actually, I wonder if he's ashamed of The Age of Kings? It's not mentioned at all on his official website.) Being a film star is not the same as being an actor. Ask Liam Neeson:"We are basically puppets, walking around, hitting marks, saying lines," he said in 1999. You'll not find Simon Russell Beale in the top 100 list, let alone the top 10. I doubt - because I have't seen the list: the page has been down for a while - that you'll find Alan Howard there either. They're actors, not film stars. To be a film star you have to be yourself - or the image which has been created for you. Alec Guinness could never be a great film star because he was too different in each film he made. In short, he was an actor. I was asked on the day after the poll result was published who I think is a great actor. I specifically mentioned Russell Beale and Howard. Everyone looked blank - "Who're they?" I was asked. To be fair, Howard did get a flicker of recognition: "Wasn't he in that weird film where two people were cooked at the end?" Alas, poor Peter Greenaway! But then someone did remember seeing him in the RSC's Henry V back in the seventies. "Oh yes, he was good. Is he still alive?" Ask the average person in the street who the greatest actors are, and you'll find film actors mentioned first, then TV actors (soap stars forsooth!), and for nine out of ten people, that'll be it. One final thing: is there any significance in the fact that not a single woman featured in the top ten? I casually dropped a few names of actresses into the conversation. One person recognised Harriet Walter; no one had heard of Fiona Shaw; Judi Dench and Maggie Smith ("Ah yes, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie," said one) were recognised. It then degenerated into a "let's slag off Vanessa Redgrave" fest. with "She's not done anything good for years" as the main comment. When I mentioned her current triumph in A Long Day's Journey into Night on Broadway, I was met with blank looks. And isn't it sad that Ian Holme, superb actor that he is, will probably be best remembered in the future for playing Bilbo Baggins? Film and theatre are very different worlds, not only in the skills and talents needed but also in their audiences, which is why the theatre world would be perfectly justified in getting really rather annoyed (the word I originally was going to use began with P) at the accolades given to and money earned by people who play themselves when real actors are virtually unknown and, in comparison, paid peanuts! Articles Indices:
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