Are there any universally liked actors/actresses?

[chanteuseCarey]

Is Dickie Moore (a bit hard to tell in this picture) the chlld actor who played Nick and Nora Charles' son in the Thin Man film where he admonishes Nick to drink milk, and Nick tells little Nickie Jr. stories from the racing form?

Dickie Moore, second from the right, and next to Spanky, is the only survivor of this group and is married to Jane Powell!

 

[Ethan Bentley]

Jimmy Stewart has got to be close to universally liked. I personally think it's hard to find fault in Christian Bale's acting. Doesn't seem like a jagoff either.

-Jake

James Stewart, agreed

 

[skyvue]

From what I've heard, Michael Palin is liked by everyone. Even John Cleese admits to sort of liking him (and John Cleese hates everybody).

I interviewed Palin a couple of times and can vouch for his being a very nice man.

An example: the second time I interviewed him, I had just received a few copies of a book I'd written (my first -- and only so far) that was just about to hit bookstores. I gave him a copy during our interview and told him was the first non-reviewer to receive it (which was true).

He not only graciously accepted it, putting on a lovely show of being very excited at the prospect of reading it (I'd love to think he eventually did, but I don't kid myself about it), but he even insisted I sign it for him.

Now, I was then and remain today an utter nobody, and Michael Palin can't truly have cared about having my signature, but he understood that, as a new author, it would be a treat for me to inscribe it to him, and it certainly was.

A nice guy.

 

[WH1]

Is Dickie Moore (a bit hard to tell in this picture) the chlld actor who played Nick and Nora Charles' son in the Thin Man film where he admonishes Nick to drink milk, and Nick tells little Nickie Jr. stories from the racing form?

I believe that is Song of the Thin Man, and it is Dean Stockwell, who later played Sam on Quantum Leap.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

Is Dickie Moore (a bit hard to tell in this picture) the chlld actor who played Nick and Nora Charles' son in the Thin Man film where he admonishes Nick to drink milk, and Nick tells little Nickie Jr. stories from the racing form?

Dickie Hall played Nick Charles, Jr. in Shadow of the Thin Man, in what must be the worst dialect of Cutese ever spoken, when Nick, Jr. utters the immortal line:

"Nick, why don't you put the book down an weed da wacing folm?"


Hall also had a role in the 1944 Robert Benchley short Why Daddy?, where the lad makes Benchley look like a dope in a radio quiz show.


Yes, Dean Stockwell played Nick, Jr. in Song of the Thin Man.


Dickie Moore is best known for his part as "The Kid" in 1947's Out of the Past. I don't know if that's him in the photo.

 

[skyvue]

Dickie Moore is best known for his part as "The Kid" in 1947's Out of the Past. I don't know if that's him in the photo.

Oh, but he was in more than 80 movies before that. He was in his twenties when he appeared in OOTP, and he started acting when he was just a toddler.

He was in the Our Gang comedies for a couple of years, and he appeared in the 1933 version of OLIVER TWIST, in BLONDE VENUS as Marlene Dietrich's son, and in SO BIG as Barbara Stanwyck's son, just to name a few of his roles. He also gave Shirley Temple her first screen kiss in MISS ANNIE ROONEY.

I'm not at all sure he's best known for OUT OF THE PAST. I think he's better known as a child actor.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

I'm not at all sure he's best known for OUT OF THE PAST.

Well, at my house he is!

 

[Orsini]

John Wayne All Time Top Money-Making Star




GROTON, Mass., Feb. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Using data from 72 years of Quigley Publishing Company's annual Top Ten Money-Making Star Poll of motion picture exhibitors, John Wayne has been named the Top Money-Maker of All Time. The Quigley Poll, conducted every year since 1932, is an annual survey of motion picture exhibitors, which asks them to vote for the ten stars that generated the most box-office revenue in the preceding year for their theatres. Long regarded as one of the most reliable indicators of a Star's box-office draw, the Quigley Poll has been cited in hundreds of publications and appears annually in Quigley Publishing Company's International Motion Picture Almanac and on our site; http://www.quigleypublishing.com. During this motion picture awards season, it is interesting to see who theatre owners and operators believe really have meant something at their box-office. During his 50-year career John Wayne appeared in over 150 films, including classics such as, The Quiet Man, The Searchers and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, but only won one Academy Award for True Grit.

To come up with a weighted score, an actor received 10 points for a first place finish, nine for a second place finish, etc. The total score was determined by adding up the weighted scores from each year that the actor was voted on the list. John Wayne's appearance 25 times in the poll from 1949 to 1974 yielded 172 points versus 165 points for second place Clint Eastwood, who has been on the list 21 times. Tom Cruise placed third with 133.5 points combining six first place finishes with 16 appearances on the QP poll.

The rest of the Quigley Top Ten All-Time Money Makers are Bing Crosby #4, Gary Cooper #5, Clark Gable #6 and Burt Reynolds #7. Tom Hanks, who was recently voted the Top Ten Money-Making Star of 2004, tied with Bob Hope for #8 and Paul Newman was #10.

Of the current active stars, it appears that only Clint Eastwood and Tom Cruise have a reasonable chance of overtaking John Wayne in the future.

Perhaps reflecting shorter careers in Hollywood than men, no women made it into the Top Ten but Doris Day #11, Julia Roberts #13, Betty Grable #15, Elizabeth Taylor #23 and Shirley Temple #25 were in the Top Twenty Five.

The complete list is:

QP All Time Weighted
Position Top Ten Stars Score
1 John Wayne 172
2 Clint Eastwood 165
3 Tom Cruise 133.5
4 Bing Crosby 111
5 Gary Cooper 106.5
6 Clark Gable 95
7 Burt Reynolds 90
8 Tom Hanks (Tie) 83
Bob Hope (Tie) 83
10 Paul Newman 76
11 Doris Day 72
12 Rock Hudson 69
13 Julia Roberts 68
14 Eddie Murphy 67
15 Betty Grable 66
16 Cary Grant 62
17 Abbott & Costello 57
18 Harrison Ford (Tie) 56
James Stewart (Tie) 56
20 Mel Gibson 55.5
21 Robert Redford 55
22 Arnold Schwarzenegger 53
23 Elizabeth Taylor 52
24 Sylvester Stallone 50
25 Jim Carrey (Tie) 49
Shirley Temple (Tie) 49

Jeez! Arnie ahead of Liz Taylor! He was in some real clunkers early on. Predator (a very good little science-fiction story) was the first Arnie movie I could stand to watch all the way through.

I'm still waiting for The Return of the Son of the Cousin of the Mother-in-Law of The Predator...

 

[Bill Taylor]

Not mentioned, but I think universally liked by a certain age group are:

Tom Mix (from the early teens until about 1940)
Gene Autry
Gabby Hayes

and later,
Roy Rogers (The Sons of the Pioneers ain't that bad of a singing group)
Dale Evans (Happy Trails ain't that bad of a song)
Bill Boyd (Hoppy, or Hopalong Cassidy)

I think Roy and Dale were always Mr. and Mrs. Clean.

As the story goes, later in his career, when Tom Mix learned that his personal life (not all that wonderful) was affecting his youthful audience, he publicly apologized to that audience (and effectively, their parents).

Also, I think everyone liked Mabel Normand (1910-1930). Who wouldn't? I still love her. Even though her personal life was an absolute mess. How could anyone get mixed up in two murders within a short span. One, unsolved to this day (William Desmond Taylor) and two, the chauffeur, for heavens sake.

And the sets in those old Republic westerns were really really awful. But Gene and Roy could sing pretty good, and they always kissed the horse instead of the leading lady at the end.

Bill Taylor

 

[Wasz]

I guess there were some political issues somewhere along the line that people didn't like. My favorite actor Paul Newman. Favorite movie The Hustler.

The charity stuff etc... and multiple stories of him being an all around good guy. Example, when shooting the Color of Money after shooting the seen for the tournament he had beer and food brought in for everyone on set (a lot of extras).

 

[Rocketblast]

I'm afraid I can remove John Wayne, Kate Winslet and Christian Bale from this list.

It looks as though nobody has said anything bad about the wonderful Jimmy Stewart though - I think he must be the winner!

I love Michael Palin too (he's called 'Uncle Michael' in our house).
How about Maureen Lipman? C'mon, she's pretty cool, right?

 

[bunnyb.gal]

I believe that is Song of the Thin Man, and it is Dean Stockwell, who later played Sam on Quantum Leap.

Um, Scott Bakula played Sam, and Dean Stockwell actually played Al... One of my top 10 TV shows...

I may revise this post, as I've not had a chance to read all the way through, but has Doris Day gotten a mention yet?

 

[Miss sofia]

I'm afraid I can remove John Wayne, Kate Winslet and Christian Bale from this list.

It looks as though nobody has said anything bad about the wonderful Jimmy Stewart though - I think he must be the winner!

I love Michael Palin too (he's called 'Uncle Michael' in our house).
How about Maureen Lipman? C'mon, she's pretty cool, right?

Ha ha i love Maureen Lipman! What a lady!

Robert Mitchum?

 

[wahine]

Asking for actors who are liked by pretty much every one, I second Gregory Peck, Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant and Bill Powell.
In my personal opinion, Clark Gable, Jack Lemmon and Bette Davis (!) need to be on the list of the all time favorites, but I know there are people who dislike them.

And Elvis...

I personally love Elvis movies. ...I thought he did well in them, and was a much better actor than people give him credit for.

I'm an Elvis fan but I'm not so sure about his acting abilities. He was sort of a comedic talent and maybe had some dramatic talent too (see Wild in the Country), and there are a lot of speculations about what he might have been able to do if the Colonel would have let him, but the fact is: he didn't. So I better stick to his music (although I have to admit that as a "proper" fan, I have most of his movies at home *blush*)

 

[Miss sofia]

Nothing wrong with that missy, Elvis is one of our household gods!

 

[nicholasb]

Has anyone mentioned Michael J Fox. He has to be fairly well loved by everyone. I read that he was one of the most trusted actors.

 

[Navin323i]

For Hollywood, Christopher Reeve comes to mind.

For Bollywood, Amitabh Bachan who is considered one of the most prominent figures in the history of Indian cinema. Supposedly he and Johnny Depp were supposed to do a Bollywood/Hollywood movie together (a gangster style movie I think) but I don't know whether they have started filming that or not.

 

[Widebrim]

I've not (yet) heard anything negative about Brian Donlevy, tough guy of the late-'30s, '40s, and '50s. Like Don Ameche, he pretty much kept out of the Hollywood scene. Plus, you've gotta love a guy who enlisted in the U.S. Army at 14, was a bugler with Gen. John "Black Jack" Pershing in the Punitive Expedition against Pancho Villa, and was a pilot with the Lafayette Escadrille in WWI. And if that ain't enough...he married Bela Lugosi's widow.

 

[sportell]

Oh, I've got one that's just gotta qualify: Bob Hope!

GREAT ONE! How could you not like Bob Hope? Not only was he a fun comedy actor, but he was awesome to the troops through a number of wars. That raises him in my mind as well. I've found that if I truly feel the actor is scum as a person, I cannot enjoy their acting. But they become more appealing if they are also great people.

I'll offer up Myrna Loy. She was great in the "Thin Man" series. And I will agree with Jimmy Stewart. I didn't always like his films, but you still have to kind of like him.

 

[Kiri]

How about Donald O'Connor?
Is it possible to hate him?