Most overrated actors/actresses

Listology.com ^ | 10/04 | Bob Latuque

[pissant]

10. Barbara Stanwyck. Why was she ever given any roles? She was always unpleasant to watch.

9. Ernest Borgnine. Another one who almost always played an unpleasant character. EXCEPTION: As the voice of "Mermaid Man" on Spongebob Squarepants. His best role.

8. Charlton Heston. Wooden, dull, ponderous.

7. Jack Nicholson. Just a walking self-parody. Hasn't had a good part since Chinatown.

6. Al Pacino. Not really a bad actor, but directors allow him far too much leeway and he just chews up the scenery and spits out pap. Scarface: Laughably horrible or horribly laughable? Scent of a Woman: "Hooah" is the sound of someone vomiting as he watches this one.

5. Marlon Brando. His only good role was as Vito Corleone; everything else was self-absorbed, pretentious crap.

4. Robert De Niro. Plays the same character over and over, just doesn't realize it. Last good role was Vito Corleone... hmmm.

3. Julia Roberts. She's not actually a bad actress, but pretty she ain't! She is one of the homeliest women in Hollywood. BEST ROLE: Alice Sutton in Conspiracy Theory.

2. Jack Lemmon. Used to be first on my list. I am still agog when this guy is spoken of so highly. If you were watching a Jack Lemmon movie, you could be sure at least one character (his) would be supremely annoying and unfunny, especially in his incredibly depressing so-called "comedies". Just want to heave a brick through the screen anytime he's on it. EXCEPTION: His role as Jack Godell in China Syndrome was the best part of the movie.

1. Johnny Depp. Why does anyone hire this guy? This rat-faced little creep couldn't act himself out of a restaurant that just served him a deep-fried kitten with a fly on it. As for his part in Chocolat, he was obviously only in it to provide the de rigueur American presence so it could play in the U.S.A. Almost ANYONE else would have been better in the part. A cardboard cutout (not even necessarily life-size) would have been at least as good. Was his ludicrous slurring in Pirates of the Caribbean supposed to be an "accent"? BEST ROLE: Mort Rainey in "Secret Window". Not a great movie, and terrible hairdo, but he wasn't actually too bad in this one.

[r9etb]

I liked Bonanza!

Perhaps you liked Bonanza precisely because Miss Barbara Stanwyck starred in The Big Valley?

[pissant]

Exactly!

[1Old Pro]

Didn't Whoopi Goldberg get an Oscar for playing the medium in "Ghost"?

Geez, I don't know that one. Maybe she did but nobody could "see" her when she accepted it.

[GraceCoolidge]

I just looked it up... she did win Best Supporting Actress in 1991....

[EllaMinnow]

A lot to chew on there! I like almost all of Stanwyck's movies from the 30s and 40s, she did some incredible work in "The Bitter Tea of General Yen." I've never liked Borgnine much...in anything. I like most of Pacino's work - ever seen "Looking for Richard"? And, of course, it's Pacino who holds Godfather 1 and 2 together.
I'm not a Nicholson fan, but I'll give him kudos for everything from before 1980.
Did you know that Laurence Olivier declared that Heston was the best actor in Hollywood in the 50's?
Julia Roberts? Ick.
I'll give Brando applause for "The Godfather," "A Stretcar Names Desire," and "Julius Caesar" but his reputation as the greatest was undeserved.
I like Johnny Depp. Loved him in "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Ed Wood" especially.

Oh, I forgot Lemmon. IMHO, never overrated! One of my favorites.

[hattend]

No particular order:

Julia Roberts
George Clooney
Johnny Depp
Rock Hudson
Kim Bassinger
Paris Hilton (okay, she's not in movies, but still)
Drew Barrymore
Ben Affleck
The blonde chick in "Working Girl"
Susan Sarandon

[pissant]

The chick in Working Girl was Melanie Griffith. No ace actress there, but she fit that role perfectly. ANd what a hottie in her youth!

[hattend]

Thanks...I could see her body in my mind but the name escaped me.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Barbara Stanwyck was a babe back in the day...

[dfwgator]

Didn't she "play for the other team?"

[Tijeras_Slim]

I don't know.

[musical_airman]

Let's not forget "fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" either.

It's warped, but I loved it!

[EllaMinnow]

As was Brando.

[Heyworth]

Did you know that Laurence Olivier declared that Heston was the best actor in Hollywood in the 50's?

Olivier--now there's a guy who was vastly overrated in his day. Of that group of "Shakespearian Brits," Gielgud and Richardson had it all over Olivier.

[rcocean]

Have to disagree with almost your entire list. Here's my list of "bad" actors who've received undue praise:

1) Shelley Winters - won several awards - Awful

2) Tony Curtis - Watch him the "Vikings" - painful.

3) Whoops Goldberg - Repulsive

4) John Wayne -I like the Duke and most his movies but he was NOT a good actor. Very limited range.

5) Richard Gere - Why was this man ever popular?

6) Clint Eastwood - Like John Wayne - only worse

7) Robert Redford - A male model, not an actor

8) Billie Crystal - A worse actor than Bill Mahre.

9) Ali McGraw - Justly faded into view

10) John Travolta - His appeal always escaped me.

[cardinal4]

Matthau and Lemmon were great in "Buddy Buddy" as well. A very funny movie..

[jscottdavis_for_48th_district]

Hey, what is wrong with Charlton Heston and Ernest Borgnine? They are both veterans of the armed forces (lol). You don't find enough of those in Hollywood.

[lonestar]

I loved Streep in "She Devil."

[Quix]

Most over-rated actress?

Why, her unroyal lowness--her hideous heinous--Bwitch Shrillery Antoinette de Fosterizer de Machiavelli de Marx de Stalin de Pol Pot de Mao, de Arafart de Sade

. . . of course!

she thinks she's in competition for the dark lord himself.

And as a pretend 'moderate' she thinks her acting career is better than Oscar material.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

After "Kramer vs. Kramer" and "The French Lieutenant's Woman" about the only thing that could get me to watch another Meryl Streep movie was if it had lots of car chases, explosions and gun play. Maybe Meryl Streep in a combination "Dukes of Hazard" and "A Bridge Too Far". Long as Meryl isn't wearing no Daisy Dukes.