TomGuy wrote:
“My assessment is this: There are actors and there are personalities.
A true actor can play any part/character and make the audience believe.
A personality plays the same part/character in every roll.
It is difficult to find true actors in the ‘cult of personality’ environment. There are few truly great actors.”
You are 100% right, but your comment made me think of one case where it could be argued that a (formerly) great actor, over time, became nothing more than a caricature:
Robert DeNiro.
Any thoughts?
Robert Duvall is a great actor.
I don't know that "great actors" are the answer. IMO, the great movie stars were primarily great personalities. Actors like John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Gary Cooper, Clint Eastwood, et al were good actors, but they played roles tailored to their onscreen personas. They were stars when Hollywood made movies about self-assured manly heroes.
Unfortunately for Samuel L Jackson, his onscreen persona is that of an asshole who never stops talking in the same repetitive speech pattern. I liked him in a few movies, Like Pulp Fiction and The Long Kiss Goodnight, but I am tired of him. I had no idea he had done another Shaft movie.
Samuel Jackson, Arnold Swarzenegger, John Wayne always play themselves.
Denzel Washington, Clint Eastwood almost always play themselves. But occasionally they have a good “character”.
Robert DeNiro is the best male actor with the true skills.
Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt have no talent.