20th Century Famous Actors & Actresses

20th Century Famous Actors/Actresses

Period: Jan 1, 1900 to Dec 31, 1999

The world's most famous actors and actresses of the 20th century from the date they first made it on the big screen. Bibliography:
www.google.com.au
http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com
www.imdb.com
www.audrey1.org
www.carygrant.net
www.ranker.com
http://en.wikipedia.org
http://books.google.com.au
www.mptvimages.com
www.youtube.com

Charlie (Charles) Chaplin

May 15, 1916

Charlie Chaplin, considered to be one of the most pivotal stars of the early days of Hollywood, lived an interesting life both in his films and behind the camera. He is most recognized as an icon of the silent film era, often associated with his popular "Little Tramp" character; the man with the toothbrush mustache, bowler hat, bamboo cane, and a funny walk.

Greta Garbo

Mar 9, 1924

Greta Garbo was a Swedish film actress and an international star and icon during the twenties and thirties. Garbo was nominated three times for the Academy Award for Best Actress and received an honorary one in 1954 for her "luminous and unforgettable screen performances." Garbo launched her career with a secondary role in the 1924 Swedish film The Saga of Gosta Berling. Her performance caught the attention of Louis B. Mayer, who brought her to Hollywood in 1925.

Clark Gable

Dec 1, 1924

Clark Gable was an American film actor, often referred to as "The King of Hollywood" or just simply as "The King". Gable began his career as a stage actor and appeared as an extra in silent films between 1924 and 1926, and progressed to supporting roles with a few films for MGM in 1931. The next year he landed his first leading Hollywood role and became a leading man in more than 60 motion pictures over the next three decades.

Humphrey Bogart

Oct 27, 1928

Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American screen actor whose breakthrough leading man performances in such iconic 1940s films include High Sierra and The Maltese Falcon. Bogart received an Oscar nomination for his role in Casablanca, which raised him to the peak of his profession. He cemented his trademark film persona in The Big Sleep, and all films earned him the legacy of cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star of Classic American cinema.

Ingrid Bergman

Mar 29, 1932

Ingrid Bergman was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films. She won three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, a BAFTA Award and the Tony Award for Best Actress. She is best remembered for her roles as Ilsa Lund in Casablanca and as Alicia Huberman in Notorious alongside Humphrey Bogart, and an Alfred Hitchcock thriller starring Cary Grant.

Cary Grant

Aug 4, 1932

Cary Grant was an English actor who was known for his transatlantic accent, debonair demeanour and "dashing good looks". Grant is considered one of classic Hollywood's definitive leading men and his comedic and dramatic roles became trademark to his name. His best films include Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, Arsenic & Old Lace, Notorious, An Affair to Remember, North by Northwest and Charade. He was nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Actor and five times for a Golden Globe Award.

Katharine Hepburn

Sep 30, 1932

Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress known for her fierce independence and spirited personality. Hepburn was a leading lady in Hollywood for more than 60 years and appeared in a range of genres, from screwball comedy to literary drama. Hepburn received four Academy Awards for Best Actress – record for any performer. In 1999, Hepburn was named by the American Film Institute as the greatest female star of Classic Hollywood Cinema.

Bette Davis

Oct 15, 1932

Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theatre. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood history she was noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic, sardonic characters and was reputed for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional comedies, although her greatest successes were her roles in romantic dramas.

Fred Astaire

Dec 22, 1933

Fred Astaire was an American dancer, singer, actor, choreographer, musician, and television presenter. His stage and subsequent film and television careers spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films and several award-winning television specials and issued numerous recordings. As a dancer, he is best remembered for his sense of rhythm, his legendary perfectionism, and as the dancing partner and on-screen romantic interest of Ginger Rogers.

James Stewart

Jul 12, 1935

James Maitland "Jimmy" Stewart was an American actor known for his distinctive drawl and down-to-earth persona. He starred in many films that are considered to be classics and is known for portraying an American middle-class man struggling with a crisis. Stewart was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition for The Philadelphia Story (1940) and receiving a Lifetime Achievement award. He also had a noted military career and was a World War II and Vietnam War veteran.

Henry Fonda

Aug 2, 1935

Henry Jaynes "Hank" Fonda was an American film and stage actor with a career spanning more than five decades. Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor and made his Hollywood debut in 1935. Throughout six decades in Hollywood, Fonda cultivated a strong, appealing screen image in such classics as The Ox-Bow Incident, Mister Roberts and 12 Angry Men. Later, Fonda moved both toward darker epics such as Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West.

Elizabeth Taylor

Jun 26, 1942

Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was a British-American actress, businesswoman and humanitarian. She began as a child actress in the early 1940s, and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. She continued her career successfully into the 1960s, and remained a well-known public figure for the rest of her life.

Marilyn Monroe

Dec 30, 1948

Norma Jeane Mortenson, otherwise known as Marilyn Monroe, was an American actress and model. Famous for playing "dumb blonde" characters, she became one of the most popular sex symbols of the 1950s, emblematic of the era's attitudes towards sexuality. Although she was a top-billed actress for only a decade, her films grossed $200 million by the time of her unexpected death in 1962. She continues to be considered a major popular culture icon today.

Marlon Brando

Jul 20, 1950

Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American screen and stage actor. Considered to be one of the most important actors in American cinema, Brando was one of only three professional actors, along with Charlie Chaplin and Marilyn Monroe, named by Time magazine as one of its 100 Persons of the Century in 1999.

Audrey Hepburn

Jun 13, 1951

Audrey Hepburn was an iconic Academy Award-winning actress, fashion model and humanitarian. Audrey had the reputation of being a humble, kind and charming person, who lived the philosophy of putting others before herself. She showed this side particularly towards the end of her life in her work for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). New Woman magazine called Audrey the most beautiful woman of all time, in a 2006 poll.