FedoraFan112390
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What's your personal Top Ten for each sex?
First of all.... what do you define as the "Golden Era" of cinema? The 30's, 40's some say today!What's your personal Top Ten for each sex?
And no Mae West either.WTF MAN???? NO BETTY DAVIS????
Sorry to scream, but she should've been the top of the list!
Worf
Boys
Ned Sparks
Edgar Kennedy
Johnny Arthur
Billy Gilbert
William Demarest
Walter Catlett
Hugh Herbert
Eddie Anderson
Snitz Edwards
Girls
Patsy Kelly
Winnie Lightner
Una Merkel
Aline MacMahon
Marjorie Main
Mabel Todd
Mae Busch
Dot Farley
Blanche Payson
WTF MAN???? NO BETTY DAVIS????
Sorry to scream, but she should've been the top of the list!
Worf
Since I only know about 10% of the names on this list - and I waste enormous amounts of time watching movies from the '30s - '60s - I assume this is a list of, mainly, silent era stars that you and Vitanola will passionately debate as I look on like I'm at a tennis match.
I deliberately chose supporting comedians, both male and female -- because I think it's character actors who really make or break a picture, especially the type of pictures I like the best. Whenever I see any of these performers show up in a cast list, I know the movie's worth my time. Many of these performers bridged silents and talkies, but most of them were at their peak during the 1930s, and you may not recognize all their names, but I bet you'd know their faces.
Gad, how could have left Jimmy Gleason off that list. One of my all-time favorite "New York Characters," and he wasn't always a sarcastic wise guy. Watch him as the sympathetic milk-wagon driver in "The Clock" and you'll see he was a first rate straight actor.
Carson is one of those actors you always expect to be a bigger star than he really was -- he got a big push on radio in the mid-forties, but didn't seem to catch on. But nobody played annoying press-agents, pushy brothers-in-law, or loudmouth old college pals better than he did. Well, maybe Jack Oakie, but for a long time as a kid I thought they were the same person.
The guy you're thinking of with the gravel voice is Eugene Pallette, another one I can't believe I left off. He was in the very first all-talking feature in 1928, and was the best thing in the picture, and I often get the feeling he was in 98 percent of all talkies made before WWII.
And for the ladies' list, I have to squeeze in Lyda Roberti somwhere, with her wacky Polish accent. The best leading lady Eddie Cantor ever had, and it's a shame she died so young.
You're all totally right … I should have been adding "no claim to be complete" to my list. Well, we all have different tastes, and prefer different actors / actresses. That's the good thing in life: We're all different.
Boys
Ned Sparks
Edgar Kennedy
Johnny Arthur
Billy Gilbert
William Demarest
Walter Catlett
Hugh Herbert
Eddie Anderson
Snitz Edwards
Girls
Patsy Kelly
Winnie Lightner
Una Merkel
Aline MacMahon
Marjorie Main
Mabel Todd
Mae Busch
Dot Farley
Blanche Payson
I deliberately chose supporting comedians, both male and female -- because I think it's character actors who really make or break a picture, especially the type of pictures I like the best. Whenever I see any of these performers show up in a cast list, I know the movie's worth my time. Many of these performers bridged silents and talkies, but most of them were at their peak during the 1930s, and you may not recognize all their names, but I bet you'd know their faces.