SURVIVOR, HOLLYWOOD

Given the Laird's legalistic demand that the greatest living actor be someone who is actually alive, and not Tom Hanks, the nominee list becomes:

Marlon Brando
Robert De Niro
John Gielgud
Dustin Hoffman
Paul Newman
Jack Nicholson
Al Pacino

I'd say Pacino should be eliminated since DeNiro's the same thing but better. Scarface was cool though, or so I've heard.

[ Ahem...

John Gielgud:

Has been dead for four years.

Paul Newman:
Jack Nicholson:
Dustin Hoffman:

All very good, but I don't think any of them has a claim to being The Greatest.

Marlon Brando:

This is tough, but despite a couple of the greatest screen performances of all time (The Godfather, On the Waterfront, Apocalypse Now), he rested on his laurels and indulged his eccentricities such that, if he didn't exactly kill his career, he certainly put it in a coma. I believe he could have been The Greatest, but simply doesn't have the body of work to compete with the remaining two.

Pacino and DeNiro:

Other than for the fact that they are both 60-ish Italian American actors from New York that studied under Lee Strasberg who became movie stars in the early 70's, they really don't have that much in common. Pacino doesn't have DeNiro's intensity, and DeNiro doesn't have Pacino's bombast (though, in their worst moments, each has abused these signatures). DeNiro has taken more safe, unchallenging roles (Midnight Run, Analyze This, and even Ronin), whereas Pacino has taken a lot more chances (Cruising, Revolution, Dick Tracy, et al).

Pacino:
Michael Corleone (The Godfather)
Sonny Wortznik (Dog Day Afternoon)
Tony Montana (Scarface)
Ricky Roma (Glengarry Glen Ross)
Frank Slade (Scent of a Woman)

DeNiro:
Vito Corleone (The Godfather)
Jake LaMotta (Raging Bull)
Travid Bickle (Taxi Driver)
Rupert Pupkin (King of Comedy)
Max Cady (Cape Fear)

I think it's a tough, tough call between them, but I don't think that there is another living actor with the extraordinary body of work that either of them has accumulated over their careers.

There are a couple of younger actors that, in my opinion, could match or surpass their achievments:

Edward Norton
Johnny Depp
Russell Crowe

-LoM]