Tony Hunter in The Band Wagon (1953)

Few would argue with the opinion that American entertainer Fred Astaire was the greatest dancer ever seen on film. Born to a wealthy Omaha family, young Astaire was trained at the Alvienne School of Dance and the Ned Wayburn School of Dancing. In a double act with his sister Adele, Fred danced in cabarets, vaudeville houses, and music halls all over the world before he was 20.

Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Richard "Rick" Blaine in Casablanca (1942)

The quintessential tough guy, Humphrey Bogart remains one of Hollywood's most enduring legends and one of the most beloved stars of all time. Bogart's appeal has grown almost exponentially in the years following his death, and his inimitable onscreen persona continues to cast a monumental shadow over the motion picture landscape. 

Stanley Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Vito Corleone in The Godfather (1972)

Marlon Brando was quite simply one of the most celebrated and influential screen and stage actors of the postwar era; he rewrote the rules of performing, and nothing was ever the same again. Brooding, lusty,  intense and a highly interpretive performance style  brought unforeseen dimensions of power and depth to the craft.

Pharaoh Rameses in The Ten Commandments (1956)

The King of Siam in The King and I (1956)

During his lifetime, it was hard to determine when and where actor Yul Brynner was born, simply because he changed the story in every interview; confronted with these discrepancies late in life, he replied "Ordinary mortals need but one birthday." At any rate, it appears that Brynner's mother was part Russian and his father part Swiss.

Tom Powers in The Public Enemy (1931)

Cody Jarrett in White Heat (1949) 

With his raspy voice, and staccato vocal inflections James Cagney was one of the brightest stars in American cinema history. The son of an Irish father and a Norwegian mother who lived and worked in New York's Lower Eastside, Cagney did a variety of odd jobs to help support his family, including working as a waiter, and a poolroom racker, and even a female impersonator in a Yorkville revue.

George Eastman in A Place in the Sun (1951)

Robert E. Lee Prewitt ("Prew") in From Here to Eternity (1953)

Along with Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift typified the emergence of a new breed of Hollywood star: Prodigiously talented, intense, and defiantly non-conformist, he refused to play by the usual rules of celebrity, actively shunning the spotlight and working solely according to his own whims and desires.

Father O'Malley in The Bells of St. Mary's (1945)

Bob Wallace in White Christmas (1954)

American actor/singer Bing Crosby acquired his nickname as a child in Washington State. As the legend goes, little Harry Lillis Crosby's favorite comic strip was "The Bingville Bungle," in which the leading character was called Bingo. Hence, the boy was "Bingo Crosby" until the "O" dropped out as he got older.

Josh Howard in Oceans Eleven (1960)

Recognized throughout much of his career as "the world's greatest living entertainer," Sammy Davis Jr. was a remarkably popular and versatile performer equally adept at acting, singing, dancing, and impersonations -- in short, a variety artist in the classic tradition. A member of the famed Rat Pack, he was among the very first African-American talents to find favor with audiences on both sides of the color barrier, and he remains a perennial icon of cool.

Jim in Rebel Without A Cause (1955)

In little more than a year's time and after appearing in only three feature films, James Byron Dean became one of the most admired screen stars of all time, achieving cult status and becoming an icon of American culture. The son of a dental technician, Dean was born in Marion, IN, an unprepossessing Midwestern burg that has since become a shrine to Dean aficionados.

Spartacus in Spartacus (1960)

Einar in The Vikings (1958)

Once quoted as saying "I've made a career of playing sons of bitches," Kirk Douglas is considered by many to be the epitome of the Hollywood hard man. In addition to acting in countless films over the course of his long career, Douglas has served as a director and producer.

Pop Wonder in Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962)

Known to friends, family and fans as "The Ol' Schnozzola" because of his Cyrano-sized nose, American entertainer Jimmy Durante was the youngest child of an immigrant Italian barber. Fed up with his schooling by the second grade, Durante dedicated himself to becoming a pianoplayer, performing in the usual dives, beer halls and public events

Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath (1940)

One of the cinema's most enduring actors, Henry Fonda enjoyed a highly successful career spanning close to a half century. Most often in association with director John Ford, he starred in many of the finest films of Hollywood's golden era. Born May 16, 1905, in Grand Island, NE, Fonda majored in journalism in college, and worked as an office boy before pursuing an interest in acting. 

Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind (1939)

The son of an Ohio oil driller and farmer, American actor Clark Gable had a relatively sedate youth until, at age 16, he was talked into traveling to Akron with a friend to work at a tire factory. It was in Akron that Gable saw his first stage play, and, from that point on, he was hooked. Although he was forced to work with his father on the oil fields for a time, Gable used a 300-dollar inheritance he'd gotten on his 21st birthday to launch a theatrical career.

Minnesota Fats in The Hustler (1961)

Rotund comedian-actor Jackie Gleason (born Herbert John Gleason) broke into show business at age 15 by winning an amateur-night contest and went on to perform in vaudeville, carnivals, nightclubs, and roadhouses. In 1940 he was signed to a film contract by Warner Bros., and he debuted onscreen in Navy Blues (1941). His career was interrupted by World War II, but at the war's end, Gleason returned to Hollywood, this time playing character roles in a number of films.

David Huxley in Bringing Up Baby (1938) 

Roger Thornhill in North by Northwest (1959)

British-born actor Cary Grant (born Archibald Leach) escaped his humble Bristol environs and unstable home life by joining an acrobatic troupe, where he became a stilt-walker. Numerous odd jobs kept him going until he tried acting, and, after moving to the United States, he managed to lose his accent, developing a clipped mid-Atlantic speaking style uniquely his own. 

Col. Nicholson in The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957) 

Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi in Star Wars (1977)

A member of a generation of British actors that included Sir Laurence Olivier and Ralph Richardson, Sir Alec Guinness possessed an astonishing versatility that was amply displayed over the course of his 66-year career. Guinness was a consummate performer, effortlessly portraying characters that ranged from eight members of the same family to an aging Jedi master.

Judah Ben-Hur inBen-Hur (1959)

George Taylor inPlanet of the Apes (1968) 

Steely jawed, hard bodied, terse in speech, Charlton Heston is an American man's man, an epic unto himself. While he has played modern men, he is at his best when portraying larger-than-life figures from world history, preferably with his shirt off. He was born John Charleton Carter on October 4, 1924.

Joe Gillis in Sunset Boulevard (1950)

David Larrabee in Sabrina (1954)

The son of a chemical analyst, American actor William Holden plunged into high school and junior college sports activities as a means of "proving himself" to his demanding father. Nonetheless, Holden's forte would be in what he'd always consider a "sissy" profession: acting. 

"Painless" Peter Potter in The Paleface (1948)

Larry Haines in My Favorite Blonde (1942)

It is hardly necessary to enumerate the accomplishments, patriotic services, charitable donations, awards, medals, and honorariums pertaining to Bob Hope, a man for whom the word "legend" seems somehow inadequate. Never mind that he was born in England; the entertainer unquestionably became an American institution. 

Hawkins in The Court Jester (1956)

Phil Davis in White Christmas (1954)

Inimitable, multi-talented entertainer Danny Kaye first gained fame on Broadway by upstaging the great Gertrude Lawrence in Lady in the Dark in 1941 with an unforgettable rendition of the "Tchaikovsky," in which he rapidly fired off the names of 54 Russian composers in 38 seconds. 

Don Lockwood inSingin' in the Rain (1952)

Along with Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly was the most successful song-and-dance man in film history, a towering figure in the development and enduring success of the movie musical. Born August 23, 1912, in Pittsburgh, PA, he initially studied economics, funding his education by working alternately as a soda jerk and a brick layer.

Sgt. Milton Warden in From Here to Eternity (1953)

Labiche in The Train (1964)

Rugged, athletic, and handsome, Burt Lancaster enjoyed phenomenal success from his first film, The Killers, to his last, Field of Dreams -- over a career spanning more than four decades. Boasting an impressively wide range, he delivered thoughtful, sensitive performances across a spectrum of genres.

Jerry (Daphne) in Some Like It Hot (1959)

Felix Ungar in The Odd Couple (1968)

A private school-educated everyman who could play outrageous comedy and wrenching tragedy, Jack Lemmon burst onto the movie scene as a 1950s Columbia contract player and remained a beloved star until his death in 2001. Whether through humor or pathos, he excelled at illuminating the struggles of average men against a callous world.

Prof. Julius Ferris Kelp and Buddy Love in The Nutty Professor (1963)

Cinderfella in Cinderfella (1960)

Perhaps no popular film artist in history inspired quite so many conflicting opinions and emotions as actor/comedian Jerry Lewis. Often reviled in his native United States but worshipped as a genius throughout much of Europe and especially France, Lewis took slapstick comedy to new realms of absurdity and outrageousness.

Joel Cairo in The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Ugarte in Casablanca (1943)

With the possible exception of Edward G. Robinson, no actor has so often been the target of impressionists as the inimitable Hungarian-born Peter Lorre. Leaving his family home at the age of 17, Lorre sought out work as an actor, toiling as a bank clerk during down periods.

Matt Helm in The Silencers (1966)

Michael Whiteacre in The Young Lions (1958)

Dean Martin found phenomenal success in almost every entertainment venue and, although suffering a few down times during his career, always managed to come out on top. During the '50s, he and partner Jerry Lewis formed one of the most popular comic film duos in filmdom. 

Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple (1968)

Willie Gingrich in The Fortune Cookie (1966) 

Specializing in playing shambling, cantankerous cynics, Walter Matthau, with his jowly features, slightly stooped posture, and seedy, rumpled demeanor, looked as if he would be more at home as a laborer or small-time insurance salesman than as a popular movie star equally adept at drama and comedy.

Frank Bullitt in Bullitt (1968)

The Cincinnati Kid in The Cincinnati Kid (1965)

Steve McQueen was the prototypical example of a new sort of movie star which emerged in the 1950s and would come to dominate the screen in the 1960s and '70s -- a cool, remote loner who knew how to use his fists without seeming like a run-of-the-mill tough guy, a thoughtful man in no way an effete intellectual, a rebel who played by his own rules.

Jeff Bailey in Out of the Past (1947)

Brigadier Gen. Norman Cota in The Longest Day (1962)

The day after 79-year-old Robert Mitchum succumbed to lung cancer, beloved actor James Stewart died, diverting all the press attention that was gearing up for Mitchum. So it has been for much of his career. Not that Mitchum wasn't one of Hollywood's most respected stars, he was.

"Fast" Eddie Felson in The Hustler (1961)

Luke Jackson in Cool Hand Luke (1967)

In a business where public scandal and bad-boy behavior are the rule rather than the exception, Paul Newman is as much a hero offscreen as on. A blue-eyed matinee idol whose career has successfully spanned five decades, he is also a prominent social activist, a major proponent of actors' creative rights, and a noted philanthropist.

Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

One of the postwar era's most successful actors, Gregory Peck was long the moral conscience of the silver screen; almost without exception, his performances embodied the virtues of strength, conviction, and intelligence so highly valued by American audiences. As the studios' iron grip on Hollywood began to loosen, he also emerged among the very first stars to declare his creative independence, working almost solely in movies of his own choosing.

Paul Varjak in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

Though actor George Peppard could have succeeded on his looks alone, he underwent extensive training before making his first TV and Broadway appearances. The son of a building contractor and a singer, Peppard studied acting at Carnegie Tech and the Actor's Studio. 

Virgil Tibbs in In the Heat of the Night (1967)

Mark Thackeray in To Sir, With Love (1967)

An actor, director, and producer, he forever altered the racial perceptions long held by both motion picture audiences and executives, rising to superstar status in an industry forever dominated on both sides of the camera by whites while becoming the first African-American ever to take home an Oscar for Best Actor.

Pacer Burton in Flaming Star (1960)

Lucky Jackson in Viva Las Vegas (1964) 

The only rock star ever to enjoy prolonged success on the silver screen, Elvis Presley was a phenomenon the likes of whom will never be seen again. His impact remains incalculable, and it could easily be argued that no figure of the postwar era exerted a greater or more far-reaching influence on popular culture.

Prof. Henry Jarrod in House of Wax (1953)

Lean, effete, and sinister, Vincent Price was among the movies' greatest villains as well as one of the horror genre's most beloved and enduring stars. Born May 27, 1911, in St. Louis, MO, Price graduated from Yale University, and later studied fine arts at the University of London.

George Gipp, the "Gipper" in Knute Rockne, All-American (1940)

Drake McHugh in Kings Row (1942)

It is a fairly safe assumption that if not for a career change which, ironically enough, took him out of the motion picture industry, Ronald Reagan would not rank among Hollywood's best-known stars; a genial if not highly skilled actor, he made few memorable films, and even then he rarely left much of a lasting impression.

Johnny Hooker/Kelly in The Sting (1973)

Roy Hobbs in The Natural (1984)

The rugged, dashingly handsome Robert Redford was among the biggest movie stars of the 1970s. While an increasingly rare onscreen presence in subsequent years, he remained a powerful motion-picture industry force as an Academy Award-winning director as well as a highly visible champion of American independent filmmaking.

Lieutenant John F. Kennedy in PT-109 (1963)

The scion of a prosperous California ranching family, actor Cliff Robertson took up drama in high school simply because it was the only "legal" way to cut classes. After wartime service, Robertson entered Ohio's Antioch College, beginning his professional career as a radio announcer. His first extensive stage work consisted of two years with the touring company of Mister Roberts. 

Caesar Enrico Bandello in Little Caesar (1930)

Johnny Rocco in Key Largo (1948)

Born Emmanuel Goldenberg, Robinson was a stocky, forceful, zesty star of Hollywood films who is best known for his roles as gangsters in the '30s. A "little giant" of the screen with a pug-dog face, drawling nasal voice, and a snarling expression, he is considered the quintessential tough-guy actor. 

Whitey Marsh in Boys Town (1938)

Henry Dailey in The Black Stallion (1979) 

A versatile American screen actor and former juvenile star who made up in energy what he lacked in height, Mickey Rooney was born Joe Yule Jr. on September 23, 1920, in Brooklyn, NY. The son of vaudevillians, Rooney first became a part of the family act when he was 15-months-old, and was eventually on-stage singing, dancing, mimicking, and telling jokes

Gen. George S. Patton, Jr. in Patton (1970)

Bert Gordon in The Hustler (1961)

One of the finest American actors of his generation, George C. Scott was born in Virginia and raised in Detroit. After serving in the Marines from 1945 to 1949, Scott was determined to become an actor. Though his truculent demeanor and raspy voice would seem to typecast him in unpleasant roles, Scott exhibited an astonishing range.

Quint in Jaws (1975)

Doyle Lonnegan in The Sting (1973)

Raised in Scotland and then Cornwall, Robert Shaw was drawn to acting and writing from his youth. Shaw trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. In 1949 he debuted onstage at the Shakespeare Memorial Theater at Stratford-on-Avon. From 1951 he appeared in British and (later) American films as a character actor, frequently playing heavies.

Angelo Maggio in From Here to Eternity (1953)

Danny Ocean in Ocean's Eleven (1960)

Whether he was called "The Voice," "Ol' Blue Eyes," or "The Chairman of the Board," Frank Sinatra's nicknames all conveyed the adulation and respect reserved for a man who was commonly thought of as the best American popular singer of the 20th century. Sinatra's voice, whether manifested in song or spoken word, caressed the ears of many a listener for more than 5 decades.

Jefferson Smith in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)

George Bailey in It's A Wonderful Life (1946)

James Stewart was the movies' quintessential Everyman, a uniquely all-American performer who parlayed his easygoing persona into one of the most successful and enduring careers in film history. On paper, he was anything but the typical Hollywood star: Gawky and tentative, with a pronounced stammer and a folksy "aw-shucks" charm.

Father Edward Flanagan in Boys Town (1938)

Henry Drummond in Inherit the Wind (1960)

Universally regarded among the screen's greatest actors, Spencer Tracy was a most unlikely leading man. Stocky, craggy-faced, and gruff, he could never be considered a matinee idol, yet few stars enjoyed greater or more consistent success.

Lieut. Col. Benjamin Vandervoort inThe Longest Day (1962)

Col. Mike Kirby in The Green Berets (1968)

Arguably the most popular -- and certainly the busiest -- movie leading man in Hollywood history, John Wayne entered the film business while working as a laborer on the Fox lot during summer vacations from U.S.C., which he attended on a football scholarship. At U.S.C he met and was befriended by director John Ford.

Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane (1941)

The most well-known filmmaker to the public this side of Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles was the classic example of the genius that burns bright early in life only to flicker and fade later. The prodigy son of an inventor and a musician, Welles was well-versed in literature at an early age.

Appearances in numerous comedy films, mostly in the 1930s-50s

Comedy film partners: Bud Abbott, originally William A Abbott, born in Asbury Park, NJ, and Lou Costello, originally Louis Francis Cristillo, born in Paterson, NJ. Both men had theatrical experience before teaming up as a comedy double act, Costello playing the clown and Abbott his straight man.

Appearances in numerous comedy films, mostly in the 1920s-50s

Together for three decades, they made more than 100 films, 27 of them features. They were slapstick clowns but with their own subtle variations on the theme of their basic characters. Hardy was fat, pretentious, and blustering; Laurel was bullied, confused, and emotional. Laurel, the creative mind behind the foolishness, outlived Hardy to accept a special Oscar in 1960.

Appearances in numerous comedy films, mostly in the 1930s-40s

When the four Marx Brothers became an overnight sensation on Broadway in I'll Say She Is in 1924, they had already spent 20 years in show business. Their uncle, character actor Al Shean (of Gallagher and Shean), helped them get started in the business, spurred on by their mother Minnie.

Appearances in numerous comedy shorts, mostly in the 1930s-40s

The American comedy team known as The Three Stooges came together in 1925. They were doing stooging for stage and vaudeville comedian Ted Healy. The team consisted of Healy's lifelong friend Moe Howard,  Moe's brother Shemp, and Larry Fine. After Shemp quit the group, he was replaced by younger brother Jerry. Healy made Jerry shave his head and change his name to Curly.