Top 10 Film Noir Actors

[@steveabel7066]

My top ten, in no particular order: Humphrey Bogart, Robert Mitchum, Burt Lancaster, Dana Andrews, Richard Conte, John Payne, Robert Ryan, Richard Widmark, Dan Duryea, and Edward G. Robinson... Hard (virtually unthinkable) to leave out Orson Welles, John Garfield, and Sterling Hayden, for instance, but I had to get the somewhat lesser-known Andrews, Conte, and Payne in there. And those "secondary" character actors like Charles McGraw, Neville Brand, and William Bendix! While we're a it - Actresses: Barbara Stanwyck, Gloria Grahame, Audrey Totter, Claire Trevor, Lisabeth Scott, Joan Bennett, Ida Lupino, Lauren Bacall, Gene Tierney, and Ava Gardner... no, Marie Windsor... no, Rita Hayworth. (Obviously, I can't decide!) Veronica Lake, Shelley Winters, and Ella Raines both made quite a few noirs, so they absolutely deserve mention, but they're not among my very favorites. Obviously there are any number of other actors and actresses who had good, great, or even brilliant performances in noir films. It would be interesting to see lists for directors and cinematographers as well. There are any number of great (fantastic!) noir cinematographers (John Alton perhaps being the prototype), and the visual aspect of noir is SUCH an important (and exciting) element. To mention just a few directors, I'd have to go with Orson Welles, Anthony Mann, Robert Siodmak, Alfred Hitchcock (though he transcended the genre perhaps more than any other), Billy Wilder, and Fritz Lang. I'm not sure if Ida Lupino was or was not in quite the same league as those, but she gets a well-deserved honorable mention. Ultimately, these kinds of lists are kind of fun, but also reductive and silly since movie magic doesn't happen by mere numbers. I mean, Fred MacMurray in Double Indemnity, come on!

[@cellmate1]

No mention of Victor Mature?

[@eurolicious1]

Really great video!!

[@adriancutner4814]

How in the HELL can anyone construct a list such as this without having Humphrey Bogart on; and quite frankly as number one? Bogart was THE number one star in the films of the 1940s.

[@eurolicious1]

I’m not sure I can agree with your ranking but great work!!

[@holydiver73]

No Glenn Ford, No Dana Andrew’s, No John Garfield. Tut, Tut

[@randykirkland3927]

Gene Tierney in “ Leave Her To Heaven”

[@arnepianocanada]

I'd love to see your list like this for actresses

[@michelleyoung731]

Where is Bogart ??

[@danyw93]

No Burt Lancaster (The Killers, Brute Force, Criss Cross I Walk Alone); no James Cagney (Angels with dirty faces, The public enemy, White heat, The roaring Twenties); no Kirk Douglas (Ace in the Hole, Champion, I Walk Alone, Detective Story), or worst, no ORSON WELLES (The Lady from Shanghai, Touch of Evil, The Stranger, The Third Man, Mr. Arkadin, Journey into Fear, Compulsion, Man in the Shadow) or Humphrey Bogart (The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon, Key Largo, In a Lonely Place)????

[@pamelac.carter3071]

How on earth can you have a list like this without Humphrey Bogart? Where is John Garfield, James Stewart? List is very personal!

[@eurolicious1]

How is EGR lower than Donlevy

[@lb718]

Yes, Robert Ryan belongs high on that list. But Dana Andrews should be in the top five. John Garfield, Dan Duryea! Don't forget Lawrence Tierney, Van Johnson, Peter lorre,. Of course, Humphey Bogart., Robert Mitchem and a very young Kirk Douglas.

[@williamarnold9583]

Next time do 20. No John Payne, either? Thanks for....NOTHIN!

[@audreydaleski1067]

Stanwick!

[@danielstanwyck2812]

i love her too, but she ain't no actor

[@charlesiragui2473]

This is a personal, interesting take on male leads that gives credit to less known actors. As others have said, this is not really an objective list of the icons of Film Noir. Alan Ladd as #1 is particularly idiosyncratic. Bogart has to be #1 and probably Lancaster #2 but does anyone really need to be told that?

[@dennislalka8027]

No way terrible list....John Garfield should be on this list! Wake up!

[@robertoledesma2127]

POR FIN LES HAN HECHO JUSTICIA A DAN DURYEA Y A ALAN LADD !!!!!!!!....ESOS PUESTOS LOS TIENE BIEN MERECIDOS SUS TRABAJOS Y LEGADO, ADEMÁS QUE ESTÁ AHÍ TAMBIÉN VERÓNICA LAKE, BRAVOOOO !!!!!!!!

[@dennisgeorge3238]

This list is bogus!!!!! Where is John Garfield...much better then some of the actors you have on this list!! All good be Garfield is better!!!!!!