That's generally true, Hustler. I do think Tommy Lee Jomes is a wonderful actor (and even in a more flamboyant role -- Clay Shaw in JFK he keeps it real and believable). For me, generally on screen less is more. Thus, I find to be among the best screen actors James Stewart, Humphrey Bogart, Robert Mitchum, Henry Fonda, Charles Boyer, Jeff Bridges, Michael Caine.Hustler wrote:I see your point. You like minimalists performances. The way Max Von Sydow performs, as well as Tommy Lee Jones, the first Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman among others, which means you don´t like Al Pacino or Jack Nicholson. am I right?
I was crazy for Jack Nicholson back in the day before he kind of lost control. The Last Detail and Reds are both beautiful performances, and he's also wonderful in Five Easy Pieces, Easy Rider, Carnal Knowledge, King of Marvin Gardens and Chinatown. I think he started to lose it around the time of Terms of Endearment. But I don't much like Pacino or Dustin Hoffman.
It's not a question of Method acting, because I love Brando and James Dean. And he was Group Theater rather than Actors Studio, but John Garfield was an amazing actor.
And besides Brando, there are some "larger than life" actors I greatly admire, including James Cagney, Peter O'Toole, Michel Simon, Edward G. Robinson, Kirk Douglas, Akim Tamiroff, Orson Welles and good ol' S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall.