50+ Leading Men

Hello, I just wanted to let you know that you left off one of the greatest actors of all time: Montgomery Clift, whose credits include: Red River, A Place in the Sun, From Here to Eternity, The Misfits and Judgement at Nuremberg; to just name a few.

I don't so much disagree with this list as see something that people rarely notice: why is it that there are no Asian males whatsoever?

African-Americans complain about Hollywood, but it looks like there is far more racism (in Hollywood) towards Asian males if we are to go by pure facts.

Many wonderful actors, but where is James Cagney? Certainly, he would (greatly!) surpass Mel Gibson in most critics' estimations.

And William Powell: I won't single out other actors to be replaced, but he was wonderful - and much moreso than several of those listed.

Well, this was fun :)

I think Jerry Lewis would fit the criteria quite nicely. During the early 60s he was a dominant box office force, got the girl and beat his enemies - albeit in a funny manner.

Denzel Washington
James Earl Jones
Antonio Banderas
Wil Smith
Samuel Jackson

Well, all 54 shown are great actors. Picking a number one is difficult but I have to go with Anthony Hopkins.

Brando is hands down the best since the early 50s; before that, anyone's guess & who knows?

Great list. Makes it obvious how difficult it is to win an Oscar when seeing these men.
Forget anyone? YES!
You omitted Gary Oldman, Ben Affleck, Christian Bale, Michael Douglas and more for Fassbender?
A breakthrough year for him, yes, but worthy of this list? Hmmmmm

where is jimmy cagney

Heinous omissions maybe not, but I need to single out
Edward Norton (nominated twice in the 1990s). Ralph Fiennes (appeared in 3 Oscar winners for best picture). Hmmm. WTH? Where's Harvey Keitel? I guess to please everyone the magazine would have to have added about 4 more pages to the current issue.

I cannot believe the results of this OMG i bet have the people voting don't even remember half of the actors mentioned how very sad.or worse yet never heard of them (:

Jack Lemmon was brilliant at subtle shifts between comedy and drama, often in a single roll. He and Shirley MacLaine did a lot to make "The Apartment" my favorite movie ever. Five other men on the list of fifty came close to my vote but I couldn't resist Jack.

You didn't include Rock Hudson? Rock Hudson? Michael Fassbender over Rock Hudson?
In his day Rock Hudson was HUGE!

One of my favorites is Edward G. Robinson.

For me, now and forever, it's Clark Gable.

Great list!

I must say two greatest actors are missing and deserve a shout out: LON CHANEY, SR. and PAUL MUNI- hands down!!!!!!!

Where is Tony Curtis? Rock Hudson? Peter Sellers? Gerard Depardieu? These are my fave leading men.

It's unfair to judge for just one. It would have been better to rank them 1st-5th by 20's-30's,40's-50's, 60's-70's,80's-90's and 2000 to present. This way each generation voting gets a fair break. That's my take.

John Payne

get some color up in here! only three out of the 50 were non-white!

Did I miss Bruce Willis?

Charles McGraw and Steve Cochran.

Don't forget that this is an LA Times poll and that all these leading men are Hollywood movie stars. The same monochromatic rainbow should show up for the top 50 Hollywood movie leading ladies. All cultures are racist to some extent, and the USA, being the world's most racist country at present and throughout recorded history, is no different. And, of course, the great irony here is that in its misguided attempts to exterminate racism, the US government merely intensifies it by requiring racial balance, diversity, quotas, etc., and asking on all federal forms what race the person filling out the form is. Why isn't that obvious to everyone? This is the biggest unanticipated consequence of what was intended to be a positive purposive action in American law, but it's turned out to be a negative because it perpetuates America's penchant and fixation on race, skin color, and other kinds of differences that shouldn't matter more than being human but, obviously do.

For the most part the list includes the best of the best, but surely a few of those listed could have been left off to make room for Charlton Heston, James Cagney and Edward G. Robinson. Heston starred in Ben Hur and The 10 Commandments, two of the biggest and best movies ever made.

ROBERT TAYLOR!

29 Cary Grant! Hands DOWN!

Liam Neeson???? HOT!

I take issue with Mr. Kim's comments. I do not see any Hispanic Americans in the list. I also do not see any Native Americans. Why is it when people try to make a point about race they try to make it with a back hand comment about Blacks to justify their racist POV.

Alan Rickman, Alan Rickman, Alan Rickman.

Sean Connery will always be the number one on my list!

Sessue Hayakawa was a Japanese and American Issei actor. His career stretched from silent films to talkies and was an Academy Award nominee for best supporting actor for the film Bridge over the River Kwai.

Notice that current results show Cary Grant #1 and Paul Newman #2. Newman should be #1. Cary Grant was charming, debonair, and had a great sense of humor, but it was hard to feature him getting down to business in the romance category. Newman had all of Grant's attributes plus the actual sexual dynamic. Newman was the greatest leading man.

Harrison Ford

Fail. No Bruce Campbell.

Where is Will Smith???? Are you nuts!!!

WOW! A great list of actors. All deserving to be on the list. But, where is Anthony Quinn and Montgomery Cliff? Many of our recent actors never played westerns, like many of the older or deceased who played most genre of movie rolls.

What about Gene Kelly?

WILLIAM POWELL!!!

Ryan Gosling? Really??

what bout Jimmy Stewart.

where is Warren Beatty?

Hello? How did Ryan Gosling make it and not Denzel Washington? What is this 50 White Leading Men? Yes, you got Sidney Poitier and Morgan Freeman. But if you can include RG, you can include Terence Howard or Don Cheadle or Omar Sharif, Raul Julia....

Didn't Matt Damon win an Oscar for his screenplay - Good Will Hunting?

How is Robert Downey Jr. not on this list?

I agree Gina. Montgomery Clift one of the best! I dont agree with this list. But of course!

A young Mickey Rourke? Christoper Reed? Elvis Presley?

He never had a serious role, but he was a mega-star: Elvis Presley

SPENCER TRACY

Robert Taylor, Toshiro Mifune, Montgomery Clift, Maximilian Schell...

Rudolph Valentino, Douglas Fairbanks Sr and Jr, Robert Donat, Jean-Pierre Aumont, Paul Henreid.

Come on people, don't write these fabulous heart throbs out of history.
If you don't know them, go watch them on Netflix or find them somewhere. Their appeal goes on into the 21st century.

As far as contemporaries go, I would add Javier Bardon to this list. Bruce Willis has an incredible body of work. YES Ryan Gosling Really??

You're missing Gene Kelly.....soooo handsome - and he could tap dance

Lew Ayres, Alan Rickman, Robert Donat, Robert Taylor, Jimmy Stewart...

Marlon Brando, James Dean, Clark Gable, and Humphrey Bogart!!
THATS FEW OF THE BEST
but also Sean Connery is amazing too