"When dawn spreads its paintbrush on the plain, spilling purple... ," Sons of the Pioneers theme for TV show "Wagon Train." Dawn on the mythic Santa Fe Trail, New Mexico, looking toward Raton from Cimarron. -- Clarkphoto. A curmudgeon artist's musings melding metaphors and journalism, for readers in more than 150 countries.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Best actor(ress)?

No more botox-broached lips,  and bogus bulbous ballooned boobs on bubbly blondes and brasry brunettes with fake tans, rented jewels and skimpy supposedly sexy gaudy gowns for me. (That  leaves out Nicole who is a redhead--sigh). I don't think any of these young cookie cutter look-a-likes who may be hot stuff  without wrinkles, can really act, without the help of special effects and poor plots. They rely on "beauty" and scandal and youth to cover an amazing lack of talent. I could give you a list, but why. Pick up a People magazine and it's full of them. Maybe I'll get a copy and run the names out just to irritate you.

We went to see "It's Complicated" last night, and it reaffirmed what I've thought about a long time...the best actress in the world in terms of talent, hard work, versatility and everything else, has to be Meryl Streep.

My red-headed (sigh) cousin Sarah Beth  told me it was great to watch actors who can act and who are roughly our age. Susan and I were talking on the way home about those greats.

Who would you put on the list of best American actresses and actors--who can act, and have wrinkles and are still living and wowing?

Here's our short list:

Actresses--Number 1--Streep. Others: Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon, Glenn Close, Bette Midler.

Actors:--Number 1--Clint Eastwood. Others: Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Morgan Freeman, Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Gene Hackman, Al Pacino, Robert deNiro, Robin Williams.

Every Streep move, gesture, look, word and nuance lifts acting to its highest art.

My vote for the actor is Eastwood because he also does so many things well. He has more competition than Streep, but he also lifts acting and directing to an incredibly emotional  experience.

So what do you think? Who do you think I left off? Want to argue?

2 comments:

  1. Terry Clark

    Welcome to Blog Oklahoma. I'm new also -- joined just last August.

    I've zipped through five (?) posts now and here I'll stop. For now.

    I enjoy your writing. It zips and glides and moves me along like I'm dancing at a Baptist church camp. It makes me feel young. It helps me remember dreams long forgotten.

    Like this one: When I was seven and went to the movies to see Viva Las Vegas I just knew that someday, I would marry Elvis. Alas, Pricilla beat me. And good thing, as it turned out. Sometimes dreams are better left as dreams.

    I am linking to you and maybe someday when I grow up I'll be a better writer.

    Janell

    ReplyDelete
  2. Janell,

    I'll return the favor...I hope to get better writing too, but I've decided against growing up--spent most of my life trying to do that--such a waste.

    Thanks for linking, and please become a follower.

    ReplyDelete

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