Greatest
Film Star Legends

Part 2



Greatest Film Star Legends
Introduction | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Nominees

AFI's 50 Greatest Film Star Legends
Actor or Actress
Definitive Screen Role Other Great Film Roles

#18 star
James Dean
(1931-1955)
Jim in Rebel Without A Cause (1955) Cal Trask in East of Eden (1955)
Jett Rink in Giant (1956)

#9 star
Marlene Dietrich
(1901-1992)
Lola Frohlich in The Blue Angel (1930) Amy Jolly in Morocco (1930)
Marie Kolverer / X27 in Dishonored (1931)
Helen Faraday in Blonde Venus (1932)
Shanghai Lily (Madeline) in Shanghai Express (1932)
Catherine II/Sophia Frederica in The Scarlet Empress (1934)
Concha Perez in The Devil is a Woman (1935)
Frenchy in Destry Rides Again (1939)
Cherry Malotte in The Spoilers (1942)
Lydia in Golden Earrings (1947)
Erika Von Schluetow in A Foreign Affair (1948)
Charlotte Inwood in Stage Fright (1950)
Altar Keane in Rancho Notorious (1952)
Christine Helm/Vole in Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
Tanya in Touch of Evil (1958)
Madame Bertholt in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

#17 star
Kirk Douglas
(1916-2020)
Spartacus in Spartacus (1960) Walter O'Neil in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)
Whit Sterling in Out of the Past (1947)
Noll "Dink" Turner in I Walk Alone (1948)
George Phipps in A Letter to Three Wives (1949)
Midge Kelly in Champion (1949)
Rick Martin in Young Man with a Horn (1950)
Charles 'Chuck' Tatum in Ace in the Hole (1951)
Detective James McLeod in Detective Story (1951)
Jim Deakins in The Big Sky (1952)
Jonathan Shields in The Bad and the Beautiful (1952)
Ned Land in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954)
Dempsey Rae in Man Without a Star (1955)
Vincent Van Gogh in Lust for Life (1956)
Dr. John 'Doc' Holliday in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957)
Colonel Dax in Paths of Glory (1957)
Einar in The Vikings (1958)
Marshal Matt Morgan in Last Train from Gun Hill (1959)
Brendan "Bren" O'Malley in The Last Sunset (1961)
John W. "Jack" Burns in Lonely Are the Brave (1962)
Col. Martin 'Jiggs' Casey in Seven Days in May (1964)
Commander Paul Eddington in In Harm's Way (1965)
Sen. William J. Tadlock in The Way West (1967)
Lomax in The War Wagon (1967)
Peter Sandza in The Fury (1978)
Adam in Saturn 3 (1980)
Capt. Matthew Yelland in The Final Countdown (1980)

#6 star
Henry Fonda
(1905-1982)
Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath (1940) Eddie Taylor in You Only Live Once (1937)
Preston Dillard in Jezebel (1938)
Peter Ames in The Mad Miss Manton (1938)
Gilbert Jones in Drums Along the Mohawk (1939)
Abraham Lincoln in Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)
Frank James in Jesse James (1939) and The Return of Frank James (1940)
Alexander Moore in Lillian Russell (1940)
Charles Pike in The Lady Eve (1941)
Prof. Tommy Turner in The Male Animal (1942)
Gil Carter in The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)
Wyatt Earp in My Darling Clementine (1946)
Peter Lapham in Daisy Kenyon (1947)
Lieut. Col. Owen Thursday in Fort Apache (1948)
Lieutenant Doug Roberts in Mister Roberts (1955)
Pierre Bezukhov in War and Peace (1956)
Manny Balestrero in The Wrong Man (1956)
Juror # 8 in 12 Angry Men (1957)
Morgan 'Morg' Hickman in The Tin Star (1957)
Clay Blaisedell in Warlock (1959)
Robert A. Leffingwell in Advise & Consent (1962)
Brig. Gen. Theodore Roosevelt Jr. in The Longest Day (1962)
The President in Fail-Safe (1964)
Frank Broderick in Sex and the Single Girl (1964)
Lt. Col. Daniel Kiley in Battle of the Bulge (1965)
Commissioner Anthony X. Russell in Madigan (1968)
John S. Bottomly in The Boston Strangler (1968)
Frank in Once Upon a Time in the West (1968, It.)
Henry Stamper in Sometimes a Great Notion (1971)
Jack Beauregard in My Name Is Nobody (1973)
Adm. Chester W. Nimitz in Midway (1976)
Dr. Walter Krim in The Swarm (1978)
Old Prospector in Wanda Nevada (1979)
Norman Thayer, Jr. in On Golden Pond (1981)

# 7 star
Clark Gable
(1901-1960)
Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind (1939) Ace Wilfong in A Free Soul (1931)
Nick in Night Nurse (1931)
Mark Whitney in Possessed (1931)
Jerry "Babe" Stewart in No Man of Her Own (1932)
Dennis Carson in Red Dust (1932)
Patch Gallagher in Dancing Lady (1933)
Eddie Hall in Hold Your Man (1933)
Peter Warne in It Happened One Night (1934)
Blackie Gallagher in Manhattan Melodrama (1934)
Jack Thornton in Call of the Wild (1935)
Captain Alan Gaskell in China Seas (1935)
Fletcher Christian in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
Van Stanhope in Wife vs. Secretary (1936)
Blackie Norton in San Francisco (1936)
Duke Bradley in Saratoga (1937)
Chris Hunter in Too Hot to Handle (1938)
Jim Lane in Test Pilot (1938)
Harry in Idiot's Delight (1939)
Big John McMasters in Boom Town (1940)
McKinley B. "Mac" Thompson in Comrade X (1940)
Verne in Strange Cargo (1940)
"Candy" Johnson in Honky Tonk (1941)
Victor Albee Norman in The Hucksters (1947)
Brigadier General K.C. 'Casey' Dennis in Command Decision (1948)
Mike Brannan in To Please a Lady (1950)
Devereaux Burke in Lone Star (1952)
Victor Marswell in Mogambo (1953)
Colonel Ben Allison in The Tall Men (1955)
Hamish Bond in Band of Angels (1957)
James Gannon / Gallagher in Teacher's Pet (1958)
Comm. "Rich" Richardson in Run Silent, Run Deep (1958)
Michael Hamilton in It Started in Naples (1960)
Gay Langland in The Misfits (1961)

#5 star
Greta Garbo
(1905-1990)
Marguerite Gautier in Camille (1936)
and
Ninotchka (Nina Ivanovna Yakushova) in Ninotchka (1939)
Elena in The Temptress (1926)
Felicitas von Kletzingk in Flesh and the Devil (1926)
Anna Karenina in Love (1927) and Anna Karenina (1935)
Tania Fedorova in The Mysterious Lady (1928)
Diana Merrick in A Woman of Affairs (1928)
Anna Christie in Anna Christie (1930)
Rita Cavallini in Romance (1930)
Mata Hari in Mata Hari (1931)
Grusinskaya in Grand Hotel (1932)
Queen Christina in Queen Christina (1933)
Karin Borg Blake/Katherine Borg in Two-Faced Woman (1941)

#25 star
Ava Gardner
(1922-1990)
Kitty Collins in The Killers (1946) Jean Ogilvie in The Hucksters (1947)
Venus in One Touch of Venus (1948)
Pandora Reynolds in Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951)
Julie LaVerne in Show Boat (1951)
Martha Ronda in Lone Star (1952)
Cordelia Cameron in Ride, Vaquero! (1953)
Eloise "Honey Bear" Kelly in Mogambo (1953)
Marie Vargas in The Barefoot Contessa (1954)
Victoria Jones in Bhowani Junction (1956)
Lady Brett Ashley in The Sun Also Rises (1957)
Moira Davidson in On The Beach (1959)
Maxine Faulk in The Night of the Iguana (1964)
Eleanor "Ellie" Holbrook in Seven Days in May (1964)
Remy Royce-Graff in Earthquake (1974)
Nicole Dressler in The Cassandra Crossing (1976)
Miss Logan in The Sentinel (1977)

#8 star
Judy Garland
(1922-1969)
Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz (1939)
and
Esther Blodgett (Vicki Lester) in A Star is Born (1954)
Betty Clayton in Broadway Melody of 1938 (1937)
Betsy Booth in Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938), Andy Hardy Meets Debutante (1940), and Life Begins for Andy Hardy (1941)
Patsy Barton in Babes in Arms (1939)
Mary Holden in Strike Up the Band (1940)
Susan Gallagher in Ziegfeld Girl (1941)
Penny Morris in Babes on Broadway (1941)
Jo Hayden in For Me and My Gal (1942)
Lily Mars in Presenting Lily Mars (1943)
Ginger Gray in Girl Crazy (1943)
Esther Smith in Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
Alice Maybery in The Clock (1945)
The Star in Ziegfeld Follies (1945)
Susan Harvey in The Harvey Girls (1946)
Hannah Brown in Easter Parade (1948)
Manuela in The Pirate (1948)
Veronica Fisher in In the Good Old Summertime (1949)
Jane Falbury in Summer Stock (1950)
Irene Hoffman in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

#17 star
Lillian Gish
(1893-1993)
Lucy Burrows (The Girl) in Broken Blossoms (1919)
and
Letty Mason in The Wind (1928)
The Young Mother in Judith of Bethulia (1914)
Elsie Stoneman in The Birth of a Nation (1915)
The Woman Who Rocks the Cradle in Intolerance (1916)
The Girl - Marie Stephenson in Hearts of the World (1918)
Susie May Trueheart in True Heart Susie (1919)
Anna Moore in Way Down East (1920)
Henriette Girard in Orphans of the Storm (1922)
Mimi in La Boheme (1926)
Hester Prynne in The Scarlet Letter (1926)
Pauli Arndt in The Enemy (1927)
Annie Laurie in Annie Laurie (1927)
Princess Alexandra in One Romantic Night (1930)
Alice Chalice in His Double Life (1933)
Laura Belle McCanles in Duel in the Sun (1946)
Mother Mary of Mercy in Portrait of Jennie (1948)
Victoria Inch in The Cobweb (1955)
Rachel Cooper in The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Mattilda Zachary in The Unforgiven (1960)
Sarah Webber in The Whales of August (1987)

#2 star
Cary Grant
(1904-1986)
David Huxley in Bringing Up Baby (1938)
and
Roger Thornhill in North by Northwest (1959)
Nick Townsend in Blonde Venus (1932)
Capt. Cummings in She Done Him Wrong (1933)
Jack Clayton in I'm No Angel (1933)
Malcolm Trevor in Born to Be Bad (1934)
Jimmy Monkley in Sylvia Scarlett (1935)
Jerry Warriner in The Awful Truth (1937)
George Kerby in Topper (1937)
Johnny Case in Holiday (1938)
Sgt. Cutter in Gunga Din (1939)
Geoff Carter in Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
Walter Burns in His Girl Friday (1940)
Nick Arden in My Favorite Wife (1940)
C.K. Dexter Haven in The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Roger Adams in Penny Serenade (1941)
Johnnie Aysgarth in Suspicion (1941)
Leopold Dilg in The Talk of the Town (1942)
Capt. Cassidy in Destination Tokyo (1943)
Mortimer Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
Ernie Mott in None But the Lonely Heart (1944)
Devlin in Notorious (1946)
Cole Porter in Night and Day (1946)
Dudley in The Bishop's Wife (1947)
Dick Nugent in The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947)
Jim Blandings in Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)
Captain Henri Rochard in I Was a Male War Bride (1949)
Dr. Barnaby Fulton in Monkey Business (1952)
John Robie in To Catch a Thief (1955)
Nickie Ferrante in An Affair to Remember (1957)
Philip Adams in Indiscreet (1958)
Tom Winters in Houseboat (1958)
Lt. Cmdr. Matt T. Sherman in Operation Petticoat (1959)
Philip Shayne in That Touch of Mink (1962)
Peter Joshua in Charade (1963)
Walter Christopher Eckland in Father Goose (1964)
Sir William Rutland in Walk Don't Run (1966)

#22 star
Jean Harlow
(1911-1937)
Vantine in Red Dust (1932) Helen in Hell's Angels (1930)
Ann Schuyler in Platinum Blonde (1931)
Gwen Allen in The Public Enemy (1931)
Blonde at Paradise Club in Scarface (1932)
Lillian Andrews Legendre in Red-Headed Woman (1932)
Lola Burns in Bombshell (1933)
Ruby Adams in Hold Your Man (1933)
Kitty Packard in Dinner at Eight (1933)
Dolly "China Doll" Portland in China Seas (1935)
Mona Leslie in Reckless (1935)
Gladys Benton in Libeled Lady (1936)
"Whitey" Wilson in Wife vs. Secretary (1936)
Carol Clayton in Saratoga (1937)

#19 star
Rita Hayworth
(1918-1987)
Gilda in Gilda (1946) Judy MacPherson in Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
Virginia Brush in The Strawberry Blonde (1941)
Sheila Winthrop in You'll Never Get Rich (1941)
Doña Sol in Blood and Sand (1941)
Sally Elliott in My Gal Sal (1942)
Maria Acuna in You Were Never Lovelier (1942)
Rusty Parker / Maribelle Hicks in Cover Girl (1944)
Rosalind Bruce in Tonight and Every Night (1945)
Terpsichore/ Kitty Pendleton in Down to Earth (1947)
Carmen in The Loves of Carmen (1948)
Elsa Barrister in The Lady From Shanghai (1948)
Sadie Thompson in Miss Sadie Thompson (1953)
Vera Simpson in Pal Joey (1957)
Ann Shankland in Separate Tables (1958)

#3 star
Audrey Hepburn
(1929-1993)
Princess Ann in Roman Holiday (1953) Sabrina Fairchild in Sabrina (1954)
Natasha Rostov in War and Peace (1956)
Jo Stockton in Funny Face (1957)
Ariane Chavasse in Love in the Afternoon (1957)
Sister Luke/Gabrielle Van Der Mal in The Nun's Story (1959)
Rachel Zachary in The Unforgiven (1960)
Holly Golightly (Lulamae Barnes) in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
Karen Wright in The Children's Hour (1961)
Regina "Reggie" Lampert in Charade (1963)
Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady (1964)
Nicole Bonnet in How to Steal a Million (1966)
Joanna Wallace in Two for the Road (1967)
Susy Hendrix in Wait Until Dark (1967)
Lady Marian in Robin and Marian (1976)
Elizabeth Roffe in Bloodline (1979)
Angela Niotes in They All Laughed (1981)
Hap in Always (1989)



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