Who was the defining actor and actress of each decade?

Leonardo DiCaprio for the 2010s.

Streisand and Redford for the 70s - without a doubt.

R2 What about Al Pacino?

Julia and Brad 90s and 2000s. Cary Grant and Bette Davis the 40s. Clark Gable and Joan Crawford the 30s. 50s Monroe, Liz Taylor and Brando. The 1960s Julie Andrews and Paul Newman. 70s Goldie Hawn and Burt Reynolds. 80s Arnie and Streep. 2010s till present RIP Movie Stars. Honourable mentions go to Audrey Hepburn, Clint Eastwood, Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, Sandra Bullock, Eddie Murphy, Judy Garland, Sidney Poitier, Brigitte Bardot John Travolta, Bill Murray, Katherine Hepburn, Will Smith and Doris Day.

Gene Hackman - 1986-1989, 1990-1999

He was in every movie - sometimes showing up on multiple screens at the same time.

Mary and Charlie in the 10’s.

What about NICHOLSON, R2?

Julie Andrews and Paul Newman for the 1960s? Lose Newman and use Sean Connery 007. I don’t think R4 was alive in the 60s.

70s - Fonda and Hoffman

80s - Streep and DeNiro

90s - Julia and Daniel Day Lewis

00s - today - Marvel and DC films

R9, substitute Pacino for Hoffman. Dustin became a star a decade earlier.

R8 Definitely Newman. Connery was mainly known for the James Bond series. Newman's films included Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Winning, Harper, Cool Hand Luke, The Hustler, Sweet Bird of Youth, The Prize, Winning, Exodus, Torn Curtain. He was consistently a top box office star and received 3 Oscar nominations for Best Actor in the 60s. He also directed Best Picture nominee Rachel, Rachel (1968)

1930s Kay Francis and Warren William

Streisand and Redford were big stars but I don’t think they were considered great actors.

For today … Cate Blanchett and Denzel Washington?

I struggle to differentiate anything this century because all the decades seem the same.

60s: Elizabeth Taylor Sidney Poitier

70s: Jane Fonda Jack Nicholson

80s: Meryl Streep Robert DeNiro

R11 I agree with what you say about Newman in the 60's but let's not forget that most of those roles would have gone to James Dean if he hadn't been killed.

Paul Newman was in several hit films of the 60s and 70s, but he did not define any era. Marilyn Monroe could be considered one who defined an era. Note she wasn’t the best actress of her era.

If Marlon Brando and James Dean defined the defiant American male as a sullen rebel, Paul Newman recreated him as a likable renegade, a strikingly handsome figure of animal high spirits and blue-eyed candor whose magnetism was almost impossible to resist, whether the character was Hud, Cool Hand Luke or Butch Cassidy.-IMDB

While he played similar system-bucking, troubled young men as such near contemporaries as Marlon Brando and James Dean, Newman's characters were often more humorous, introspective and self-assured. Newman's character's conflicts were often ironic and (intentionally) borderline-absurd-IMDB

Doesn’t count I know but I wish we had dick-pic of Mr Sheffield from the Nanny -I’ll just never be able to move on…

Faye Dunaway had a great run in the 70s, as good as Fonda or Streisand.

Diane Keaton and Glenda Jackson are also good choices for the 70s.

If we're talking 1970s-early 80s Jill Clayburgh had a good run. She starred in a few films which defined the 70s be it drama or comedy like An Unmarried Woman and Silver Streak. Real 70s vibe to her.

Doesn’t anyone know Sophia Loren? She and Audrey Hepburn had a real early 1960s trend setting thing, even though they were famous actors in the 1950s too.

For men of the same period, I go with Steve McQueen and Sidney Poitier.

2000s - Leonardo di Caprio and Kate Winslet

2010s - Denzel Washington and Cate Blanchett

2020s - Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya

Here is my list male and female

50s - Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor

60s - Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn

70s - Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway

80s - Tom Cruise and Sigourney Weaver

90s - Tom Cruise and Julia Roberts

00s - Will Smith and Meryl Streep

10s - Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence

10s- Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin 20s - Clara Bow and Rudolph Valentino

Leonora Braham and Richard Temple, the 1880s

Chip Fields

Elizabeth Taylor and Sidney Poitier for the 60s.

R24, thank you for including Sigourney. She’s always been interesting and talented. I wish Almodovar would do a feature with Meryl and Sigourney. There’s a lot of overlap with Yale and boys. It would be a gift to see them co-lead.

Kim Fields

Mrs. Fields?

Sally Fields

90s - Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan

90s - Sharon Stone

R24, Cary Grant retired in the early 1960s.

Brendad Ickson is timeless.

1960s. Liz Taylor and Sidney Poitier 1970s Jane Fonda and Al Pacino 1980s Robin Williams and Sally Field 1990s Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts 2000s Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie

Sorry for the bad format. I’m changing 200Os to Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock.

2010s. Leo and Jennifer Lawrence

Fonda had a better and longer run than Dunaway, Minnelli or Streisand between 1965-1986 during which time she received 7 Oscar nominations with 2 wins in films such as Cat Ballou, The Chase, Barefoot in the Park, Hurry Sundown, Barbarella, Klute, Julia Coming Home, California Suite, The China Syndrome, Nine to Five, On Golden Pond, Agnes of God, The Morning After (1986)

Fonda and Streisand worked with several of the same leading men: George Segal (Fun with Dick and Jane) James Caan (Comes a Horseman) Robert Redford (The Electric Horseman) Kris Kristofferson (Rollover) Yve Montand (Tout Va Bien) Jeff Bridges (The Morning After) Michael Sarrazin (They Shoot Horses, Don't They?)

Tom Hanks was a blockbuster titan in the '90s, starring in some of the decade's biggest film. I don't see how any other tops him, not even Tammy.

Theda Bara

From the 90s onwards, it was future Oscar winner and singing legend Jennifer Lopez and her partenaire in the greatest love story of all time, Ben Affleck.

There have been some people in show business before and after, but I don't think than anybody remembers them after the legendary success of This Is Me... Now.

R40 what about Harrison Ford? The Fugitive, Blade Runner, What Lies Beneath, Witness, Working Girl, Raiders of the Lost Ark, A Clear and Present Danger, Presumed Innocent, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Patriot Games, Air Force One, Star Wars Episode(s) V & IV . . .1980-2000

Helen Martin

R39, that doesn’t matter. Babs had em, people loved her shit from 1970-79. Fonda was the better actress in better films, but that didn’t matter to the masses. I know, I was there and paying attention. I personally prefer Broadway Barbra and her early films. So many of the posts here sound like from people who read it in a book or from their film class. NOT REAL LIFE people.

Now tonight I have the option of watching 1) Dog Day Afternoon, 2) Chinatown, or 3) Arthur, on cable at 8PM. I think it’ll be Chinatown.

Some people here don't know what decades are.

Sure, we do R46

Any period of ten years is a "decade". For example, the statement that "during his last decade, Mozart explored chromatic harmony to a degree rare at the time" merely refers to the last ten years of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's life without regard to which calendar years are encompassed. Also, 'the first decade' of a person's life begins on the day of their birth and ends at the end of their 10th year of life when they have their 10th birthday; the second decade of life

Liz Taylor's decade was 1956-1966 from Giant to Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? 2 Oscars/5 nominations.

Raintree County, Cleopatra, cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The V.I.P.s, BUtterfield 8, The Sandpiper, The Sandpiper,

Can someone explain the rules to r48? The 50s are one decade and the 60s are a separate decade. OP wants to know who from each decade. You don't get to make up your own decade.

Raintree County??? HA!

Jodie Sweetin

[Quote] Can someone explain the rules to [R48]? The 50s are one decade and the 60s are a separate decade. OP wants to know who from each decade. You don't get to make up your own decade.

WARNING: Karen is alive and well on DL

John Stamos