Sir Daniel Day-Lewis:Is he the GOAT?

It almost feels uncomfortable to mention him given the revelations of the last few years, but I think any conversation of the best actors of the last 25 years or so has to include Kevin Spacey.

 

no,...he is great but not the best...

 

Every single actor in Glen Gary Glenross was a tour de force in the craft. Spacey might be a creep, but his acting chops are terrific.

 

Brando. Period.
He is acting, he changed acting and everyone who came after him.
When you look at the movies he made, he should have won at least 10 oscars.

 

Certainly he was a game changer but most of his career was very bad films.
Besides that he pretty much was Brando, same mannerisms, type of voice.. DDL was always different.

 

Brando was transformative as Vito Corleone. I can’t speak to much else that I’ve seen that has impressed me with him.

 

I don't think the Academy Award is the benchmark or reference point for assessing the pinnacle of film entertainment. I'm assuming we all can point to numerous examples from every category we felt were more deserving winners. Also, I feel many more actors were far more versatile than Lewis and more "likable" on screen (which I recognize is subjective as well, and some may not agree. But then again all these threads are subjective). But with entertainers, that subjective quality is important when thinking about the GOAT status. I'm not sure there is one, but I would rank others higher than him - Jimmy Stewart, Cary Grant, Paul Newman, Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, and more. And one of my favorites that I don't think gets enough credit for his body of work is Kevin Costner.

 

just happened to revisit My Left Foot last night and it holds up well. DDL is absolutely superb. as "tramsformative" as the above mentioned Brando/Corleone performance. better IMO. on my list, he is the GOAT ahead of Brando, Stewart, Grant, etc. and easily above any current/recent American actors.

 

I really like him. Most people haven't seen this early film (and many who have don't like it) but I think he's great in it.


Eversmile New Jersey (1989, Carlos Sorin)
An American dentist (Academy Award winner Daniel Day-Lewis) roams the Argentinian countryside on his motorcycle preaching the gospel of dental hygiene.

 

I thought he gave a very powerful performance in, Gangs Of New York (2002).

 

Yeah, it might have worked if he talked or acted remotely like anyone else in the film. He stuck out like a sore thumb the whole time and it was slightly bizarre. Didn't work for me. I like him a lot better when his character is serene and accepting of others, e.g., Age of Innocence, Unbearable Lightness of Being. Even though I vastly prefer the New York crime/gangster genre.

 

Jack Lemmon should definitely be considered in the top 10 greatest actors ever. His performance in The Great Race, both roles, was spectacular. Grumpy Old Men, Grumpier Old Men, The Apartment...the list goes on and on. One of my favorite actors of all time.

 

In the name of the father.

A fantastic film .

 

Trick question?

In art as in life, men (doomed and tragic) are only permitted to portray caricatures of masculinity in various forms.

Having said this, the closest any men of cinema have come to cracking the code are Fredric March, Spencer Tracy, and Lamberto Maggiorani.

 

Eh, in an acting fight Nicholas Cage would chew him up, along with all the scenery.

(Slight) kidding aside, I agree with others that for GOAT you have to have comedy chops as well as dramatic. Sean Penn has done both, along with Cary Grant (although his dramatic parts are his least.} I wonder what Peter Sellers could have achieved if he wasn't pigeon holed in comedy.

 

He brings to some of his roles a bit too much exaggeration, with There Will Be Blood and Gangs of New York particularly over-etched. Good, but not my cup of tea.

 

There is no single GOAT in any profession, but DDL is definitely among the best.

 

He's definitely in the conversation.

 

I saw that years ago and really liked it, thought he was very good.
Also piqued my interest in Patagonia.

 

I guess I got to ask: what actor had the most nominations? I feel that would be more telling than how many won.

 

He's definitely amongst the best ever, but a tendency to overact, plus poor comedic skill, make him not quite the greatest of them all.

I'd say Robert Duvall, Jeff Bridges, Frederick March, John Hurt, Christopher Plummer, Donald Sutherland, Michael Caine, Forrest Whittaker are all even better from the English speaking world. DDL's selection of roles is very good and he is also very handsome, which also garners him some extra credit, though still brilliant.

Interestingly, someone asked which male actors had most Oscar nominations, rather than wins, and ahead of DDL (with 6 nominations, incuding his three wins) are:

Jack Nicholson 12
Laurence Olivier 10
Paul Newman, Al Pacino and Spencer Tracy 9
Marlon Brando, Denzel Washington, Jack Lemmon and Peter O'Toole 8
Jeff Bridges, Richard Buron, Robert De Niro, Robert Duvall and Dustin Hoffman 7

Matching DDL with 6 are: Michael Caine, Leonard DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Anthony Hopkins and Paul Muni