Jack Nicholson

Age: 74

Mark of the man: That shark grin, arched brows and distinctive drawl make him one of the best bets in Hollywood for anti-establishment heroes or characters with a streak of insanity. Think Batman or The Shining. It helps that the ‘weird’ factor has grown with age.

Best films: His two Academy Award-winning Best Actor roles — in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and As Good as It Gets. Then, Terms of Endearment, which won him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. There’s Chinatown, The Departed, The Bucket List, About Schmidt... the list goes on.

Recent film: How Do You Know (2010).

Did you know? Nicholson has been nominated for Oscars 12 times and has won thrice. He is tied with Walter Brennan for most wins by a male actor (three), and is second to Katharine Hepburn for most acting wins overall (four). Each of the films for which he has won an Oscar also won the Best Actress Oscars — Louise Fletcher (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest), Shirley MacLaine (Terms of Endearment) and Helen Hunt (As Good as It Gets).

T2 rating - 9/10

 

Peter O’Toole

Age: 78

Mark of the man: Striking good looks accentuated by blue eyes and a deep, smooth voice.

Best films: He was already an established stage actor in England before he shot to superstardom with Lawrence of Arabia, in which he played TE Lawrence and won his first Best Actor Oscar nomination. Other notable films include Goodbye, Mr Chips, The Ruling Class, The Stunt Man, My Favorite Year and Venus. Recently, he gave voice to the character of Anton Ego, the food critic in the award-winning animation film Ratatouille.
Recent films: O’Toole has three films lined up this year — Katherine of Alexandria (in post-production), Eldorado (the narrator) and Cristiada, where he plays Father Christopher. Last year he did Eager to Die.

Did you know? O’Toole has been nominated eight times for the Best Actor Oscar, but has never won it. He is one of only four actors to be nominated for an Oscar twice for playing the same character in two films. He played Henry II in Becket (1964) and in The Lion in Winter (1968).

T2 rating - 7/10

 

Christopher Plummer

Age: 81

Mark of the man: Classic Hollywood-hero handsome; just think Captain Georg von Trapp in The Sound of Music.

Best films: The Sound Of Music apart, his popular films are The Insider, Disney-Pixar’s 2009 multiple award-winner Up (he gave voice to Charles Muntz), The Last Station (he won his first Academy Award nomination for his portrayal of author Leo Tolstoy) and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, where he plays the title role.
Recent films: He has three releases this year — Priest (already out), Five Good Years (pre-production) and David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, where he plays Henrik Vanger (post-production).

Did you know? Plummer has won two Tony Awards: Best Actor (Musical) for the title role in Cyrano (1974) and Best Actor (Play) for playing John Barrymore in Barrymore (1997). He has also been nominated for four other Tonies: J.B., Othello, No Man’s Land, and King Lear. He and his daughter Amanda Plummer both received Emmy nominations in 2005. She won, he didn’t.

T2 rating - 6/10

 

Anthony Hopkins

Age: 73

Mark of the man: Icy blue eyes, perfectly modulated voice and that smile with a hint of steel — he’s the perfect charmer. Still.
Best films: If he did nothing else, he would still be remembered for playing cannibalistic serial killer Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs. It won him the Best Actor Academy Award and led to a sequel (Hannibal) and a prequel (Red Dragon). Notable performances include The Remains of the Day, Amistad, The Lion in Winter, Magic, Nixon and The Mask of Zorro.

Recent films: His latest release was Thor. He is also starring in Hemingway & Fuentes as Ernest Hemingway and in Vadim Perelman’s The Song of Names. He is there in Fernando Meirelles’s 360, slated for a 2012 release.

Did you know? Hopkins has portrayed two US Presidents: Richard Nixon in Nixon (1995), and John Quincy Adams in Amistad (1997) — with Oscar nominations for both performances. Though he is dyslexic, he remembers his scripts in great detail. He was deeply influenced by Richard Burton, and decided to study at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, from where he graduated in 1957. In 1965, he moved to London and joined the National Theatre, where Laurence Olivier spotted his talent.

T2 rating - 8/10

 

Ian McKellen

Age: 72

Mark of the man: A flawless, rich voice coupled with commanding screen presence — a legacy of his years on the Shakespearean stage.

Best films: McKellen played the wizard Gandalf in Peter Jackson’s epic rendition of the The Lord of the Rings trilogy — a role that’s overshadowed all his other work on screen and stage and won him an Oscar nomination. Other notable films include Gods and Monsters and Richard III.

Recent films: He is filming The Hobbit Part I and II. He has two films — The Curse of The Buxom Strumpet and Miss in Her Teens — lined up for 2012.

Did you know? In 1988, McKellen came out and announced he was gay. He became a founding member of Stonewall, one of UK’s most influential LGBT rights groups.

T2 rating - 7/10

 

Dustin Hoffman

Age: 73

Mark of the man: With a snarling, gruff voice this 5ft 5½in actor packs quite a punch and has a reputation for being difficult to work with.

Best films: College student Benjamin Braddock in The Graduate and autistic Raymond Babbitt in Rain Man (1988) have the biggest recall value — the second won him an Oscar — but he’s also starred in memorable films like Midnight Cowboy, Little Big Man, Lenny, All the President’s Men, Kramer vs. Kramer.... Has a yen for difficult roles — playing a crippled street hustler in Midnight Cowboy (1969) and an actor pretending to be a woman in Tootsie (1982).

Recent films: The just-released animation delight Kung Fu Panda 2 has Hoffman lending his voice to the wise Master Shifu. Two other films, Very Good Girls and The Song of Names, are in pre-production. He is also doing a TV series, Luck, where he plays a gambler. The serial is about the dark world of horse racing.

Did you know? Hoffman has won two Oscars, five Golden Globes, three BAFTAs, three Drama Desk Awards, a Genie Award and an Emmy Award. He began his acting career at the Pasadena Playhouse alongside Gene Hackman. After two years at the playhouse, Hackman headed for New York and Hoffman soon followed.

T2 rating - 8/10

 

Michael Caine

Age: 78

Mark of the man: A perfect gentleman with a perfect Cockney accent. And those thick-rimmed, oh-so-intelligent specs — perfect ’60s loverboy!

Best films: Sleuth, Alfie, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Harry Brown — with Caine, you’re spoilt for choice. Some would say that his roles in Hannah and Her Sisters and The
Cider House Rules — both Academy Award-winning performances —
are his best.

Recent films: He has completed Cars 2 where he gives voice to Finn McMissile. Journey 2: The Mysterious Island is in post-production, while he is filming The Dark Knight Rises. Two films, Henry 5 and Mr. Morgan’s Last Love, are in pre-production.

Did you know? His birth name is Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, a name he still uses outside showbiz. He adopted the name Caine on the advice of his agent. Caine is one of two actors — the other is Jack Nicholson — to be nominated for an Academy Award for acting in every decade from the 1960s to 2000s.

T2 rating - 8/10

 

Al Pacino

Age: 71

Mark of the man: Coal-black eyes, an intense gaze and that volcanic temperament on screen make this 5ft 7in actor perfect for on-the-edge roles — as seen in The Godfather trilogy, Scarface, Dick Tracy and Carlito’s Way.

Best films: A wealth of them — Serpico, The Godfather: Part II and I (in that order), Dog Day Afternoon, ...And Justice For All, Dick Tracy, Glengarry Glen Ross... but finally, it was Scent of a Woman that earned him his first Oscar.

Recent films: He has the lip-smacking title role in King Lear. Two films in pre-production are Hands of Stone and Gotti: Three Generations — slated for release in 2012 and 2013 respectively. This year will see him in The Son of No One, where he plays Detective Stanford.

Did you know? The charismatic actor once worked as an usher at Carnegie Hall. Early in his career, he had considered changing his name to Sonny Scott to avoid being typecast because of his Italian name. Apparently, Sonny was his childhood nickname. He won his first Oscar 21 years after his first nomination.

T2 rating - 9/10

 

Morgan Freeman

Age: 73

Mark of the man: The father figure — with his mellow voice and calm presence. Which is why he coolly slipped into the shoes of god in Bruce Almighty.

Best films: A raft of them — including Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus; all of them won Oscar nominations. He finally got the golden statuette for Million Dollar Baby. Want more? Watch Unforgiven, Se7en, Deep Impact, The Sum of All Fears and The Bucket List.

Recent films: Two — Dolphin Tale and Wish Wizard — are in post-production and slated for release in 2011. He is filming The Dark Knight Rises, which is due next year. The Third Act is in pre-production. He is the narrator for the 2011 film We the People.

Did you know? Freeman worked as a mechanic in the US Air Force and had also considered joining the air force to become a fighter pilot. He earned a private pilot’s licence at the age of 65. He co-owns Madidi, a fine dining restaurant, and Ground Zero, a blues club, in Mississippi.

T2 rating - 9/10

 

Clint Eastwood

Age: 81

Mark of the man: The original spaghetti western man — with his steely eyes, rasping voice and twin loaded holsters. While directing, he is known to simply say “okay” instead of “action” and “cut”.

Best films: He is known best for portraying inspector Harry Callahan in the Dirty Harry films. Also his ‘Man With No Name’ in Sergio Leone’s Dollars trilogy — A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. These films turned him into an icon of masculinity. As a director, he gave us gems like Unforgiven, Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby and Letters from Iwo Jima.

Recent films: He is currently directing and producing J. Edgar (in post-production). The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Josh Lucas, Naomi Watts and Judi Dench, among others.

Did you know? Along with Warren Beatty, Robert Redford, Mel Gibson, Richard Attenborough and Kevin Costner, he is an actor who has won the Best Director Oscar.
Eastwood scored for Mystic River, Grace Is Gone (2007) and Changeling, and did the original piano compositions for In the Line of Fire. He also wrote and performed the song heard when the credits roll in Gran Torino. The music in Grace Is Gone received two Golden Globe nominations. Eastwood was nominated for Best Original Score, while the song Grace Is Gone was nominated for Best Original Song.

T2 rating - 9/10

 

Woody allen

Age: 75

Mark of the man: This frail genius — sporting the same black glasses since the 1960s — looks like a professor but is the sex guru of Hollywood, directing one screwball comedy after another.

Best films: The film director, writer, actor, jazz musician, comedian and playwright is a three-time Oscar winner. His most celebrated films are Annie Hall, Manhattan, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Oscar for Penelope Cruz), Hannah and Her Sisters (Oscars for Michael Caine and Dianne Wiest), Bullets Over Broadway, Mighty Aphrodite, Interiors, Husbands and Wives, Crimes and Misdemeanors... the list is endless.

Recent films: He is writing the screenplay for Bop Decameron. His last film, Midnight in Paris, released this May.

Did you know? He has been nominated for an astounding 21 Oscars: 14 as screenwriter, six as director, and one as actor. He refuses to watch any of his movies once released. Allen plays the clarinet at a jazz club where the house rule is that he cannot be addressed by any member of the audience. If someone does speak to him, they are automatically thrown out.

T2 rating - 9/10

 

Robert Redford

Age: 74

Mark of the man: Fair hair, dashing screen presence, charming smile — he is the ultimate American heartthrob. But did you know that he is also a businessman, model, environmentalist and philanthropist?

Best films: After a few outings early on as the typical blonde male, Redford burst on to the scene with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969). It cemented his place in Hollywood and led to other classics like Jeremiah Johnson, The Candidate, The Sting, The Great Gatsby, Three Days of the Condor, All the President’s Men, Out of Africa, and of course, Indecent Proposal. As a director, he won an Oscar for Ordinary People (1980). His other ventures include A River Runs Through It, The Horse Whisperer and The Legend of Bagger Vance.

Recent films: This year he made a special appearance in Sean Hackett’s Homecoming. He will be seen as himself in two documentaries — Broadway: Beyond the Golden Age (2011) and Casting By (2012) .

Did you know? Robert Redford is the founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He also received a Lifetime Achievement Oscar in 2002. He dislikes watching his own films. The only film in which he was completely satisfied with his own performance was The Sting (1973).

T2 rating - 7/10