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How many new actors appear in Hollywood every year? No one will tell you the exact number. One thing is certain, there are thousands of them. Most of them still remain “people from the crowd.”
Some, brightly lit up for a short time (having starred in one, two or three, more or less well-known films), suddenly disappear from the radar and cannot break into the Hollywood sky again.
But there are also such actors (actresses!), who won the recognition of the audience 30, 40 or more years ago, and are still not going to lose it.
Yes, they are aging before our eyes (someone faster, some very slowly, as if deceiving time itself), of course, they are no longer given romantic roles, but on the other hand, they take on any other roles very willingly (and even on purpose prescribe some characters personally for these talented and incredibly charismatic older gentlemen).
Let’s remember 10 “age” actors who still have not lost their former charm and talent, who continue to actively act in excellent films.
10 Ian McKellen
British actor Ian McKellen will turn 80 this May. We all know him well, as the wizard Gandalf the Gray from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, as well as the supervillain Magneto from X-Men.
In fact, McKellen has been acting in films since the late 1960s. (And in the 1970s, he played the entire Shakespearean repertoire as a theater actor).
But fame finally came to him only in 1995, when Ian McKellen received his first major role – Richard III in the film of the same name.
And after 3 years (in 1998) he was nominated for an Oscar for the superbly played role of director James Weil in the drama Gods and Monsters. By the way, the actor was nominated for this award for the second time in 2 (just for the role of Gandalf).
McKellen is currently filming Bill Condon’s drama The Good Liar and the musical Cats (both due out this year).
9. Clint Eastwood
“The Eternal Cowboy” Clint Eastwood wrinkles even to the face. The film actor, director, composer and four-time Oscar winner (in the Best Director and Best Film of the Year nominations) will turn 89 (!) years old in May.
But he is still cheerful, resolute and full of grandiose plans for the future. His film career began in 1955 (with a small role in the film “Revenge of the Creature”), and real fame came in the 1960s – after the release of the films “A Fistful of Dollars”, “The Good, the Bad, the Ugly”, “California Gold”, etc. .d., where Eastwood perfectly fit into the image of a laconic, but brave hero of the Wild West.
In the past (2018) year, he became the director and producer of the films “Train to Paris” and “Drug Courier” (in the second of them he played a major role). By the way, do you know that from 1986 to 1988. Clint Eastwood was even the mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea (in California)?
8. Tommy Lee Jones
Actor and director Tommy Lee Jones is 72. Most often, he got the role of laconic, unflappable and wise sheriffs, special agents, etc.
Although, in fact, he feels great both in comedy films (“Men in Black”) and in the role of villains (“Under Siege”, “Batman Forever”).
Jones’ career began in 1970 with a small role in the film Love Story. And in the 1990s, he was already literally “snapped up” by directors and received some of the highest fees in Hollywood.
In 1992, Jones was nominated for an Oscar for the first time (he has 4 nominations in total) for his role as banker Clay Shaw in the film J. F. Kennedy. Shots in Dallas.
And in 1994, he received this coveted award (for the role of Samuel Gerard in The Fugitive). In 2016, Tommy Lee Jones starred in the action movie “Jason Bourne”, in 2017 – in the comedy “It’s Just Getting Started” (with Morgan Freeman and Rene Russo), and this year the fantastic film “Ad Astra” is due to be released, where the main Starring Tommy Lee Jones and Brad Pitt.
7. Morgan Freeman
One of the “oldest” African-American Hollywood actors is 81 years old.
The young Morgan Freeman became quite famous in the early 1970s, starring in the television series The Electric Company.
He received his first film role in 1971 (in the film “Who Said I Can’t Walk on a Rainbow?”). Since the late 1980s, Freeman has been a highly sought-after actor. He has 4 Oscar nominations (the first – in 1988 – for the role of Fast Black in the film “Street Guy”) and one received an Oscar (for the excellent performance of the old boxer Eddie Dupree in “Baby on million” – the film of 2004).
Now Morgan Freeman is still actively removed. For example, in 2017 he robbed a bank in the comedy Leaving Beautifully, and in 2018 he played Drosselmeyer (Clara’s godmother) in The Nutcracker and the Four Kingdoms. In addition, Freeman often voices cartoons and documentaries.
6. Al Pacino
Al Pacino, an unflappable Italian with a bright charisma of a negative hero, will already be 79 in April. But he still looks great for his age (hmm … maybe he really has some joint affairs with the devil, whose role he played once, in the 1997 film The Devil’s Advocate).
Alfredo James Pacino was determined to become an actor in the early 1960s. But he received his first small role only in 1969 (in the film “I, Natalie”).
But in 1972, he managed to interest Francis F. Coppola himself at the screen tests and prove to everyone that he is really an excellent actor by playing Michael Corleone in the first “Godfather”.
After that, Al Pacino’s career had both sharp downs and sudden ups, but, in any case, he forever inscribed his name in Hollywood history with roles in films such as Scarface, Scent of a Woman, The Merchant of Venice. etc.
Quentin Tarantino’s thriller Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Scorsese’s drama The Irishman starring Al Pacino will be released this year.
5. Harrison Ford
The world-famous Indiana Jones and Han Solo (“in the world” – the American actor Harrison Ford) are already quite a few years old – 76. And somehow it is already very noticeable that it is difficult for him to chase ancient artifacts and “steer” a starship. Nevertheless, Ford is very actively removed (often in rather brutal roles).
And it all started back in 1964, when he signed his first contract with Columbia Pictures and immediately fell into a long streak of failure. For a long 9 years, Ford could not get any significant roles. And he almost went crazy, leaving the acting profession and becoming a carpenter.
But in 1973, George Lucas invited him to the role of Bob Felfa in American Graffiti, and in 1977 (by the grace of the same Lucas), the world first learned about the space smuggler Han Solo. And Ford’s career took off.
Well, since 1981, after the release of the first Indiana Jones, Harrison Ford has become one of the most sought-after actors. In 2017, we could see him as an aged Rick Deckard in Blade Runner 2, and Indiana Jones 2021 is expected to be released in 5.
4. Jeff Bridges
“The Big Lebowski” Jeffrey Leon Bridges turned 69 a couple of months ago, but he’s still great. Bridges, unlike Al Pacino and Harrison Ford, practically did not know failures or stagnation in his career (and not thanks to his famous father, Lloyd Bridges, but only due to his own talent).
Already the first serious role (in the 1971 film The Last Picture Show) brought Jeff Bridges an Oscar nomination. He has 6 of them (!), Plus one win for the lead role in Crazy Heart (2009).
This actor is equally good at both comedic and dramatic roles. Not only that, Bridges is an artist, photographer and musician. His paintings and photographs can be seen in famous US galleries.
And in 2000 he released an album of his own songs “Be Here Soon”. In 2017, we saw him in the spy comedy Kingsman: The Golden Ring and the drama A Case of the Brave, and in 2018 in the thriller Bad Times at the El Royale.
3. Samuel L. Jackson
Charming and brutal Samuel Leroy Jackson (seems to be simply created to play the role of smart, treacherous and reckless villains) is one of the most beloved actors of Quentin Tarantino.
In his solid 70s, he looks (and, apparently, feels) better than at 40.
Jackson played his first role in 1972 in the film Together Forever. Then, for several years, his career almost did not move from a dead center, until Jackson was taken on bail by Morgan Freeman.
In the early 1980s, Spike Lee noticed the actor and began to invite him to his films. But Jackson periodically “dropped out” of the acting schedule, getting hooked on cocaine and getting into rehabilitation clinics.
The real finest hour happened for him in 1994 – after the release of Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. For the role of gangster Jules Winnfield, Jackson was nominated for an Oscar.
All in all, in the filmography of Samuel L. Jackson – more than 120 (!) Roles. He is without a doubt one of the most recognizable African American actors. In the near future, we will see him more than once as Nick Fury in films based on Marvel comics.
2. Robert DeNiro
In 2015, Rolling Stone magazine named De Niro one of the greatest actors of all time. The 75-year-old twice Oscar winner (and 4-time Oscar nominee) needs little introduction.
His career began in 1963 with Brian de Palma’s The Wedding Party. For two-thirds of his career, Robert de Niro played mostly “tough guys” – gangsters, mafiosi, soldiers with post-traumatic stress, etc.
He even received both of his Oscars for such roles (Vito Corleone from The Godfather 2 and Raging Bull by Jake La Motta). And critics loved De Niro very much for the HOW he embodied these characters on the screen (almost on the verge of a nervous breakdown).
But in his 6s, the actor, apparently, got tired of frowning his eyebrows menacingly in every film, and he began to choose roles in which you can laugh at his former image.
Now he rarely receives laudatory reviews, but completely “comes off” in comedies. In 2018, we could see him in the family comedy The War with Grandpa.
1. Bruce Willis
Die Hard John McClain and badass taxi driver Corben Dallas of The Fifth Element will turn ‘only’ 64 in March.
In his latest films, Bruce Willis (oh, that slightly crooked grin of his!) is still as cool as he was 30 years ago. True, he no longer personally crushes the enemy’s jaws to the right and left, but gives a chance to prove himself to “younger comrades”, encouraging them with wise advice and jokes-jokes. But, if necessary, he enters into battle and puts an end to the protracted “showdown”.
Willis’ career began, in fact, with the series “Moonlight Detective Agency”, for the role in which he was automatically “identified” as a comedian.
But it soon turned out that he was able to play both action films and serious dramas. And yet, for most of us, Bruce Willis is a brutal man with a great sense of humor, who knows how to skillfully handle a pistol (and many other types of firearms).
In 2018, 4 militants with his participation came out at once: Acts of Violence, Death Wish, Reprisal and Unbending Spirit. And this year, the superhero thriller “Glass” is expected (a continuation of the events of the movie “Split”).