Famous old actors - are they really good actors?

Schwarzenegger, Silvester Stalone, Bruce Willis, Chuck Norris, Harrison Ford, Steven Seagal...

There are many debates, whether the old actors were good actors, or they have just picked the "right place and right time" to brake into the industry.
 
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I feel Harrison Ford is a bit out of place in that list - I'd consider Harrison a good actor. As for the rest of them... I'd consider them 'right place right time' people as you may say, none of them have particularly strong acting chops. They came around in the 80's as ripped action stars.

Though Stallone is fairly talented in some regards, we can't forget he wrote many of his films as well.
 
I'd say for the most part these guys are character actors - their 'character' just happens to be the 'leading man action hero' which makes them bigger stars than most character actors.

Ford is definitely more versatile than the rest, and probably the best actor of the bunch - at least until recently, he seems to have settled into something of a fixed persona in his recent roles. Willis & Stallone have both shown the ability to stretch beyond their typical characters, but they don't do it very often. As Beatlesfan mentioned, Stallone has also proven to be a fairly talented writer and director as well. Schwarzenegger, Norris and Seagal basically just play the same character in every role.
 
the "right place and right time" to brake into the industry.

The word you want is BREAK.


They are what they are - action stars. I do agree with Beatlesfan that Harrison Ford doesn't belong on your list; he's a pretty good actor. In my opinion Norris and Segal don't belong on the list; they just don't have the box office stature of the rest.

Willis and Schwarzenegger are both very smart, work very hard and carefully select their film vehicles; they don't try to do deep drama, instead staying with action and comedy films.

Like him or not, Stallone is unique - writer, producer, director in addition to being an actor - but he also does not stray far from his "roots."

30 years from now they'll be asking the same question about Dwayne Johnson and Vin Diesel and the rest of the current action/adventure film stars.
 
There are many debates, whether the old actors were good actors....

I'm not sure that those debates do occur. Most people consider them to not be the most talented actors. They're a product of their time, Schwarzenegger especially.

Willis has expanded his scope though; he didn't do too bad of a job in Sixth Sense, Sin City and Pulp Fiction.
 
I'm not sure that those debates do occur. Most people consider them to not be the most talented actors. They're a product of their time, Schwarzenegger especially.

Willis has expanded his scope though; he didn't do too bad of a job in Sixth Sense, Sin City and Pulp Fiction.

Willis did not start out as an action hero, hard to say he 'expanded his scope' in that sense. Check out 'blind date'
 
Personally, I have no opinion on Steven Seagal, but I do hate the movies he was in. Not because of his acting, but because those movies are all the same. If you watched one movie with Seagal, you don't need to watch the others.

Another question.
Are there really people in this world, who think Schwarzenegger is/was looking threatening in real life?
 
Personally, I have no opinion on Steven Seagal, but I do hate the movies he was in. Not because of his acting, but because those movies are all the same. If you watched one movie with Seagal, you don't need to watch the others.

Another question.
Are there really people in this world, who think Schwarzenegger is/was looking threatening in real life?

I disagree with this.. for one he was AWESOME in the onion movie as 'cockpuncher'

I also think that he did good work in his films directed by andrew davis
But it's all opinion. Certainly none of them featured amazing acting :lol:
 
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