Greatest Film Characters of All-Time

Introduction

Greatest Film Characters: Criteria for Selection

What are the greatest or most memorable film roles or characters in the history of cinema? What criteria have been used to choose from the thousands of candidates? These selections are:

• unique, fully-realized character roles that made a strong cultural impact in feature films (either live-action or animated)
• award-winning, enduring, multi-dimensional and memorable characterizations
• iconic individuals highlighted with notable characteristics (often instantly recognizable), or with identifiable phrases or lines of dialogue and behaviors
• classic roles from both Hollywood's Golden Era and more recent roles, and some roles from non-English language films
• sometimes a pair or group of characters who often appeared in a long-running film series or franchise
• equally representative of heroes, anti-heroes, villains, heroines, super-heroes, killers, saints, as well as historical figures (non-fiction) and fictional individuals, and even a few monsters or creatures
• inclusive of a wide range of genres (biopics, horror, westerns, action, war, comedy, etc.) and some animated characters too

Some of these great character roles were:

• Career-making
• Dorothy (Judy Garland) in The Wizard of Oz (1939)
• Tom Powers (James Cagney) in Public Enemy (1931)
• Princess Ann (Audrey Hepburn) in Roman Holiday (1953)
• Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman) in The Graduate (1967)
• Inspired casting choices that brought Oscar-winning performances
  • Marty (Ernest Borgnine) in Marty (1955)
  • Cesira (Sophia Loren) in Two Women (1960, It.)
  • Annie Hall (Diane Keaton) in Annie Hall (1977)
  • Gen. Patton (George C. Scott) in Patton (1970)
• Responsible for typecasting an actor forever
  • Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi) in Dracula (1931)
  • Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) in Psycho (1960)
• Derived from the lives of real-life characters
  • T. E. Lawrence (Peter O'Toole) in Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
  • Sir William Wallace (Mel Gibson) in Braveheart (1995)
• Roles that summed up entire acting careers
  • Ethan Edwards (John Wayne) in The Searchers (1956)
  • Margo Channing (Bette Davis) in All About Eve (1950)
• Responsible for jump-starting a sagging or failing career
  • Mildred Pierce (Joan Crawford) in Mildred Pierce (1945)
  • Tracy Lord (Katharine Hepburn) in The Philadelphia Story (1940)
• Pairings or teamings of two performers who went on to repeat their roles
  • Nick and Nora Charles (William Powell and Myrna Loy) in The Thin Man films
  • or Astaire/Rogers in their many films together, such as Top Hat (1935)
• Often not the performers' best role or even very well-acted
  • The Sheik (Rudolph Valentino) in The Sheik (1925)
  • Tarzan (Johnny Weissmuller) in the Tarzan films
  • the Bandit (Burt Reynolds) in Smokey and the Bandit (1977)
  • Vivian Ward (Julia Roberts) in Pretty Woman (1990)

Filmsite doesn't believe in ranking one character against another, so they are organized here alphabetically by character name. Also, the list has more than a select number, such as 100, since this list should be inclusive, not exclusionary.

Additionally Recommended:

• Filmsite's 100 Greatest Film Stars of All-Time - a definitive look at the 100 greatest film stars (50 male, 50 female) of Hollywood legend
• Filmsite's Greatest Film Stars - Roles and Filmographies - starring (and definitive roles) for many of the greatest stars of the American cinema, including many lesser known actors and actresses
• AFI's Greatest Film Star Legends (50 total, 25 men and 25 women) in 1999
• AFI's Greatest Heroes and Villains in 2003
• 100 Best Female Character Roles in Movieline Magazine
• 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All-Time (April 2004 issue) in Premiere Magazine
• 100 Greatest Movie Performances of All-Time (April 2006 issue) in Premiere Magazine