1. Lon Chaney
2. Boris Karloff
3. Bela Lugosi
4. Vincent Price
5. Christopher Lee
6. Peter Cushing
7. Anthony Hopkins
8. Donald Pleasance
9. Anthony Perkins
10. Elsa Lanchester
11. Linda Blair
12. Lon Chaney, Jr.
13. Colin Clive
14. Max Schreck
15. Janet Leigh
16. Peter Lorre
17. Robert Englund
18. Jack Nicholson
19. Jamie Lee Curtis
20. Heather O'Rourke
updated at 5:20 PM
6 comments:
1. Lower.
2. The all-time #1. Undisputed. Not having him as #1 negates the list.
3. Surely included here for his stellar work with Ed Wood. Poor, poor Bela.
6. Love him. My guru. Best Dr. Frankenstein ever.
7. Not really a horror icon.
11. Top 10! Not only the Wolf Man, but also played the Mummy, Dracula, Frankenstein, and was in an episode of the Monkees ("You ain't goin' no place!").
16. No doubt for his work as Willie in "V."
18. No doubt for her hot, hot, super hot performance in "True Lies."
19. One iconic role and she makes this list? No. The preacher from Poltergeist 2 comes closer.
20. No doubt for her work on the ABC sitcom "Just the 10 of Us."
Consider: Ingrid Pitt; Kane Hodder; Lind Blair (certainly before Heather O'Rourke); Dwight Frye; and Keanu Reeves, whose every screen performance is horrifying.
Chaney is #1 by far. Karloff is a solid #2.
I included Hopkins since Hannibal has become pretty iconic.
Chaney, Jr. maybe should have been Top 10, but I couldn't bump anyone else.
Heather O'Rourke has one of the creepiest and maybe most iconic horror scenes ever.
Linda Blair was a HUGE omission...my bad.
Added Linda Blair.
Karloff is #1. Originator of the iconic portrayal of Frankenstein's monster (with Jack Pierce). Originator of the first screen mummy. Originator of and the definitive portrayal of the Grinch. Not to mention literally dozens of others. Chaney, a strong #2, is best known for the Phantom (clearly his greatest), the Hunchback (which was later done in a more iconic performance by Charles Laughton), and the great missing film London After Midnight. He is a giant and the first great horror icon, but was outshone (as was everyone else) by the great Boris. There can be no arguement. Don't wait for the translation...change your dubious list now!!!
Chaney was/is the benchmark for all those who do weird things to themselves for the part...he was the first horror film star and remains the template. Chaney brought sympathy to horror roles while also scaring the heck out of people. He also was named one of the 100 Greatest Movie Stars of all-time by Entertainment Weekly; not that this makes him a sure thing, but he remains a standard for Hollywood, THE standard for the horror genre. You're free to disagree!
Well, it's not a bad list. Don't get me wrong...no one loves Chaney more than I do. It's just that Karloff is...Karloff. Other than that it's not a bad list for the layman. Ileave you with 4 classic words, spoken by Karloff in his star-making role as the monster:
"Love...dead....hate...living."
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