Sunday, August 01, 2010

Part 1 in a 10 Part Series- The Best Actors Ever


First and foremost, it is Aug 1st, so Happy Shark Week...in the words of the ever poetic Tracy Jordan, "Live every week like it's shark week." A truer statement has never been spoken. I have, however, thought truer statements. I just don't want to upstage this comment.

Now to get down to business, discussing the Top 10 Actors of all time.

#10 Michael Oliver

At this point many of you are thinking, "Michael Oliver? Who the fuck is that? How can the #10 actor of all time be someone whose name I do not even know?"

You probably know him better by his birth name...Michael Oliverius. Still not ringing a bell, morons? Here's a photo:











This thespian who is known namely for his brilliant portrayal of "Junior" in 2 Problem Child movies (the series also spawned a third, made for TV movie which Oliver did not appear in for fear of diluting the character. And I just made that up) is without a doubt one of the Top 10 Actors of our time. Do they traditionally make a series of 3 films without a successful star at the helm for at least the first two? I'll give you some examples, with the actor's all time rating in parentheses:

Indiana Jones series featuring Harrison Ford (329)
The Matrix Series starring Keanu Reeves (12...sorry Keanu, not quite top 10 material)
The Land Before Time series starring Littlefoot (22)

Need any more proof? I thought not.

Oliver, classically trained in method acting as well as with Strasberg's techniques, owned the screen even when appearing along slightly more notorious actors like John Ritter (34), Michael Richards (19) and Jack Warden (456). Marlon Brando oftentimes would speak of Oliver's performances wistfully before he died, lamenting, "I wished I could have had half his (Oliver's) presence on the screen." Second truest statement ever spoken.

Oliver, like many others who know when to get out while at the top of their game, only appeared in a couple bit roles after the Problem Child films, and I for one think this would have to be due to the fact that playing these roles with such passion and vigor would be just too draining to continue at such a level. However, I could be writing this post about Top 5 all time Actor Michael Oliver had we at the very least gotten to see him reprise his role in Problem Child 3.

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