There are very few actors who have achieved what he has, he has won 3 Oscars and was nominated for 12 Oscars in all, more than any other male actor.
He has a great filmography, few have as good as him, when it comes to filmographies, with Nicholson it is as good as it gets (haha).
Jack ranks along the lines of other actors like Hoffman, DeNiro, Pacino, Voight, Hackman, etc... His film catalog is excellent and he is one of the greatest American actors ever. As far as acting chops, I'll take Gary Oldman and Daniel Lewis over any of them.
shareNicholson was one of the most bankable stars ever. How many of his movies made A LOT of money? Almost every one of them.
Is he the greatest actor ever? He's a serious contender that's for sure!
Shall we play a game?
I agree, greatest of all time with due respect to Messers Hopkins, Hoffman, De Niro, Pacino, Hanks and Day-Lewis.
shareI agree with you about Jack and he's one of the greatest of all time but I don't put much into awards because it has so much to do with back stage politics. I'm not saying Jack didn't deserve his oscars.
For example on the academy awards
Clooney, Roberts, Bullock and Pathrow all have oscars
Gary Oldman, Mickey Rourke, Glenn Close and Edward Norton don't
De Niro, Hackman and Pacino, maybe. It's arguable. Voigt? Definitely. But not Hoffman, he has too much of a versatile body of work in my opinion. Maybe in 20 years I will be able to put Lewis at the same scale, but Oldman is already losing it.
share"Mickey Rourke don't"
Hmmm.. you are kidding, right? I like Rourke and he is definitely a good actor. But oscar worthy? No way.
Far above Voight (Midnight Cowboy and Coming Home are the only good ones I can remember) and Nicholson has continued to be good longer than Pacino and DeNiro. He's my personal favourite.
There seems to be this constant online love for Gary Oldman. I like Gary Oldman, he's good and he deserves more acclaim. But surely there are plenty of actors in Oldman's category- Christopher Walken, Sam Rockewell, John Hurt, Brendan Gleeson, Billy Bob Thornton, John C. Reilly, David Thewlis, Peter Mullan, Timothy Spall. These are great character actors but they will never be in the same category as Nicholson, DeNiro and Pacino as those are movie stars and leading men with great dramatic chops.
Also anyone who said Mickey Rourke isn't Oscar worthy has never seen The Wrestler. Now that's a performance that is up there with Day Lewis' in There Will Be Flood for he best performance of the decade.
Nicolson is number 1.