Judging purely by their work in film, I think that's about right. Seymour-Hoffman in Capote outweighs most of McKellan's major roles, and Sir Ian was a theatre actor for the most part, so most of his greatness lies there.

Sadly I must agree

I agree with Chaplin's influence, but Pacino is more greater than Chaplin. He has more memorable roles and acclaimed performances.

Erm...City Lights, The Gold Rush, Modern Times, Limelight, The Great Dictator, etc? Either way, your argument is invalid. One can easily find that Chaplin's role in, say, The Great Dictator more memorable than Pacino in, say, The Godfather Part II. Memorability isn't a criterion. Also, I think both have about the same number of acclaimed performances. I'd say the City Lights performance is just about as acclaimed as Pacino's Godfather 2 performance. Plus, Chaplin easily beats Pacino in influence, while acclaim is very close.

Great performances, of course. But I think Pacino is more acclaimed actor.

Prove it.

Good list.

Oh that's right I did that thing. I agree with most of what people said here. Hanks is too low for sure, DDL could probably drop a few spots. Not out of the top 15 though.

Anyone else agree that Deniro's performance in Taxi Driver is far better than his one in Raging Bull?

I can't express in words how much I don't think that.

This list must be updated on the site. Much better.

“Greatness” is based on reputation (volume of acclaimed performances) and influence.

What’s included: Feature films, short films, silent and voice acting.
What’s not included: Stage and television work.

1. Marlon Brando (On the Waterfront)
2. Charlie Chaplin (City Lights)
3. Robert De Niro (Raging Bull)
4. Al Pacino (The Godfather: Part II)
5. Laurence Olivier (Hamlet)
6. James Stewart (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington)
7. Jack Nicholson (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest)
8. Dustin Hoffman (Rain Man)
9. Peter O’Toole (Lawrence of Arabia)
10. Toshiro Mifune (Yojimbo)
11. Alec Guinness (The Bridge on the River Kwai)
12. Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood)
13. Humphrey Bogart (Casablanca)
14. Paul Newman (Cool Hand Luke)
15. Buster Keaton (The General)
16. Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump)
17. Gregory Peck (To Kill a Mockingbird)
18. Henry Fonda (The Grapes of Wrath)
19. Sidney Poitier (In the Heat of the Night)
20. William Holden (Stalag 17)
21. Richard Burton (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?)
22. George C. Scott (Patton)
23. Anthony Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs)
24. Peter Sellers (Dr. Strangelove)
25. Jack Lemmon (The Apartment)
26. Orson Welles (Citizen Kane)
27. Spencer Tracy (Adam’s Rib)
28. Burt Lancaster (Sweet Smell of Success)
29. Marcello Mastroianni (8½)
30. Robert Mitchum (The Night of the Hunter)
31. Gene Hackman (The French Connection)
32. Sean Penn (Mystic River)
33. Gary Cooper (High Noon)
34. James Cagney (White Heat)
35. James Dean (Rebel Without a Cause)
36. Michael Caine (Sleuth)
37. Denzel Washington (Malcolm X)
38. Montgomery Clift (Red River)
39. Klaus Kinski (Aguirre: The Wrath of God)
40. Morgan Freeman (The Shawshank Redemption)
41. Clint Eastwood (Unforgiven)
42. John Wayne (The Searchers)
43. Cary Grant (North by Northwest)
44. Max Von Sydow (The Seventh Seal)
45. Peter Lorre (M)
46. Groucho Marx (Duck Soup)
47. Takashi Shimura (Ikiru)
48. Bill Murray (Groundhog Day)
49. Clark Gable (It Happened One Night)
50. Woody Allen (Annie Hall)
51. Gary Oldman (Sid and Nancy)
52. Robert Redford (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid)
53. Johnny Depp (Ed Wood)
54. Sean Connery (The Untouchables)
55. Tony Curtis (Some Like It Hot)
56. Dennis Hopper (Blue Velvet)
57. Tony Leung (In the Mood for Love)
58. Liam Neeson (Schindler’s List)
59. Gerard Depardieu (Jean de Florette)
60. Charles Laughton (Mutiny on the Bounty)
61. Christopher Walken (The Deer Hunter)
62. Harold Lloyd (Safety Last)
63. Anthony Perkins (Psycho)
64. Ben Kingsley (Gandhi)
65. Jean-Paul Belmondo (Breathless)
66. Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote)
67. Kirk Douglas (Spartacus)
68. Russell Crowe (A Beautiful Mind)
69. Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange)
70. Robert Duvall (The Great Santini)
71. James Mason (A Star is Born)
72. Erich von Stroheim (La Grande Illusion)
73. Gene Wilder (Young Frankenstein)
74. Rod Steiger (The Pawnbroker)
75. Jon Voight (Coming Home)
76. Leonardo DiCaprio (The Aviator)
77. Charlton Heston (Ben-Hur)
78. Richard Dreyfuss (Jaws)
79. Anthony Quinn (Zorba the Greek)
80. Kevin Spacey (American Beauty)
81. Richard Harris (Camelot)
82. Steve McQueen (The Great Escape)
83. Chow Yun-fat (The Killer)
84. John Cazale (Dog Day Afternoon)
85. Edward Norton (American History X)
86. Jeremy Irons (Reversal of Fortune)
87. Tommy Lee Jones (The Fugitive)
88. Ian McKellen (Gods and Monsters)
89. Fredric March (The Best Years of Our Lives)
90. Harvey Keitel (Bad Lieutenant)
91. Kenneth Branagh (Henry V)
92. James Earl Jones (The Great White Hope)
93. Jacques Tati (Mon Oncle)
94. Vincent Price (Witchfinder General)
95. Christopher Lee (Horror of Dracula)
96. Ray Milland (The Lost Weekend)
97. Paul Winfield (Sounder)
98. Ernest Borgnine (The Wild Bunch)
99. Lee Marvin (Point Blank)
100. Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain)

I was wondering if Cruise and Pitt may be part of this list.
And DeNiro/Pacino above Chaplin.

pitt's not an actors asshole. he's merely a ridiculously good looking bloke thats not completely incompetent

fearoftrains, you will send this list to Lew?