Mel Gibson
Before he was recorded making a succession of controversial comments that derailed his career, Mel Gibson was both a globally respected dramatic actor and director. He made his Shakespearian debut whilst still at the Australian Academy of Dramatic Art, playing the Romeo to Judy Davis' Juliet just before his graduation. He worked on a number of small films and theatrical productions before breaking onto the world stage with the futuristic Mad Max trilogy that was also well known for spawning one of Tina Turner's most popular hits, Beyond Thunderdome.
After Mad Max, Gibson took on a number of more dramatic, serious roles, winning both critical and commercial acclaim for his performance in Peter Weir's World War II drama Gallipoli. He then cemented his position as the leading action hero of his generation with the Lethal Weapon franchise, which he followed up with the edge-of-your-seat thriller Ransom.
In 1995, Gibson won Academy Awards in the Best Motion Picture and Best Director categories for his historical epic Braveheart, a movie in which he also played one of the leading roles. He then directed and produced the controversial biblical epic The Passion of the Christ.
After a long hiatus, during which he was in exile from Hollywood, Gibson returned by directing the World War II movie Hacksaw Ridge in 2016, which told the story of a pacifist's experiences during the war. The film won two Oscars and received a further four nominations.
Glenn Close
Close is not just one of the best actresses of her generation; she is widely considered to be one of the best actresses across multiple generations. She holds the unenviable record of having the most Academy Award nominations without actually taking the little gold statuette home. Close started her career as a Broadway actress, and in 1983 she won a Tony Award for her performance in The Real Thing. The Big Chill, her second movie, also came out the same year and immediately established her as a bona fide movie star. Her first three movie roles all garnered her Oscar nominations. Her best known role came several years later in Fatal Attraction, the psychological thriller in which she uttered the unforgettable line, "I'm not going to be ignored, Dan!"
In the early 1990s she returned to Broadway, winning two more Tony Awards, and giving one of the most iconic performances of her career in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard, playing aging silent movie star Norma Desmond. She teamed up again with her director, Trevor Nunn, in his revival of Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, reprising the role of Blanche Dubois previously created by Vivienne Leigh.
Alan Bates
Bates is best known is his native England for his performances in 1960s movies such as the screen adaptation of Thomas Hardy's novel Far From the Madding Crowd, and Georgy Girl. He was nominated for an Academy Award in 1969 in the Best Leading Actor category for his role in The Fixer.
Bates returned to Thomas Hardy for his television movie debut, appearing in the serialized made for television drama The Mayor of Casterbridge, and becoming something of a heart-throb in his homeland for his role in The Wicked Lady, a re-make of the 1950s movie of the same name, starring Margaret Lockwood.
Bates' son Tristan passed away at the age of nineteen; in his memory he created the Tristan Bates Theater in Covent Garden, in the heart of London;'s theater district.
Ian Holm
Holm is best known, and most loved, for his role as the successful and inspirational track coach Sam Mussabini in the David Lean movie Chariots of Fire; it was a performance that was critically acclaimed and won Holm both an Academy Award nomination and a BAFTA Award in the Best Supporting Actor category. Before this, Holm was better known as a theater actor, winning a Tony Award some twenty years earlier for his performance in The Homecoming; a Laurence Olivier award followed two years later for his title role in a revival of King Lear.
In 1999, he reprised the role of King Lear in a National Theater production which was filmed for a PBS broadcast, and which won Holm his first of two Emmy Award nominations, the second coming in 1999 for his supporting role in the Judi Dench vehicle Last of the Blonde Bombshells.
Paul Scofield
Scofield's name is synonymous with the Royal Shakespeare Company in his native England, but in America he is best known for his Academy Award winning performance in the 1966 movie A Man For All Seasns, in which he played the role of Sir Thomas More. He also won a Tony award for reprising this role on the stage. He is one of a select few performers who has won the Triple Crown of acting, winning a Tony, an Oscar and a Golden Globe award, and for a time he was the quickest performer to do so.
Scofield is also known for having turned down the honor of a knighthood not just once, but three times, although he did accept a CBE for services to acting.
Helena Bonham Carter
Bonham Carter's choice in roles has been as quirky as her performances; she began her film career playing stereotypically English upper class young women; her movie debut came in the form of the character of Lucy Honeychurch in the movie adaptation of E.M Forster's A Room with a View. Seven years later she reacquainted herself with the work of Forster with the film Howard's End.
In 1999, Bonham Carter was among the cast of Fight Club, hot on the heels of her Academy Award nominated performance of Kate Croy in The Wings of a Dove. A second nomination came thirteen years later when she played Queen Elizabeth I in The King's Speech, a movie that brought a first Oscar win for her fellow Brit Nigel Hawthorne.
Joining the cast of the Harry Potter franchise brought renewed worldwide recognition for Bonham Carter, and the role of manipulative innkeeper's wife Madame Thernadier in Les Miserables. She returned to her theatrically royal roots in 2018 when she joined the cast of the television series The Crown, in which she played Queen Elizabeth's younger sister, Princess Margaret.
Pete Postlethwaite
Postlethwaite began his career as a jobbing actor working on the hit London detective series The Professionals. He achieved international recognition after being cast in the third Alien movie, and solidified his position with an Academy Award nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category for his role as the father of an Irish terrorist in In The Name of the Father. After this performance Steven Spielberg called him "the best actor in the world."
In 2010, he was posthumously nominated for his role in The Town; he battled cancer for two years, and continued to work throughout his illness. His son, Billy, is a cost member of the hit British medical drama Holby City.
Stephen Dillane
Dillane is best known for the role of Stannis Baratheon in Game of Thrones; he broke onto the Hollywood scene with the Stephen Daldry movie The Hours, but has said in multiple interviews that he considers himself to be a stage actor. In 2000 he won a Tony Award for his performance in the Tom Stoppard play The Real Thing.
Dillane's son, Frank, became a member of the cast of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, playing the role of the young Tom Riddle.
Nathaniel Parker
Best known for his leading role in the BBC drama series The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, Parker spent much of his early career as a stage actor, before joining the Royal Shakespeare Company where he was the recipient of the Laurence Olivier Award for his supporting role in the London production of Bring Up the Bodies. He also received a Tony nomination for the role when the show transferred to Broadway.
Christian Anholt
Best known for his role in the television series The Relic Hunter, Anholt's father, Tony, was something of a sex symbol in his own right in the 1980s, playing the role of bad guy Charles Frere on the BBC drama series Howard's Way.
In the 2000s, he has concentrated more on theatrical projects, and has also worked consistently as a voice actor.
