Curated playlist
Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor winners
- Orson WellesOrson Welles burned ten reels of his own Don Quixote film. He felt the 1969 Moon landings made its ending obsolete.
- Samuel L. JacksonSamuel L. Jackson learned to cope with a childhood stutter by pretending to be other people.
- Marlon BrandoMarlon Brando sold back his Godfather profit points for $100,000, a sum that cost him an estimated $11 million.
- William HurtBefore William Hurt became an Oscar winner, he studied theology. He earned that degree at Tufts University in 1972.
- Jack NicholsonJack Nicholson improvised one line in the 1980 horror film The Shining, and it was not in the script.
- Javier BardemIn 1989, the Spanish actor Javier Bardem put on a Superman costume for a sketch on the comedy show El Día Por Delante. The job left him wondering whether he wanted to be an actor at all. That doubt makes sense for a man who never planned…
- Sean PennIn Kyiv in November 2022, Sean Penn handed an Oscar statuette to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "This is for you. It's just a symbolic silly thing...When you win, bring it back to Malibu." That was the whole speech. Penn is an…
- Joaquin PhoenixJoaquin Phoenix had just flipped his car on a winding canyon road in Hollywood when a voice at the window told him to relax. It was the 26th of January 2006. Gasoline was leaking into the cabin. A shaken Phoenix answered, "I'm fine. I am…
- Paul NewmanAt the 1995 24 Hours of Daytona, Paul Newman was 70 years and eight days old, and his team won its class. That made him the oldest driver to date on a winning team in a major sanctioned race. Newman was best known as a film star, and he…
- Jonathan PryceA drama school tutor said Jonathan Pryce would only play villains on Z-Cars. He was knighted in 2021.
- James SpaderJames Spader was once told TV audiences would never welcome him into their homes. He then won three straight Emmys.
- Benicio del ToroBenicio del Toro gained more than 40 pounds for one film role and lost 35 pounds for another.
- Anthony PerkinsAnthony Perkins was born on the 4th of April 1932 in Manhattan and died on the 12th of September 1992. When Fear Strikes Out reached theaters in 1957, The Hollywood Reporter wrote of his performance: "Every recent young star has been…