Most Impressive Silent Film Actors

The Top Ten
1 Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE (16 April 1889 – 25 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the silent era. He is considered one of the most important figures in the history of the film industry.

His influence is so big that he has managed to impose himself as an icon of the silent film cinema.

Best actor ever in history of cinema. You don't believe, watch city lights.

Watch the Gold Rush. Who else can act like he could?

City lights. Point made.

2 Buster Keaton Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, director, producer, writer, and stunt performer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".

On par with Charlie Chaplin but never given his due. Did his own stunts. Where Chaplin was animated Keaton took the stone faced poor slob to the max and used the contrast to make very funny movies.

As a comedian, his genius was close to Chaplin's. Wearing his pork pie hat, he filmed more than 100 films, silent or not.

3 Stan Laurel Stan Laurel, born Arthur Stanley Jefferson (16 June 1890 – 23 February 1965) was an English comic actor, writer and film director, who was part of the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy. He appeared with his comedy partner Oliver Hardy in 107 short films, feature films, and cameo roles.

Laurel and Hardy made more than 20 silent films together before pursuing talking roles.

4 Asta Nielsen
5 Douglas Fairbanks

He was known between the two World Wars as one of the most important actors of all times.

6 Greta Garbo Greta Garbo, born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson (18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990), was a Swedish-born American film actress during the 1920s and 1930s. ...read more.
7 Rudolph Valentino
8 Oliver Hardy Oliver Norvell "Babe" Hardy was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted 25 years, from 1927 to 1951.
9 Lon Chaney

The son of deaf mute parents, Lon Chaney was made for the unique art of silent film. His eyes, body, and facial expressions can convey emotion in more powerful ways than any other film actor of his time. His talen for character make up often upstages his brilliant film acting. His death just at the cusp of talkies, I think, was a big loss to the history of film.

10 Theda Bara Theda Bara, born Theodosia Burr Goodman (July 29, 1885 – April 7, 1955) was an American silent film and stage actress. Bara was one of the most popular actresses of the silent era, and one of cinema's earliest sex symbols. Her femme fatale roles earned her the nickname The Vamp (short for vampire), ...read more.
The Contenders
11 Mary Pickford Gladys Louise Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American film actress, writer, director, and producer. She was a multifaceted pioneer of early cinema, a talented performer, a creative producer and a savvy businesswoman who helped shape the ...read more.
12 Paul Wegener
13 Gloria Swanson Gloria May Josephine Swanson (March 27, 1899 – April 4, 1983) was an American actress and producer best known for her role as Norma Desmond, a reclusive silent film star, in the critically acclaimed 1950 film Sunset Boulevard. ...read more.
14 Sessue Hayakawa
15 Max Linder
16 Sarah Bernhardt
17 Manuela Granada

She was the best kind of silent actor of her time.
So insparational to her field in silent acting, at this time women were not aloud to do many things in her time so she stood up for Women.

18 Joan Crawford Joan Crawford, born Lucille Fay LeSueur (March 23, c. 1904 – May 10, 1977) was an American film and television actress who began her career as a dancer and stage showgirl. The American Film Institute ranked Crawford 10th on their list of the greatest female stars of Classic Hollywood Cinema .
19 Marion Davies Marion Davies, born Marion Cecilia Douras (January 3, 1897 – September 22, 1961) was an American film actress, producer, screenwriter, and philanthropist. ...read more.
20 Clara Bow Clara Gordon Bow (July 29, 1905 – September 27, 1965) was an American actress who rose to stardom in silent film during the 1920s and successfully made the transition to "talkies" after 1927. Her appearance as a plucky shopgirl in the film It brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl". ...read more.
21 Pola Negri Pola Negri, born Apolonia Chalupec (3 January 1897 – 1 August 1987) was a Polish stage and film actress who achieved worldwide fame during the silent and golden eras of Hollywood and European film for her tragedienne and femme fatale roles.
22 Betty Nansen
23 Lothar Mehnert
24 Marlene Dietrich Marie Magdalene "Marlene" Dietrich (27 December 1901 – 6 May 1992) was a German actress and singer who held both German and American citizenship. This internationally famed actress cum singer was a frontline performer with an amazing long career in the show business. One of the highest paid actresses ...read more.
25 Roland Young
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