They're not making actors like they used to. If you compare the classic Hollywood films of the 1930's through the 1960's, even on into the 70's to a lot of the movies being made today, that becomes alarmingly clear. Classic movies were filled with iconic actors. People like Humphrey Bogart, Orson Welles, Edward G. Robinson, Clark Gable, Bette Davis, Lauren Bacall, Marilyn Monroe, Jimmy Stewart, Judy Garland, John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and a long list of others were icons because they brought some of their own unique personality to the roles they played. The characters they played were memorable because they shared similar traits to the actors' pre-established personas. Humphrey Bogart could be a tough gangster or a good-guy detective, or he could be a conflicted lover, and yet he was still Bogart in all of those roles.
Modern actors I consider to have this quality include Johnny Depp, Samuel Jackson, George Clooney, Tom Hanks, Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz, Kathy Bates, Jack Nicholson, Will Smith...and a few others.
Like this guy, Christopher Walken. Whether he's in a movie, a TV comedy skit, a music video (he's done all three and then some), he's instantly recognizable. He can be creepy, serious, funny, dramatic...but he has that certain quality that makes him a character just by himself.
Case in point: This comedic, ad-libbed take on "The Three Little Pigs".
Now, if someone like Brad Pitt or Jude Law or Christian Bale or Will Ferrell read that same story, would it be as unique or funny? I doubt it.
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