WETA, one of our three local PBS stations, has gotten into the lovely habit of showing old movies on Saturday nights. This week we got Houseboat, starring Cary Grant and Sophia Loren. The movie, which I had seen the second half of many years ago, takes place in Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia and features a great scene of a floating band shell on the Potomac and fancily-dressed concert-goers sitting on the Watergate Steps.

Houseboat was my first exposure to Loren, despite the fact that in my final semester of grad school, I took a class on women in film (1910-1960). In it, I was introduced to a number of great films and wonderful actors, but Loren seems to have appeared in films mostly outside the date scope of the class.

This made me curious: what other great film stars have I missed out on?

I consulted the AFI’s list of 50 top stars and made notations of who was missing: Henry Fonda, James Cagney, Charlie Chaplin, John Wayne, Kirk Douglas, James Dean, Robert Mitchum, William Holden, Rita Hayworth, and Ava Gardner. They’ve all eluded my list.

The annotated list of the 50 best film stars (with the movies I’ve seen them in in parentheses) follows:

MEN

1. Humphrey Bogart (Maltese Falcon and Casablanca)
2. Cary Grant (many, many including The Bishop’s Wife, To Catch a Thief, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, and His Girl Friday)

Cary is one of my favorites — and clearly the reason that tall, dark, and handsome became the standard requirements for the fantasy man. He is good in so many things, and his comedic side is undervalued.

3. James Stewart (Harvey, The Philadelphia Story, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, It’s a Wonderful Life, and After the Thin Man)

Jimmy is one of those actors who I adore in everything I’ve seen him in. I should definitely watch more of his movies. And if your only exposure to him is at Christmas every year, so should you.

4. Marlon Brando (On the Waterfront and Julius Caesar)
5. Fred Astaire (Holiday Inn, Easter Parade, Funny Face, and several Rankin-Bass holiday productions)
6. Henry Fonda
7. Clark Gable (Gone with the Wind and It Happened One Night)

If you’ve only seen him as Rhett, you should definitely see It Happened One Night.

8. James Cagney
9. Spencer Tracy (Boys Town, State of the Union, Pat and Mike, Desk Set, Inherit the Wind, Adam’s Rib, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World)

   Spencer gets the benefit of my being a huge Kate Hepburn fan. But he is excellent in movies that don’t star her, as well.

10. Charlie Chaplin
11. Gary Cooper (High Noon)
12. Gregory Peck (To Kill a Mockingbird and Roman Holiday)
13. John Wayne
14. Laurence Olivier (The Jazz Singer and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof)
15. Gene Kelly (Singin’ in the Rain and Inherit the Wind)
16. Orson Welles (Citizen Kane, The Muppet Movie and Catch-22)
17. Kirk Douglas
18. James Dean
19. Burt Lancaster (Field of Dreams)
20. The Marx Brothers (Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, Duck Soup, and Room Service)

    If you have avoided slapstick because of Abbott and Costello or the Three Stooges, the Marx Brothers will turn you back on to the genre.

21. Buster Keaton (It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, Steamboat Bill, Jr., and Beach Blanket Bingo)

When I first saw the Beach Blanket movies after seeing a Buster Keaton movie, I immediately made the comparison between the two. Little did I realize at the time that that horny old man running around in the background was Keaton!

22. Sidney Poitier (Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner)
23. Robert Mitchum
24. Edward G. Robinson (Double Indemnity)
25. William Holden

WOMEN

1. Katharine Hepburn (many, many, including Desk Set, Adam’s Rib, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, Bringing Up Baby, Stage Door, and The Philadelphia Story)

I love Kate. She is incredible in everything she does. Just incredible.

2. Bette Davis (All About Eve, Pocketful of Miracles, and Now, Voyager)
3. Audrey Hepburn (Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Funny Face, Roman Holiday, and Charade)
4. Ingrid Bergman (Casablanca and The Bell’s of St. Mary’s)

Sure Casablanca is her piece de resistance, but The Bells of St. Mary’s holds a special place in my heart. In the movie, Bergman plays a nun up against Bing Crosby’s Father “Dial ‘O’ for” O’Malley in a quest to save a parish, a school, and a church.

5. Greta Garbo (Camille and Ninotchka)
6. Marilyn Monroe (Some Like It Hot, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, All About Eve, Seven Year Itch, and How to Marry a Millionaire)

I admit that prior to seeing a Monroe movie, I guessed her to be little more than a pin-up. But the woman could act and had a great sense of comedic timing.

7. Elizabeth Taylor (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Little Women, and National Velvet)
8. Judy Garland (The Wizard of Oz, Easter Parade, Meet Me in St. Louis, Pigskin Parade, Babes in Arms, and Life Begins for Andy Hardy)

Judy has long been a favorite — and I’ve come to enjoy much of what she’s starred in.

9. Marlene Dietrich (Shanghai Express and Blonde Venus)
10. Joan Crawford (Mildred Pierce and The Women)

If you haven’t seen The Women, run out and rent it. A fantastic ensemble cast!

11. Barbara Stanwyck (Double Indemnity, television’s The Big Valley, Christmas in Connecticut, and Stella Dallas)

This little woman managed to star in some big movies. Christmas in Connecticut is a sentimental favorite.

12. Claudette Colbert (It Happened One Night)
13. Grace Kelly (To Catch a Thief, High Society and High Noon)
14. Ginger Rogers (Stage Door)
15. Mae West (She Done Him Wrong and I’m No Angel)

I hadn’t heard of Mae West before taking my film studies class, and that’s a real shame. She helps us to realize that film before the film code was actually cutting edge and that our grandmothers could have been awfully bawdy!

16. Vivien Leigh (Gone with the Wind)
17. Lillian Gish (Way Down East)

Watch it for the ice floe scene if for no other reason!

18. Shirley Temple (Heidi and The Little Princess)
19. Rita Hayworth
20. Lauren Bacall (How to Marry a Millionaire and The Mirror Has Two Faces)
21. Sophia Loren (Houseboat)
22. Jean Harlow (Dinner at Eight)
23. Carole Lombard (My Man Godfrey)

Comedic genius! William Powell is also great in this movie, although not as good as his run with Myrna Loy in The Thin Man series.

24. Mary Pickford (Sparrows)
25. Ava Gardner