Picking the greatest film actors is an almost impossible task

Who are the 10 greatest film actors in history?

Of course it's a completely subjective question, because acting is not a measurable skill. It's completely up to whether people like the performance and the man giving it.

But I want to try something here. I'm going to give you a list of 10 inarguably great actors. Maybe not the best 10, but none of them would embarrass you in the picking. Then I'll give you another 20 names, any of which would be fine on the list.

Newman

Here are my 10, in no particular order: Marlon Brando, Robert DeNiro, Dustin Hoffman, Spencer Tracy, Paul Newman, Humphrey Bogart, Lawrence Olivier, Gregory Peck, Robert Duvall and Daniel Day-Lewis.

If that last one makes you wonder, he's the only actor ever to win three Best Actor Oscars.

Anyway, reasonable. Right?

Here are 10 more: Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, James Stewart, Burt Lancaster, Jack Lemmon, Gary Cooper, Henry Fonda, Cary Grant, Clark Gable and Sidney Poitier.

There's not one name that couldn't be subbed into the first 10 and look out of place.

Hanks

How about 10 more: Gene Hackman, John Wayne, Fredric March, Jimmy Cagney, Denzel Washington, George C. Scott, Charles Chaplin, Rod Steiger, Tom Hanks and Paul Muni.

Ten more great ones, without a doubt.

How about these guys: Melvyn Douglas, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman, Peter Sellers, Anthony Hopkins, Sean Connery, Robert Redford, Gene Kelly, Harrison Ford and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

O'Toole

That's 40, and there are still great actors we haven't mentioned, guys like Johnny Depp, Sean Penn, Tommy Lee Jones, Maximilian Schell, Fred Astaire, the Marx Brothers ...

And movie stars like Michael Caine, Peter O'Toole, Mickey Rooney, Tom Cruise.

Pretty amazing, huh?

And what about Leonardo DiCaprio and numerous other young actors currently brightening films?

If I were really going to be serious about a top 10, I think I would bump four of the ones on the list above to the second 10. Olivier because he was primarily a great stage actor, and DeNiro, Duvall and Hoffman because there's no shame at all in being in the second 10.

Chaplin

I would replace them with Grant, Gable and Stewart, three of the greatest stars ever. My last promotion might be a little controversial, but there ought to be one guy on the list who was basically funny. I would boost Charles Chaplin from the third 10 to the top 10.

Jack? My biggest problem with Jack is there are too many times I feel like he's playing himself. Mr. Nicholson will have to be happy with No. 11.