Lists
Highly Subjective dept.
Happy New Year!
I was recently watching a movie, “Keeper of the Flame,” with Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.
They were a pretty good movie pair, Tracy and Hepburn. That’s for sure.
And “Keeper of the Flame,” is a good one to watch, if you get a chance. Especially nowadays.
A clip:
Anyway, I was thinking what a good actor Spencer Tracy was, and then I thought about Humphrey Bogart, and what a good actor he was.
I started making a list in my head.
And I guess New Year’s is as good a time as any to make lists of things.
Some of the lists go up to Ten. Some of them don’t.
I’m not going to Google anything, or go see what AI thinks, or anything like that. This is strictly off the top of my head. Any disagreements, we’d love to hear from you. That’s what the Comment section is for.
Restacks and Shares, too—we love Restacks and Shares.
Best Screen Actors, Men (All-Time)
Humphrey Bogart
Marlon Brando
Charles Chaplin
Jack Nicholson
Al Pacino
Dustin Hoffman
Robert DeNiro
Leonardo DiCaprio
James Gandolfini
James Dean
Spencer Tracy
Cary Grant
Clark Gable
Jimmy Stewart
John Wayne
Clint Eastwood
Buster Keaton
Tom Hanks
Johnny Depp
Joe Pesci
James Gandolfini
Best Screen Actors, Women (All-Time)
Lauren Bacall
Katharine Hepburn
Meryl Streep
Veronica Lake
Bette Davis
Ingrid Bergman
Jodie Foster
Judy Garland
Lucille Ball
Vivien Leigh
Marilyn Monroe
Audrey Hepburn
Elizabeth Taylor
Greta Garbo
Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Veronica Lake
Lucille Ball
Best Pop Artists of the ‘50s
Chuck Berry
Little Richard
Fats Domino
Elvis Presley
Buddy Holly
The Everly Brothers
Eddie Cochran
Gene Vincent
Jerry Lee Lewis
The Bobbettes
Lonnie Donegan
Little Richard
Best Standup Comics (All Time, Male)
Lenny Bruce
George Carlin
Richard Pryor
Eddie Murphy
Jim Carrey
Jerry Seinfeld
Don Rickles
Bill Hicks
Chris Rock
Mitch Hedberg
Robin Williams
Rodney Dangerfield
Lenny Bruce
Bill Hicks
Best Standup Comics (All-Time, Female)
Moms Mabley
Phyllis Diller
Carol Burnett
Sarah Silverman
Whoopi Goldberg
Gracie Allen
Lily Tomlin
Wanda Sykes
Gilda Radner
Maria Bamford
Joan Rivers
Judy Tenuta
Whoopi Goldberg
Best Tennis Players All-Time (Men)
Before we launch into this one, there needs to be a bit of discussion.
I wanted it to begin like this:
Federer 2. Nadal 3. Djokovic
Of course. But that seemed more like a list of what my heart wanted, rather than what the evidence actually says. Which makes it a different kind of list.
If it’s really a list of my favorites, then it should start like this:
1. McEnroe 2. Nastase 3. Federer 4. Nadal
A nice list, but not really the list it professes to be.
One could also make separate lists, which might begin like this:
Grass: 1. Federer 2. Sampras. 3. Djokovidc
Clay: 1. Nadal. 2. Borg 3. Vilas
Hard Court: 1. Djokovic. 2. Federer 3. Connors, Sampras
But that seems, if not exactly specious, at least unsatisfying.
And so, there’s nothing to do, finally, but take a deep breath and get on with it:
Djokovic
Nadal
Federer
Sampras
Laver
Borg
Connors
McEnroe
Agassi
Lendl
Edberg
Becker
Rosewall
Alcaraz
Wilander
Vilas
Sinner
Newcombe
Murray
Ashe
Courier
Wawrinka
Nastase
Tilden
Kramer
McEnroe, Lendl, Connors, Borg
Best Tennis Players All-Time (Women)
1. Serena Williams
2. Martina Navratilova
3. Steffi Graf
4. Chris Evert
5. Billie-Jean King
6. Venus Williams
7. Monica Seles
8. Margaret Court
9. Justine Henin
10. Iga Swiatek
11. Maria Sharapova
12. Aryna Sabalena
13, Kim Clijsters
14. Ash Barty
15. Evonne Goolagong
Billie Jean King
Best Songwriters in the Rock Era
This was a tough one at the top as well. You could start with Dylan, and then go with Lennon/McCartney. On longevity alone, Dylan gets the call. Even now, as I’m telling you this, I’m thinking maybe it should be Dylan at the top. I guess, it being both John and Paul, vs. just Bob, is why I’m putting them at the top. But you could switch them and I wouldn’t really have an argument. But anyway.
John Lennon and Paul McCartney
Bob Dylan
Holland, Dozier and Holland
Lieber and Stoller
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
Bruce Springsteen
Chuck Berry
Paul Simon
Leonard Cohen
Carole King
Pete Townsend
Brian Wilson
Elvis Costello
Joni Mitchell
Diane Warren
Kurt Cobain
Elton John and Bernie Taupin
Taylor Swift
Dolly Parton
Willie Nelson
Tom Petty
Jimmy Webb
Neil Diamond
Kris Kristofferson
Ike Turner
John Mellencamp
Brian Wilson
Kris Kristofferson
Best Painters, All-Time
1. Vincent Van Gogh
2. Pablo Picasso
3. Leonardo Da Vinci
4. Michelangelo Buonarroti
5. Jackson Pollock
6. Marc Chagall
7. Claude Monet
8. Edouard Degas
9. Joan Miro
10. Paul Cezanne
11. Paul Gauguin
12. J.M.W. Turner
Vincent van Gogh
Best Quarterbacks
1. Tom Brady
2. Joe Montana
3. John Unitas
4. Terry Bradshaw
5. Troy Aikman
6. John Elway
7. Peyton Manning
8. Bart Starr
9. Steve Young
10. Joe Namath
12. Drew Brees
13. Dan Marino
14. Brett Favre
15. Kurt Warner
Joe Namath
Kurt Warner
Best Female Vocalists
1. Billie Holiday
2. Janis Joplin
3. Aretha Franklin
4. Joni Mitchell
5. Edith Piaf
6. Dionne Warwick
7. Patsy Cline
8. Tammy Wynette
9. Tina Turner
10. Nina Simone
11. Ella Fitzgerald
12. Grace Slick
13. Kate Bush
14. Karen Carpenter
15. Ronnie Spector
16. Tori Amos
17. Nico
18. Diana Ross
19. Dusty Springfield
20. Skeeter Davis
21. Stevie Nicks
22. Gwen Stefani
23. Rokia Traore
24. Etta James
25. Dolly Parton
26. Brenda Lee
27. Regina Spektor
28. Orit Shimoni
29. Sam Parton
30. Jill Sobule
Billie Holiday
Joni Mitchell
Best Male Vocaliats
1. Frank Sinatra
2. Otis Redding
3. John Lennon
4. Paul McCartney
5. Bob Dylan
6. Roger Daltrey
7. Mick Jagger
8. Elvis Presley
9. Robert Plant
10. Little Richard
12. James Brown
13. Bruce Springsteen
15. George Jones
16. Kurt Cobain
17. Elvis Costello
18. Geddy Lee
19. Elton John
20. Van Morrison
21. Ozzy Osbourne
22. Tom Jones
23. David Bowie
24. The Righteous Bros.
25. John Fogerty
John Lennon
Elvis Presley
Elvis Costello
Best Classical Composers
1. Frederic Chopin
2. Wolfgang Mozart
3. Franz Schubert
4. Ludwig van Beethoven
5. Johann Sebastian Bach
6. Franz Liszt
7. Pyotr Tchaikovsky
8. Claude Debussy
9. Bedřich Smetana
10. Erik Satie
Mozart
Satie
Favorite Writers
1. Jonathan Swift
2. Mark Twain
3. Nikolai Gogol
4. Haruki Murakami
5. J.D. Salinger
6. Charles Bukowski
7. John Fante
8. James Thurber
9. Ring Lardner
10. Damon Runyon
Gogol
Bukowski
Best Folksingers
1. Woody Guthrie
2. Bob Dylan
3. Leadbelly
4. Pete Seeger
5. Sonny Terry & Brownie McGee
6. The Weavers
7. Mississippi John Hurt
8. Big Bill Broonzy
9. John Prine
10. Phil Ochs
11. Ani Difranco
12. Steve Goodman
13. Townes van Zandt
14. Elizabeth Cotton
15. Utah Phillips
16. Tom Paxton
17. Joan Baez
18. Richard Thompson
19. Stan Rogers
20. Donovan
21. Richie Havens
22. Dave van Ronk
23. Odetta
24. Arlo Guthrie
25. Ramblin’ Jack Elliot
26. Loudon Wainwright III
27. Steve Poltz
28. Greg Brown
29. Todd Snider
30.. Dar Williams
31. Bill Morrissey
32. James McMurty
33. Anne Feeney
34. Ellis Paul
35. John Gorka
36. Red Molly
37. Vance Gilbert
38. Stompin’ Tom Connors
39. Rosalie Sorrels
40. Chris Chandler
41. Martin Sexton
42. John Craigie
43. The Mammals
44. Willie Watson
45. Andrew Calhoun
46. Grant Lee Phillips
47. Jeffery Gaines
48. Richard Shindell
49. Brett Perkins
50. Lucy Kaplansky
Pete Seeger
Ani Difranco
Townes van Zandt
I could go on, but heck.
It’s New Year’s.
Can’t be working too hard.
—
Here’s “Trudy”:




























You forgot Richard Thompson and Gram Parsons as songwriters. And I would add Jean Sibelius to composers. You’re welcome.
Honestly, the Best Folksingers list - Dan Bern is for sure top 40. RIP Todd Snider.
A great New Year’s Day read.