The objective is to compose a paper comparing and contrasting the two-actor’s performance style, believability and physicality. You can do some brief cited research on the actors training if you’d like but it’s not necessary. The important thing is to focus on what similarities or differences you see in each actor by watching each film. Did you believe or prefer one actor to the other? Make sure you choose two movies you’ve never seen and that your own response to the two actors in each film is apparent in the paper. Minimum word requirement is 600 to 750 words, but feel free to expand if needed. Again, if research is used cite all sources!

Timothy Hutton, Mary Tyler Moore, Donald Sutherland: Ordinary People (1980)

Sissy Spacek: Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980)

Jack Nicholson: The Shining (1980), A Few Good Men (1992), As Good as it Gets (1997), About Schmidt (2002)

Robert DeNiro: Raging Bull (1980), The King of Comedy (1982)

Peter O’Toole: The Stunt Man (1980), My Favorite Year (1982)

Robert Duvall, Michael O’Keefe: The Great Santini (1980)

Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor: Stir Crazy (1980)

Mel Gibson: Gallipoli (1981), Hamlet (1990), Pocahontas (John Smith) 1995

Paul Newman: Absence of Malice (1981), The Verdict (1982), Nobody’s Fool (1994)

Robin Williams: The World According To Garp (1982), Awakenings (1990), Aladdin (1992), Good Will Hunting (1997), One Hour Photo (2002)

Jerry Lewis: The King of Comedy (1982)

Glenn Close: The World According To Garp (1982), Fatal Attraction (1987)

Mel Gibson: Gallipoli (1981), Hamlet (1990)

Richard Gere, Louis Gossett Jr.: An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)

Jessica Lange: Tootsie (1982), Sweet Dreams (1985)

William Hurt: Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), Children of a Lesser God (1986), Broadcast News (1987), A History of Violence (2005)

Debra Winger: An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), Terms of Endearment (1983), Shadowlands (1993), The Lovers (2017)

Sean Penn: Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), Milk (2008)

the other list to compare:

Janet Gaynor: Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927), A Star is Born (1938)

Louise Brooks: Diary of a Lost Girl (1929), Pandora’s Box (1929)

Bela Lugosi: Dracula (1931)

Boris Karloff: Frankenstein (1931)

Joan Crawford: Grand Hotel (1932)

Paul Muni: I Am A Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932), Scarface (1932)

James Cagney: Public Enemy (1931), Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), White Heat (1949)

Greta Garbo: Grand Hotel (1932), Ninotchka (1939)

Mae West: I’m No Angel (1933), She Done Him Wrong (1933)

The Marx Brothers: Duck Soup (1933), A Night at The Opera (1935)

Clark Gable: It Happened One Night (1934), Gone With the Wind (1939)

Claudette Colbert: It Happened One Night (1934), Imitation of Life (1934), Since You Went Away (1944)

Louise Beavers: Imitation of Life (1934)

Shirley Temple: Bright Eyes (1934), The Little Colonel (1935), Heidi (1937), The Little Princess (1939)

Robert Donat: The 39th Steps (1935), Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939)

Fred Astaire: Top Hat (1935), Swing Time (1936)

Ginger Rogers: Top Hat (1935), Swing Time (1936), Stage Door (1937), I’ll Be Seeing You (1944)

Robert Donat: The 39th Steps (1935), Goodbye Mr. Chips (1939)

Gary Cooper: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), The Pride of the Yankees (1942)

Katharine Hepburn: Bringing Up Baby (1938), The Philadelphia Story (1940), Adam’s Rib (1949)

Fredric March: A Star is Born (1938)

Cary Grant: Bringing Up Baby (1938), The Philadelphia Story (1940), Notorious (1946)

James Stewart: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), The Philadelphia Story (1940), The Shop Around the Corner (1940),Destry Rides Again (1939)

Charles Laughton: The Hunchback of Norte Dame (1939)

John Wayne: Stagecoach (1939), Red River (1948)

Merle Oberon: Wuthering Heights (1939)

Lawrence Olivier: Wuthering Heights (1939), Rebecca (1940)

Vivien Leigh: Gone With the Wind (1939)

Hattie McDaniel: Gone With the Wind (1939) Since You Went Away (1944)

Marlene Dietrich: Destry Rides Again (1939)

Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney Jr: Of Mice and Men (1939)

Bette Davis: Dark Victory (1939), The Little Foxes (1941), Now Voyager (1942)

Joan Fontaine: Rebecca (1940), Suspicion (1941)

Judith Anderson: Rebecca (1940)

Margaret Sullavan: The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

Irene Dunne: My Favorite Wife (1940), I Remember Mama (1948)

Humphrey Bogart: The Maltese Falcon (1941), Casablanca (1942), To Have and Have Not (1944), Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)

Errol Flynn: Gentleman Jim (1942)

Ingrid Bergman: Casablanca (1942), Spellbound (1945), Notorious (1946)

Henry Fonda: The Grapes of Wrath (1940), My Darling Clementine (1946)

Orson Welles: Citizen Kane (1941), The Third Man (1949)

Agnes Moorehead: Citizen Kane (1941), Since You Went Away (1944), Johnny Belinda (1948)

Greer Garson, Teresa Wright: Mrs Miniver (1942)

Ethel Waters: Cabin in the Sky (1943)

Judy Garland: Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), Easter Parade (1948)

Gene Tierney: Laura (1944), Leave Her to Heaven (1945)

Lena Horne: Stormy Weather (1944)

Gregory Peck: Spellbound (1945), Gentleman’s Agreement (1947)

Edward G. Robinson: Double Indemnity (1944), Key Largo (1948)

Lauren Bacall: To Have and Have Not (1944)

Barbara Stanwyck: Double Indemnity (1944), Christmas in Connecticut (1945)

Robert Mitchum: Out of the Past (1947)

Edmund Gwenn: Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Barbara Bel Geddes: I Remember Mama (1948)

John Wayne: Stagecoach (1939), Red River (1948)

Montgomery Clift: Red River (1948), The Heiress (1949)

Jane Wyman: Johnny Belinda (1948)

Spencer Tracy: Adam’s Rib (1949)

Olivia de Havilland: The Heiress (1949)