AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars

{{Short description|List of legends of American film history}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}

{{AFI 100 Years... series}}AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars is the American Film Institute's list ranking the top 25 male and 25 female greatest screen legends of American film history and is the second list of the AFI 100 Years... series.

The list was unveiled through a CBS special on June 15, 1999, hosted by Shirley Temple (who is herself honored on the female legends list), with 50 then-current actors making the presentations.{{cite web|title=AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars: The 50 Greatest American Screen Legends|url=https://www.afi.com/afis-100-years-100-stars/|access-date=November 10, 2019|publisher=American Film Institute}}

AFI defines an "American screen legend" as "an actor or a team of actors with a significant screen presence in American feature-length films (films of 40 minutes or more) whose screen debut occurred in or before 1950, or whose screen debut occurred after 1950 but whose death has marked a completed body of work." Jurors selected the final lists from 250 male and 250 female nominees.[https://prdaficalmjediwestussa.blob.core.windows.net/images/2019/08/stars500.pdf List of the 500 nominated star legends] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20200819211644/https://prdaficalmjediwestussa.blob.core.windows.net/images/2019/08/stars500.pdf Archive])

When the lists were unveiled, Gregory Peck, Katharine Hepburn, Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor, Shirley Temple, Lauren Bacall, Kirk Douglas and Sidney Poitier were alive, but have since died. As of 2025, at age {{age nts|1934|9|20}}, Sophia Loren is the sole surviving star.

The AFI's 50 greatest screen legends

class="wikitable sortable" style="width: 1%;"
style="width: 1%;" | No.

! colspan="2" |Female legends

! colspan="2" |Male legends

1

| {{sortname|Katharine|Hepburn}}

(12 May 1907 – 29 June 2003)

| 125x125px

|{{sortname|Humphrey|Bogart}}

(25 December 1899 – 14 January 1957)

|142x142px

2

|{{sortname|Bette|Davis}}

(5 April 1908 – 6 October 1989)

|100px

|{{sortname|Cary|Grant}}

(18 January 1904 – 29 November 1986)

|129x129px

3

|{{sortname|Audrey|Hepburn}}

(4 May 1929 – 20 January 1993)

|100px

|{{sortname|James|Stewart}}

(20 May 1908 – 2 July 1997)

|126x126px

4

|{{sortname|Ingrid|Bergman}}

(29 August 1915 – 29 August 1982)

|125x125px

|{{sortname|Marlon|Brando}}

(3 April 1924 – 1 July 2004)

|100px

5

|{{sortname|Greta|Garbo}}

(18 September 1905 – 15 April 1990)

|127x127px

|{{sortname|Fred|Astaire}}

(10 May 1899 – 22 June 1987)

|126x126px

6

|{{sortname|Marilyn|Monroe}}

(1 June 1926 – 4 August 1962)

|123x123px

|{{sortname|Henry|Fonda}}

(16 May 1905 – 12 August 1982)

|123x123px

7

|{{sortname|Elizabeth|Taylor}}

(27 February 1932 – 23 March 2011)

|126x126px

|{{sortname|Clark|Gable}}

(1 February 1901 – 16 November 1960)

|127x127px

8

|{{sortname|Judy|Garland}}

(10 June 1922 – 22 June 1969)

|100px

|{{sortname|James|Cagney}}

(17 July 1899 – 30 March 1986)

|135x135px

9

|{{sortname|Marlene|Dietrich}}

(27 December 1901 – 6 May 1992)

|125x125px

|{{sortname|Spencer|Tracy}}

(5 April 1900 – 10 June 1967)

|100px

10

|{{sortname|Joan|Crawford}}

(23 March 1906

{{refn|group=Note|Either 1904, 1905, 1906, or 1908, according to various sources (see biographical entry).}} – 10 May 1977)

|133x133px

|{{sortname|Charlie|Chaplin}}

(16 April 1889 – 25 December 1977)

|133x133px

11

|{{sortname|Barbara|Stanwyck}}

(16 July 1907 – 20 January 1990)

|126x126px

|{{sortname|Gary|Cooper}}

(7 May 1901 – 13 May 1961)

|100px

12

|{{sortname|Claudette|Colbert}}

(13 September 1903 – 30 July 1996)

|122x122px

|{{sortname|Gregory|Peck}}

(5 April 1916 – 12 June 2003)

|127x127px

13

|{{sortname|Grace|Kelly}}

{{nowrap|(12 November 1929 – 14 September 1982)}}

|100px

|{{sortname|John|Wayne}}

(26 May 1907 – 11 June 1979)

|126x126px

14

|{{sortname|Ginger|Rogers}}

(16 July 1911 – 25 April 1995)

|132x132px

|{{sortname|Laurence|Olivier}}

(22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989)

|130x130px

15

|{{sortname|Mae|West}}

(17 August 1893 – 22 November 1980)

|133x133px

|{{sortname|Gene|Kelly}}

(23 August 1912 – 2 February 1996)

|141x141px

16

|{{sortname|Vivien|Leigh}}

(5 November 1913 – 8 July 1967)

|123x123px

|{{sortname|Orson|Welles}}

(6 May 1915 – 10 October 1985)

|128x128px

17

|{{sortname|Lillian|Gish}}

(14 October 1893 – 27 February 1993)

|129x129px

|{{sortname|Kirk|Douglas}}

(9 December 1916 – 5 February 2020)

|135x135px

18

|{{sortname|Shirley|Temple}}

(23 April 1928 – 10 February 2014)

|128x128px

|{{sortname|James|Dean}}

(8 February 1931 – 30 September 1955)

|128x128px

19

|{{sortname|Rita|Hayworth}}

(17 October 1918 – 14 May 1987)

|125x125px

|{{sortname|Burt|Lancaster}}

(2 November 1913 – 20 October 1994)

|123x123px

20

|{{sortname|Lauren|Bacall}}

(16 September 1924 – 12 August 2014)

|128x128px

|{{sortname|Marx|Brothers}}

  • Chico (22 March 1887 – 11 October 1961)
  • {{nowrap|Harpo (23 November 1888 – 28 September 1964)}}
  • Groucho (2 October 1890 – 19 August 1977)

|133x133px

21

|{{sortname|Sophia|Loren}}

(born 20 September 1934)

|124x124px

|{{sortname|Buster|Keaton}}

(4 October 1895 – 1 February 1966)

|143x143px

22

|{{sortname|Jean|Harlow}}

(3 March 1911 – 7 June 1937)

|128x128px

|{{sortname|Sidney|Poitier}}

(20 February 1927 – 6 January 2022)

|130x130px

23

|{{sortname|Carole|Lombard}}

(6 October 1908 – 16 January 1942)

|100px

|{{sortname|Robert|Mitchum}}

(6 August 1917 – 1 July 1997)

|126x126px

24

|{{sortname|Mary|Pickford}}

(8 April 1892 – 29 May 1979)

|127x127px

|{{sortname|Edward G.|Robinson}}

(12 December 1893 – 26 January 1973)

|127x127px

25

|{{sortname|Ava|Gardner}}

(24 December 1922 – 25 January 1990)

|128x128px

|{{sortname|William|Holden}}

(17 April 1918 – 12 November 1981)

|123x123px

Nominees

The legends were chosen out of a list of 250 male and 250 female nominees. The adjoining reference gives the lists of the original selection.[https://prdaficalmjediwestussa.blob.core.windows.net/images/2019/08/stars500.pdf List of the 500 nominated star legends] [https://web.archive.org/web/20200819211644/https://prdaficalmjediwestussa.blob.core.windows.net/images/2019/08/stars500.pdf Archive] [https://www.filmsite.org/afilegendsnoms.html]

With the death of Sidney Poitier in January 2022, all male living legends and nominees have now died. There is one surviving female living legend, Sophia Loren ({{age|20 September 1934}}), and 4 remaining female nominees: Ann Blyth ({{age|1928|8|16}}), Claire Bloom ({{age|1931|2|15}}), Rita Moreno ({{age|1931|12|11}}) and Margaret O'Brien ({{age|1937|1|15}}). The most recent nominee to die is Mitzi Gaynor, aged 93, in October 2024.

=The 250 male nominees=

The actors that are part of the complete list of nominees are:

{{columns-list|colwidth=18em|

}}

=The 250 female nominees=

The actresses that are part of the complete list of nominees are:

NOTE: Those listed in bold indicate that the star is still living.

{{columns-list|colwidth=18em|

}}

Notes

{{reflist|group="Note"}}

References

{{Reflist}}