My Top Four Movie Musical Actors of All Time

This week I want to celebrate the leading men, who have made the movie musical what it is. Here on the SimonMorris blog are my top four leading movie musical men ever!

Behind Every Great Diva is A Leading Man

We tend to focus on the women who have made the movie musical what it is. Maybe, that is because the ‘stereotypical’ movie musical audience have always admires strong divas. That’s why when we think of the genre, our minds immediately go to sirens of song such as Judy Garland, Barbara Streisand and Liza Minnelli.

But we really shouldn’t discount the men. Have you ever heard that saying, behind every great men is a great woman? Well, in this artistic field, the opposite is true. Behind every dazzlingly delightful diva is a leading man of epic proportions.

These Four Leading Men Simply Shined on Screen

Of course, not every actor was able to hold their own against the star power of icons such as Garland and Streisand. However, some matched them note for note, step for step. These four simply shined on screen:

1)      Fred Astaire: No one did it quite like Fred Astaire. Arguably one of the very first actors to make it big in movie musicals, he was a demon on the dance floor. Along with Ginger Rogers, he formed one part of tinsel town’s most memorable dancing duos, and helped make dance an integral part of the movie musical in productions such as Top Hat, Follow the Fleet and Swing Time. Every actor who came after owes Astaire a huge debt of gratitude.

2)      Gene Kelly: If Astaire was one of the first memorable movie musical lead actors, then successor Gene Kelly was arguably one of the most iconic of all time. His roles in mega movie musicals An American in Paris and Singin’ in the Rain were so monumental, they still stand as the ones to beat to this very day.

3)      Mickey Rooney: The last of the Hollywood movie musical leading men, Rooney sadly passed away this year. But what a life he had. A veritable silver screen icon, he shone in a number of movie musical roles, including Babe in Arms with Miss Garland herself!

4)      Hugh Jackman: Frankly, since the golden age of Hollywood, the movie musical has gone downhill. When it did wow audiences all over again, we tended to focus on the performances of the leading ladies. However, that changed with the film version of Les Miserables, with Hugh Jackman in the leading role. A musical theatre veteran, you could tell he’d been cast perfectly, and could very well revive the classic movie musical leading man role that typified Hollywood in its heyday.