[General Discussion] Favorites (Actor/Actress, Director, Composer...) in Film and Television Productions

Most of the people I like are dead now, but if you'll accept some dead people in the answer here goes:

Underrated actors:
1. Bruce Campbell (I dunno if you can call him an 'actor' but he's definitely underrated!) -- after his B-movie background, including all the crappy side parts he's accepted it's about time for another Army of Darkness or Bubba Ho-Tep. Can't wait to see My Name is Bruce. Also The Man with the Screaming Brain was a valiant effort on his part, although not the greatest. Also: he is the best part of all three Spider-Man films. I stopped watching Spider-Man 3 after his part as the pseudo-French maitre'd. And he's alive.
2. Paul Muni -- Star of a couple interesting pre-Code films like Scarface (1932) and I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang (1932), he was capable of all kinds of roles. He also starred in The Good Earth as the Chinese farmer Wang Lung in a time when Hollywood wasn't so PC.

Underrated Directors:
1. Robert Wise -- Died recently, but he was the master of a solid film. He started as editor on Citizen Kane, then worked his way up to director in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. He directed a few sci-fi films such as The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Andromeda Strain, and Star Trek: the Motion Picture, but he was also familiar with horror (The Haunting (1963)) and musicals (West Side Story and Sound of Music).
2. James Whale -- director of Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, and The Invisible Man. He was master of the Expressionist style throughout the 1930s imbuing the above horror films with deep shadows, interesting sets, and great depth. Also was director for several war films and an early version (maybe the definitive I'm not sure) of Show Boat.

Underrated Composers:
1. Miklos Rosza -- Composer of the scores for Ben Hur, Spellbound, Double Indemnity, and a personal favorite of mine: Time After Time.
2. John Morris -- his scores for Young Frankenstein, The Elephant Man, and Clue do not go unnoticed, but I think he should have a little more recognition. He also scored many other Mel Brooks films, not just YF. He scored Blazing Saddles, Silent Movie, and Spaceballs to name a few.
3. Although a little bit bigger than the above two: Max Steiner should be recognized as basically the one who made a musical score for a film a staple with his score for the original King Kong (1933). Other scores of his: Angels with Dirty Faces, Gone with the Wind, Casablanca, The Big Sleep, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and White Heat.
4. Lastly, and probably near the level of recognition that Max Steiner above has or should have: Franz Waxman -- composer of Bride of Frankenstein's score which was so popular that it was reused in the Flash Gordon serials. Also composed the scores to a couple Hitchcock films: Rebecca, Rear Window, and Suspicion.

Just a little addition:
Underrated movies:
1. Sleuth (1972) -- smart, witty dark comedy / thriller starring Laurence Olivier and Michael Caine. Was remade last year into a film I did not see with Michael Caine in the reverse role.
2. The Asphyx (1973) -- smart little British horror film about what happens when man messes with eternal life. Low-budget and slow at times, the ending is worth it all. This is a film you would find on late-night television, but just doesn't quite fit.
3. The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) -- Vincent Price stars as a revenge thirsty mad doctor who blames the surgeons and nurses in the operating room when his wife died as the cause of her death. Although not graphic and gory, supposedly this film is a foundation point for the Saw series. Campy fun.
4. MAN BITES DOG (1992) -- the director of this unfortunately committed suicide recently so I guess he would contribute to the underrated dead people I have stated here, but his one major film Man Bites Dog is just wow. Mockumentary about a serial killer. CINEMA!!!!

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Wow Arkhangelsk, you hit the heavyweight composers. I love the score to Citizen Kane by Herrmann. And you know it's gonna be a fun Harryhausen movie when Herrmann's name rolls up during the credits. Also: he basically defined the sci-fi music stereotype with The Day the Earth Stood Still (directed by Wise as mentioned above). Talented man.

I've recently just gotten into Shostakovich with his Symphony nos. 5 and 11. That's some dramatic stuff right there. I'll have to check into those movies he scored.

Jerry Goldsmith! Chinatown! Total Recall! Great scores! I have a weak spot for action films like TR.

BZ: James Horner composed one of my all-time favorite soundtracks (at least for the first 20 minutes of it because the rest is just military drums and 80s synthesizers)... COMMANDO!!!! Another action film starring Arnie!!!!!! Yay! It's funny how he went from schlock soundtrack to Titanic.

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Thought of a few more:
Hoagy Carmichael -- His most famous song is Stardust, but he also wrote Georgia on my Mind and appeared in a few films like Howard Hawks' To Have and Have Not as Cricket.

Alan Silvestri -- following the Schwarzenegger flick soundtrack grind, he wrote the great score to Predator. He also wrote the scores to Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Abyss, Forrest Gump, and Eraser (another Schwarzenegger flick).

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Not a big fan of Angelina Jolie. Maybe it's her lips or her eyes or whatever, but nonetheless I don't really like her too much.

ALW is way cool, though. Phantom, Joseph, Jesus Christ Superstar are all good ones. Never did understand Cats, though. Also I am embarrassed to admit, but I like Barbra Streisand's singing of As If We Never Said Goodbye from Sunset Blvd. Love it.

But if we are playing favorites then I can add a couple more (I was still naming underrated people up top hehe):
Vincent Price -- from House of Wax to the Fly to Dr. Phibes (see pic) to the Thriller Rap, this man is THE classic figure for campy horror in Hollywood.

Boris Karloff -- his deep booming voice and ability to have a dark looming presence even though he was hardly acting makes him another favorite of mine.

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