Top Ten Favorite Actors and Actresses

My first effort at Ten on Tuesdays is the Top Ten Favorite Actors and Actresses.  As old as I am, this is a pretty difficult chore to try to come up with only ten.  I’ll begin with the actors . . . that way the end of this will at least be prettier than the beginning!

Top Ten Actors

1. Kirk Cameron: He has a Christian testimony in the entertainment industry that sets a standard of excellence in whatever he does.

2. and 3. Andy Griffith and Don Knotts:  Although they did things separately, it is hard to list them apart from each other.  Obviously working together on the Andy Griffith Show, Knotts also played on several episodes of Matlock.

4. Tim Conway: Conway, working with Carol Burnett in live comedy before a real studio audience as opposed to a memorex one (one with laugh tracks), showed an unparalleled ability to be a funny man and still remember his lines!

5. Jerry Lewis: Slapstick comedy at its best!

6. Ray Romano: OK, I’ll move into the current generation now.  Yes, K. C. at the top is this generation, but the others are a stretch at best.  I, along with everyone in the title of the show, Loved Raymond.  This is a “today” show that I’m not afraid to sit and watch with my kids.  There aren’t many of those left anymore.

7. Stephen Collins: I still like Seventh Heaven.  That is one show I think I wish could have gone on for a while longer.  Collins played a minister that faced real issues with his family and did the best he could teaching valued principles to his kids.  I may not have agreed with ALL the values that were portrayed as positive, but mostly a good show.

8. Tim Allen: You could almost say the same thing about Tim the Toolman Taylor, oh I mean Tim Allen as I did Ray Romano.  On the TV set, I enjoyed Tim Allen.  There are some things in more recent years that may be a bit more racy or edgy that doesn’t appeal to me as much.

9. Tom Hanks: From Forrest Gump to Sleepless in Seattle, the guy has shown over the years an incredible talent that crosses comedy to drama and back again seemingly seamlessly.  Let’s see, sleepless in Seattle to seemingly seamlessly . . . wonder if that is as good a tongue twister as it is a finger twister trying to type it!?!

10. Jim Belushi: Although he has much more to his credit, his show According To Jim is a quite funny TV show.  I would hope it is, since he is considered a comedian on the tube.

Now for the actresses.  Wow, they sure are prettier than the aforementioned people!

1. and 2. Beverley Mitchell and Catherine Hicks: See Stephen Collins above.  I really did like Seventh Heaven, and these two ladies are part of the long running reason why.

3. Patricia Heaton: Her part of Everybody Loves Raymond was equal with the ’star’ of the show, in my opinion.  Now, her latest effort, Back To You, seems like it would be just as good.  I’m looking forward to being able to sit and watch it sometime.

4. Meg Ryan: Sleepless in Seattle was just one of my favorites starring this lovely lady.  There are several more to her credit that put her solidly in my Top Ten Favorite Actresses.

5. Elisabeth Shue: I was hooked from Karate Kid!

6. Catherine Bell: I enjoyed JAG because of living in the DC area.  I really enjoyed JAG because Catherine Bell was a star on the show.

7. Courtney Thorne-Smith: She played in some big screen stuff like the Nerds . . . but her spot on the small screen is just as well with me as she plays opposite Jim Belushi, and makes his show a good one.

8. Jennifer Aniston: I never really got into watching Friends much, but Aniston is such a pretty lady, I had to put her in this list.

9. Leah Remini: Also a pretty lady that makes her TV hubby’s sit-com worth watching.  How do those guys get all the good lookin’ ladies?

10. Sandra Bullock: OK, I ran out of actresses before I ran out of numbers.  Well, not quite, but I confess I chose Bullock because of being a former resident of Arlington, VA.  She’s originally from Arlington and had we lived there a couple more years, my daughters would have attended her high school alma mater.  Woo Hoo!