Most Watched Actors – The Early 1980s

Movie_Reel_22Many years ago, using the weekly TV guide that came with the Sunday Chicago Tribune, I started keeping track of all of the movies I had seen over the course of my lifetime.  The guide would list the two main stars for each movie, and that is a tradition that I’ve carried on in my database ever since.  So, given those guidelines, it is time to look at the most prolific actors that have starred in the movies that I have seen in the first half of the decade of the 1980s.  Given I was born late in 1974, this should be a short-ish list.

1981

Films Per Actor Per Year
Name Films
Charles Grodin 1
William Katt 1
Robert Kulp 1

We kick things off with the stars of the 2 movies that I know that I saw in 1981, the pilot to The Greatest American Hero and the second feature film starring the Muppets.

1982

Films Per Actor Per Year
Name Films
Albert Finney 1
Dustin Hoffman 1
Jessica Lange 1
Aileen Quinn 1
Henry Thomas 1
Dee Wallace Stone 1

We are up to 3 movies for 1982, but still no repeat actors from E.T., Tootise, and Annie.

1983

Films Per Actor Per Year
Name Films
Peter Billingsley 1
Harrison Ford 1
Mark Hamill 1
Darren McGavin 1

We fall back down to 2 films in 1983, with the last film of the original Star Wars trilogy and a soon-to-be Christmas classic.

1984

Films Per Actor Per Year
Name Films
Dan Aykroyd 1
George Burns 1
Kate Capshaw 1
Phoebe Cates 1
Robert Duvall 1
Harrison Ford 1
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Most Watched Actors – The 1970s

Movie_Reel_22Many years ago, using the weekly TV guide that came with the Sunday Chicago Tribune, I started keeping track of all of the movies I had seen over the course of my lifetime.  The guide would list the two main stars for each movie, and that is a tradition that I’ve carried on in my database ever since.  So, given those guidelines, it is time to look at the most prolific actors that have starred in the movies that I have seen in the decade of the 1970s.  Given I was born late in 1974, this should be a short list.

1977

 

Name Films
Lisa Eilbacher 1
Nicholas Hammond 1

According to my records, I watched one movie in the year that I turned 3 years old, the TV movie pilot to the Spider-Man television series, meaning its stars were the big winners for the year.

1979

Name Films
Bob Denver 1
Charles Durning 1
Alan Hale Jr. 1
Austin Pendleton 1

After a year off, I’ve identified 2 movies that I saw in 1979, the made for TV Gilligan’s Island reunion and the big screen debut of the Muppets.

1980

Name Films
Shelley Duvall 1
Harrison Ford 1
Mark Hamill 1
Robin Williams 1

We finish off the 1970s with the four stars from the 2 movies I believe I saw in 1980, The Empire Strikes Back and the big screen adaptation of Popeye.

Attack Of The Empire Strikes Jedi Wars

1351633321449ozd0uThe fine folks at Disney and Lucasfilm announced the main cast of next year’s Star Wars Episode VII.  Along side returning vets Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew, and Kenny Baker, the new film will feature John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, and Max von Sydow.  Which, other than Driver, Serkis, and von Sydow, is a big heaping pile of who?

Not that that is necessarily a bad thing.  Nobody knew who Harrison Ford or Mark Hamill were before the original Star Wars hit in 1977 and everybody knew who Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor were prior to Episode I in 1999.  If the new films are going to follow the lead of the previous entries, I’d much rather they emulate the original trilogy and not the latest one.