Jack Nicholson manages to master the trick of appearing cool, calm and collected whilst harnessing a rage that threatens to erupt in a moment's notice. Admit it he's the coolest 73 year old you can think of!
32. Randle P McMurphy in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Nicholson was on Oscar winning form as shifty, feisty but noble anti-hero McMurphy - a man who gallantly serves to uplift his fellow mental patient inmates. His performance is both larger than life and completely daring in its depiction of the defeat of machismo.
33. Even in Cameos He's Often The Best Thing in a Movie
From his fearsome, Oscar nominated turn as Col. Nathan R Jessup in Rob Reiner's otherwise soggy military courtroom drama A Few Good Men, to his equally award recognised bit part turn as TV presenter Bill Rorich in Broadcast News and recent gig as a conniving tycoon in James L Brooks largely unimpressive How Do You Know, Nicholson is often the best thing in a movie, even in cameos.
34. Isn't Afraid to Shun His Screen Image and Go For Unconventional Parts
His turns as trampled retired cop Jerry in The Pledge and as mid-60s loser Warren Schimdt in About Schimdt prove that Nicholson isn't afraid to shun the cool exterior and take on atypical character parts.
35. Of The Times
Nicholson is always hip, regardless of the advancing years and is still in demand. This is contrary to his faded 1960s/1970s contempories (Beatty, Fonda, Dern...) who have ended up as relics of a bygone era. And who else, at 70, could take on the tyrannical part of mobster Frank Costello so brilliantly in Martin Scorsese's The Departed?