2. Janet Gaynor
Peak Years: 1926-1937
Best Film: Sunrise (1927) Janet Gaynor is the only actor on this list who primarily starred in talkies, but her masterful performances in silent films were greater than anything she did with sound. A true rags to riches story, Gaynor appeared in several films in uncredited roles or as an extra (including a small role in the Clara Bow starring The Plastic Age) before becoming a lead. Gaynor often played put-upon women, using personal experience as a poor person as the basis for characters going through rough times. Starring in Sunrise in 1927 at the age of 20, Gaynor gave a beautiful performance as the wife of the torn Man played by George O'Brien. She is the doting wife, lovingly pure and a great mother to their child. That year she also played a hooker with a heart of gold in Street Angel and a down on her luck love interest in Seventh Heaven. She won the first ever Academy Award for Best Actress the same year Jannings won for Best Actor. She played the lead in the original A Star Is Born in 1937 cementing her status as a film icon, but her stardom should be attributed to her great work in silent pictures.