20 Most Influential Actors Of All Time

Jimmy Stewart is these days a symbol of what a great actor should be. His roles in Hitchcock classics Rear Window, Rope and Vertigo would be enough to have him on this list, but luckily for us he was so much more than a thriller staple. Rather, he was to '40s-'60s Hollywood what Tom Hanks is today; an actor with the ability to capture the essence of what it means to be a regular Joe in the most extreme situations.

Take his role in Rear Window, in which he spends the entire movie confined not only to a chair, but to one room. And yet he carries the picture with ease and power. Put his ability to capture the lives of many with one of cinema's most distinctive voices, what you also have with Stewart is an actor who is one of Hollywood's most recognisable stars; a man who shaped an entire generation of movie-goers and future stars.

His role as George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life is definitely Stewart at his most relatable and compelling, but his equally solid performances in Mr Smith Goes to Washington, The Philadelphia Story (for which he won his only Oscar) and Harvey deserve every bit of recognition they have received over the years.

Like Hanks, his morality and kindness off screen and on made him something of a stalwart actor who would always deliver, and whose influence on the world of film is one of the most important we've ever seen.