4. Michael Caine
Now this selection may surprise a few. I do believe though that Michael Caine has certainly got better with age. Yes he was in classics such as Get Carter, The Italian Job and so on but he was also in films like Jaws: The Revenge. My point is that while his earlier work was certainly iconic it was more his films that were iconic not him. Don't get me wrong he was good in his more well received films but he was a little one dimensional at times and in serious danger of being type cast. That was until the more twilight era of his career began. He then started to broaden his range with more emotionally engaging roles. This change even saw him star in Miss Congeniality as the is he or isn't he mentor to Sandra Bullock. Along with more drama type roles Caine proved he does have range to his acting ability. Whilst still being able to prove a very menacing figure as seen in the recent Harry Brown. Of course Caine owes a lot to a certain Mr Nolan for his recent endeavors into the blockbuster genre with the Batman films, Inception etc. That being said it was still clear why Nolan chose Caine as the faithful butler to Bruce Wayne. He proved to be the heart and comedic relief to the story. Alfred needed to be someone the audience could relate to and sympathize with. This has become a Caine trademark in recent times. His ability to deliver heart wrenching speeches and sympathetic characters has made his films all the better for it. A trademark considered so good that The Dark Knight Rises is repeatedly criticized for not having more Alfred in it.