John
Wayne ranks #17 in E.W. 100 Greatest Entertainers List
It's
hardly controversial to name the Beatles, Elvis Presley, Marilyn
Monroe, and Frank Sinatra among the best entertainers of the last
century — ranked, respectively, 1, 2, 3, and 6 — but other
inclusions, and omissions, in Entertainment Weekly's "100
Greatest Entertainers" collectors issue are open to debate.
First of all, the list
screens out anything pre-1950. (Hard luck, Charlie Chaplin and Greta
Garbo fans.) Still, the mag manages to sneak in indirect tributes to
vintage stars by claiming Bette Davis as the "kindred
spirit" to Jane Fonda (46), for example, or "America's
Sweetheart" Mary Pickford as the most obvious predecessor for
Julia Roberts (48).
But
"entertainer" is a pretty broad category, open enough to
include singers (Aretha Franklin: 19), rock stars (Bruce Springsteen:
35), screen legends (James Dean: 41, Clint Eastwood: 27, Audrey
Hepburn: 16, Elizabeth Taylor: 18,
John Wayne: 17),
directors (Steven Spielberg: 4), TV icons (Lucille Ball: 9, Mary
Tyler Moore: 22, James Garner: 97), writers (Stephen King: 21,
Michael Crichton: 75, John Grisham: 83), and all-around entertainers
(Sinatra: 6, Barbra Streisand: 13, Madonna: 5, Cher: 58, David
Bowie: 55).
Also making the cut,
influential TV series The Simpsons, Saturday Night Live, and The
X-Files, and, that mother of all cult series, Star Trek, although
the show's creator Gene Roddenberry isn't singled out. Those TV
producers and series creators with more than one hit to their name,
such as Aaron Spelling, Norman Lear, and Steven Bochco, found their
way onto the list.
The only bands on the
list are the Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead, Run
DMC, and the Sex Pistols. Solo artists and frontmen named include
Garth Brooks, James Brown, Eric Clapton, Elvis Costello, Kurt
Cobain, Chrissie Hynde, Joni Mitchell, and Prince.
The crème de la crème
of actors features Marlon Brando, Robert De Niro, Harrison Ford,
Jodie Foster, Tom Hanks, Dustin Hoffman, and Meryl Streep. What, no
Arnold Schwarzenegger?
And, according to EW,
the worthiest of directors include Spielberg, James Cameron, Francis
Ford Coppola , Spike Lee, Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, Oliver
Stone, and … James L. Brooks? We hope that's for his Simpsons-producing,
not for films like Terms of Endearment.
Media mogul Oprah
Winfrey made it, as do talkers Johnny Carson and David Letterman,
and launcher-of-a-thousand careers Ed Sullivan.
Class clowns include
Jim Carrey and Robin Williams (yes, we know they're also serious
actors), Bill Cosby, Jerry Seinfeld, Richard Pryor, Carol Burnett,
Bob Newhart, and comedy troupe par excellence Monty Python.
Athlete Michael Jordan
landed on the list, but the "The Greatest," Muhammad Ali
was relegated to an unnumbered "trailbrazers" list. In a
category of their own, but still in the Top 100 are choreographer
Bob Fosse, Muppet master Jim Henson, and trumpet great Miles Davis.
Impresarios
like George Lucas and Bill Gates wound up on a non-numbered
"show business" list of movers and shakers. Conspicuous by
their absence: John Travolta, Elton John, Roseanne, Jerry Lewis,
and, oh my gosh, Leonardo DiCaprio's nowhere to be found. We demand
a recount.
-12/99