Part of the AFI 100 Years... series, AFI's 100 Years...100 Stars is a list of the top 25 male and 25 female greatest screen legends of American film history. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute on June 15, 1999, in a CBS special hosted by Shirley Temple, with 50 current actors making the presentations.
The American Film Institute defined an "American screen legend" as an actor or a team of actors during the Classical Hollywood cinema era with a significant screen presence in American feature-length (40 min or more) films whose screen debut occurred in or before 1950, or whose screen debut occurred after 1950, but whose death has marked a completed body of work.
The top stars of their respective gender are Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn. They starred together in the classic adventure 1951 film The African Queen, for which Bogart won his only Academy Award.
| No | Male legends | Female legends | | 1 | Humphrey Bogart
(1899–1957) Katharine Hepburn
(1907–2003) | |
| 2 | Cary Grant
(1904–1986) Bette Davis
(1908–1989) | |
| 3 | James Stewart
(1908–1997) Audrey Hepburn
(1929–1993) | |
| 4 | Marlon Brando
(1924–2004) Ingrid Bergman
(1915–1982) | |
| 5 | Fred Astaire
(1899–1987) Greta Garbo
(1905–1990) | |
| 6 | Henry|Fonda}}
(1905–1982)Marilyn|Monroe}}
(1926–1962) | |
| 7 | Clark|Gable}}
(1901–1960)Elizabeth|Taylor}}
(1932–2011) | |
| 8 | James|Cagney}}
(1899–1986)Judy|Garland}}
(1922–1969) | |
| 9 | Spencer|Tracy}}
(1900–1967)Marlene|Dietrich}}
(1901–1992) | |
| 10 | Charlie|Chaplin}}
(1889–1977)Joan|Crawford}}
(1904–1977) | |
| 11 | Gary|Cooper}}
(1901–1961)Barbara|Stanwyck}}
(1907–1990) | |
| 12 | Gregory|Peck}}
(1916–2003)Claudette|Colbert}}
(1903–1996) | |
| 13 | John|Wayne}}
(1907–1979)Grace|Kelly}}
(1929–1982) | |
| 14 | Laurence|Olivier}}
(1907–1989)Ginger|Rogers}}
(1911–1995) | |
| 15 | Gene|Kelly}}
(1912–1996)Mae|West}}
(1893–1980) | |
| 16 | Orson|Welles}}
(1915–1985)Vivien|Leigh}}
(1913–1967) | |
| 17 | Kirk|Douglas}}
(born 1916)Lillian|Gish}}
(1893–1993) | |
| 18 | James|Dean}}
(1931–1955)Shirley|Temple}}
(1928–2014) | |
| 19 | Burt|Lancaster}}
(1913–1994)Rita|Hayworth}}
(1918–1987) | |
| 20 | Marx|Brothers}}
Chico (1887–1961)
Harpo (1888–1964)
Groucho (1890–1977)Lauren|Bacall}}
(1924–2014) | |
| 21 | Buster|Keaton}}
(1895–1966)Sophia|Loren}}
(born 1934) | |
| 22 | Sidney|Poitier}}
(born 1927)Jean|Harlow}}
(1911–1937) | |
| 23 | Robert|Mitchum}}
(1917–1997)Carole|Lombard}}
(1908–1942) | |
| 24 | Edward G.|Robinson}}
(1893–1973)Mary|Pickford}}
(1892–1979) | |
| 25 | William|Holden}}
(1918–1981)Ava|Gardner}}
(1922–1990) | |
2 : AFI 100 Years... series|Lists of actors