Best Acting in the OT?

Sir Alec Guinness. And it isn't close. The guy was nominated for an Academy Award for his portrayal of Old Ben, speaking words that were written by George Lucas (though I suspect those words were heavily altered by Guinness. He did receive an extra 0.25% for his contributions to the screenplay.)

 

Gotta side with Alec Guinness here. This is a character who has been through a lot, and has even more wisdom and experience than what can be seen in the script. It's all in the way he talks and carries himself.

However, a special mention has to be made for Peter Cushing as Tarkin.

 

Agree. Also Lando and Leia were pretty good.

 

Probably have to go for Ford as Han across the trilogy. But Guinness and Cushing own ANH. So much presence and believe-ability with so little investment in the movie.

 

I agree. That one is easy. He did a masterful job with ease. There were layers and story significance in every single scene.

Now, I gotta give props to Harrison Ford for his portrayal in Episode VII, I had a feeling he is more Han Solo than ever before. It was both, heartwarming and heartbreaking.

 

I'm going with Han as well, great performance by Harrison Ford who came from a stand in to a legend in 3 movies.

 

I think Alec Guinness' Obi Wan is respectable considering how much he loathed the character, but Han is the best to me.

 

My vote is for Kenny Baker and Ben Burt for Artoo.

 

Mark Hamill as Luke

And Dark Vader

 

LUKE!

Harrison Ford is the most screen-appealing, but Mark Hamill is the most passionate.

 

For me, it's a tie between Alec Guinness and Mark Hamill.

 

Definitely James Earl Jones as Darth Vader. His innate acting talent is proven just by the mere fact that only his voice can outshine several of the physical actors' performances! Also, remove the visual aspect of the film, and James Earl Jones depiction of Vader speaks the loudest. Characters like Leia and Luke would just come across as some random whiny and annoying characters, due to the fact that you need the visual cues to understand their story and where they're coming from .

 

Mark Hamill is a great actor, and I think his work in TESB was perfect (the entire cast had their best performance in this movie).

I would like to mention Peter Cushing, Alec Guiness and Ian Macdiarmid too.

 

Not that much love for Ian McDiarmid? Sure Palpy barely got screen time, but the sheer amount of manipulation and the passion for evil and controlling others that he put into the words "good, good!" (after his influence began to manipulate Luke) was astounding. He was in the movie for a modest 10 minutes or so, but in that space of time you could clearly tell what influenced Darth Vader to be evil.

 

So difficult to decide...I went with James Earl Jones voicing Vader, simply because Jones (and Prowse) managed to so skillfully establish what Vader was. But Alec Guinness was the archetype wise Jedi Master, and McDiarmid did an amazing job as the Emperor, too. I also love Peter Cushing as Tarkin.

 

My turn

 

My list would be:

Harrison Ford
Mark Hamill
Alec Guinness
Peter Cushing
Billy Dee Williams
Ian McDarmid
Carrie Fisher

 

Aw you left James Earl Jones.

 

For me its Alec Guiness but Harrison Ford is a close second.