Harrison Ford joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe this week starring, at 82, in Captain America: Brave New World. He’s one of many stars of the 1970s who are still going strong
Diane Keaton
After breaking out with The Godfather, Diane Keaton hit icon status with Annie Hall (above) and has never let it go.
After a run of films including Reds, Baby Boom, the Father of the Bride films, and Something’s Gotta Give, she returned in 2023 with the sequel Book Club: The Next Chapter. She was terrific in Mack & Rita, too. She’s terrific in everything.
Say, whatever happened to that guy who played her husband in The Godfather films? What was his name again?
Al Pacino
Oh, that’s right. Al Pacino, one of the greatest actors of the 1970s and all time, broke out with 1971’s The Panic of Needle Park (still haunting) before beginning a run of ’70s hits that included not just the first two Godfather films but also Dog Day Afternoon (above), and Serpico.
In the ’80s, he mostly chose his shots carefully, settling on an iconic turn in Scarface. His spectacular ’90s run included an Oscar-winning role in Scent of a Woman — he’s ridiculously only one once, out of nine nominations — followed by Heat, Donnie Brasco, Devil’s Advocate and more.
Recent highlights include Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, The Irishman, and a hilarious role in House of Gucci. Like others on this list, he has finally moved into television (OK, streaming) with Amazon’s Hunters.
Pacino, 84, also appeared last year with Michael Keaton in Knox Goes Away, which Keaton directed, and in Modì, Three Days on the Wing of Madness, directed by his Donnie Brasco co-star, Johnny Depp.
He also just released a new autobiography, and has made so many great movies we can think of at least five you’ve likely never heard of.
Robert De Niro
Robert De Niro, a man with whom Pacino has repeatedly co-starred and jousted for roles, may also be his best competition for best actor of the 1970s (and perhaps ever?).
After breaking out in 1970s roles including The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight (above) and Bang the Drum slowly, he became a film icon with Mean Streets, The Godfather Part II (for which he won his first Oscar), Taxi Driver, and The Deer Hunter. Next came 1980’s Raging Bull, which earned him his second Oscar.
His too-many to list roles between then and now include Goodfellas, Casino, Awakenings, Silver Linings Playbook, Heat, Jackie Brown, Midnight Run, and the Meet the Parents franchise. He earned the most recent of his Oscar nominations for The Irishman, which again paired him with Pacino and Martin Scorsese, though the film marked the first time he worked with both.
He was also up for an Oscar for best supporting actor last year for his role in Killers of the Flower Moon, and will play not one but two gangsters in the upcoming Alto Knights.
Jamie Lee Curtis
The latest winner of the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Everything Everywhere All at Once may always be best known for her role as Laurie Strode in 1978’s Halloween (above), a role she has repeatedly revisited, including in the latest Halloween trilogy, before vowing that she will never play the character again.
Her other career highlights have included widely varied roles in films from Trading Places to A Fish Called Wanda to True Lies to Knives Out.
She earned raves for her latest, The Last Showgirl, alongside Pamela Anderson, and was one of the first stars to step up and pledge $1 million to support the recovery from the L.A. fires.
Sylvester Stallone
Despite a breakout role in 1974’s The Lords of Flatbush, Stallone wasn’t happy with the roles he was being offered. So he blacked out his windows to focus and wrote several screenplays, one of which turned out to be Rocky. Then he insisted on playing the title role and became one of the breakout stars of the 1970s.
In the process, he helped invite the modern blockbuster — and franchise — and did it again with the Rambo films. Rocky led to Creed, in which Stallone starred in the first two installments. This year he’s back with the fourth and perhaps final Expendables film.
All that and he decided to give TV a try, playing an ex-con who goes West in Tulsa King (above). He’s remarkably never gotten an Oscar, though Rocky won Best Picture and Best Director for John G. Avildsen.
He’s also the subject of a compelling recent Netflix documentary about his life and career called Sly, and was recently named one of President Trump’s “Special Ambassadors to Hollywood.”
Sally Field
We like her, we really like her. Sally Field, a two-time Best Actress Oscar winner for 1979’s Norma Rae (above) and 1984’s Places in the Heart, is also a 1960s star, thanks to her appearances on Gidget, starting in 1965, and the The Flying Nun.
In roles from Sybil to Smokey and the Bandit to Mrs. Doubtfire to Forrest Gump to Lincoln, she demonstrated exceptional range, and mastery of award-ceremony speeches — her “You like me, right now, you like me” speech for Places in the Heart still holds a place in the heart of anyone who’s seen it.
Last year she stood out in 80 for Brady, proving she’s still got comic chops — and a love of hot wings that took everyone by surprise. We also loved her in HBO’s Winning Time as Jessie Buss.
Meryl Streep
Perhaps the greatest actress, period, Meryl Streep was already highly respected when she earned the first of her 21 Oscar nominations for her role in 1978’s The Deer Hunter (above), alongside a stellar cast that included Robert De Niro, and established herself in the process as one of the most promising stars of the 1970s.
She has won an Oscar three times, once for Best Supporting Actress in Kramer v. Kramer, and twice for Best Leading Actress in Sophie’s Choice and The Iron Lady.
Her endless list of films includes Out of Africa, Sophie Choice, Doubt, The Hours, the Mamma Mia films, The Devil Wears Prada, and The Post, for which she received her most recent Oscar nomination. She stole the show as pitiless President Janie Orlean in Don’t Look Up, and appeared recently in the Apple TV+ drama Extrapolations and Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building.
Jodie Foster
One of our all-time favorite actors — and a two-time Best Actress Oscar winner for The Accused and Silence of the Lambs — Jodie Foster broke into the industry with a Coppertone ad at age three.
She quickly established herself as a powerhouse with astonishing range, starring in Freaky Friday and Taxi Driver in 1976, when she was barely a teenager, making her one of the youngest stars of the 1970s.
She was back in crime-solving last year as the star of HBO’s True Detective: Night Country, and was up for an Oscar for best supporting actress for her role Nyad. She also just won a Golden Globe for Night Country.
As for her Silence of the Lambs co-star…
Anthony Hopkins
Anthony Hopkins broke out in 1960s roles including The Lion in Winter (1968) and Hamlet (1969), then found success in the 1970s with films like A Bridge Too Far (1977) and Magic (1978). He entered the next decade with The Elephant Man (1980).
But things really took off with Silence of the Lambs (1991) — for which he won a Best Actor Oscar with just 16 minutes of screen time. From there he went on to star in films liike Nixon (1995), Amistad (1997), Hannibal (2001), The Human Stain (2003), Alexander (2004) and Hitchcock (2012). Along the way he’s also dropped into the Thor, Transformers and Mission: Impossible Franchises.
But perhaps his best work of all was for 2020’s The Father, in which he earned his second Best Actor Oscar for his role as an octogenarian losing his faculties. He does almost everything in a role that an actor can do. His long list of awards includes four BAFTA Awards and an Olivier Award, as well as being knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
Hopkins, 86, was also excellent as an immigrant grandfather in 2022’s underseen Armageddon Time. His latest work includes Freud’s Last Session, in which he plays Sigmund Freud, and he just starred in Netflix’s new film Mary as King Herod.
Clint Eastwood
Remarkably, Clint Eastwood isn’t just a star of the 1970s who is still going strong — he was a star in the 1950s, when he broke out in 1950s films including Francis in the Navy, The First Traveling Saleslady and Ambush at Cimarron Pass.
The 1960s brought a steady role on the TV show Rawhide, and he became one of the most iconic stars of the 1960s in Sergio Leone’s “Man With No Name” trilogy: A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965) and The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966).
He loomed large in the 1970s with the Dirty Harry franchise, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, and Escape from Alcatraz, but he also notably launched his directing career in 1970 with 1971’s Play Misty for Me, in which he also starred (above).
His stunning filmmaking career includes two Oscars each for directing and producing The Unforgiven (1993) and Million Dollar Baby (2005). His other outstanding films include Mystic River (2003), Letters From Iwo Jima (2006) and American Sniper (2014).
Now 93, he continues to star in and direct films — his latest was 2021’s Cry Macho, and he just released his latest film, Juror #2.
Jane Fonda
Jane Fonda broke out in 1960s hits like Cat Ballou, and buoyed her reputation with films like Barefoot and the Park and They Shoot Horses, Don’t They before the decade was over. (She also ended up on a lot of dorm walls thanks to 1968’s Barbarella.)
But she owned the next decade, becoming one of the leading stars of the 1970s — and most acclaimed.
In 1971, she won her first Best Actress Oscar for a daring turn in Klute, and won her second for 1978’s Coming Home (above), in which Fonda, one of Hollywood’s most outspoken progressives, acted opposite Jon Voight, who in recent years has become one of Hollywood’s most outspoken conservatives. It gives the movie and added layer of curiosity.
She was nominated for four additional Oscars in a stellar career that also included 9 to 5, On Golden Pond (in which she starred with her father, Henry Fonda), The Morning After, Stanley and Iris, and Luck.
Jane Fonda seems somehow busier than ever: She recently starred with Sally Field in 80 for Brady and Diane Keaton in Book Club: The Next Chapter, and just wrapped up a long TV run on Grace and Frankie.
Steve Martin
Steve Martin seems like he hasn’t aged since his hair turned prematurely grey — and because his frantic comic energy seems boundless.
After years of struggle, Steve Martin scored a Saturday Night Live hosting gig in October 1976 that finally won mass audiences over to his absurdist comedy. From there he packed arenas and made his first film, 1979’s The Jerk (above), a huge hit despite many critics’ failure to recognize its brilliance.
From there he went on a run of hits that continues to this day, including Three Amigos (1986), Roxanne and Planes, Trains and Automobiles (both 1987), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), Parenthood (1989), Bowfinger (1999) the Father of the Bride films, the Pink Panther films, and It’s Complicated (2009).
Now 79, he’s currently starring with his Three Amigos pal Martin Short on Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building, and will appear this weekend on NBC’s SNL 50: The Anniversary Special.
Michael Caine
The 91-year-old winner of two Oscars, for 1986’s Hannah and Her Sisters and 1999’s The Cider House Rules, broke out in the 1960s with films including Zulu, Alfie, and The Italian Job, and kept in stride throughout the 1970s with classics including Get Carter and A Bridge Too Far.
Decades later, the dashing actor gained a new generation of film fans in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy — an experience he discusses in the new memoir Don’t Look Back, You’ll Trip Over: My Guide to Life, on sale March 25 from Mobius. You can read an excerpt of it here.
His most recent film was 2023’s The Great Escaper.
Jacqueline Bisset
British star Jacqueline Bisset broke out in 1968 with roles in The Detective, Bullitt, and The Sweet Ride, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination as Most Promising Newcomer. She spent the 1970s decade making good on that promise, starring in films including Airport — the second highest-grossing film of 1970 — as well as Murder on the Orient Express, St. Ives, and The Deep, one of the biggest hits of 1977, a crucial year for film.
She also earned a Golden Globe nomination as Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical in Who Is Killing the Great Chefs of Europe, and made the ageless masterpiece Day for Night (1973), which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and feels as fresh today as it ever did.
She has never stopped working, and thriving, in both film and television. Her latest film is the new Western Long Shadows, in which she stars with Dermot Mulroney.
Harrison Ford
You knew this one was coming, right? After breaking out in The Conversation and American Graffiti (above), he wasn’t yet one of the biggest stars of the 1970s. But Harrison Ford legendarily snagged the role of Han Solo in Star Wars while agreeing to run lines with actors auditioning for the film.
Soon he was starring in Blade Runner, Working Girl, two Jack Ryan movies and of course the Indiana Jones films, the latest of which, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, opened last year. Ford promises he’s done with the whip and fedora, but given his seemingly boundless energy, who can say?
Ford also stars on the hit Yellowstone prequel 1923, and, as we mentioned, appears this week in Captain America: Brave New World, playing the president of the United States… who turns into a red Hulk.
Like This List of 15 Stars of the 1970s Who Are Still Going Strong?
You might also like this list of Classic Movies That Bombed at the Box Office, including the 1970s classic Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, above.
Main image: Jaqueline Bisset in a publicity image for The Deep. Columbia Pictures.