10 modern actors who would have been huge stars in the 1970s
In the late 1960s, a new movement in American cinema was born from the ashes of the Hollywood studio system. This “New Hollywood” era was spearheaded by directors like Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, William Friedkin, and Steven Spielberg, who were all making the kinds of risky and unique films which the studios would have never touched.
The ’70s, then, became a truly revolutionary decade for Hollywood. These new and exciting pictures, with artistic aspirations previously unheard of, were the blockbusters of their day – and they attracted a whole new generation of actors who never would’ve had a sniff of stardom in the studio days.
Actors like Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Gene Hackman, and Dustin Hoffman were suddenly replacing the square-jawed heroes of the past in lead roles, while actresses like Meryl Streep, Carrie Fisher, and Goldie Hawn showed audiences they could be beautiful and real at the same time.
The current era in Hollywood couldn’t be more different than this ’70s heyday, though. Superheroes and action heroes have largely become the draws, as opposed to the actors themselves, and a whole generation of actors who would have been huge stars in that decade have instead been plying their trade on TV or in smaller film roles.
Here are the ten we’re convinced could have been contenders in that wonderful decade.
Actors who would have been huge stars in the ’70s:
10. Mike Colter
Mike Colter first came to people’s attention in 2015 as Luke Cage – the Harlem crimefighter with unbreakable skin – in Marvel’s Netflix universe of shows. He was a smooth-talking, ass-kicking street-level hero, and his solo show expertly updated the character’s ’70s blaxploitation roots to a modern-day setting. After hanging up the trademark tight t-shirt following the show’s second season, Colter starred as a smooth-talking, mysteries of faith-pondering Catholic priest in CBS’s barmy Evil.
Colter’s turns in the indie neo-noir South of Heaven and the Gerard Butler actionfest Plane truly sold us on his “would’ve been a huge star in the ’70s” credentials, though. While he does get to intimidate his co-stars as an organised crime kingpin in the former and fire a lot of guns in the latter, his low-key charisma truly shines through in both movies. He conveys an aura of authority with only a small glance and a sense of easy cool, which has nothing to do with his rippling muscles. It’s easy to imagine him standing in for Richard Roundtree in Shaft or even Billy Dee Williams in Star Wars.
9. Jake Johnson
These days, nobody has a better line in loveable slackers than Jake Johnson. After his breakout role as the perpetually bemused and lazy Nick Miller in New Girl, he tried his hand at some studio comedies like Let’s Be Cops and Tag. These were fun but didn’t exactly catapult him to the top of the Hollywood A-list. Instead, his finest hours have come in the quirky indie comedies he has written and starred in, such as Win It All, Ride the Eagle and Self Reliance.
These movies showcased a finely tuned ear for dialogue, a canny ability to find humour in the smallest things, and an ability to underpin jokes with genuinely affecting emotion. All in all, then, if Johnson had been born 30 years earlier, we’re utterly convinced he could have been a Woody Allen-esque comedy auteur.
8. Monica Raymund
From 2020 to 2024, Monica Raymund starred as Jackie Quiñones in the criminally underseen Starz crime drama Hightown. It’s a frustrating reality of the modern TV landscape that some shows simply fly under the radar because of the glut of content at all times, and Hightown was certainly a victim of this. It’s a crying shame, too, because Raymund’s performance is consistently superb in the show and deserves to reach a wider audience.
We believe the things Raymund excelled at as Quiñones would have made her a shoo-in for the meatiest female roles in the ’70s. Raymund managed to make Quiñones – an alcoholic National Marine Fisheries Service agent who covers up her insecurities with tough girl bravado and sarcastic humour – so much more than the cliché that description may suggest. Quiñones felt like someone most people would have known in their lives – a person with a decent heart but a self-destructive impulse that was almost impossible to turn off.
In an era when character dramas like The Deer Hunter and Kramer vs. Kramer were box-office hits, Raymund’s ability to make even the most unappealing character seem totally real and worth investing in would have made her a hot property.
7. Frank Grillo
Frank Grillo makes a lot of movies. As in, a hell of a lot of movies. Not all of them are good – in fact, by his own admission, a large portion of them are pretty bad – but Grillo is always excellent in them. Obviously, he’s a commanding physical presence, which has led to a ton of action work, but his acting ability is one of his more underrated attributes.
For those in the know, Grillo’s excellent portrayal of MMA fighter and gym owner Alvey Kulina in Kingdom is where he truly shone. Across three seasons of that show, Grillo poured every ounce of his blood, sweat, and tears into the character and created a truly rounded human being – who just happened to be a super-jacked mixed martial artist with gravity-defying hair.
If we transport this guy back to the ’70s, we’re convinced he could give Sylvester Stallone a run for his money in a Rocky-esque franchise.
6. Bill Camp
It took Hollywood a long, long time to come around to Bill Camp, but the veteran theatre actor is finally getting his due. In recent years, he’s popped up in prestige shows like Presumed Innocent, The Queen’s Gambit, The Leftovers, and The Night Of, as well as movies such as Joker, Vice, and The Killing of a Sacred Deer.
Camp’s reliably schlubby physical presence, coupled with a keen intellect and propensity for delivering an eviscerating putdown, would’ve made him a potential leading man in the ’70s. Think of the movies Gene Hackman made in that decade: The French Connection, The Conversation, The Poseidon Adventure, and Night Moves. Are you telling us you can’t see Camp killing it in those settings?
5. Shea Whigham
For Shea Whigham-heads like us, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 was a very big deal. Seeing that bouffant indie darling chasing Ethan Hunt on top of a speeding train was as close to a religious experience as it gets for fans of modern character actors. If you’d been watching Whigham since his days as the sly Eli Thompson in Boardwalk Empire, all the way through his small roles in big movies like the Fast and Furious franchise, Kong: Skull Island, and Joker, it was a real thrill to see him finally snatch a major role in a huge blockbuster.
Out of everyone on this list, Whigham perhaps fits in the ’70s New Hollywood era best of all. His look, low-key screen presence, and ability to make every movie at least 26% per cent better simply by being in it would have made him number one on the callsheet for the likes of Scorsese, De Palma, Spielberg, and Coppola.
4. Aubrey Plaza
Aubrey Plaza is one of the most unique stars currently working in Hollywood, and she’s had a number of great roles in recent years. From her uptight lawyer in The White Lotus to the titular credit card fraudster in Emily the Criminal, Plaza has proven that she can mould her signature oddball, dead-eyed style into any genre.
We reckon she could’ve been a star at the level of Goldie Hawn in the ’70s, though, thanks to that uncanny ability to work perfectly in wacky comedies and serious dramas. It’s exciting to wonder what she’d have done with Hawn’s parts in Shampoo and The Sugarland Express, and we know for a fact she’d have aced Private Benjamin.
Yes, we know that it was actually released in October 1980. The point still stands.
3. Elizabeth Olsen
This entry might seem a bit strange at first glance because Elizabeth Olsen is a reasonably big star in the modern era. After all, she’s Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so most moviegoers will be very familiar with her. It’s our contention, though, that in the ’70s, she could have enjoyed a career similar to Jane Fonda – with no need to don a cape and tights to balance out the smaller roles she’s obviously interested in.
Just look at Olsen’s steely determination, with vulnerability just beneath the surface, in Taylor Sheridan’s Wind River. Look at how she’s able to balance screwball comedy, fierce violence, and a real exploration of mental health in Love & Death. It’s all there, and in the ’70s, she’d have likely landed an Academy Award.
2. James Badge Dale
Back in 2003, James Badge Dale played the amusingly named Chase Edmunds in the third season of Kiefer Sutherland’s real-time thriller 24. Little did we know we’d just encountered a guy who would become one of our favourite character actors for the next two decades thanks to memorable turns in movies like The Departed, Shame, Flight, Iron Man 3, and The Empty Man.
For our money, though, The Standoff at Sparrow Creek is the picture that proved his ’70s bona fides once and for all. This shoestring-budget thriller followed a group of militiamen who convened at a secluded warehouse after one of their members opened fire on grieving lawmen at a police funeral. Badge Dale plays a former cop-turned-militia member who interrogates his new brethren to find the culprit—and it’s awesome.
Seriously, just stick Badge Dale in Dog Day Afternoon or Serpico and call it a day. He’d nail it.
1. Scoot McNairy
In terms of modern movie stardom, the main problem with Scoot McNairy is that he’s too unassuming. In his biggest film and TV roles – like his recent turns in Speak No Evil or the third season of True Detective – he has been cast as a nervous, put-upon guy who has to discover his inner fortitude. Now, McNairy is good at this, and those are both good performances – but he’s also capable of playing a more traditional hero type, albeit with a gritty realism.
Take his two seasons as DEA Special Agent Walt Breslin in Narcos: Mexico, for example. In this show, McNairy manages to be physically intimidating, with a distinct undercurrent of menace, all while never being the most physically imposing guy in the room. It’s a magic trick that makes us wonder if he could’ve played both “Dirty” Harry Callahan and the psychotic Scorpio Killer. In truth, either one could’ve sealed his ascent to stardom in the ’70s.
