The greatest movie star of all time, according to David Tennant: “I certainly fell in love”
The question of who the greatest film actor of all time is must be one of the hardest to answer, up there with “What’s the best album ever” or “How come Starbars are easily the most underrated and most delicious chocolate bar Cadbury’s makes?”
But if you ask other actors, like Dr Who legend David Tennant, he is definitive in his response.
That’s because his vote goes to the great Audrey Hepburn, a true icon even in this generation where almost everything is described as iconic, the woman who other women wanted to dress like (and have ever since) and who men were almost unusually respectful toward in their appreciation of her beauty. She was also, outside of aesthetics, a uniquely gifted comedic actor who starred in some of the finest films in history, from Roman Holiday to Breakfast at Tiffany’s to Sabrina.
According to Tennant: “Audrey Hepburn was a proper movie star in a way we’re not really allowed to have these days because they have to be so exposed, and we have to know everything about them. And she was probably the most beautiful woman who has ever lived, which always helps.”
Hepburn is possibly most revered for the aforementioned Breakfast at Tiffany’s, the 1961 romantic comedy that has gone on to be one of the most influential and referenced films of that or any other decade. Based on a novella by Truman Capote, it starred Hepburn as a New York socialite who finds herself involved with a struggling writer who moves into her apartment building.
As much of a love letter to New York City as it is to style and romance, Breakfast at Tiffany’s proved a global sensation on release, bringing in seven times its budget at the box office and earning five Oscar nominations, including one for Hepburn as ‘Best Actress’. Henry Mancini’s musical score also achieved considerable attention, winning an Academy Award and featuring ‘Moon River’, which has since become an American songbook standard.
Tennant added, “Although I’ve seen lots of her films and am a great admirer of what she does, the little shrine in my head is to Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly. I must have been in my late teens when I first saw Breakfast At Tiffany’s. I certainly fell in love with her so I must have been old enough to be having those sorts of feelings.”
The Scottish actor meanwhile is no stranger to awards and acclaim himself; a prolific performer on both stage and screen with three Bafta Awards and two Emmys to his name, just this year alone he’s been in Netflix’s Thursday Murder Club, a filmed stage performance of Macbeth and The Hack, a TV series telling the story of the News International phone hacking scandal that tore through Fleet Street in the early 2000s.
He’s also filming more of Good Omens, the fantasy comedy on Prime Video that he stars alongside Michael Sheen in, and last year’s bawdy, award-winning Disney+ production Rivals, written by the late Jilly Cooper, who died this month.
Tennant won significant plaudits for his role as the scheming, affair-having managing director Tony Baddingham in the 1980s throwback packed full of sex and secrets. The second season of the show is due on the streaming site early in 2026.
