Film Noir: The Men

The hard-boiled detectives, cynical antiheroes, and ruthless villains

Film noir is a genre of films that emerged in the United States during the 1940s and 1950s. This genre is characterized by its dark and moody visual style, simple, yet complex plots, and morally ambiguous characters. This is a world where happy endings are rare amid a steady diet of cynical pessimism.

As the film noir genre spanned roughly two decades, chiefly, the '40s and '50s, with both large and smaller budget films, not all actors who contributed to this genre could be listed here. Never-the-less, the 51 actors featured here; from Alan Ladd to Zachary Scott embodied the bleak underbelly of film noir through their iconic portrayals of hard-boiled detectives, cynical antiheroes, and of course, ruthless villains. 

Time now to hang out in your favorite cheap dive and enjoy the biographies, trivia and filmographies of these timeless artists. 
Alan Ladd
(1913-1964)
Height:5′ 6″ 
Arthur Kennedy
(1914-1990)
Height: 5′ 10″
Brian Donlevy
(1901-1972)
Height: 5′ 8″
Burt Lancaster 
(1913-1994)
Height: 6′ 1¾″
Charles McGraw
(1914-1980)
Height: 5′ 10″
Charlton Heston​
​(1923-2008)
Height: 6′ 3″
Chester Morris
(1901-1970)
Height: 5′ 9″
Dan Duryea
(1907-1968)
Height: 6′ 1½″ 
Dana Andrews
(1909-1992)
Height: 5′ 10″
Dick Powell
(1904-1963)
​Height: 5′ 11″
Edmond O'Brien
(1915-1985)
Height: 5′ 9″ 
Edward G. Robinson
(1893-1973)
Height: 5′ 4½″ 
Elisha Cook, Jr
(1906-1995)
Height: 5′ 5″ 
Farley Granger
(1925-2011)
Height: 6′ 
Fred MacMurray
(1908-1991)
Height: 6′ 2¾″
George Raft
(1895-1980)
Height: 5′ 7″
George Sanders
(1906-1972)
Height: 6′ 2¾
​Glenn Ford
(1916-2006)
Height: 5′ 9″
Hugh Beaumont
(1909-1982)
Height: 6′ 
Humphrey Bogart
(1899-1957)
Height: 5′ 8″
James Cagney
(1899-1986)
Height: 5′ 4¾
James Mason
(1909-1984)
Height: 5′ 11″
John Garfield
(1913-1952)
Height: 5′ 7″
John Payne
(1912-1989)
​Height: 6′ 2″
Joseph Calleia
(1897-1975)
Height: 5′ 10″
Joseph Cotten
(1905-1994)
Height: 6′ 2″
Lawrence Tierney
(1919-2002)
Height: 6′ 1″
Lloyd Nolan
(1902-1985)
Height: 5′ 10½″
Marc Lawrence
(1910-2005)
Height: 5′ 10″ 
Mark Stevens
(1916-1994)
Height: 5′ 9½″
Orson Welles
(1915-1985)
Height: 6′ 
Paul Kelly
(1899-1956)
Height: 5′ 11
Paul Muni
(1895-1967)
Height: 5′ 9″
Peter Lorre
(1904-1964)
​Height: 5′ 3″
Ray Milland
(1905-1986)
Height: 6′ 1″ 
Raymond Burr
(1917-1993)
​Height: 5′ 11½″
Richard Basehart
(1914-1984)
Height 5′ 7″ 
Richard Conte
(1910-1975)
Height: 5′ 8″ 
Richard Widmark
(1914-2008)
Height: 5′ 10″ 
Robert Mitchum
(1917-1997)
​Height: 6′ 
Robert Montgomery
(1904-1981)
Height: 6′ 1″ 
Robert Ryan
(1919-1973)
Height: 6′ 4″ 
Sterling Hayden
(1916-1986)
​Height: 6′ 5″ 
Sydney Greenstreet
(1879-1954)
Height: 5′ 9″
Van Heflin
(1908-1971)
Height: 5′ 11¾″
Victor Mature
(1913-1999)
Height: 6′ 2″ 
Vincent Price
(1911-1993)
Height: 6′ 4″
Wendell Corey
(1914-1968)
Height: 6′ 1½″
William Bendix
(1906-1964)
Height: 5′ 10½″
William Talman
(1915-1968)
Height: 5′ 10″
Zachary Scott
(1914-1965)
Height: 6′