Connery and Walters the greatest actors of our time

By Katharine MacColl

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SIR Sean Connery has been voted the greatest British actor of all time, ahead of screen legends such as the late Lord Olivier and the late Sir John Gielgud.

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��Press Association

The Scottish star, who found worldwide fame playing secret agent James Bond 007, is still one of the best known actors in the world and continues to be one of Hollywood's most bankable performers after appearing in blockbusters�such as The Untouchables, Entrapment and The Hunt for Red October.

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Sir Sean, still a sex symbol at 70, starred in six Bond movies and returned to�the role in the unofficial Bond movie Never Say Never Again.

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Trainspotting stars Ewan McGregor and Robert Carlyle both make the list, while another James Bond star, Pierce Brosnan, is in sixth position.

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The top British male actors:

1. Sir Sean Connery

2. Sir Anthony Hopkins

3. Sir Alec Guinness

4. Hugh Grant

5. Sir Michael Caine

6. Pierce Brosnan

7. Robert Carlyle

8. Ewan McGregor

9. Sir John Mills

10. Lord Oliver

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The Orange Film Survey of more than 10,000 voters found Julie Walters was the most popular British actress.

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Walkers, an Oscar nominee for Educating Rita, pipped Dame Judi Dench to the number one spot, despite Dame Judi winning a best supporting actress Oscar in 1999. Catherine Zeta Jones, tipped for an Academy award nomination this year, is in third place.

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Liz Hurley is in fourth - ahead of Emma Thompson and six places above the acclaimed Dame Maggie Smith, both Oscar winners.

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The top British actress

1. Julie Walters

2. Dame Judi Dench

3. Catherine Zeta Jones

4. Elizabeth Hurley

5. Emma Thompson

6. Liz Taylor

7. Barbara Windsor

8. Helen Mirren

9. Dame Margaret Rutherford

10. Dame Maggie Smith

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The survey also found cinema-goers a sleepy bunch. Nearly half of all those who were questioned said they had fallen asleep at the movies and almost a quarter had nodded off in the past three months.