42. EDWARD G. ROBINSON
Double Indemnity (1944)

''A claimsman is a doctor and a bloodhound and a cop and a judge and a jury and a father confessor all in one,'' Robinson rat-a-tat-tats, embodying all these roles (and then some) as insurance investigator Barton Keyes in Billy Wilder's great noir. Although his screen time is small, the actor looms large. Once again, he lives up to his nickname: ''The Little Giant.''