De Niro voted greatest star

Robert De Niro: Winner of two Oscars

Robert De Niro has been voted the greatest film star of all time in a poll that has rated current actors much higher than classic icons.

Top 10 movie stars

1. Robert De Niro

2. Al Pacino

3. Kevin Spacey

4. Jack Nicholson

5. Sean Connery

6. Harrison Ford

7. Samuel L Jackson

8. Morgan Freeman

9. Clint Eastwood

10. Tom Hanks

Source: FilmFour

It also gives men much more star power than women - the first female does not appear until number 23 in the list.

Al Pacino is second, while Kevin Spacey was voted third greatest by 13,500 viewers of movie channel FilmFour.

Samuel L Jackson, Clint Eastwood and Tom Hanks also feature in the top 10.

Cleese: Voted better than Olivier

Older stars of the silver screen are represented by James Stewart at number 11, one place ahead of Alec Guinness, with Cary Grant at number 18.

Some actors who usually feature near the top of such polls have been bumped down the list, with Humphrey Bogart coming in at 22 and Sir Lawrence Olivier at 55 - one place lower than John Cleese.

The most popular actress was Jodie Foster, with Audrey Hepburn at number 25, Julia Roberts at 38 and Marilyn Monroe at 43.

Julia Roberts: Has star power

Dan Jolin, features editor of Total Film magazine, told BBC News Online that the top 100 looked like a list of the public's favourite actors - and that was very different to a list of the greatest stars of all time.

"If you look at the people whose movies everyone will go to see on the basis of star power, it's Julia Roberts, Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson," he said.

But it was not so much of a surprise that classic stars came lower down the list, he said.

"We are in the generation which believes The Godfather and Star Wars are the greatest films ever, not Citizen Kane. This is a generation who have discovered film since the Raging Bull days."

De Niro was the young Vito in The Godfather, Part II

De Niro won a best actor Oscar for his appearance in 1980's Raging Bull to go with his best supporting actor Oscar for The Godfather, Part II.

He has made his name playing tough guys in films like Taxi Driver, Cape Fear and Casino, but has also succeeded in comedies including Meet The Parents and Analyze This.

"We had a fantastic number of votes and it's fascinating to now see which particular actors are the public's favourites," said FilmFour.com editor Dominic Eames.

In one survey by the American Film Institute two years ago, Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn came out top of two lists of the best male and female stars ever.

Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan came out top of a BBC News Online vote the same year, with Sir Laurence Olivier second and Sir Alec Guinness third.