As more actors go with either a clean-shaven or full beard look, the standalone mustache has gone by the wayside. The lip rug is still sported for specific roles, typically in period pieces, but is rare for actors off-camera.
Many of Hollywood's most prominent leading men used to warm their mouths with manes, so to honor them, we're recognizing the ten best face lace wearers to grace the silver screen. Apologies in advance to guys like Daniel Day-Lewis, but this isn't about actors who had a couple great mustaches, these are actors with a consistent mustache record on and off-camera, the actors you cannot picture without whiskers.
Charles Bronson
One of the toughest mustache men on this list, Bronson's lip was bare in his early ensemble roles like The Mechanic (1972), his signature stache became a mainstay.
Bronson popularized the mustache among tough guys thanks to several action roles he took on throughout the 1970s and 80s, such as Mr. Majestyk (1974), Breakheart (1975), Death Hunt (1981), Murphy's Law (1986), and the Death Wish series.
Eddie Murphy
With a mustache so natural you almost forget it's there, Beverly Hills Cop series, his mustache came with him.
Murphy's caterpillar has since delivered laughs across four decades with hits like Coming 2 America.
Billy Dee Williams
Billy Dee Williams became unquestionably the coolest looking man in space when he and his mustache portrayed Lando Calrissian in Return of the Jedi (1983).
Williams utilized the mustache look on various TV shows and movies years beforehand, but no role came close to his iconic part in the Batman (1989).
Clark Gable
One of the sexiest mustaches to ever exist graced the upper lip of Clark Gable, Hollywood's suavest leading man of the 1930s. Gable and his gentlemanly thin stache got a huge breakout with his Oscar-winning role in It Happened One Night (1934) before his most iconic role as Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind (1939).
Gable's facial hair never turned back after the Butler role, as he'd go on to star in 27 more movies from 1940 to the end of his career in 1961, keeping his mustache for all of them.
Charlie Chaplin
In the silent film era, Charlie Chaplin was the master of movie mustaches. Chaplin starred in dozens of shorts before his feature-length debut in Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914), in which he sported a mustache different from the one viewers were used to.
After several more shorts, it was in Shoulder Arms (1918) that Chaplin's signature toothbrush mustache finally saw its first of many features. A certain German dictator went on to ruin the look, but Chaplin spun that negative into a positive with his Oscar-nominated satire - The Great Dictator (1940).
Danny Trejo
Trejo overcame a troubled youth and incredible odds to become the action star he is today. With about 400 acting credits to his name, 'The Mayor' is no stranger to the big screen, and neither is his awesome mustache.
An ex-prison boxing champion, Trejo is built as tough as they come, and so are the Robert Rodriguez roles he's most recognized for - Machete franchise, all of which make use of Trejo's muscles and mustache.
Burt Reynolds
The Longest Yard (1974), which featured Reynolds both with and without his mustache.
Once Reynolds's furry lip kicked ass in Gator (1976) though, he became truly known for the look. His mustache only became more powerful through hits like the Archer.
Tom Selleck
Though it's known more from television than movies, it would be a sin to leave out the legendary mustache of Tom Selleck.
Selleck was best known for the action crime show Blue Bloods.
Groucho Marx
Though it was enhanced on camera with makeup, Groucho's comically large and rectangular mustache was the cornerstone of a look so iconic that the look he was known for can still be purchased in novelty stores to this day.
Alongside his brothers - Chico, Harpo, and sometimes Zeppo - Groucho's jokes and mustache tickled audiences from 1929 - 1949 with 15 movies that still stand up today, like Animal Crackers (1930) and Duck Soup (1933). After the Marx Brothers retired from filmmaking, it was only Groucho that maintained a career in show business.
Sam Elliott
The only thing more recognizable than the deep velvet voice that comes out of Sam Elliott's mouth is the thick curtain that sits above it. Though Elliott is rarely the star of the show, he almost always steals it.
He had several TV appearances before starring in the popular TV movie The Quick and the Dead (1987), but he truly went mainstream with the mustache all-star cast in A Star is Born (2018).
