Robert De Niro beats Clint Eastwood, DiCaprio to become 'greatest' actor

London: The American actor Robert De Niro has been ranked the greatest actor of all time, beating Charlie Chaplin, Clint Eastwood and Leonardo DiCaprio , according to a new analysis.

The rankings are not based on industry awards but on the number of key roles an actor has had, the Mirror reported.

The survey looked at the top 200 films in terms of overall ranking. Follow ups were excluded so that each movie "franchise" counted only once towards an actor's total. Moreover an actor also had to have a leading role in the film - judged by whether they were one of the first 5 names in the acting credits.

'The Godfather' star scored a total of seven for his roles in 'Goodfellas,' 'Once Upon a Time in America,' 'Taxi Driver,' 'Raging Bull,' 'Heat,' 'Casino,' and the 'Deer Hunter,' that gave him a clear lead over his 3 closest rivals, who tied on five.