The best actors are usually not big stars. They're too good at their craft to ever get pigeon holed into one charactrer or genre.
This is true - character actor Lloyd Nolan comes to mind as a great actor who was never a star. One of the Ferrari guys who was in the motion picture industry at the time said he was legendary in the business for getting his takes perfectly right the very first time with never a retake needed.
For those who may not remember who he was, among many other pictures, he played the Admiral who was Rock Hudson's commander in Ice Station Zebra.