What are you talking about? Gene Kelly's on the list. He's always been on the list.
James Dean may have only made 3 films, but his name, image, and story are the most well-known out of all the male actors. His legend continues to endure decades later, even amongst non-classic movie fans.

I think I agree with the OP that Myrna Loy should be on that list, although I don't know if I would place her ahead of Jean Arthur, so that would mean, IMHO, that 2 on the current list would have to go (I think ML and JA have equal, or nearly so, standing as "Legends". If you'd argue that ML deserves a spot over JA due to a slightly more famous name, you might not be wrong).
Not to get off topic, but I looked at the Male Actor list, and found it curious that James Dean was on the list (only 3 films, great as they areand I agree JD has Legendary status, but maybe not Top 25 Legend status?), yet Gene Kelly was left off. My point is, it's not a perfect process, obviously, and opinions vary wildly, even among the (hopefully) knowledgable voters of the AFI lists (I know nothing about how the voting was done, so if it was a public vote, I digress).
"The things I do for love" Jaime Lannister

There are many other exclusions from their list,but I agree that Myrna Loy's is probably the oddest.But since I agree with most of their list,I'm not going to raise an argument against their selections.
"What the world needs is more geniuses with humility, there are so few of us left."

Totally agree with you. I also cannot for the life of me think why Shirley Temple made the list. Aside from being the biggest box office draw for years in the 1930s, what is her contribution to the cinema, really? Name one legitimate classic that she is ina film that is beloved today. I find it incredibly difficult to name one such film.
I don't particularly care for Irene Dunne, so that doesn't bother me, but Loy, Russell and Arthur not making that list is ridiculous given that even bloody Grace Kelly (who cannot act her way out of a paper bag, in my opinion) did.

Frankly Harlow
I have to disagree with you: you say personal taste shouldn't interfere with the objectivity of the AFI list and you know everything about statistics, billing and bit parts and full fledged stardom but the fact is : should movie legacy and acting talent be two of the criteria to be on the AFI movie legends list? If yes, Myrna Loy should definitely be on the top ten of that list, since she appeared in at least five american classics (The Best Years; The Thin Man; Libeled Lady; Test Pilot and Love Me Tonight) and she always gave outstamding performances) - that is something one can hardly say about Mae West or Sophia Loren (who should be definitely on an Italian list, but she never made a decent American film).
I would also like to add that when Zanuck was preparing The Rains Came, 1939 biggest production at Fox, to make sure it would recoup the overwhelming production costs, he felt obliged to hire a name that would attract movie audiences, and in spite of the fact that Alice Faye, Constance Bennett and Loretta Young were all working at the studio (and Bennett was not only fighting for that role, but she was a personal friend of Zanuck, unlike Myrna), the two names that would guarantee financial backing were Loy's and Davis' (sure Lombard or Colbert or Rogers or MacDonald were also big, but hardly suited to the role). That's why Zanuck had to borrow Loy from MGM.
And last, but not least, Myrna "retired" from the movies between 1941 and 1945 to 'enlist' as a serviceman in the war. Whereas Grace Kelly retired to marry in MonteCarlo.Where's the legend?
Come on, that list is almost ridiculous.
Best, Cesare

"I don't care for Crawford, Dietrich, or Garland but I would never try to downplay their importance in film history"
They all made classics. Mae West's top rated movie on IMDB doesn't even rate a 7.0. Dismissing her films is not quite the same as dismissing Garland's, which include The Wizard of Oz, Meet Me in St Louis, A Star is Born, and Judgement at Nuremberg, among many others. Mae West films are famous for being Mae West films. Her fans watch them. Others? I think there would be marginal interest. Nothing like The Wizard of Oz.
"The fact that the AFI membership put Mae West in their top 15 and Myrna didn't make their top 25 says it all."if you take their vote as gospel, but this is exactly what is in dispute.
My take is these movie legends should have been based on fame derived from work in the movies, and having left behind a legacy of 2000enduring classics. Garland easily meets these criteria. So does Myrna Loy to a lesser degree. Mae West, I think, does not. Like Lucille Ball (fame based on TV), Tallulah Bankhead (fame based on the theatre) or Elvis Presley (fame based on recordings and live performances), Mae West is a legend, and certainly for a brief while was a top movie star, but much, and perhaps most, of her fame rests on her stage performances and persona.
Mae West might well be one of the top 25 entertainment celebrities of the 20th century, but I don't think she is one of the top 25 female movie legends. Maureen O'Hara, Olivia de Havilland, and yes, Myrna Loy, made much more significant contributions to movies even if none of them made the AFI list.

Never heard of "TLA Guide of 2005", don't imagine most movie buffs have either. In any case, anyone can make a list slanted to however they want it. One could make a similar list claiming Greer Garson was the greatest of them all, given her films ran the longest and made the most money at Radio City Hall, America's number one movie theater in the golden era. Someone apparently wanted Myrna Loy on top. You mention 129 movies as if she was the star of all of them. TLA is probably counting all those movies as well, in that case, why not say Bess Flowers is the biggest female star of alltime, given she was in 700 plus movies, many of them blockbusters. Of course she was just an extra in nearly all of them but in quite of few of Myrna's credits her part isn't much bigger if at all. The fact that Mae West didn't make TLA's top 100 list at all proves how dubious it is - any woman who placed in the top ten just once deserved to make the top 100 given there probably haven't been but 50 or so women to have accomplished this achievement.
Let's take a look at the Quigley box office poll of top ten money-making stars,which has been around since 1932 and has always been considered a quite accurate gauge of the popularity of the biggest stars of any given year:
http://www.reelclassics.com/Articles/General/quigleytop10-article.htm
Mae West and Myrna Loy each make the list twice. Mae in 1933 and 1934, Myrna in 1937 and 1938. Mae came in 8th in 1933 when she had two films in release, she came in fifth in 1934 when she had just one movie out!! That should more than underline her box office popularity. Myrna came in tenth in 1937 when she had two movies out, seventh in 1938 when she had three movies released. Mae is top billed in all three of her 1933-34 films and had no superstar costar (Cary Grant appeared in her two 1933 films but this was before his stardom several years later). Myrna is second-billed in four of her five 1937-38 movies, the one movie she is top-billed, MAN PROOF, is an a1354cknowledged misfire by even the most devoted Myrna buffs and was not likely that successful in theatres. In Myrna's two 1937 films she had superstar costars, Clark Gable (#2 at the b.o.) and William Powell (#5) that both outranked her at the box office that year, in 1937 Gable was her costar in two films and again the #2 box office attraction. It's quite clear the majority of tickets to these films were sold on the basis of Gable and Powell's popularity even though Myrna was enormously popular herself. Yes I know she was named "queen of the movies" in 1938 in a poll, Loy partisans always harp that fact and ignore that the following year that same poll named Jeanette MacDonald "queen of the movies" yet no one goes around claiming Jeanette was the biggest of them all because of that.
Myrna Loy admits in her autobiography most of her hit films feature her in a "subordinate" role to the male lead. One could not say that about Mae West films - or Bette Davis, Hepburn, Stanwyck, Colbert, and scores of other greats. So it seems fair enough to believe a huge chunk of moviegoers attending "Myrna Loy films" were there for Gable or Powell - or Power, Robert Taylor, etc.
So what that Mae only made 12 films? If one would strip down most star's filmographies to just films made during the years they were a major star nearly everyone would have a dramatic drop in their film totals, particularly Myrna. Mae West made only one or two movies a year and they were always treated like an event. This was the same for Greta Garbo, Norma Shearer, and Marlene Dietrich, who all made about the same number of films as Mae did during those years. I can't imagine dismissing Garbo's stardom just because she was only in 20 or so films at MGM. Norma was in sixteen films post 1930, eleven films post-1932 (the year Mae became a star); Greta in fifteen post 1930 and nine post 1932.
Myrna Loy may have made 129 movies but the overwhelmingly majority of them are small parts early in her career and roles before she reached stardom. She was not a full-fledged star until 1934 with THE THIN MAN. Additionally, the eight films she made after 1955 are all supporting roles, billed as low as 16th in AIRPORT 1975! So Myrna was really only a top star between 1934 and 1952 and during this period she only made 35 films. That's a big drop from 129. It's still more films than Mae West made but did Myrna really have the impact in those 35 that Mae did in her twelve or Garbo in her twenty? I don't think many would agree with that.
I'm not knocking Myrna Loy - I love her. I love Mae West, too but I'm not going to let my personal tastes get in the way of knowing who was the bigger star. The fact that the AFI membership put Mae West in their top 15 and Myrna didn't make their top 25 says it all. I can understand why some Loy fans wouldn't care for West; they are very different but still Mae's greater fame seems indisputable.
I don't care for Joan Crawford, Marlene Dietrich,

"Mae West"
Depends on your criteria for a "legend" doesn't it. It seems to me that Mae West is famous for being famous. In fairness, she is not ONLY famous for being famous, but that is indeed much of it. Later examples would be Jayne Mansfield or Zsa Zsa Gabor. I wouldn't be shocked if more men in the street types or young folks would know who Jayne or Zsa Zsa were than who Deborah Kerr or Jean Simmons were. But does that make them important movie stars at all?
Mae West made a total of 13 movies. Her position in pop culture depends on her image as "Mae West" and on a handful of quotes, many of which originally came from her stage roles. She was notorious on Broadway before ever coming to the movies. I wouldn't consider any of her movies first-tier classics. In contrast, Myrna Loy made 129 movies, several of which, such as THE THIN MAN or THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES can be found in "classic" sections even in backwater towns. I can't recall the last time I've seen a Mae West movie for sale out here in New Mexico.
Myrna Loy is famous as an actress and movie star, not entirely for her image.
Interestingly, in ticket sales, Myrna Loy was the #1 female star of the 20th century according to a list published in the TLA Guide of 2005. The top ten actresses in ticket salesMyrna Loy, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Barbara Stanwyck, Claudette Colbert, Judy Garland, Joan Crawford, Elizabeth Taylor, Ginger Rogers, Katherine Hepburn.
With only 13 movies, Mae West was not even in the top 100.
I don't want to imply that being the top ticket seller meant that Loy was the top female star. I think others often had more movies built around them, but she was in many big hits with the biggest co-stars from the thiries into the fifties and was a major star, and with 129 credits was very prolific. I think she should make any list of 25 actress "legends" easily.

I totally agree with that. There was so many superstars in the 1910-1950 era that 25 stars per gender just was not enough. If anything, there were a l7ecarger number of great women stars in this era than men stars.

I've just seen the list and, while I don't personally like all of the ladies included, I must say they deserve to be on it. It's a pity it wasn't a list of 50 actresses rather than 25!

I agree.
I think nearly all of the ladies on that list, are sadly, better known to audiences today than Myrna. Outside of the Thin Man films, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone, other than we fans, who can name any other film she did. Even looking at the bottom part of the list (20-25), I think all of those ladies are better known than Myrna, which in the end, is all that this AFI list was - a popularity contest among its members.

Love Myrna 2000but have to disagree that she's better remembered than Mae West. You really have to be into classic films to know who Myrna Loy is but the name Mae West is well known to scores of people who have never seen her in a movie and maybe haven't even seen a film from the 1930's. Mae West is a part of pop culture in a way that only a half dozen or so of the great stars have ever been. You don't make the top 15 if you're not very well remembered.
Myrna deserves to be counted among the greatest legends but then so did Gloria Swanson, Doris Day, Lana Turner, and a good ten others but there were only 25 slots and there were at least 50 female superstars 1910-1950.
Jean Arthur and Irene Dunne were not on the list probably for the same reason that Norma Shearer wasn't and isn't as remembered as she should be considered the level of her superstardom: they all retired too early to keep the flame going with the general public.

Myrna Loy was not Jewish. She was born Myrna Williams and took Loy as her stage name.

I'm curious where did you see this list, and what constitutes a legendary actress? Her movies? Her popularity? I like to see who they consider legendary. BTW, who are the choosers? On another matter, was Myrna Loy Jewish? Does anyone know? I knew a few Jewish women in my time and some of them had that name Myrna..I don't recall any other ethnic group with that name.

No offense to any fans of these few ladies, but Ava Gardner, Sophia Loren, and Mae West shouldn't have made that list if Myrna Loy didn't. Myrna Loy was at one point the most popular actress of the 1930's I believe. She made several iconic films that are still remembered today. Though she wasn't a Bette Davis or Katharine Hepburn, she is still better remembered than Mae West, I think. She should definitely be on there.
In fact, a lot of screwball comediennes were left off that list - Irene Dunne, Rosalind Russell, and Jean Arthur as well. What a shame.

Well, it happens that those other actresses already have this topic or similars on their respective boards, and as this is the Myrna Loy board, I think it's appropriate to talk about her on here.
Animal crackers in my soup
Monkeys and rabbits loop the loop

what about joan fontaine, dehaviland,Garson,Susan Hayward,deborah kerr,lana turner etc, not popular then??