LeHah
212 Squadron - "The Old Man's Eyes And Ears"
What Im saying is that I see M.McDowell and J.R.Davis as being just as good an actor as Hopkins and should be up there with him, but for whatever reason they arent.
The reason is demand. Like any artist - composer or actor or painter or what-have-you - you go where you're in demand. If Malcolm McDowell isn't in a "big" movie, it's because he isn't getting the offers for them. It's not like he's turning down movie roles because he doesn't want them - that doesn't make sense, he had a part in 2003's Hildalgo, which was a pretty big action movie.
Composers are the same way. You don't write gigantic symphonies - no one will play them until you're established. You can write and write and write all you want but composition only pays if people want it. If you can gain a name by writing a couple small peices, thats the way to go - not writing music no one wants.
(I also find it odd that you made a point to mention John Rhys-Davies. Considering he was in two Indiana Jones movies, a James Bond movie, the Lord Of The Rings Trilogy and had a pretty great run as a voice actor, he seems to be pretty well-established in the last 20 years alone)