Favourite actors

1. Sir Sean Connery 2. Sir Anthony Hopkins 3. Sir Alec Guinness 4. Hugh Grant 5. Sir Michael Caine 6. Pierce Brosnan 7. Robert Carlyle 8. Ewan McGregor 9. Sir John Mills 10. Lord Olivier

And of the top five actors in the poll - to tie in with shortlist for the Orange British Academy Film Awards out on Wednesday - only Hugh Grant, at number four, has not been knighted.

Sir Sean, 70, whose distinctive voice and looks are famous across the globe, found fame as 007.

He starred in six official Bond films and returning to the role in the unofficial Never Say Never Again.

Favourite actresses

1. Julie Walters . 2. Dame Judi Dench 3. Catherine Zeta Jones 4. Elizabeth Hurley 5. Emma Thompson 6. Elizabeth Taylor 7. Barbara Windsor 8. Helen Mirren 9. Dame Margaret Rutherford 10. Dame Maggie Smith

His other box office hits include The Hunt For Red October, The Rock and Medicine Man.

Sir Sean is followed by Sir Anthony Hopkins and Sir Alec Guinness who died last year.

But Sir John Gielgud, regarded as one of Britain's finest actors, is not mentioned in the top 10.

Instead the spaces are filled by relative newcomers Ewan McGregor and Robert Carlyle, and also current James Bond star Pierce Brosnan.

Walters, an Oscar nominee for Educating Rita, is also well-known for her TV comedy work with writer and comedienne Victoria Wood.

She was made an OBE by the Queen in 1999 and has been described as "a living national treasure".

Dame Judi Dench also proved popular

The actress is followed by Dame Judi Dench, who took the best supporting actress Oscar in 1999 for Shakespeare In Love.

And headline-hitting Catherine Zeta Jones, tipped for an Academy award nomination this year for Traffic, is in third place.

The survey also found that cinemagoers find the experience so relaxing that many fall asleep.

Nearly half of all those who took part had fallen asleep at the cinema and almost a quarter had nodded off in the past three months.