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The Wikipedia entry for actor refers to a style guide that advocates a preference of actor over actress:

"When the Observer and the Guardian published their new joint style guide in 2010, it stated "Use ["actor"] for both male and female actors; do not use actress except when in name of award, e.g. Oscar for best actress." The authors of the style guide stated that "actress comes into the same category as authoress, comedienne, manageress, 'lady doctor', 'male nurse' and similar obsolete terms that date from a time when professions were largely the preserve of one sex (usually men). As Whoopi Goldberg put it in an interview with the paper: 'An actress can only play a woman. I'm an actor – I can play anything.'"

The terminology section then goes on discussing the issue inconclusively. The intent to prefer actor over actress is expressed often enough in the media and elsewhere. (Here is an ELU post on the topic and here is a post discussing a related issue.)

I wonder whether it would be natural or appropriate to apply this change retroactively, i.e., when referring to popular female actors of the past decades, who in their time were described as actresses and were presumably happy with that term.

The question may boil down to whether the profession label, such as actor, depends primarily on how the subject of the label choose to describe themselves, or whether, on the other hand, it is predominantly imposed by others.

Would it be natural or appropriate to think of Greta Garbo as a great actor, rather than a great actress? (Currently her Wikipedia entry describes her as an actress).

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anemone
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  • *From actor to actress and back again* : As anyone who follows entertainment news has become aware over the last decade or so, most thespians of the female persuasion now refer to themselves as actors, not actresses. Journalists and other nonactors, to varying degrees, are getting with the gender-neutral program. On the one hand this change in usage is informed by the egalitarian impulse that has pushed aside "stewardess" for "flight attendant" and, less successfully, "waitress" for the ungainly "waitperson". http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jan/18/entertainment/ca-actress18 –  Nov 03 '16 at 21:45
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    Define appropriate. For whom, why, where, when...? Primarily opinion-based. – Drew Nov 04 '16 at 01:39

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The trend of using the professional label of "actor" instead of "actress" appears to be a preference expressed by women based mainly on the idea of gender equality in job definition. The following extracts show how evident this trend is:

  • In recent months you and the Guardian have referred to Natasha McElhone and Rinko Kikuchi as actresses and Maureen Lipman and Jane Lynch as actors. The only difference is that the former are 41 and 30 respectively and the latter are 65 and 51 respectively. Does this mean that you believe that an actress becomes an actor after the age of 41?

  • Our style guide editor responded: "Most of f the impetus for adopting this style came from younger female actors and we certainly do not have a policy of applying it only to older ones. Most female actors these days, young and old, do not see why acting should be treated differently from medicine or any other profession We described Harriet Walter as one of our greatest actors. Calling her one of our greatest actresses is not the same thing at all and, I would argue, a much greater affront to her dignity."

From:(www.theguardian.com)

  • In the 1970s and 1980s, women began to choose the term ‘actor’ instead of ‘actress’ as a direct result of the women’s movement and an awareness of gender bias in language. Women began to take back the term ‘actor’, and it’s often used today.
  • Zoë Wannamaker explains that in the 1970s and 1980s there was ‘a stigma’ – a feeling that people disapproved – of being called an actress. This was because the word actress seemed to have the ‘connotation’, or suggested meaning, of being a prostitute.

From: (downloads.bbc.co.uk)

  • Whoopi Goldberg is quoted as saying: "An actress can only play a woman. I'm an actor – I can play anything." I rather like that. And given the recent calls of performers such as Emma Thompson for more gender-blind casting, perhaps actor is the best term that can be applied to all performers, regardless of sex.

From (www.thestage.co.uk)

To apply the term "actor" to Greata Garbo and Marlene Dietrich is again a question of style, but I've not seen it used so far.