Sylvester Stallone is voted No 1 Action Hero

Sylvester Stallone has been voted the greatest on-screen modern action hero by our readers.

Regular readers of our Movie Talk blog decided Stallone was number one for his iconic role as maverick Vietnam veteran John Rambo, who made his screen debut in 1982 in the film First Blood.

Stallone, whose new film The Expendables premiered in London's Leicester Square on Monday night, came first ahead of rivals Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger in a poll of muscular screen heroes who burst onto the screen in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Willis was second in the readers’ poll for his sardonic New York cop John McClane in the Die Hard movies, and Arnold Schwarzenegger was voted third for his role as unstoppable killing machine The Terminator.

Bruce and Arnie both make cameo appearances in The Expendables, but in the film they leave the gung-ho heroics to the now 64-year-old Stallone, who broke his neck while wrestling with WWF veteran 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin during filming of the film, which he also directed and co-wrote.

Proving that the action movie genre isn’t just the preserve of men, Linda Hamilton - Schwarzenegger’s co-star in the first two Terminator films – came fourth in the poll for her role as Sarah Connor

The full top 10:

1. Sylvester Stallone

2. Bruce Willis

3. Arnold Schwarzenegger

4. Linda Hamilton

5. Jean-Claude Van Damme

6. Steven Seagal

7. Chuck Norris

8. Dolph Lundgren

9. Kurt Russell

10. Sigourney Weaver