Mafia boss Vito Corleone, as played by Marlon Brando in The Godfather, has been named the greatest movie character of all time by US film critics.

Sixteen film experts voted for the most memorable characters in cinema for US magazine Premiere.

Fred C Dobbs from The Treasure of the Sierra Madre came second with Gone With the Wind's Scarlett O'Hara third.

The most recent character in the top 10 was Gollum from The Lord of the Rings, as voiced by British actor Andy Serkis.

Premiere magazine describes Vito Corleone as "the most complex mobster ever portrayed on screen" who "seems to carry with him a latent sense of tragedy" in Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 film.

"That sense manifests itself more and more as Vito realises that the things he did to protect his family sowed the seeds of its destruction," the magazine says.

British secret agent James Bond, as played by Sean Connery in the character's first film Dr No, made the top five.

Other characters to feature in the 100-strong list include Margo Channing of All About Eve and Sir Anthony Hopkins' cannibal killer Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.

GREATEST MOVIE CHARACTERS

1. Vito Corleone
The Godfather
2. Fred C Dobbs
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
3. Scarlett O'Hara
Gone With the Wind
4. Norman Bates
Psycho
5. James Bond
Dr No

(Agencies)