Interesting question. When I started buying the "red book" series in the early 70s I could only afford one per week. I did not buy them in numerical order. The first one I bought was Tal. Second was Petrosian. Third was Capablanca. Fourth was Andersson. I suspect that order is significant. I have always loved to play over Tal's games though I can't play anything like he did.

Most respected? Joseph Platz, John Jacobs, Peter Sakkinen, Ken Smith, Sammy Reshevsky, and George Koltanowski come immediately to mind. My wife liked and respected Koltanowski so much that she'd ask me to attend tournaments he'd be at so she had an excuse to go too! Normally she wanted nothing to do with tournaments and wished I'd attend far fewer.