Top 10 Favorite Performances By An Actress

I was inspired by Lcp88's favorite movie thread. What are your top 10 most memorable performances by an actress?

1. Meryl Streep, "Sophie's Choice"
2. Sally Field, "Sybil"
3. Cate Blanchett, "Elizabeth"
4. Whoopi Goldberg, "The Color Purple"
5. Helen Hayes, "Anastasia"
6. Natalie Wood, "West Side Story"
7. Faye Dunaway, "Mommie Dearest"
8. Kate Winslet, "Quills"
9. Judi Dench, "Iris"
10. Toni Collette, "The Sixth Sense"

Good list. I will have to give this some thought....

Vivian Leigh as Scarlett comes to mind....

I have many more of course,

Bronze........Meryl Streep's performance in "Sophie's Choice" broke my heart............
1. Katherine Hepburn in "The Lion in Winter"
2. Judy Garland..."A Star is Born"
3. Kate Blanchett..."Elizabeth"
4. Dorothy McGuire.."A Tree Grows in Brooklyn"
5. Luise Rainer..."The Good Earth"
6. Olivia DeHaviland....."The Heiress"
7. Whoopi..."The Color Purple " (Should have gotten an award)
8. Sally Field..."Murphy's Romance"
9. Meg Ryan..."You've Got Mail"
10. Gwenyth Paltrow...."Emma" 42

Cher - Silkwood

Joe

Cher - Moonstruck

ummmmmmm...uhhhhhh.....ummm <Thinks>
Ok
Emma Watson - Punch Drunk Love
Wynona Ryder - Edward Sissorhands
Meryl Streep - Music of the Heart (I think that was the name)

Laura

Lcp88 said:

Emma Watson - Punch Drunk Love
Laura

Click to expand...

I think you mean EMILY WATSON.

Emma Watson is the name of the young actress who plays Hermione in the Harry Potter movies!

But I sure do love the name!

I loved Katherine Hepburn in "The Philadelphia Story".

Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge
Miranda Otto in The Two Towers
Cate Blanchett in Bandits
Heather Graham in Boogie Nights
Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs

Julianne Moore--"Boogie Nights," "Magnolia," "The Hours," "Safe," and on and on.
--Katherine Hepburn--"The Philadelphia Story"
"The Lion in Winter," "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," "Adam's Rib," "Bringing Up Baby," "Holiday," "Woman of the Year," "Morning Star," "Alice Adams," "On Golden Pond,"--like Streep, endless roles that were Oscar worthy.
--Emily Watson--"Breaking the Waves"
--Halle Berry--"Monster's Ball"
Cate Blanchett--"Elizabeth" (wuz robbed for the Oscar that year--nothing against Gwyneth Paltrow, whom I like, but her performance in "Shakespeare in Love"--good, but not great. Cate was great.)
--Meryl Streep--"Sophie's Choice"--one of the all-time great performances by one of the all-time great actresses. Other than a few clunkers in the late '80s, I could list almost every role Streep has ever done, including "The Hours."
Jodie Foster--"Silence of the Lambs"
--Cher--"Silkwood" with lots of credit to director Mike Nichols for casting her and shocking Cher by having her do the role sans make-up. Too bad Cher didn't handle her caree better. She could have done many more years of great work.
--Judy Garland--"The Wizard of Oz" Seriously, can you imagine any other young girl in Hollywood doing that role justice? PLUS you get "Over the Rainbow," which I forgot to put on my songs list.
--Vivien Leigh--"Gone With the Wind" Another, can you imagine anybody else playing that role at that time? "A Streetcar Named Desire" Now here I can imagine somebody else playing the role--Jessica Tanda, namely, but to see Leigh do Scarlett O'Hara ten years older turned inside out--amazing.
--Olivia de Haviland--"The Heiress" Another one of the greats, IMO. Melanie Wilkes in "GWTW." "Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte." So many great roles.
--Lena Olin--"The Unbearable Lightness of Being" (Did you know she was almost 12 weeks pregnant when she shot that film, including the nude scenes?)
--Juliette Binoche--"The Unbearable Lightness of Being" and "Damage" (uncut version)
--Toni Colette--"Clock Watchers," "The Hours"
--Parker Posey--"Clock Watchers" and in all --Christopher Guest "mockumentaries" such as "Best in Show."
--Lisa Kudrow--"Clock Watchers" If you've ever worked as an office temp, "Clock Watchers" is a must-see.
--Marisa Tomei--"My Cousin Vinny," "Slums of Beverly Hills," "In the Bedroom" One a controversial Oscar yet IMO I think she broke the "curse of the Best Supporting Actress" Oscar, though I think she is capable of doing even more.
--Diane Keaton--"The Godfather I & II," "Sleepers," "Looking for Mr. Goodbar"
--Fernanda Montenegro--"Central Station"
--Alfre Woodard--"Passion Fish"
--Elizabeth Taylor--"A Place in the Sun," "Giant," "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"


Sorry, more than 10...and I've got more. Good thing I'm not a judge, lol.
Rgirl

Not going to rank...too hard. I am a huge fan of old movies, so I guess a lot of mine come from that.

*Olivia de Havilland, in almost anything she's done. She's my all time favorite actress. My favorite performance of hers would by Melly in GWTW, closely followed by her performances in Robin Hood (probably my second favorite, but it's really hard to differentiate), To Each His Own, and Captain Blood. I think The Heiress may have been the best performance of her career, so I have to add that one, too.

*Vivian Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara. Riveting for the whole four hours. Honorable mention would go to her performance in A Streetcar Named Desire.

*Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story.

*Winona Ryder in Little Women. She was also amazing in The Crucible

*Megan Follows in Anne of Green Gables. Anne is one of my favorite books ever, so I'm very critical. I thought Megan captured her perfectly. She also did a stage version of Romeo and Juliet in Canada that I saw a tape of, and she was absolutely fantastic.

*Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music.

*I'm going to second whoever said Gwyneth Paltrow in Emma. Not Oscar worthy, but she's just so darn cute, and I think she really captured Miss Woodhouse in a way that would make Jane Austen proud. Plus, this was really a breakout role for her.

*Judy Garland, The Wizard of Oz.

*Ann Baxter, The Ten Commandments. Admittedly, a very melodramatic performance, but she was riveting nonetheless. This was one of my favorite movies when I was about four; I'd watch it every day. So maybe that's why this performance is still a favorite of mine. I also loved her in All About Eve.

*Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady.

*Drew Barrymore, Ever After. Again, not Oscar worthy, but I love the joy and honesty she brought to the role.

*Debbie Reynolds, Singin' in the Rain.

I think you mean EMILY WATSON.

Click to expand...

Yeah I did. I was close - they both started with an "E"

Julianne Moore--"Boogie Nights"

Click to expand...

OOOO! Yeah, that was really good. Also Julianne Moore in "The Hours"

Laura

LCP88,
I was going to put "Julianne Moore in almost everything I've seen her in," but thought that would be cheating. I also loved her in "Magnolia," especially when she tells off the pharmacist. I also thought Moore deserved the Oscar for "The Hours," not Nicole Kidman. I could say more aobut that, but I'll be good
Rgirl

Rgirl said:

I also thought Moore deserved the Oscar for "The Hours," not Nicole Kidman. I could say more about that, but I'll be good
Rgirl

Click to expand...

But we don't WANT you to be good! In fact, we're countng on you to NOT be good!

Come on RGirl, SPILL IT! Julianne Moore is fabulous, but I thought the real travesty last year was Streep not being nominated for "The Hours". Moore was brilliant, but Streep gave one of her best performances since the 80s. I was pleased to see Streep nominated for "Adaptation". It was a different type of role for her and she did a wonderful job, but I still thought her performance in "The Hours" was a bit better.

Additions to my list:
11. Sigourney Weaver, "Gorillas in the Mist"
12. Shelly Winters, "The Poseidon Adventure"
13. Diane Keaton, "Marvin's Room"
14. Meryl Streep, "One True Thing" - The movie wasn't the greatest, but Streep was extremely compelling.
15. Naomi Watts, "Mulholland Drive"
16. Angelina Jolie, "Girl, Interrupted"
17. Meryl Streep, "Kramer vs. Kramer"
18. Ingrid Bergman, "Anastasia"
19. Sissy Spacek, "Coal Miner's Daughter"
20. Sally Field, "Places in the Heart"

Cate Blanchette- Elizabeth The movie practically raped, murdered, and mutilated history, but she was amazing. I was in awe of how her face appeared to change as she brought the character to life.

Sally Fields- Steel Magnolias I was crying my heart out during the scene at the cemetery. My dh thought I had lost my mind.

Vivien Leigh- GWTW She was Scarlett.

Joan Fontaine- Rebecca

Sorry- Double post

Oh, Twinnie,
Oh, you know I can't be good for long In fact it was just a momentary attack of semi-goodness. Besides, I did SAY I thought Julianne Moore should have won the Academy Award that year. And fans of Nicole Kidman in "The Hours" either don't read on or be prepared to beat me up I'm about to be my own bad self and say here that I thought Kidman was awful and why.

Eville Rgirl says:
Kidman's performance was too contrived, one-dimensional, and caricaturish. But it's not entirely her fault. I think the director and producer had a narrow view of Virginia Woolf. First of all, physically, Woolf's face (from photos) had a beautiful large strong bone structure that was very angular and with large deepset eyes. Kidman's face is very delicate, her eyes are small, and the prosthetic nose was soft-looking. It didn't have the sharp angles of Woolf's real nose. I just think she was the wrong actress for the part altogether.

I would have cast Meryl Streep as Woolf, even though ITA with Bronzey that Streep as Clarissa deserved an Academy Award way over Kidman as well. I'd have to put Streep and Moore in a tie for that one. (BTW Bronzey, thanks for reminding me of Naomi Watts in "Mullholland Drive"--absolute tour de force performance--and Angelina Jolie in "Girl Interrupted"; why hasn't Jolie done better roles since?) Anyway, re Woolf, Streep has both the looks and the ability to be both depressed and scintillating. It is well known of Woolf that even in her worst depressions, she was always the most captivating and fascinating person in the room. In "The Hours" when Woolf's sister and her children come to visit, Kidman maintained the same obviously artificial low voice, the same draggy, frumpy, depressed countenance. Other than the fight with her husband at the train station, which I thought was soap opera melodrama from Kidman, I thought it was a one-note performance. As I said, I also fault the director, Stephen Daldry, for choosing the wrong actress and then both conceiving and directing her in a one-dimensional way.

The person I think would have been best is British actress Janet McTeer who played Vita Sackville-West in the 1990 PBS version of "Portrait of a Marriage." Another actress I could see doing Woolf in "The Hours" is Cher, with her old nose, but unfortunately she hasn't acted in so long, I don't know if she still has the chops to handle the accent and the complexity of a part like that. If Vanessa Redgrave were 25 years younger, she's another actress who would have been great as Woolf.

Okay, on to why I think Kidman got so much acclaim and the Oscar. "The Hours" was filmed in the middle of the Cruise/Kidman divorce and all Hollywood knew it. All Hollywood also knew that Mr. $20 Million Per Picture Plus Percentage of the Gross, Cruise, filed for divorce from Nicole at the 11th hour before their 10-year anniversary, which meant she would not be entitled to nearly as much of Tom's assets (I'm not sure of divorce law details in California). In interviews Nicole acquitted herself very well. Although she said the divorce was completely unexpected, she never came off as a whiny victim. Also, when Nicole was with Tom she often came off as aloof. During and after the divorce she showed more of her true self, her vulnerability and insecurities. She often seemed like a giggly young girl instead of the gorgeous Greek goddess actress her looks made her out to be.

I think Hollywood sided with Nicole and in a sense, "ran to her aid." She got glowing reviews for performance that were, IMO--and the opinion of a few film critics--merely good. Also, Hollywood has a history of rewarding both actors and actresses in good roles who play parts that require them to either play characters who are mentally ill or change their looks, especially when the make-up makes them look "ugly" compared to their actual looks. Add to that the sympathy for Kidman for being dumped by superstar Tom and I think there was a snowball effect. True, Kidman did blossom as an actress compared to what she did before the divorce, but Julianne Moore or Meryl Streep, she ain't. Nothing against Kidman--she's a capable actress and seems like a nice person--I just think she was way over-hyped and awarded for playing Woolf in "The Hours" and that it was not deserved, especially compared to the performances of Moore and Streep in that film.

Okay, let the tomatoes fly, lol.
Rgirl

Okay...I'll try..

Nicole Kidman: Moulin Rouge
Ellen Bernstein (sp?): Requim for a Dream
Kirstin Dunst: Interview with the Vampire
Kate Blanchette: Elizabeth
Annette Benning: American Beauty (I think that's the woman I'm thinking of)
Sarah Michelle Gellar: Cruel Intentions (Who has ever pulled off a slut-act better?)
Uma Thurman: Kill Bill
Kathy Bates: Misery
Naomi Watts: The Ring