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The Top 100 Female Actors of All-Time
- Ingrid Bergman
- Katharine Hepburn
- Meryl Streep
- Giulietta Masina
- Lillian Gish
- Jeanne Moreau
- Liv Ullman
- Catherine Deneuve
- Marlene Dietrich
- Barbara Stanwyck
- Faye Dunaway
- Diane Keaton
- Juliette Binoche
- Julie Christie
- Julianne Moore
- Audrey Hepburn
- Judy Garland
- Sissy Spacek
- Bette Davis
- Anna Karina
- Mia Farrow
- Ellen Burstyn
- Deborah Kerr
- Frances McDormand
- Elizabeth Taylor
- Jane Fonda
- Maria Falconetti
- Gena Rowlands
- Anna Magnani
- Emily Watson
- Shirley MacLaine
- Gong Li
- Naomi Watts
- Maggie Cheung
- Sigourney Weaver
- Kate Winslet
- Janet Gaynor
- Nicole Kidman
- Julie Deply
- Holly Hunter
- Uma Thurman
- Helen Mirren
- Scarlett Johansson
- Marion Cotillard
- Lauren Bacall
- Amy Adams
- Vivien Leigh
- Michelle Williams
- Charlize Theron
- Jean Arthur
- Liza Minnelli
- Isuzu Yamada
- Claudette Colbert
- Claudia Cardinale
- Natalie Portman
- Isabelle Huppert
- Tilda Swinton
- Emma Stone
- Joan Fontaine
- Cate Blanchett
- Susan Sarandon
- Joan Crawford
- Glenn Close
- Anne Bancroft
- Natalie Wood
- Simone Signoret
- Marilyn Monroe
- Maureen O’Hara
- Jodie Foster
- Shelley Winters
- Hilary Swank
- Anjelica Huston
- Grace Kelly
- Shelley Duvall
- Laura Dern
- Vanessa Redgrave
- Ruth Gordon
- Kirsten Dunst
- Hanna Schygulla
- Bibi Andersson
- Janet Leigh
- Jessica Chastain
- Patricia Arquette
- Harriet Andersson
- Anouk Aimee
- Kim Novak
- Greta Garbo
- Irene Jacob
- Lorraine Bracco
- Anna Paquin
- Bjork
- Rosalind Russell
- Catherine Keener
- Jennifer Lawrence
- Penelope Cruz
- Greta Gerwig
- Emma Thompson
- Gloria Swanson
- Cathy Moriarty
- Talia Shire
Drake2020-07-03T10:30:06+00:00
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Whoaa there, its Emma Thompson! C’mon, she’s amazing!
Who would you put her above? Thompson is great– especially from 1992-1995– what an amazing stretch– I just have a hard time putting her accumulative work (which is impressive) over the one-time brilliance of actresses like Bjork or Lorraine Bracco who were spectacular in masterpieces
Good question, Hmm…I don’t know. It’s just, she is one of my favorites, and I don’t know a lot of these talented ladies, and I know this is performance and career based, but still, I personally thought she was going to be somewhere top you know? She just has this great presence on screen. Wit is one of my favorite films and her performance is just so incredible.
Milcah– appreciate your comments and opinion. I haven’t seen “Wit”- it’s been on my list to see I just haven’t gotten around to it. I’ll seek it out.
i think that jennifer jones ought to be on this list. her and montgomery clift did a short masterpiece called indescretion of an american wife directed by Vittorio De Sica merely an hour and 3 minutes but one of my favorite films- she is a great artist like clift and they have all time performances.
Hi – thanks for the comment– I’ve never seen “Indiscretion of an American Wife”- i’ll add it to the list. I adore De Sica but this has negative reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Probably why I’ve skipped it until now.
Where are Irene Dunne, Carol Lombard, Olivia De Havilland, Ann Sheridan in the list???
@Oscar– thanks for the comment. I considered all of them but they didn’t make the cut. Dunne is great in “The Awful Truth” and Lombard in “To Be or Not to Be” but all of these actresses needed one more exceptional performance to crack the top 100
OK, so this right here is legitimately the best list I have seen so far on this subject. You are a clear cinephile and that is something that shows proudly in your well-researched choices. I love your picks of Anna Karina, Harriet Andersson and Irène Jacob, all very talented and underrated. I also really like the fact that you included the great Isuzu Yamada and that Juliette Binoche ranks so high on this list. Some omissions that I would include (I am struggling to make such a list on my own and it is difficult to say the least) are:
Julie Andrews (probably over Grace Kelly – I love her work, but it really seems that “Rear Window” cannot beat out “Victor/Victoria” for me, performance wise of course. There is just an unresistable quality about Andrews.)
Lena Olin (a personal favourite, she is incredible in “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” and “Enemies, a Love Story”)
Setsuko Hara (“Tokyo Story” and “The Idiot” are brilliant, possibly over Shelley Winters) and
Mari Törróscik (a Hungarian actress I came across in “Electra, my Love” and was completely taken with her, I would include her instead of Patricia Arquette)
I would probably also have mentioned someone like Olivia de Havilland or Cicely Tyson, but you have already well justified their omission (I do believe that Bjork and Bracco are somewhat unnecessary in the list, since their one-hit wonder is not that much of a wonder when compared to Marie Falconetti)
Overall, it’s a brilliant list, I really like your taste.
@G– well thought-out and studied comment here— thank you. I figured I’d get people who have a beef with Bjork and Bracco and that’s fine. But as you mention– Falconetti is a one-hit wonder too and she has to be on everyone’s list. Although she’s far superior in achievement to Bracco and Bjork that is reflected in the ranking (she’s 27 and Bracco and Bjork are 89 and 91) I put a lot of stock in actors that are superb in great films— and as talented as Olin, Andrews and Törróscik— i don’t think there in any of cinema’s greatest 500 films — and that makes it hard for me http://thecinemaarchives.com/2019/04/10/the-best-500-films-of-all-time/
Setsuko Hara will definitely be in my top 100 when i update it next– great call here- i did a large Ozu study in 2018 after making this list– it was a blind spot
Hey, thanks for answering to the comment, and I partially do get where you’re coming from (I have to admit, Bracco is just out of this world in “Goodfellas”, and I kind of agree with the statement that Meryl Streep has hardly ever topped this – maybe in “Sophie’s Choice” and that’s subjective).
After taking a look at my draft I would also like to mention the likes of Charlotte Gainsbourg and Geraldine Page. Gainsbourg is criminally underrated and has delivered some bravoura performances in “Melancholia” and “Nymphomaniac” (though I haven’t got around to “Antichrist” – I am just not THAT into von Trier yet). Page, on the other hand is a great actor with not-so-great films, so I clearly see why she is not here (after considering your criteria). I just felt obliged to mention her, she totally blew me away in “Interiors”, just such a internalized and deeply felt performance.
So, now I would like to ask something. I noticed the absence of three actresses who are normally very prominent in such lists: Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Jessica Lange. I am really not such a fan of none of them, so this is less of a complaint concerning their omission and more of an inquiry on why this is so. It would be very useful in my study, as well.
@G
so here’s the archiveable films on my list for Dench, Maggie Smith and Lange– I praise Smith here in 1964 for her longevity (7 decades with at least one archiveable film) http://thecinemaarchives.com/2017/09/20/1964/ and Dench here in 1986 http://thecinemaarchives.com/2017/10/18/1986/ but i really don’t have a single performance from the 3 of them that i thought was one of the 5-6 best of the year. That’s sort of my starting criteria for doing my top 100. I go year by year and select the standout performances. If you aren’t on one of those, over 100 years of cinema, i sort of let you go
Dench
1985- A Room With a View
1987- 84 Charing Cross Road
1988- A Handful of Dust
1989- Henry V
1996- Hamlet
1998- Shakespeare In Love
2000- Chocolate
2001- Iris
2005- Pride and Prejudice
2006- Casino Royale
2006- Notes on a Scandal
2011- Jane Eyre
2011- My Week With Marilyn
2012- Skyfall
2013- Philomena
Smith
1964- The Pumpkin Eater
1965- Othello
1969- The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
1976- Murder By Death
1978- California Suite
1981- Quartet
1985- A Room With a View
1993- The Secret Garden
1995- Richard III
2001- Gosford Park
2004- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
2011- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Lange
1979- All That Jazz
1982- Tootsie
1991- Cape Fear
1995- Rob Roy
2005- Broken Flowers
All right, thanks for taking the time to analyze this. I’m posting a new comment because otherwise it would be too narrow, lol. Anyway, I understand now. I also wanted to point out that I agree with your view on actors who collaborate often with a particular auteur. Some may see it as a lack of range, but tbh time has proven that good directors find the strengths and get the best out of their favourite actors. I like how Garbo is a little lower on this list, usually people regard her too highly and I think she is rather overrated. And how great is it to see Hanna Schygulla on this list!
One last thing. What’s your opinion on Isabelle Adjani and Lila Kedrova? Both have at least some great films (“The Tenant”, “Nosferatu the Vampyre”, ” Queen Margot”, “Zorba the Greek”) and a few notable performances in more low profile movies (“Camille Claudel”-“Possession” and “Torn Curtain”, respectively) but I am quite unsure, particularly of Kedrova. I am also trying to find a copy of 1980’s ” Tell Me a Riddle”. Thanks in advance, you’re probably quite busy anyway and I appreciate the time you allocate on these.
@ G — Thanks again for the comment. I think i just haven’t seen enough from Adjani and Kedrova yet at this point to put them on the list. I saw “The Tenant” but it was nearly 20 years ago and am long overdue— it’s a tough one to find.
Anyways- glad to hear we’re on the same page with Garbo. I like her, and her films, but i think she was a bigger “star” than great actress when you start breaking down her work in comparison with the other great actresses.
@ Drake – that’s great. I actually like Garbo. It’s just that I found her performance in Anna Karenina to be a far cry from her best (of what I’ve seen) and people consider her such a legend. She was a talented actress, but indeed a star would be a more accurate word to describe her.
Anyway, it’s great to see you keep up the good work and I can’t wait for you to complete your best directors’ list. It’s going incredibly well, I love your choices this far and I think this will evolve into your absolute best. Two names that I would recommend (I would expect them to be somewhere around 80th-100th anyway) are Sergei Parajanov and Theo Angelopoulos (I would suggest “The Colour of Pomegranates”-” Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors” and “Eternity and a Day”-” Voyage to Cythera”-“Landscape in the Mist”, respectively). I do like the Dardenne brothers, as well, though I think they were much less influential.
@ G– thanks for the suggestions- The Dardennes are coming up shortly— i’m a big admirer of their work. I was very late to the game with Parajanov but caught them earlier this year http://thecinemaarchives.com/2019/03/07/shadows-of-forgotten-ancestors-1964-parajanov/ and http://thecinemaarchives.com/2019/04/16/the-color-of-pomegranates-1969-parajanov/ — probably need some more time before adding him on my list. As far as Angelopoulos — i haven’t been able to catch most of his work. I have a really bad bootleg copy of few films but really need like TCM or Criterion or someone to make them available so i can study them.
@ Drake – I find it great that you’re a fan of the Dardennes. I am not very caught up with Parajanov myself tbh, but he is very interesting from what I’ve seen. As far as copies from Angelopoulos go, it’s truly a real headache trying to find them. Mubi made some of his films available recently (I think “Landscape in the Mist” and “Ulysses’ Gaze”), but one cannot of course subscribe to their services just in hope of reaching out to a few films they may never show again anyway – no matter how that goes, good luck with your latest list!
I love that Giulietta Masina is #4! And thank god no Julia Roberts.
@Mary— ahhh -a fellow admirer of Masina! Great! Thanks for the feedback here.
haha. I mean Julia Roberts has screen presence but yeah there isn’t a year in cinema history where i think she gives one of the best 4-5 female performances of the year (kind of the opposite of Masina where that happened at least 3-4 times).
You misspelled Isabelle Huppert
@Kidman69– thanks for the help. Fixed now I believe
I liked the list, but I wouldn’t put Meryl Streep at #3. She’s an amazing actress, but her only great movie is The Deer Hunter, both Gish and Masina have several masterpieces and great performances in their careers. And Bette Davis is criminally underrated here. She’s unarguably a Top 10.
@Nepomuceno– thanks for visiting the site and the comment here. Fair points. I basically say as much here on the Streep page. http://thecinemaarchives.com/2018/05/17/the-3th-best-actress-of-all-time-meryl-streep/ . It is a weakness for Streep but she has a ton of depth that becomes pretty hard to ignore. I think Gish and Masina (I have pages for them as well if you search by name) just lack the overall body of work in comparison with Streep. I wish Masina and Gish would have done something of more merit without Fellini and Griffith to let us know there’s more there.
Davis’ page is here… I’ve seen virtually everything she’s done. I appreciate your note but am confident in my ranking here.
Teresa Wright. Perhaps over Penelope
@AP — thanks for the comment. That’s fair and you wouldn’t get a big objection from me. I considered Wright– here’s why i went with Cruz–
Here’s a look at the resume for both. I have Penelope mentioned twice giving one of the best female performances of the year (2006 in Volver and 2009 in Broken Embraces)– just once for Wright (1943 in Shadow of a Doubt).
Cruz
1997- Open Your Eyes
1997- Live Flesh
1999- All About My Mother
2001- Vanilla Sky
2006- Volver
2008- Vicky Christina Barcelona
2009- Broken Embraces
2018- Everybody Knows
2019- Pain & Glory
Wright
1941- The Little Foxes
1942- Pride of the Yankees
1942- Mrs. Miniver
1943- Shadow of a Doubt
1946- The Best Years of Our Lives
1947- Pursued
1950- The Men
As I’ve mentioned before, this list is great and really balanced – rare for these kinds of lists especially on the internet – amazing stuff here. Anyway, I would mention Setsuko Hara whose absence hurts a bit (even though I’ve only watched a few Ozu movies) and definitely Isabelle Adjani – she is a real talent despite her scarce work (Possession is probably one of the top 10 best performances of the 80’s for me, even by the impossible standards that Robert De Niro and Meryl Street set). Judy Davis is a good one but lacking a great film (even if I think very highly of Husbands and Wives). Lastly, do you think Rachel Weisz and Olivia Colman, particularly with their latest work in the Favourite and the Lobster with Lanthimos would make the cut?
@Georg– thanks again for the comment. I think Weisz will be there now. I think it need to see another performance or two from Colman yet
Very interesting list. Here are my thoughts. Danielle Darrieux is far too good to be left off. Her performance in the Earrings of Madame De… is iconic. I also believe that Machiko Kyo, Setsuko Hara and Kinuyo Tanaka from Japan should be there. They gave classic performances during the Japanese golden era and I see them as too important to be excluded. I can understand Nora Gregor not making the list because she doesn’t have a noteworthy role outside of The Rules of the Game but that’s an amazing performance and I believe that had she not been an Austrian living in such a tumultuous time period, she could have been one of the very best. Like Arletty in Children of Paradise, she has a classic European quality. Unfortunately she died young and in obscurity. I also really like Briggitte Federspiel. Her strong presence in Ordet is hard to overlook.
Eh Diane Keaton and Judy Garland are great Actresses but they aren’t in the same Class as Bette Davis and Cate Blanchett (Especially Garland who is a great actress in her own right but is far from a top twenty actress of all time).
I would put Audrey in the top twenty Personally but she’s nowhere near Bette as an actress
Jessica Lange!!
@Alan- thanks for visiting the site and the comment. Lange’s resume actually isn’t as strong as you think
Lange
1979- All That Jazz
1982- Tootsie
1991- Cape Fear
1995- Rob Roy
2005- Broken Flowers
Drake, do you believe there is a large difference in quality between the top 100 actors and actresses? If so, what may be the reason?
@Azman- I don’t think there’s a difference in acting talent, but as far as resumes— there is an undeniable difference. Not sure on the reason- there are reasons on top of this I’m sure but one reason is not enough opportunities for women to direct. It seems reasonable that most male directors (not all) would have a central male part for an actor to play and vice versa. Hopefully that is changing and there will be more opportunities for women to direct and we see the balance even out
@Azman and @Drake – to be honest, I think the difference lies in quantity but not in quality. It feels like female actors have been more dependent on certain directors (male or female) in order to flesh out real characters. WOODY ALLEN (whose screenwriting strength was always in writing women), BERGMAN, Godard (basically with Karina and that was it, but still), Von Trier, Altman in some cases, have all created incredible characters for women throughout the years. But if you take actresses like Glenn Close for example, who didn’t manage to work with those kind of auteurs much, I think you’ll find that their really impressive and profound character work is much more limited than say that of Ralph Fiennes, who didn’t really work very often with the same auteurs as well. Scorcese, who is easily a top 10 of all time director and quite commercial in comparison to others as well, was never really concerned with female characters, and with the exception of Bracco in Goodfellas and Stone in Casino (the latter of whom is still debatable) never dealt with them as thoroughly as with his male protagonists.
My point is that I think it was historically easier for male actors to find interesting work. Great male characters were written and worked on ever since the dawn of cinema as an art form, much more often than women (and if that happened, it was usually a product of some transition of literature or theatre to the big screen – Gone with the Wind comes to mind immediately). But I think things are beginning to change drastically. The French New Wave (and the Italian neorealism to an extent before it) gave us groundbreaking character work with regards to women, which was then continued with abovementioned auteurs such as Bergman and Woody and of course the American New Wave. At present time 21st century, things are getting progressively better. Though I don’t think we can make a case for equality yet, in terms of opportunities, I believe we can be optimistic.
Wow scarlett johansson over natalie portman , amy adams and hubert?
@Mikel- Thanks for visiting the site and the comment. You disagree I take it? I go into details on her page. Each actress listed here has her own page. You’ll have to search for them on the site though- my apologies they are not hyperlinked yet
Very sad, the last figure of the Golden Age of Hollywood Olivia de Havilland died, however i realize that you do not have her on the list, she should be here
@ Aldo — Very sad indeed- but she had a very long life of course. This is her archiveable filmography below– a strong career– but didn’t quite make the cut. Only in 1949 with Wyler’sThe Heiress does she give one of the best performances of the year.
1935- A Midnight Summer’s Dream
1935- Captain Blood
1938- The Adventures of Robin Hood
1939- Dodge City
1939- Gone with the Wind
1939- The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex
1941 They Died With Their Boots on
1946- To Each His Own
1948- The Snake Pit
1949- The Heiress
1959- Libel
1964- Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte
@Drake. In 1939, she is right behind Leigh and Garland in terms of performances, she is great in Gone with the Wind, add the performance in 1949 and give the one f the best performances in 2 years and you said that in women giving the performance in 1 or 2 years is enough
@m. You are very right, she is not at the same level as Viven but she is incredible
@Aldo– I’ve got Jean Arthur stronger in 1939 — same with Garbo. She’s good in support in Gone With the Wind but if forced to add a female supporting actor in GWTW I’d probably go with the academy’s choice for best supporting actress- Hattie McDaniel. If forced to add another – I’d go with Nora Gregor for Rules of the Game.
Interesting Drake, I will have to see all the movies again to be sure, although McDaniel is doing very well, i don’t remember being so impressed compared to Olivia, we will talk about this later.
Since we are talking about GWTW, what do you think about censorship in movies? such as what they tried with GWTW.
if they had censored a movie it would have been Birth of a nation, although i don’t think art should be censored
@Aldo— She has a really impressive resume. I’d have no problem putting her on my top 100 near the bottom– we’d really be splitting hairs. I was just explaining why she didn’t make it.
@Aldo- I’m also with you on censorship. I don’t think art should be. I think Idris Elba just came out and said there should be a disclaimer before– and then let the original movie play– or something to that effect. 100% agree.
aldo melanie was a masterful role and performance. don’t know enough about her besides gone with the wind.
Where is Rachel Weisz?The Favourite,The Lobster,The Constant Gardner,The Fountain.Should be easily in the top 90.
@Janith- So- I wrote this page in July 2018. Before The Favourite. Weisz will be on the list when I update it with that performance now
Where is Saoirse Ronan and Rachel Weisz?Saoirse Ronan top 5.1)Little Women 2)Ladybird 3)Atonement 4)Brooklyn 5)Hanna Rachel Weisz top 5.1)The favourite 2)The Fountain 3)The Lobster 4)The constant gardner 5)The deep blue sea.Both should be in the top 80 at least.
@Janith- I agree- but again this was written before some of these films/performances came out.
Where is Florence Pugh?Top 4 performances.1)Midsommar 2)Little Women 3)Lady Macbeth 4)Outlaw King.Did you see Lady Macbeth(2016)?A phenomenal debut.
Where is Alicia Vikander?She starred in the 2014 film(not 2015)Ex Machina.Danish Girl(2015) and Light Between Oceans(2016).
Maybe I lost the battle with Olivia but i will die on this hill if necessary haha, in my Antonioni studio, i discovered a beautiful muse named Monica Vitti, should be on the list maybe she’s not Marlon Brando in terms of expressiveness, but god, those languid eyes so expressive and since you consider Red Desert a masterpiece and rank it # 40, she’s the leader in that movie and she goes off with what might be the best performance of 1964, she is also in 3 other masterpieces, she is in L’Avventura where she also gives the best performance of the film, L’Eclisse the same and La Notte where she gives the best performance of the film per minute, i love Moreau, but i see that you have it in position 6 and Jules and Jim and Red Desert are quite close and if you have La Notte as their third best performance, you also have as the third best performance of Mastroianni to La Notte where Vitti takes Moreau and Mastroianni off the screen and yet she’s not even at the bottom of the list.
Here are his 4 best performances:
1. Red Desert
2. L’Avventura
3. La Notte
4. L’Eclisse
There are many actresses with only a good acting, few of them have a movie as good as Red Desert and few of them are as good in movies as that.
I would dare to say that it is a top 50.
@Aldo– 1000% with you. Great work here. This is the most glaring omission on this list. I started my Antonioni study in late 2018- just after this page. I’ll remedy this when I update the top 100 actresses list. Vitti will be in the top 50.
The truth is i think it is the best decade for any female actress, from 1960-1964 she was in four masterpieces.
I’ll think about it, but who had the best decade as an actress? something like Jack / Pacino 70s
@Aldo– I’m with you! Good question– Just browsing through so need to really think on that one. A few are close- Dietrich in the 30’s, Karina in the 60’s, Ullmamn in the 70’s, Streep’s 80’s, Deneuve in the 60’s, Fonda a great 70’s, Farrow’s 80’s, Stone a great 2010’s, Watts the 2000’s…
Okay, to prove Vitti’s superiority haha, I’ll discard some, the closest rival is Dietrich although i have not seen any of his films, apart from Touch of evil (one of the shortest and most impressive performances I have seen) Where should i start with Von Sternberg?
Karina is interesting i have not seen much of her but she is incredible in Pierrot le Fou, i am going to discard her, Ullman a very worthy rival, incredible decade, I will discard Fonda and Streep as they are good performances in nice little movies, Farrow, a decade could be said equal or stronger, much volume although it is not the leader in all, Stone phenomenal, but still loses, with one more masterpiece she would be the right rival, Watts, M.Drive and 21 grams, something that i am missing? discarded.
I’m surprised you don’t mention Bergman, you mentioned her somewhere, Casablanca and Notorious in the 40s, they are also 2 of the best female acts.
What would be your best female performances of the 60s?
I think it would be Farrow in Rosemary’s baby, Moreau in Jules and Jim, the duo in Persona, Loren in Two women and Masina in Juliet of the spirits
Okay I see you point to Deneuve in 1967 “Deneuve continues her utter dominance of the 1960’s with another superb performance in belle de dour.” I’d say Vitti had a better decade
@Aldo– I think you’re right
Have you seen Lady Macbeth(2016) starring Florence Pugh?Is it in the archives?
@Malith- It was interesting– not in the archives but I want to see it again.
Where is Monica Vitti?Laventura.La Notte.Leclipse.Red Desert?
I still have a lot of work to do with Buñuel, but shouldn’t Buñuel’s muse make the cut? (Silvia Pinal)
Viridiana, The Exterminating Angel and Simon of the Desert.
Although i certainly do not think so highly of her performance in Viridiana, but i would like to know what you think.
@Aldo- I don’t think so. I don’t think she gives one of the best performances of the year in any of those films.
Florence Pugh has to make the top 100.Top 3 performances. 1)Midsommar-MP 2)Little Women-MS 3)Lady Macbeth