My current Top 5

My current Top 5

5/19/2019

Best Actress Ranking - Update

Here is a new update. The newly added performance is highlighted in bold. 

If five performances from the same year are included, the winning performance is higlighted in red.

1. Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind (1939)
2. Jessica Lange in Frances (1982)
3. Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard (1950)
4. Olivia de Havilland in The Heiress (1949)
5. Maggie Smith in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969)
6. Anne Bancroft in The Graduate (1967)
7. Janet Gaynor in Seventh Heaven (1927-1928)   
8. Jill Clayburgh in An Unmarried Woman (1978)
9. Glenn Close in Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
10. Geraldine Page in The Trip to Bountiful (1985)

11. Susan Sarandon in Thelma & Louise (1991)
12. Katharine Hepburn in Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)
13. Edith Evans in The Whisperers (1967)
14. Norma Shearer in Marie Antoinette (1938)
15. Greta Garbo in Ninotchka (1939)
16. Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
17. Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth (1998)
18. Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
19. Simone Signoret in Room at the Top (1959)
20. Bette Davis in The Little Foxes (1941)

21. Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music (1965)
22. Rosalind Russell in Auntie Mame (1958)
23. Glenda Jackson in Women in Love (1970)
24. Joanne Woodward in The Three Faces of Eve (1957)
25. Elizabeth Taylor in Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)
26. Barbara Stanwyck in Ball of Fire (1941)
27. Lee Remick in Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
28. Emily Watson in Hilary and Jackie (1998)
29. Julie Christie in Away from Her (2007)
30. Shelley Winters in A Place in the Sun (1951)

31. Audrey Hepburn in Wait until Dark (1967)
32. Meryl Streep in The Devil wears Prada (2006)
33. Ingrid Bergman in The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945)
34. Anne Baxter in All about Eve (1950)
35. Judi Dench in Mrs. Brown (1997)
36. Helen Hayes in The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1932)
37. Jane Fonda in Coming Home (1978)
38. Greer Garson in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
39. Doris Day in Pillow Talk (1959)
40. Meryl Streep in One True Thing (1998)

41. Joan Crawford in Sudden Fear (1952)
42. Deborah Kerr in From Here to Eternity (1953)
43. Katharine Hepburn in Guess who’s coming to dinner (1967)
44. Marsha Mason in Chapter Two (1979)
45. Jane Wyman in The Yearling (1946)
46. Martha Scott in Our Town (1940)
47. Teresa Wright in The Pride of the Yankees (1942) 
48. Jennifer Jones in Love Letters (1945)
49. Ellen Burstyn in Same Time, Next Year (1978)
50. Susan Hayward in My Foolish Heart (1949)

51. Jeanne Crain in Pinky (1949)
52. Eleanor Parker in Detective Story (1951)
53. Vanessa Redgrave in Mary, Queen of Scots (1971)
54. Diane Keaton in Marvin's Room (1996)
55. Loretta Young in Come to the Stable (1949)  
56. Mary Pickford in Coquette (1928-29)
57. Sissy Spacek in The River (1984)
58. Shirley MacLaine in The Turning Point (1977)
59. Irene Dunne in Cimarron (1930-1931)
60. Ruth Chatterton in Madame X (1928-29)

61. Diana Wynyard in Cavalcade (1932-1933)
62. Bette Davis in The Star (1952)

Jeanne Crain as Patricia 'Pinky' Johnson in Pinky

Jeanne Crain's performance is another one I already covered in detail, so I just refer you to my old review.

1 comment:

joe burns said...



Regarding Glenn Close's overdue status: The fact is is that it was the front and center of her campaign although her work was definitely really powerful and would have made a worthy winner but Colman was more deserving IMO. It's clear from the standing ovation and the cheers of approval that the Academy was a lot more impressed with Colman then was previously thought and gave Colman their vote as they felt that Close was the likely winner (similar to Marion and Julie Christie in 2007). I really think the British factor helped her a lot as Hollywood does love to fall all over themselves for the Brits sometimes. I doubt that The Wife was seen as widely as it could have been seen by Oscar voters as well.

What did you think of The Favourite in general? I personally thought it was an amazing film and really should have won Best Picture(although I'm just now catching up on all the contenders lol) and really easily deserved Best Original Screenplay. Also did you think all three were leading? There were comparisons to The Hours after her Oscar win and I remember your thought about Julianne being the one who was committing category fraud that year as you felt all three females were leading which I agree with. Personally I don't mind Weisz's supporting nomination and Stone being placed alongside her in supporting makes sense to me in a way as Colman is the center of The Favourite whose character drives both of Sarah and Abigail's actions in the film. But Stone's role was obviously leading in terms of screen time though I think Fox Searchlight got it right in the category placements in the end.