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. Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby (2004)
18. Cate Blanchett in
Elizabeth (1998)
19. Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge! (2001)
20. Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
21. Simone Signoret in Room at the Top (1959)
22. Bette Davis in The
Little Foxes (1941)
23. Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music (1965)
24. Rosalind Russell in
Auntie Mame (1958)
25. Glenda Jackson in
Women in Love (1970)
26. Joanne Woodward in The Three Faces of Eve (1957)
27. Elizabeth Taylor in
Suddenly, Last Summer (1959)
28. Renée Zellweger in
Bridget Jones's Diary (2001)
29. Barbara Stanwyck in Ball of
Fire (1941)
30. Sissy Spacek in In the Bedroom (2001)
31. Halle Berry in Monster's Ball (2001)
32. Lee Remick in Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
33. Annette Bening in American Beauty (1999)
34. Emily Watson in Hilary and Jackie (1998)
35. Judi Dench in Iris (2001)
36. Julie Christie in
Away from Her (2007)
37. Shelley Winters in A Place
in the Sun (1951)
38. Audrey Hepburn in Wait until Dark (1967)
39. Meryl Streep in The Devil wears Prada (2006)
40. Ingrid Bergman in The
Bells of St. Mary’s (1945)
41. Julie Walters in Educating Rita (1983)
42. Anne Baxter in All about Eve (1950)
43. Judi Dench in
Mrs. Brown (1997)
44. Helen Hayes in
The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1932)
45. Jane Fonda in
Coming Home (1978)
46. Greer Garson in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
47. Doris Day in
Pillow Talk (1959)
48. Meryl Streep in
One True Thing (1998)
49. Joan Crawford in
Sudden Fear (1952)
50. Deborah Kerr in
From Here to Eternity (1953)
51. Katharine Hepburn in Guess
who’s coming to dinner (1967)
52. Marsha Mason in
Chapter Two (1979)
53. Jane Wyman in
The Yearling (1946)
54. Martha Scott in Our Town (1940)
55. Teresa Wright in The
Pride of the Yankees (1942)
56. Jennifer Jones in Love Letters
(1945)
57. Ellen Burstyn in Same Time, Next
Year (1978)
58. Susan Hayward in My Foolish Heart (1949)
59. Jeanne Crain in Pinky (1949)
60. Eleanor Parker in Detective Story (1951)
61. Vanessa Redgrave in
Mary, Queen of Scots (1971)
62. Diane Keaton in
Marvin's Room (1996)
63. Louise Dresser in
A Ship comes in (1927-1928)
64. Loretta Young in Come to the
Stable (1949)
65. Mary Pickford in Coquette (1928-29)
66. Sissy Spacek in
The River (1984)
67. Shirley MacLaine in
The Turning Point (1977)
68. Irene Dunne in Cimarron (1930-1931)
69. Ruth Chatterton in
Madame X (1928-29)
70. Diana Wynyard in Cavalcade (1932-1933)
71. Bette Davis in The Star (1952)
Julie Walters as Susan "Rita" White in Educating Rita
Julie
Walters’s performance in Educating Rita does have its fair share of admirers
and I have seen many Oscar bloggers who actually give her the win for 1983. I
cannot say yet where she will be placed in my 1983 ranking since she’s the
first from that line-up to be included, but you can already see from the
position now that I am not totally convinced here. I get why people are so
charmed by her – she is a completely natural and lovely screen presence and her
character development is the kind of personal journey you just love to watch
and are happy to see triumph in the end. I personally see some shortcomings
which more result from the script than from her performance but she sometimes
added to them, too.
I have not
read the play Educating Rita but from what I learned on the Internet, it is
actually a two-person-play that takes places entirely within Frank’s office.
The movie version opened the play up, introducing various secondary characters
and letting different scenes take place in other locations. This concept was
both successful and harmed the movie – because on the one hand it gave the
movie an interesting flow and made the plot better suited to the big screen (a
play can easily take place in one location with two people but a movie usually
needs to include a bigger vision) but on the other hand, it made the plot
rather repetitious (as we now see certain scenes with secondary characters and
then have Frank and Rita talk about it again) and also took away the focus from
the movie’s greatest strength – having Frank and Rita simply sitting together
in his office, talking.
So let me start
with saying where Julie Walters fails in her work or rather, where her material
fails her. The introduction of her character is probably the best example –
Rita (actually Susan) cannot open the door to Frank’s office and pushes against
it from the outside before flying in his office and starting to talk with him with
her unique voice and distinct accent, starting a stream of consciousness that
immediately displays her personality and her goals for Frank and the viewer. As
written, she resembles the pixie manic dream girl, but without the “dream” and
without any romantic attachment but with the obligatory ever-changing
conversations, the unconventional behaviour and the strong determination but
sometimes written too on-the-nose (when her husband re-builds their living-room
and Rita takes the hammer, is anyone surprised that she will cause the whole
wall to collapse?).
That
introductory scene probably works well on the stage and is the kind of introduction
you expect for a character like hers but in the movie, we have already seen
Rita coming to Frank’s office and see her pushing against the door from outside
and it simply lessens the impact of this first, quick moment. Again, this is
not the fault of Julie Walters but the movie constantly seems to hold her back.
This failure is repeated later when Rita, after having gotten a new bohemian
friend, comes into his office with a new wardrobe and a new behaviour – it’s a
scene that is similar to Ellen Burstyn suddenly turning into a hippie in Same
Time, Next Year but again, in the movie version we have seen Rita’s new friend
and therefore the effect of Rita adapting to this lifestyle is no surprise (and
since Maureen Lipman playing this bohemian friend gives an out-of-this-world
awful performance – shockingly BAFTA-nominated –, it also doesn’t make any
sense for Rita to be so completely in awe of her).
Furthermore,
the script of Educating Rita often doesn’t allow Julie Walters to play any
notes beyond a very small template – the first half of the movie basically
consists of the same scene, in some slight variation, over and over again:
Rita complains about her situation as it is and wants to “discover meself”, to
achieve something beyond what society has determined her life to be, she argues
with Frank about books and her essays and is determined to go on and learn. It
doesn’t matter if Rita is still curious to meet Frank, angry about feeling
humiliated or upset because of her broken marriage, the pattern is always the
same and begins to feel repetitious very soon. Educating Rita is a movie that
is clearly very proud of every word it contains but doesn’t allow its character
to grow by themselves – every step, every decision, every thought that has to
be over-explained again and again, leaving Julie Walters little room to explore
her character and add any dimensions. Also, once Rita has “discovered meself”
in the second half, the movie seems rather lost about what to do with her –
when Rita and Frank grow momentarily apart, it becomes obvious how strongly her
performance depends on her relationship with Michael Caine and how both Rita
and Julie Walters suffer when he is not around.
These are
aspects of her movie that lessen the impact of Julie Walter’s work but she also
adds to some missteps in the characterization. The main problem is that, while
Julie Walters perfectly embodies Rita in a completely authentic and natural
way, she never truly answers the question what exactly drives her – why is she
so eager to learn and why literature specifically? Of course the movie doesn’t
answer this questions either but it would have been nice to see Julie Walters
concerning herself more with the reasons for Rita’s decisions instead of simply
presenting them. Furthermore, Julie Walters clearly knows Rita and her
relationship to Frank based on her experience in the stage production – but not
the backstory of Rita that was added in the movie. I can imagine Julie Walters
on the stage, talking effectively about her family and her husband, but the
scenes in the movie, that show her with these people, never truly work – Julie Walters
has no chemistry with the actor playing her husband or other members of her “former”
life and she also seems rather helpless in the scene when Danny is burning her
books, again being significantly better in the next scene when she talks about
the experience, again underlining that her stage experience helped her to
create in the part in a way that reflects on her life instead of experiencing it
(something that is again repeated when Rita doesn’t dare to enter Frank’s party
and later tells him about it). It does make sense that Rita feels lost around
her family as she is moving on but she gives no reason why she was ever
involved with a man like Danny in the first place and again doesn’t answer the
question why she feels the need to develop in a different direction.
Ok, this
was a lot of negativity for a performance that, even though not perfect, still
offers a lot to admire. First of foremost, Julie Walters has to be applauded
for being the single reason why Rita, even within her limits, succeeds at all.
As stated above, the character’s writing is very flawed but Julie Walters so
completely embodies this role in a good-natured spirit that you can’t help but
be won over – she seems to be a performer who really enjoys her work, who loves
being Rita and who clearly thought about her characterization and line-reading
but never seems to over-think them. Comedy and drama both come extremely easy
to her, neither her bright smile nor her sad eyes ever seem forced. She also
believably shows all the steps in Rita’s transformation – her character at the
end is still the same woman as she was in the beginning, simply with a
different look on life and a new understanding of herself. Rita is a character
that is clearly written to be liked but she also has her flaws and edges and
Julie Walters isn’t afraid to point them out – but she never loses her charm
and likeable personality while doing so.
And beyond
that, Julie Walters has impeccable chemistry with Michael Caine – which is the
key to the whole movie. Their relationship never feels sexual but is one of
mutual respect and friendship and both actors work very hard to establish these
feelings – without ever making it seem hard. Both Michael Caine and Julie
Walters are very natural in their behaviour towards each other and Julie
Walters also shows the steps in this friendship – while her personality makes
it clear right away that Rita is a perfect match for Frank, Julie Walters still
shows a certain level of uncertainty around him but never lets Rita feel
inferior. Julie Walters beautifully shows how Rita slowly develops herself, how
she experiments and gets lost and how she finally becomes more satisfied with
life and herself - and how this affects her relationship with Frank.
So, I have
overall mixed feelings about this performance but it’s hard to deny the unique
charm that Julie Walters brought to this clichéd role.
