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. Melissa Leo in Frozen River (2008)
55. Martha Scott in Our Town (1940)
56. Teresa Wright in The Pride of the Yankees (1942)
57. Jennifer Jones in Love Letters (1945)
58. Ellen Burstyn in Same Time, Next Year (1978)
59. Susan Hayward in My Foolish Heart (1949)
60. Jeanne Crain in Pinky (1949)
61. Eleanor Parker in Detective Story (1951)
62. Vanessa Redgrave in Mary, Queen of Scots (1971)
63. Diane Keaton in Marvin's Room (1996)
64. Louise Dresser in A Ship comes in (1927-1928)
65. Dorothy McGuire in Gentleman's Agreement (1947)
66. Loretta Young in Come to the Stable (1949)
67. Mary Pickford in Coquette (1928-29)
68. Sissy Spacek in The River (1984)
69. Shirley MacLaine in The Turning Point (1977)
70. Irene Dunne in Cimarron (1930-1931)
71. Ruth Chatterton in Madame X (1928-29)
72. Diana Wynyard in Cavalcade (1932-1933)
73. Bette Davis in The Star (1952)
Melissa Leo as Ray Eddy in Frozen River
As I have
already written about Melissa’s performance before and my opinion on her has
not really changed overall, I will refer you to my initial review.
