It seems like some of my readers wanted more after my Top 20 Favorite Actors post - and what can I do but obey? As usual I had to leave out some favorites after all (why can't they all fit in??), like Grace Kelly and Mae West. Well well. Here they are: My top 20 favorite actresses (in alphabetical order, of course):
Favorite role: Slim Browning in To Have and Have Not (1944)
Favorite role: Alicia Huberman in Notorious (1946)
Favorite role: B. Maloney in Night Nurse (1931)
4. Clara Bow
Favorite role: Betty Lou Spence in It (1927)
Favorite role: Lulu in Pandora's Box (1929)
Favorite role: Catherine Sloper in The Heiress (1949)
Favorite role: Shanghai Lily in Shanghai Express (1932)
8. Greta Garbo
Favorite role: Anna Christie in Anna Christie (1930)
9. Lillian Gish
Favorite role: Rachel Cooper in The Night of the Hunter (1955)
10. Audrey Hepburn
Favorite role: Nicole in How to Steal a Million (1966)
Favorite role: Tracy Lord in The Philadelphia Story (1940)
12. Vivien Leigh
Favorite role: Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Names Desire (1951)
13. Carole Lombard
Favorite role: Maria Tura in To Be or Not to Be (1942)
14. Myrna Loy
Favorite role: Milly Stephenson in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
15. Marilyn Monroe
Favorite role: Sugar Kane Kowalczyk in Some Like It Hot (1959)
16. Jeanne Moreau
Favorite role: Catherine in Jules and Jim (1962)
17. Mary Pickford
Favorite role: Mary Carlton / Mary Marlow in Secrets (1933)
18. Barbara Stanwyck
Favorite role: Lily Powers in Baby Face (1933)
19. Gloria Swanson
Favorite role: Norma Desmond in Sunset Blvd. (1950)
20. Natalie Wood
Favorite role: Angie Rossini in Love with the Proper Stranger (1963)
Fantastic choices!
ReplyDeleteLove you for reminding me about Philadelphia Story, I adore it, such a superior movie!!
ReplyDeleteExcellent choices Lolita. Now I have two lists I need to do...actors and actresses. We'll see how we compare to each other.
ReplyDeleteyou picked some good photos here. now i wanna watch a bunch movies from your list. but at the moment i have to write an essay, so, eh.
ReplyDeleteanswer to your comment a bit earlier: yes, it is the university of music and drama in vilnius, the only one in lithuania that offers cinema studies. but it's a bit problematic, because they don't have enough teachers and i'm not sure if i could go there next year. oh well. we'll see.
and about vilnius itself? i don't know, it has its charm. there isn't another city/town in LT like this. beautiful old town, interesting exhibitions, expensive boring shops, hipsters etc. dunno, but i think you'd like it ;)
three cheers for the much too underrated joan blondell!! and i really need to see the heiress, it was only with the overly camp hush...hush sweet charlotte that i discovered how beautifully olivia dehavilland could play the bitch.
ReplyDeleteNice list.
ReplyDeleteOne of these days, I'll have to come up with my list of 20.
Amanda:
ReplyDeleteThanks! Just remembered that I forgot to include Bette Davis... But I don't think I could decide a favorite role of hers anyway, she's just Bette Davis.
Miss Matilda:
No doubt about it - that film is perfect, and an absolute favorite of mine!
Monty:
I can't wait to see!
Gatsby:
Thanks!
Hmm, sounds like a city I would like! I'll just have to visit more places in Europe!
Meredith:
I love Joan Blondell's attitude, she's probably the coolest blonde in cinema history. I haven't seen Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte yet! But I do love What Ever Happened to Baby Jane!
VP81955:
Well, my lists aren't perfect, there are too many I had to exclude! But it's fun making lists, even if I don't agree with my own ;)
Lolita: Good for you for putting Mary Pickford into the mix. She was such an amazing woman and actress - and so important to film history. Way to go! -- Mykal
ReplyDeleteGreat choices and lovely photos. Didn't recognize Vivien Leigh in that photo with the cat! That's a great one!
ReplyDeleteI particularly love the pics of Kate, Vivien and especially Ingrid...although I've not seen Notorious - don't ask why. I should fix that.
ReplyDeleteGreat list!
ReplyDeleteMykal:
ReplyDeleteYes, she was an amazing woman! Strong, intelligent and independent. I couldn't help but notice a pattern among my favorite actresses as I began to list them: The women I adore are either very strong or emotionally messed up! I wonder if I dare analyze that... Haha.
Tom:
I just found that picture a few days ago, actually! I love it, it's so beautiful. I had never seen it before neither. Let me know if you make a list!
Mary:
Thanks! :)
Hi Lolita!!
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to say that I love your blog!! I may not comment, but I am reading regularly every new amazing post
Love the actresses that you chose..great photos too!!
Happy holidays everyone!!
Greetings from Greece ;)
Anna:
ReplyDeleteWow, thank you Anna! That makes me very happy to hear :)
Merry Christmas from Sweden to Greece!
No Irene Dunne?! What the fuck? =P. Cerealiously though, her performance in THE AWFUL TRUTH is great enough, by itself, to put her in my Top 20.
ReplyDeleteDarsh:
ReplyDeleteI tried to pronounce "cerealiously" in my head, but even then it was a tongue-twister ;)
I really like Irene Dunne, I do, but she just hasn't blown me away yet! I should probably update this list at least every year, I have a feeling it will change a lot between times.
"Cerealiously" is just a twist on the South Park joke.
ReplyDeleteYea, one of the reasons I stay away from lists is my opinion on movies is always changing. One constant though is my love for THE AWFUL TRUTH. No matter how many times I see the movie (about once a week) I love every second of it and a huge portion of that is due to Irene's performance. Her facial expression's are perfect...maybe you should make a list of The Best Facial Expressions. I vote for Cary Grant in ARSENIC AND OLD LACE when he finds the dead body or Sully in MONSTERS, INC when he thinks Boo goes through the trash compactor.
I'm going to have to check out Stanwyck in BABYFACE. Just a few weeks ago I stated in my review for THE LADY EVE that I thought that that performance was the best of her career, but now I might have to change that if BABYFACE is as good as you say...see this is why I never make lists!! =P
Ah-mazing list, Lolita darling!
ReplyDeleteI'm still waiting to get Loy & Stanwyck on mine!
Really wonderful choices; I'm not familiar with Jeanne Moreau though.
Fab pictures by the way. :D
Hee hee. A few of these actresses are answers to my "Guess The Actress" contest...hee hee.
ReplyDelete