My top twenty favorite actresses

December 20, 2009

While I was out last Thursday I had some spare time, a notebook and a pen so I made my top twenty favorite actresses list (and my top twenty favorite character actors list -- coming soon!) but totally forgot to post it until this morning! I'm becoming more and more absentminded by the day, it seems.

The first five are more or less in order, then after that it's just kind of random. I chose my favorite ROLE for each actress, not necessarily my favorite film. I know I left out a lot of classic-movie-blogging-world-favorites, so please don't hate me :-)


1. Barbara Stanwyck
Favorite role: My Reputation, Meet John Doe & Ever in My Heart
(& The Lady Eve. & Ball of Fire. & Christmas in Connecticut.....)


2. Bette Davis
Favorite role: Now, Voyager (cliche, I know, but I love it!)

3. Susan Hayward
Favorite role: I Want to Live!

4. Julie Christie
Favorite role: Darling

5. Miriam Hopkins
Favorite role: Trouble in Paradise & Old Acquaintance

6. Hayley Mills
Favorite role: The Trouble with Angels

7. Jane Fonda
Favorite role: Sunday in New York

8. Jean Arthur
Favorite role: Talk of the Town & The More the Merrier

9. Joan Blondell
Favorite role: Union Depot

10. Margaret Leighton
Favorite role: The Astonished Heart & The Winslow Boy

11. Audrey Hepburn
Favorite role: How to Steal a Million

12. Celia Johnson
Favorite role: Brief Encounter & The Captain's Paradise

13. Kay Francis
Favorite role: The Goose and the Gander

14. Marsha Hunt
Favorite role: The Affairs of Martha

15. Estelle Winwood
Favorite role: The Glass Slipper

16. Juliet Mills
Favorite role: No, My Darling Daughter & Avanti

17. Ida Lupino
Favorite role: In Our Time

18. Deborah Kerr
Favorite role: Night of the Iguana

19. Glenda Farrell
Favorite role: Mystery of the Wax Museum &
all of her Torchy Blane films

20. Jeanne Moreau
Favorite role: Mademoiselle and Elevator to the Gallows

19 comments:

Millie said...

YAYA! Great choices! Now, I'm gonna do mine!

Anonymous said...

Ditto to Millie, and I too will post mine as well.

You always have people I don't know, so I will def check them out.

PS: Marsha Hunt was very beautiful!

Unknown said...

Very good choices--hard to argue with Stanwyck & Davis for 1 & 2. I'd probably have Katherine Hepburn & one of my real faves, Irene Dunne in there some place.

Anonymous said...

DARN IT!! Irene Dunne!!! I LOVE HER! That's the one thing about making lists.. you always end up with people you remember after the fact. Now I don't have the heart to remove anyone who's already there...

Maybe I should do a little extra post of the ten or so people who SHOULD have made my top 20 lists but were remembered afterward :)

Penny Carrol said...

Good list! I love Barbara Stanwyck. :)

I may even post something like this at my blog, if you don't mind.

Meredith said...

it really is hard to pick a favorite stanwyck film isn't it? she was amazing in so many different things!

it's only recently that i've been able to look back and realize what an incredible actress hayley mills is/was, must see more of her work.

gaahhh deborah kills me in night of the iguana. it's just such an understated and lovely performance.

Anonymous said...

great choices!
we have the same top 2 except the other way round. lol

Tom said...

I remember Juliet Mills in "Avanti". That's a good movie.

Sally said...

Great list! Wonderful choices. Would you mind terribly if I post one too?

Oh, and Happy Holidays!

Lolita of the Classics said...

Great list! I completely forgot to put Miriam Hopkins (and Bette Davis!) into mine. What film is Mademoiselle? Why haven't I seen it? Gaah! (Yes, I too love Jeanne Moreau!)

zoetropa said...

Your top two are the same as mine! Although some days Bette's my fave and other days it's Barbara, depending on my mood. Fun list, I want to make one too!

Joe Lampton said...

I had no idea you liked Susan Hayward so much! Excellent list, when I did my own list I stuck with Golden Age and 1950s actresses, so by default I omitted my beloved 1960s-70s performers. Nice that you included Julie Christie.

CagneyFan said...

Glad you posted your favorite actresses. My own personal list would include IRENE DUNNE, CAROLE LOMBARD, JEAN HARLOW, GINGER ROGERS and maybe RUTH CHATTERTON and NORMA SHEARER.

Glad to see STANY as number one. Also delighted to see on the list MARSHA HUNT, who is still alive, and KAY FRANCIS.

Looking forward to your next list!

Terence Towles Canote said...

As we discussed, there were a few surprises in there. I didn't know you ware a Jane Fonda fan.

Paul Behnke said...

Barbara Stanwyck and Jean Arthur...my two favorites!

Carolina Grönholm said...

I love Jeanne Moreau in Jules et JIm!

Richard Hourula said...

Barbara Stanwyck is my all time fave too. Proving once again that great minds think alike.

Victoria Talia said...

Hayley Mills & Audrey Hepburn are my absolute favorites, along with Maureen O'Hara and Sophia Loren. :)

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