Tuesday, December 9, 2008

20 Favorite Actresses

There's a new meme going around, started by Nathan at Film Experience, to list twenty favorite actresses. No one, so far as I know, has actually tagged me, but what the hell, I'll do it anyway. Here are mine, with my favorite performances from each in parentheses.

Bibi Andersson (Persona)

Patricia Arquette (Flirting With Disaster)

Jean Arthur (Only Angels Have Wings)

Lauren Bacall (The Big Sleep)

Juliet Berto (Celine and Julie Go Boating)

Beatrice Dalle (Trouble Every Day)

Katharine Hepburn (Holiday)

Anna Karina (Vivre sa vie)

Diane Keaton (Annie Hall)

Grace Kelly (Rear Window)

Nicole Kidman (Eyes Wide Shut)

Julianne Moore (Safe)

Marie Rivière (The Green Ray)

Jean Seberg (Bonjour Tristesse)

Hanna Schygulla (The Marriage of Maria Braun)

Barbara Stanwyck (Forty Guns)

Uma Thurman (Kill Bill)

Lily Tomlin (Nashville)

Paz Vega (Sex and Lucia)

Naomi Watts (Mulholland Dr.)

16 comments:

Uncle Gustav said...

Nice list, Ed. I'm especially happy you've remembered Marie Rivière.

Anonymous said...

strong list, though it's insane to not have Sissy Spacek in there in some capacity. Karina would take up 3 of my 20 spots.

reassurance said...

You're right, Ed, Safe is definitely Moore's best work. I posted mine on my blog as well!

NATHANIEL R said...

wow i never expected to see Patricia Arquette on any list (but i do love that performance... and film) also happy to see Jean Arthur who is in my top 100 if not my top 20 (i did a top 100 list a few months ago... and even that was painful)

Anonymous said...

Interesting selection, Ed. I've never seen Bonjour Tristesse, and now I will.

Sheila O'Malley said...

We have some similar tastes. I agonized over leaving Patricia Arquette off my list myself! I love Beatrice Dalle too.

It's great looking through all of these lists from different people.

Ed Howard said...

Al: Sissy Spacek is up there for sure, one of many who lingers somewhere just below this quickly compiled list. As I realized when I read the intro to Joe's list, I also left out Emmanuelle Beart, which is certainly a bigger crime for me. And now that I think of it, Isabelle Huppert too. Damn, I would revise this thing if I could think of anyone to drop from the current one.

Nathan: It's really a shame that Patricia Arquette doesn't show up in more movies worthy of her talent. Loved her in that movie, and Lost Highway, and True Romance, it's too bad she's not more active on the big screen these days.

Filmdr: If I can get more people to watch Bonjour Tristesse, my work here is done.

That Fuzzy Bastard said...

Much as I love Moore, and Safe, her capital-B-Best performance is Vanya On 42nd St. Christ, she's good in that!

Patricia Perry said...

Ed - Fantastic list - hurrah for Julianne Moore in "Safe." I love her in that - I think she does her best work with Tod Haynes. (am I spelling his name right?)

And Naomi Watts is so amazing in "Mulholland Drive." I'm not a huge David Lynch fan, but I do love that film.

Joel Bocko said...

Good on Berto - who will definitely be on my forthcoming list as well.

Colin Brace said...

What, no Juliette Binoche? I'll trade you Uma for her...

Picking one of my favorites of hers semi-randomly: La Veuve de Saint-Pierre (2000)

Ed Howard said...

Too many great choices, Colin, I left out many favorites, and she would certainly be among them; she's done great work with Kieslowski, Godard, Carax, Haneke, etc.

I also left out Dianne Wiest. This list could've been 100 actresses long without exhausting the great ones.

Nostalgia Kinky said...

Wonderful list...I especially appreciated you including Patricia Arquette, someone I wish I would have put on mine.
Speaking of mine, I have been regretting not including pre 1970 actresses so I am going to be posting an alternate one today or tomorrow. Silly, I know but my post has been bugging me.

Anonymous said...

Hi Ed,
Yes, too many choices as you said. I'm also tempted to mention some of my favorites from the minuscule number of movies I've seen.

Isabelle Huppert (The Piano Teacher)
Anna Karina (Vivre Sa Vie)
Nargis Dutt (Mother India)
Kate Winslet (Sense and Sensibility)
Gena Rowlands (Opening Night)
Margit Carstensen (Bitter tears fo Petra von Kant)

Anonymous said...

Juliet Berto and Hannah Schygulla !! I'm not alone! And Anna Karina forever, of course...

prefabrik said...

Wonderful list...I especially appreciated you including Uma Thurman, someone I wish I would have put on mine.