vote for the 5 best and worst Best Actress Oscar perfs of all time

Janet Gaynor, Sunrise ( haven't seen the other film)
Vivien Leigh, A Streetcar Named Desire
Jane Fonda, Klute
Diane Keaton, Annie Hall
Emma Thompson Howards End

Worst (gad, take your pick):

Every Katherine Hepburn for which she won (except The Lion in Winter, maybe)
Greer Garson, Mrs. Miniver
Ingrid Bergman, Anastasia
Kathy Bates, Misery
Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby

Rescreening Streetcar I'm inclined to agree, but it's one of the best miscasting jobs in screen history. She shows her mettle in the quiet scenes with Karl Malden and Kim Hunter.

Actually, Fun with Dick & Jane was probably the end.

I just watched (most of) that. Not only was she really good, I was surprised at how almost obscenely grueling that movie was. I mean, it's like this movie was the Requiem for a Dream of it's day or something (which is why I'm not really sure I liked it).

Best:

Patricia Neal, Hud
Elizabeth Taylor, Virginia Woolf?
Diane Keaton, Annie Hall
Jessica Tandy, Driving Miss Daisy
Frances McDormand, Fargo

Worst:

Joan Fontaine, Suspicion
Shirley MacLaine, Terms of Endearment [well, maybe not that bad, but Debra Winger was so way better.]
Jodie Foster, Silence of the Lambs
Helen Hunt, As Good As It Gets
Halle Berry, Monsters Maek Me Feel Guuuuud

jane fonda is occaisionally good. ever hear of gena rowlands?

Rowlands is generally fine, but I tend toward the Kaelite view of Cassavetes -- he paved new aesthetic ground for much better filmmakers. I particularly can't stand Woman Under the Influence or Opening Night.

I haven't seen enough/remember enough of these movies to make a list.

worst:
Mary Pickford (Coquette)
Katharine Hepburn (Guess Who's Coming to Dinner)
Jane Fonda (Coming Home)
Helen Hunt (As Good As It Gets)
Halle Berry (Monster's Ball)

except for the last few years, (post hilary swank's first oscar) the choices were actually pretty strong, and the performances were universally excellent, yes even cher.

But Crawford is no fun in Mildred Pierce! Eve Arden walks away with every scene.

I'll co-sign with Eric on preferring Debra Winger over MacLaine in TOE.

I remember Carol Burnett as Mildred Fierce (which must be a commonplace drag name by now) better than Crawford.

Cher's performance is the best thing in Moonstruck aside from the brief Olympia Dukakis-John Mahoney scenes.

Sally Field in Places in the Heart is another dubious nod.

I'd like to know which directors she was talking about so I can laugh in her dead face.

(actually, maybe she didn't think the ground was new or worth paving either)

anthony, the pre-waxy JC (Grand Hotel and earlier) did same, I think.

Best:
1. Bette Davis, Jezebel
2. Frances McDormand, Fargo
3. Vivien Leigh, A Streetcar Named Desire
4. Diane Keaton, Annie Hall
5. Faye Dunaway, Network

I was sort of hoping that Ellen Burstyn was considered the front-runner that year.

I haven't seen much Elaine May (any), but I'm having a hard time believing that Kael thought Scorsese was walking the same path, but more stylishly, than Cassavetes. All I know is Love Streams means a lot to me. (Then again, so does Kael, but I've learned like anyone with half a wit to separate her preferences from her writing.)

Marlene Dietrich, Morocco
Irene Dunne, The Awful Truth [not a fan of the film, but perfs are great.]
Bette Davis, All About Eve
Katharine Hepburn, Suddenly, Last Summer
Ellen Burstyn, The Exorcist
Gena Rowlands, A Woman Under the Influence
Carol Kane, Hester Street
Sissy Spacek, Carrie
Angela Bassett, What's Love Got to Do with It?
Emily Watson, Breaking the Waves

I almost included Julie Christie, but I think it's more that I just really like McCabe than her performance in it.

"Best worst": Nancy Kelly, The Bad Seed

Barbara Stanwyck, Double Indemnity
Jessica Lange, Frances
Meryl Streep, A Cry in the Dark
Glenn Close, Dangerous Liasons
Angelica Huston, The Grifters
Annette Bening, Being Julia

I'd go with Stanwyck for Ball of Fire (same year she did The Lady Eve).

and Isabelle Adjani for The Story of Adele H.

ten best/worst of the non winners

best
Deitrich, Morocco
Stanwyck. Stella Dallas
Anne Baxter, All About Eve
Dandrige, Carmen Jones
Lana Turner, Peyton Place
Faye Dunaway, Bonnie and Clyde
Gena Rowlands, A woman Under the Influence
Spaceck, CArrie
Sigourney Weaver, Alien
Imelda Staunton, Vera Drake

worst
Nathalie Wood, Splendor in the Grass
SOphia Loren, Love Italian Style
Simone Singoret, Ship of Fools
Joanne Woodward, Rachel, Rachel
Ali Mcgraw, Love STory
Meryl Streep, Ironwood
Julia Roberts, Pretty Woman
Bette Midler, For the Boys
Elizabeth Shue, LEaving LAs Vegas
Goldie Hawn, Private Benjamin

I was THIS close to putting her in my list of best nominated-didn't-wins.

It's dark, slow, and poorly cast.

I'd leave France McDormand, the redeeming element of Fargo, off the best list juz cuz she's in it for maybe 25 minutes.

Has no one spat on Gwyneth yet?? "It is a NEWWWW wohld..."

Eric, what's wrong with The Awful Truth, or do you just disconnect from screwball?

I considered leaving McDormand off too. Her replacement probably would've been Sarandon, though, and I know I'm not the only one who thought she was outacted by Penn in that one. Actually, I would've switched the Dead Man Walking/Leaving Las Vegas votes so Penn won Actor and Shue won Actress.

anyway, results:

http://eddieonfilm.blogspot.com/2007/01/top-10-best-best-actress-winners.html

http://eddieonfilm.blogspot.com/2007/01/top-10-worst-best-actress-winners.html

RIP Luise Rainer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJEpszcDyqQ

at last!

I thought Poppy Bush was gonna die before her.

Any updates?

To hear Film Twitter say it, all of the last 10 best actor winners that aren't Casey Affleck are as bad as any winners in that category

Oops, neglected that this is for best actress only ... I can't believe I listed Shirley MacLaine in my worsts two decades ago

And I feel penitent about citing Halle Berry, whose performance isn't the problem with Monster's Ball so much as *gestures* all of the rest of that

Cate Blanchett's BA win this decade is the only that appalls me. I can't work up much more than a meh for Emma Stone, Brie Larson, Jessica Chastain, and McDormand's for Three Billboards.

otoh Best Actor is a series of disasters this decade. I'd keep Casey Affleck and Anthony Hopkins and shoot the rest.

I dunno, I thought Rami Malek was brilliant.

if Brandon were a tougher president, he'd force Congress to pass legislation that requires a panel to approve the filming of future biopics.

Was thinking of Samantha Morton in Sweet and Lowdown for best, but it turns out she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress and lost to Angelina Jolie.

First time I've seen this thread...My #1 Best Actress would be Patricia Neal in Hud, although it might be on the lower half in terms of screen time.

Vivien Leigh for A Streetcar Named Desire immediately comes to mind as perhaps my favorite. I don’t think the Oscars typically honor what I’d pick as the best, whether it’s for the year or that particular performer’s work, but that time they did.

Did anyone do a followup Best/Worst Best Actors list? *ready to name Lionel Barrymore in A Free Soul*

Best
Olivia de Havilland, The Heiress
Vivien Leigh, A Streetcar Named Desire
Elizabeth Taylor, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Jane Fonda, Klute
Frances McDormand, Fargo

Worst
Luise Rainer, The Good Earth
Ingrid Bergman, Gaslight
Glenda Jackson, A Touch of Class
Katharine Hepburn, On Golden Pond
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady

Honestly, the only way it felt right to do the latter list was to focus on multi-winning actors who most definitely had a clinker amid their haul

(I'll consider swapping Emma Stone's La La Land performance in there for Glenda Jackson should Stone win another for Poor Things)

Gaslight, aw c'mon. It wouldn't rank in Bergman's top three, and she coasts on our affection for her instead of acting, but it's hardly embarrassing

Here's an excerpt from a longer list:

1. Bette Davis – Jezebel
2. Jane Fonda – Klute
3. Faye Dunaway – Network
4. Ellen Burstyn – Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
5. Olivia de Havilland – The Heiress
6. Claudette Colbert – It Happened One Night
7. Diane Keaton – Annie Hall
8. Julia Roberts – Erin Brockovich
9. Vivian Leigh – Gone with the Wind
10. Sissy Spacek – Coal Miner’s Daughter

Bergman's at least better than Boyer, but not by a lot

And I did make a solid effort to spread the best list across the decades, otherwise yes, I'd have been more likely to include Dunaway, Burstyn and Keaton.

Without Boyer that film falls apart; I can't envision Gaslight without his ability to turn on a dime from his silken charm to menace.

Meh, I think the movie basically fell apart

https://i.imgur.com/SYXEV9l.gif

Now she, had she won, I'd have no quarrels with. Both for this and Manchurian Candidate

The best Best Actor winners in no order:

1. Marlon Brando – On the Waterfront
2. Emil Jannings – The Last Command/The Way of All Flesh
3. James Cagney – Yankee Doodle Dandy
4. Jeremy Irons – Reversal of Fortune
5. Jon Voight – Coming Home
6. Daniel Day-Lewis – My Left Foot
7. Jack Nicholson – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
8. Nicholas Cage – Leaving Las Vegas
9. Clark Gable – It Happened One Night
10. Casey Affleck – Manchester by the Sea
11. Charles Laughton – The Private Life of Henry VIII
12. Fredric March – The Best Years of Our Lives

Best
Clark Gable, It Happened One Night
Marlon Brando, On the Waterfront
Rod Steiger, In the Heat of the Night
Gene Hackman, The French Connection
F. Murray Abraham, Amadeus

Worst
Richard Dreyfuss, The Goodbye Girl
Dustin Hoffman, Rain Man
Al Pacino, Scent of a Woman
Kevin Spacey, American Beauty
Brendan Fraser, The Whale

Al Pacino, Scent of a Woman

The worst of the worst. Truly embarrassing.

Don't forget among the worst: Gary Oldman and Eddie Redmayne and Jean Dujardin and...

Hey it used to be politely called Expressionistic

Ooh, Roberto Begnini

xxp of those, I only really strongly dislike Oldman's; it's Matthew McC's that gave me the most temptation to double-dip on recent worsts

hard yes on Begnini's abysmal work

Almost included Charlton Heston in the worsts but he at least kinda understood the assignment