Top of the World: My Ultimate Top 100 Favourite Actresses

Here it is! Finally! Almost two years after having published my top 100 favourite actors (which already has to be updated, I’ve finally decided to do the same with my favourite actresses! This was not an easy task!

These choices are VERY subjective, so I’ll ask you to respect them. It’s a list of my own favourite. So please, no “If I were you I would…” Well, you are not me, so…

I did a first list of most of the actresses I liked and there was over 130! So, I obviously had to delete many of them.

I also gave myself a rule: to only include an actress if I had seen at least to of her movies. That’s why you won’t see Greta Garbo on this list (sorry folks, I’ve only seen Ninotchka!)

This said, if you don’t see your favourite actress on the list there are x reasons:

1- She was in the top 130ish and unfortunately wasn’t included to the final top 100.

2- I have only seen one of her films, or maybe none at all!

3- Maybe I just don’t like her. I don’t love everybody, I’m not Jesus!

You’ll see that I’m not the type of person who “follows” crowds and sometimes have unconventional tastes (which I think is actually cool). So, it’s possible that a certain actress that everybody loves is not on the list. And hey, I have my guilty pleasures too! But (and this is an objective statement) I think most of them are fine actresses.

Ok, enough! Here we go!

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100. Patricia Neal (Favourite performance: Helen Benson in The Day the Earth Stood Still)

99. Catherine Deneuve (Favourite performance: Miriam Blaylock in The Hunger)

98. Karen Black (Favourite performance: Fran in Family Plot)

97. Katy Jurado (Favourite performance: Helen Ramírez in High Noon)

96. Sylvia Sidney (Favourite performance: Drina Gordon in Dead End)

95. Maidie Norman (Favourite performance: Elvira Stitt in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?)

94. Nancy Olson (Favourite performance: Betty Schaefer in Sunset Boulevard)

93. Julie Andrews (Favourite performance: Maria in The Sound of Music)

92. Tippi Hedren (Favourite performance: Melanie Daniels in The Birds)

91. Theresa Harris (Favourite performance: Chico in Baby Face)

90. Jean Hagen (Favourite performance: Lina Lamont in Singin’ in the Rain)

89. Paulette Goddard (Favourite performance: Ellen Peterson “The Gamin” in Modern Times)

88. Ethel Barrymore (Favourite performance: Miss Spinney in Portrait of Jennie)

87. Jean Kent (Favourite performance: Janet Halliday in Please, Turn Over)

86. Constance Bennett (Favourite performance:  Marion Kerby in Topper)

85. Sandra Dee (Favourite performance: Evelyn Leslie in Until They Sail)

84. Liv Ullmann (Favourite performance: Elizabeth Vogler in Persona)

83. Jeanne Moreau (Favourite performance: Julie Kohler in La Mariée était en noir)

82. Veronica Lake (Favourite performance: Jennifer in I Married a Witch)

81. Genevieve Bujold (Favourite performance: Denise Marshall in Earthquake)

80. Lilli Palmer (Favourite performance: Clytie Devine in A Girl Must Live)

79. Valentina Cortese (Favourite performance: Séverine in La Nuit Américaine)

78. Geena Davis (Favourite performance: Thelma Dickinson in Thelma & Louise)

77. Rosanna Arquette (Favourite performance: Lucy in The Linguini Incident)

76. Jennifer Jones (Favourite performance: Jennie Appleton in Portrait of Jennie)

75. Rita Moreno (Favourite performance: Anita in West Side Story)

74. Katharine Ross (Favourite performance: Elaine Robinson The Graduate)

73. Ruth Hussey (Favourite performance: Elizabeth Imbrie in The Philadelphia Story)

72. Bessie Love (Favourite performance: Hank Mahoney in The Broadway Melody)

71. Jessica Tandy (Favourite performance: Ninny Threadgoode in Fried Green Tomatoes)

70. Lucille Ball (Favourite performance: Lucy Ricardo in I Love Lucy)

69. Marion Davies (Favourite performance: Mabel O’Dare in Cain & Mabel)

68. Aline MacMahon (Favourite performance: Trixie Lorraine in Gold Diggers of 1933)

67. Rita Hayworth (Favourite performance: Anne Shankland in Separate Tables)

66. Dame May Whitty (Favourite performance: Miss Froy in The Lady Vanishes)

65. Kathy Bates (Favourite performance: Annie Wilkes in Misery)

64. Jessica Lange (Favourite performance: “Angelique”, the angel of death in All That Jazz)

63. Ruth Donnelly (Favourite performance: Liz in Autumn Leaves)

62. Virginia Weidler (Favourite performance: Dinah Lord in The Philadelphia Story)

61. Nova Pilbeam (Favourite performance: Erica Burgoyne in Young & Innocent)

60. Natalie Portman (Favourite performance:  Nina Sayers in Black Swan)

59. Joan Crawford (Favourite performance: Mildred Pierce in Mildred Pierce)

58. Debbie Reynolds (Favourite performance: Lilith Prescott in How the West Was Won)

57. Billie Burke (Favourite performance: Millicent Jordan in Dinner at Eight)

56. Bette Davis (Favourite performance: Margot Channing in All About Eve)

55. Isabella Rossellini (Favourite performance: Lady Helen Port-Huntley in The Saddest Music in the World)

54. Jane Wyman (Favourite performance: Marcy Lewis in Three Guys Named Mike)

53. Miriam Hopkins (Favourite performance:  Lavinia Penniman in The Heiress)

52. Joan Blondell (Favourite performance: Mabel Anderson in Dames)

51. Phyllis Calvert (Favourite performance: Clarissa in The Man in Grey)

50. Celeste Holme (Favourite performance: Karen Richards in All About Eve)

49. Helen Hayes (Favourite performance:  Ada Quonsett in Airport)

48. Shelley Winters (Favourite performance: Belle Rosen in The Poseidon Adventure)

47. Irene Dunne (Favourite performance:  Lucy Warriner in The Awful Truth)

46. Greer Garson (Favourite performance: Kay Miniver in Mrs. Miniver)

45. Gladys Cooper (Favourite performance: Beatrice Lacy in Rebecca)

44. Una Merkel (Favourite performance: Lorraine Fleming in 42nd Street)

43. Jodie Foster (Favourite performance: Clarice Starling in  The Silence of the Lambs)

42. Jacqueline Bisset (Favourite performance: Julie Baker in La Nuit Américaine)

41. Susan Sarandon (Favourite performance: Sister Helen Prejean in Dead Man Walking)

40. Jean Harlow (Favourite performance: Gladys Benton in Libeled Lady)

39. Patricia Roc (Favourite performance: Caroline in The Wicked Lady)

38. Cate Blanchett (Favourite performance: Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator)

37. Hattie McDaniel (Favourite performance: Mammy in Gone With the Wind)

36. Barbara Bel Geddes (Favourite performance: Marjorie Wood in Vertigo)

35. Diane Keaton (Favourite performance: Annie Hall in Annie Hall)

34. Vera Miles (Favourite performance: Rose Balestrero in The Wrong Man)

33. Faye Dunaway (Favourite performance: Bonnie Parker in Bonnie & Clyde)

32. Natalie Wood (Favourite performance: Wilma Dean “Deanie” Loomis in Splendor in the Grass)

31. Dorothy McGuire (Favourite performance: Helen in The Spiral Staircase)

30. Elizabeth Taylor (Favourite performance: Catherine Holly in Suddenly, Last Summer)

29. Lillian Gish (Favourite performance: Rachel Cooper in The Night of the Hunter)

28. Shirley MacLaine (Favourite performance: Jennifer Rogers in The Trouble With Harry)

27. Jean Arthur (Favourite performance: Clarissa Saunders in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington)

26. Marilyn Monroe (Favourite performance: Sugar “Kane” Kowalczyk in Some Like It Hot)

25. Dolores Hart (Favourite performance: Donna Stuart in Come Fly With Me)

24. Ginger Rogers (Favourite performance: Ann Lowell  in 42nd Street)

23. Thelma Ritter (Favourite performance:  Stella in Rear Window)

22. Jessie Royce Landis (Favourite performance: Jessie Stevens in To Catch a Thief)

21. Teresa Wright (Favourite performance: Charlotte Newton in Shadow of a Doubt)

20. Marlene Dietrich (Favourite performance: Christine Vole in Witness for the Prosecution)

19. Donna Reed (Favourite performance: Lorene in From Here to Eternity)

18. Anne Bancroft (Favourite performance:  Anne Sullivan in The Miracle Worker)

17. Elsa Lanchester (Favourite performance: Miss Plimsoll in Witness for the Prosecution)

16. Doris Day (Favourite performance: Josephine “Jo” Conway McKenna in The Man Who Knew Too Much)

15. Agnes Moorehead (Favourite performance: Queen Maria Dominika in The Swan)

14. Claire Trevor (Favourite performance: Helen Brent in Born to Kill)

13. Carole Lombard (Favourite performance:  Maria Tura in To Be or Not to Be)

12. Myrna Loy (Favourite performance: Milly Stephenson in The Best Years of Our Lives)

11. Deborah Kerr (Favourite performance: Miss Giddens in The Innocents)

10. Joan Bennett (Favourite performance: Katherine ‘Kitty’ March in Scarlet Street)

9. Barbara Stanwyck (Favourite performance: Lily Powers in Baby Face)

8. Anne Baxter (Favourite performance: Lucy in The Magnificent Ambersons)

7. Olivia de Havilland (Favourite performance: Catherine Slopper in The Heiress)

6. Vivien Leigh (Favourite performance: Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With the Wind)

5. Katharine Hepburn (Favourite performance:  Josephine “Jo” March in Little Women)

4. Margaret Lockwood (Favourite performance: Hesther Shaw in The Man in Grey)

3. Jean Simmons (Favourite performance: Varinia in Spartacus)

2. Joan Fontaine (Favourite performance: 2nd Mrs. De Winter in Rebecca)

1. Audrey Hepburn (Favourite performance: Princess Ann in Roman Holiday), Grace Kelly (Favourite performance: Margot Wendice Dial M for Murder) and Ingrid Bergman (Favourite performance: Dr. Constance Petersen in Spellbound)!

YES! Yes, I have three favourite actresses as number one. I love them all equally and for very different reasons. I cannot choose! That’s why I created another blog dedicated to them!

Of course, this is the type of list that can change next week, but I think this gave you a good preview of my acting tastes.

Who are your favourite actresses? 🙂

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