I made a
list over a year ago, and it's changed a lot, given the hundreds of performances I've seen for the CinSpecs.
Note: I limited myself to 2 performances per actor.
Performances that fell out of my top 100:
Jack Nicholson, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Faye Dunaway, Network, Robert De Niro, Raging Bull, Al Pacino, The Godfather Part II, Leonardo DiCaprio, The Departed, Bette Davis, All About Eve, Orson Welles, Citizen Kane, Juliette Binoche, The Lovers on the Bridge, Jack Nicholson, Chinatown, Faye Dunaway, Bonnie and Clyde, Ryan Gosling, Half Nelson, Robert Mitchum, The Night of the Hunter, Ingrid Thulin, Winter Light, Marcello Mastroianni, 8 1/2, Daniel Day-Lewis, My Left Foot, Irene Jacob, The Double Life of Veronique, James Cagney, Man of a Thousand Faces, Elisabeth Shue, Leaving Las Vegas, Emily Browning, Sleeping Beauty, and Marilyn Monroe, The Seven Year Itch
Performances that just missed the new list:
Grazyna Szapolowska, No End, Ana Torrent, The Spirit of the Beehive, Jean Gabin, La Bete Humaine, Charles Laughton, Sidewalks of London, Emmanuelle Beart, Un Coeur en Hiver, Hanna Schygulla, The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, Christian Bale, Empire of the Sun, Anjelica Huston, The Dead, Claude Rains, Notorious, Mads Mikkelsen, The Hunt, Ava Gardner, The Night of the Iguana, Toshiro Mifune, Stray Dog, Robert Ryan, The Set-Up, Robert Downey Jr., Less Than Zero, Takashi Shimura, Ikiru, Sienna Miller, Interview, Mickey Rourke, Rumble Fish, Michael Fassbender, Shame, Zbigniew Zamachowski, Three Colors: White, and Paul Newman, Nobody's Fool
100. Shelley Winters, A Place in the Sun
99. Barbara Stanwyck, The Lady Eve
98. Bruce Willis, Die Hard
97. Richard Attenborough, 10 Rillington Place
96. Celia Johnson, Brief Encounter
94. Irene Dunne, The Awful Truth
93. Ethan Hawke, Before Sunset
92. Lara Belmont, The War Zone
91. Renato Salvatori, Rocco and His Brothers
90. Mia Farrow, Rosemary's Baby
89. Richard Burton, The Night of the Iguana
88. Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street
87. Brenda Blethyn, Secrets & Lies
86. Diane Keaton, Shoot the Moon
85. Holly Hunter, The Piano
83. Nicole Kidman, To Die For
82. Anthony Perkins, Psycho
81. Meryl Streep, Sophie's Choice
80. Marlon Brando, A Streetcar Named Desire
79. Montgomery Clift, A Place in the Sun
78. Gloria Swanson, Sunset Blvd.
77. Tony Curtis, Sweet Smell of Success
76. Julie Delpy, Before Sunset
75. Michael Redgrave, The Browning Version
74. Kirk Douglas, Ace in the Hole
73. Giulietta Masina, Nights of Cabiria
72. Audrey Hepburn, Love in the Afternoon
71. Malcolm McDowell, A Clockwork Orange
70. Adele Exarchopoulos, Blue is the Warmest Color
69. Ray Milland, Dial M for Murder
68. Rachel Weisz, The Deep Blue Sea
67. Anthony Hopkins, The Remains of the Day
66. Gene Hackman, The French Connection
65. Naomi Watts, Mulholland Dr.
64. Ralph Fiennes, Schindler's List
63. Helena Bonham Carter, The Wings of the Dove
62. Denzel Washington, Malcolm X
61. Natalie Portman, Closer
60. Peter O'Toole, Lawrence of Arabia
59. Rod Steiger, Across the Bridge
58. Vivien Leigh, A Streetcar Named Desire
57. Rutger Hauer, Blade Runner
56. Roy Scheider, All That Jazz
55. Christopher Walken, The Deer Hunter
54. Ingrid Bergman, Casablanca
53. Ray Winstone, The War Zone
52. Catherine Deneuve, Belle de Jour
51. Bette Davis, Now, Voyager
50. Jack Nicholson, Easy Rider
49. Dustin Hoffman, Midnight Cowboy
48. Max von Sydow, The Seventh Seal
47. Albert Finney, Shoot the Moon
46. Katharine Hepburn, Bringing Up Baby
45. Orson Welles, The Third Man
44. Gary Oldman, State of Grace
43. Bob Hoskins, Mona Lisa
42. Anna Karina, Vivre Sa Vie
41. James Stewart, It's a Wonderful Life
40. Gunnar Bjƶrnstrand, The Seventh Seal
39. Robert De Niro, Taxi Driver
38. Gary Oldman, Sid & Nancy
37. Laura Dern, Wild at Heart
36. Russell Crowe, Romper Stomper
35. Nastassja Kinski, Paris, Texas
34. Cary Grant, His Girl Friday
32. Juliette Binoche, Certified Copy
31. Ruth Hussey, The Philadelphia Story
30. Mathieu Amalric, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
29. Charles Chaplin, City Lights
28. Jeanne Moreau, La Notte
27. Ingrid Thulin, The Silence
26. Kevin Kline, A Fish Called Wanda
25. Humphrey Bogart, The Maltese Falcon
24. Ingrid Bergman, Notorious
23. Jack Nicholson, The Shining
22. Nicole Kidman, Eyes Wide Shut
21. Jack Lemmon, The Apartment
20. Liv Ullmann, Scenes from a Marriage
19. Russell Crowe, L.A. Confidential
18. Vivien Leigh, Waterloo Bridge
17. Robert De Niro, The Deer Hunter
16. Irene Jacob, Three Colors: Red
15. Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose
14. Al Pacino, Dog Day Afternoon
13. Elizabeth Taylor, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
12. Marlon Brando, On the Waterfront
11. Isabelle Adjani, Possession
10. Gena Rowlands, A Woman Under the Influence
9. Denis Lavant, Holy Motors
8. Harriet Andersson, Through a Glass Darkly
7. Liv Ullmann, Face to Face
6. James Stewart, Vertigo
5. Emily Watson, Breaking the Waves
4. Gunnar Bjƶrnstrand, Winter Light
3. Richard Burton, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
2. Bibi Andersson, Persona
1. Juliette Binoche, Three Colors: Blue
LOVE this! I also love how your 91 is my #1 and the only performance here that I don't really care for is Thewlis, who is obviously divisive.
ReplyDeleteI also love that I've seen ALL OF THESE!!!
Thanks man! Thewlis was in my top 10 last time, but I still find his performance fascinating. It's awesome that you've seen all of these!
DeleteOoh, nice list.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteOh, I love this list so effing much! It's so great to see a wide variety of performances :D My two favourite performances of all time are Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind (No. 1) and Vivien leigh again in Streetcar (2). Also, love the love for Binoche!!
ReplyDeleteThanks! Binoche is the best! Oh, Leigh is terrific in Gone with the Wind. She'd probably be in my top 200, if I ever made that list. :)
DeleteThis is excellent! I only saw Who's Afraid of...last week but I completely agree with Burton being this high up, what a performance, a shame he never won an Oscar
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! Burton is flawless in that film. So glad you loved his performance. It's ridiculous that he never won, especially when he lost Best Actor three years in a row (Who's Afraid... was his third consecutive nomination).
DeleteThis list is so wonderful that I wouldn't mind if it was a top 200. I missed a japanese/chinese performance though. :/
ReplyDeleteThanks! Maybe I'll even attempt a top 250 at some point. There are plenty of performances I left off. :)
DeleteSome Japanese/Chinese performances were close, but I couldn't quite fit any of them in. Performances by actors like Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura and Gong Li were all in the running. They'd certainly make my longer list.
Mr. Oldman along with Mr. Brando, great repeaters! Also with Mrs. Ullman and Mrs. Kidman!
ReplyDeleteI love this excellent list (tho I haven't seen most of them)...
Thanks! I highly recommend any of the performances that you haven't seen. ;)
DeleteThis is a great list, and that Top 10 is INSANE. So much quality work here. Love that Lavant breaks through up top. What a courageous performance.
ReplyDeleteThanks man. I love my top 10 so much! Lavant is phenomenal. I'm not sure if I'll ever see another performance quite like it.
Delete