Best Actress Ranking...Update!

Here is a new update. The newly added performance is highlighted in bold. 

1. Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind (1939)
2. Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard (1950)
3. Olivia de Havilland in The Heiress (1949)
4. Anne Bancroft in The Graduate (1967)
5. Janet Gaynor in Seventh Heaven (1927-1928)   
6. Glenn Close in Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
7. Edith Evans in The Whisperers (1967)
8. Greta Garbo in Ninotchka (1939)
9. Faye Dunaway in Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
10. Bette Davis in The Little Foxes (1941)

11. Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music (1965)
12. Barbara Stanwyck in Ball of Fire (1941)
13. Shelley Winters in A Place in the Sun (1951)
14. Ingrid Bergman in The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945)
15. Meryl Streep in One True Thing (1998)
16. Katharine Hepburn in Guess who’s coming to dinner (1967)
17. Teresa Wright in The Pride of the Yankees (1942) 
18. Jennifer Jones in Love Letters (1945)
19. Ellen Burstyn in Same Time, Next Year (1978)
20. Loretta Young in Come to the Stable (1949)  

21. Irene Dunne in Cimarron (1930-1931)
22. Diana Wynyard in Cavalcade (1932-1933)

YOUR Best Actress of 1982

Here are the results of the poll:

1. Meryl Streep - Sophie's Choice (54 votes)

2. Debra Winger - An Officer and a Gentleman (20 votes)

3. Jessica Lange - Frances (12 votes)

4. Julie Andrews - Victor/Victoria (7 votes)

5. Sissy Spacek - Missing (1 vote)

Thanks to everyone for voting!

Best Actress 1982 - The resolution

After having watched and reviewed all five nominated performances, it's time to pick the winner!

5. Debra Winger in An Officer and a Gentleman

Most of all, this nominations is a testament to Debra Winger’s warm and astonishingly natural screen presence and intuitive acting style that always makes her work look so completely natural and spontaneous. Debra Winger maybe could have never won the fight against the weakness of her material, but she beautifully realized that it was worth a shot.

4. Sissy Spacek in Missing

                     

Sissy Spacek does a lot with a character that could have been very little but at the same time she is not able to overcome its limitations. She takes the part of the guide through the story with an admirable combination of strength and weakness and her chemistry with Jack Lemmon is very captivating but she very often feels trapped in the role of Beth and her own interpretation which both don’t allow her to fully explore her own acting talents.

3. Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria

Julie Andrews gives a performance that combines everything she is famous for but at the same time she constantly finds new shades about herself and more than once rejects and parodies her own image and her magical screen presence helps her to achieve a memorable and captivating performance.

2. Jessica Lange in Frances

Jessica Lange gives one of the greatest tour-de-forces of the last century. She is an overpowering presence in a whole spectrum of human emotions that she empties the viewer’s heart and mind. She never turns Frances into a crazy woman, or, what would even be wore, stupid – instead, she understandably tells about her own indecisiveness that too often overpowers her life. It’s a performance that somehow doesn’t really draw attention to itself but still turns out to be a true miracle in physical and emotional perfection.

1. Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice

My heart wants to give the win to Jessica Lange, my mind says Meryl Streep. Despite the legendary reputation of Meryl Streep's performance, this decision is much closer than would be expected. But it simply can't be denied: Few actress have ever shown such emotional nakedness on the screen. It’s a performance that seems to escape rational analysing by becoming almost distilled until nothing but pure emotions remain.

Best Actress 1982: Julie Andrews in "Victor/Victoria"

In some ways, Julie Andrews wasn’t only one of the biggest stars of the 60s – she was a phenomenon. My Fair Lady, the show that made her a star, was the biggest hit on Broadway and the soundtrack among the most successful ever. Over 100 million people had watched her in a TV production of Cinderella. Her performance in Disney’s classic Mary Poppins earned her an Oscar. And The Sound of Music not only brought her very close to a second one, but also turned her into a legend at the age of 30. So it’s rather surprising that she did hardly anything memorable after that. She continued to work but movies like The Graduate or Bonnie and Clyde already showed that the time of the sugarcoated musical-sweethearts was over – the upcoming decade wanted women like Jane Fonda, Faye Dunaway, Jill Clayburgh, Glenda Jackson or Ellen Burstyn. So, maybe it’s actually not that surprising that her image as the loveable, singing and magical nanny or the loveable, singing and Austrian nanny didn’t really help her in the 70s – not even showing her breasts did. But in 1982, Julie Andrews finally found a part that brought her back into the spotlight – because it allowed her to demonstrate all the qualities that made her such a delight in the 60s but she could also combine it with a sense of self-parody and sarcasm that fitted better to the new surroundings of a different time.

Victor/Victoria is an engaging, funny and playful farce that tells the story of a woman pretending to be a man pretending to be a woman. It juggles themes like gender roles, sexuality, jealousy, desperation, happiness but never in a way that turns it into a commentary on contemporary society but always in a very matter-of-fact way – Victor/Victoria is neither a great comedy, nor a great drama nor a great musical but the finished result it still extremely enjoyable. Just like all the characters in the story present a very devil-may-care-attitude and a disinterest in everything but besides themselves, Victor/Victoria also never tries to pretend to be more than it really is. And this beautifully reflected on Julie Andrews’s performance – she’s much more loose and free-spirited than in her other Oscar-winning roles. Her biggest achievement in Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music was to take her parts much more serious than expected and that way helped to establish the credibility of their characters. In Victor/Victoria, she drops this sternness and seems to enjoy herself much more in a part that doesn’t ask her to be a role model or a beacon of morality – instead, she visibly has fun in this risky role and finds exactly the right balance between taking herself and her role too serious and not serious enough. Her very relaxed portrayal of a woman who is trying to earn a living and then finds herself in a complicated love affair fits perfectly into the style of the movie and also the other players of the cast – Victor/Victoria doesn’t focus itself on its leading lady but is always an ensemble movie that lives from its strong cast – a fact that Julie Andrews gladly realized and she never tries to outshine her cast-members but instead constantly puts the importance of the relationships in the foreground. Especially her chemistry with Robert Preston as her gay friend/agent/supposed lover is the highlight of the whole production.

Julie Andrews enters the story with her most distinctive feature – her singing voice. Her unique soprano can be heard already before her face appears for the first time. Is it believable that a woman with Victoria’s talents cannot find a job as a singer? Hardly, but hey, times are hard in the 30s and so Victoria’s life remains gloomy and hopeless. A wonderful little moment in Julie Andrews’s performance is the scene when Victoria sings a very high note at her audition and then needs to hold on to the wall, as if she has to recover first. But just a few moments later it becomes clear why Victoria lacks the strength to even sing – she’s out of a job and out of money. Weak and hungry, she tells her landlord that she would sleep with him for a meatball – and it becomes clearer than ever that Victoria Grant is definitely no Mary or Maria. Just like Julie Andrews allows herself to be more silly and dirty-minded, she also finds a more desperate and serious note in her performance. Essentially, she gives a performance that combines everything she is famous for but at the same time she constantly finds new shades about herself and more than once rejects and parodies her own image.

Considering that most people think of Victor/Victoria as a musical and the fact it was actually turned into a Broadway show in the 90s, it is a little surprising that there are not really a lot of musical numbers in it. But whenever Julie Andrews is allowed to deliver a catchy tune, she reminds the viewer why she was such a popular musical actress at the beginning of her career. Her singing may actually be better than it ever was – she doesn’t have to overuse her soprano as she used to but is a lot more natural and joyful in her stage scenes. Especially her performance of ‘Le Jazz hot’ is a true show-stopper! And that final note? Let’s just say that Victoria certainly knows her do-re-mi!

Julie Andrews combines the more serious moments in which she shows Victoria’s true desperation with a very light style of over-the-top-comedy. Her scenes in the restaurant with Robert Preston are incredibly overdone but Julie Andrews is so charming and hilarious in these moments that it all works incredibly well. Victoria, a little bit like Maria, is a character who is both independent and dependent from the support of others. She is a rather nice, but at the same time outspoken and practical woman, surrounded by manipulating and mean characters and needs a guidance through her own life. In this case, it is her gay friend who also poses as her lover once Victoria has turned herself into Victor. Ah, yes, there is also the role-playing. To be honest, Julie Andrews is mostly shockingly unbelievable as a man. When she finishes ‘Le Jazz hot’ and takes off her wig, she is basically a woman with short hair. It’s hard to believe that everyone in the audience immediately thinks that she is actually a man. But there’s no use to blame Julie Andrews for this and she also gets some benefit for her believable acting in the more quiet scenes as a man – she finds an intriguing way to become almost ‘sexless’, an androgyny figure with a distinct way of delivering her lines and moving her body. But she unfortunately lacks a lot of the energy and entertainment in those scenes.

Is Julie Andrews sexy? It’s almost obscene to ask this question and when she exposes her breasts in S.O.B. it’s as uncomfortable as to watch your mother do that. Her wholesome image has turned Julie Andrews into a sweet sister, mother or grandmother – but certainly not a sex goddess. And, yes, she also isn’t either sexy nor erotic in Victor/Victoria so it becomes rather questionable when James Garner watches her on the stage with a sort of amazed, fascinated and turned-on look. But Julie Andrews gets some bonus – she may not be erotic but she’s incredibly exotic. She knows how to wear her over-the-top costumes and how to sell her numbers, she’s isn’t trying to be sexy but concentrates on the mysteriousness of this ‘man’ pretending to be a woman. It takes some effort to accept Julie Andrew’s success as a female impersonator – but once one has, it’s not hard to believe that Victoria/Victor becomes such an overnight sensation in Paris. Julie Andrews simply has all the qualities it needs.

On the movie star – character actress-scale, Julie Andrews always placed more on the movie star-side. Most of her performances depend on her own charisma and her strong voice and she rarely ever portrayed a truly challenging role. Victor/Victoria is no difference in this aspect. Victoria Grant needs Julie Andrews’s personality to become such a delight. But Julie Andrews is an actress who is in absolute control of her own image and abilities and knows how to use them to her biggest advantage. She may remove herself from her wholesome image but she never does anything that would be out of her comfort-zone. She is both grown-up and very childish in her part but she’s not perfect and often suffers from the fact that her role is very showy but at the same time lacks any depth or challenge. Her acting is both very controlled but also appears very spontaneous thanks to her comedic timing and lack of self-awareness. She crafts a character that serves the story more than the other way around but Julie Andrews’s magical screen presence helps her to achieve a memorable and captivating performance. For this, she gets

Best Actress 1982

The next year will be 1982 and the nominees were

Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria

Jessica Lange in Frances

Sissy Spacek in Missing

Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice

Debra Winger in An Officer and a Gentleman

YOUR Best Actress of 1965!

Here are the poll results:

1. Julie Christie - Darling (20 votes)

2. Julia Andrews - The Sound of Music (9 votes)

3. Simone Signoret - Ship of Fools (3 votes)

4. Elizabeth Hartman - A Patch of Blue (2 votes)

5. Samantha  Eggar - The Collector (0 votes)


Thanks to everyone for voting!

Best Actress 1965 - The resolution!

After having watched and reviewed all five nominated performances, it's time to pick the winner!

5. Simone Signoret in Ship of Fools

Simone adds a lot of dignity to her part but apart from suffering for 20 minutes, she barely gets anything to do. She is the female part of a very romantic, hopeless and tragic storyline but her presence is too limited and her character too underdeveloped to really shine.

4. Samantha Eggar in The Collector

                     

Samantha Eggar’s character never really lets her go beyond the tasks of the script but it is nevertheless a very effective and absorbing portrayal of a frightened woman. She shows Miranda's struggle and hope to escape and how she goes through various psychological states of minds from refusal to acceptance to sympathy for her kidnapper and pure fear of death. Besides that, she is also able to prevent her character from stepping too much into the background next to the diabolical work from Terrence Stamp.

 3. Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music

Everything in this movie is too sugarcoated and sweetish but Julie is magically able to be believable in an unbelievable part. She took cheesy, underdeveloped material and turned it into something much deeper and more mature than expected and that way gives a warm, humorous and touching performance that helps to keep the movie going.

2. Julie Christie in Darling

Julie Christie totally inhabits the character of Diana to the point that she doesn’t seem to be acting anymore. She is completely natural at everything she is doing in this performance is able to deliver a firework of emotions without ever making it seem unreal or overdone. She finds exactly the right tone for her character to fit her performance to the style of the movie.      

1. Elizabeth Hartman in A Patch of Blue

Elizabeth Hartman gives a wonderfully simple performance that illuminates the simple character she is playing at every second. She avoids any grand gestures and emotions and instead gives an honest and emotionally captivating performance that turns Selina into one of the most tragic and at the same time uplifting characters of all time which is a remarkable feat.

Best Actress 1965: Julie Andrews in "The Sound of Music"

I have to admit that I don’t really care for The Sound of Music which is surprising since I usually love every musical. But something about this movie simply puts me off and so I want to apologize to all its fans right now for my view on the movie.

Right now I can say that, whatever problems I may have with the movie itself, Julie Andrews is not to blame. While the role of Maria is certainly not written by Shakespeare, Julie lifts the material and gives a warm, humorous and touching performance that helps to keep the movie going.

While I think that her role in Mary Poppins was more interesting from an observing point of view, the role of Maria gives Julie Andrews much more to do. For some reason, I also prefer her vocal work in The Sound of Music even though I prefer the songs from Mary Poppins. Julie’s voice fits perfectly to all the tunes and she is able to make them memorable and catchy. Her pure, angel-like voice also helps to distract from the horrible execution of the musical sequences itself: “Do-Re-Mi” is a nice song but one always has to be scared of hurting ones eyes from looking at the children’s cloths; “Something Good” is incredibly boring and “My Favorite Things” is a woman jumping around in her bed with 7 annoying children and even gives us lyrics like “Schnitzel with noodles” which, I can assure you, is a combination that nobody eats. But still, Julie Andrews is always able to make all this bearable and even entertaining.

The smartest decision of Julie Andrews was to play her part as straight forward as possible. The Sound of Music is a movie musical without any hint of irony but instead plays it all as serious as possible and by that seems too self-important. It is thanks to Julie Andrews (and Christopher Plummer, to some extent) that the whole thing still works because she plays even the most silly scenes, like when Maria is going to the van Trapps and clumsily waves her hands or falls over her baggage, as serious as possible, as if it is the most natural thing in the world. While I think that Maria is a rather annoying character in the beginning, Julie Andrews certainly does the most with it. She handles the mix of comedy and drama quite well and like she brings new life into the van Trapp household, she also keeps the whole movie alive. The whole storyline is so sugarcoated and sweetish that it’s hard to stop my eyes from constantly rolling but Julie is magically able to be believable in an unbelievable part.

Even though she doesn’t give the best performance of the movie (that honor goes to Eleanor Parker who also gets a bonus for wanting to send the children to a boarding school), she still gives the most important one and carries the production on her shoulders.

Because she takes the character of Maria so seriously, she also succeeds in the later, more dramatic parts of the movie. When she realizes that she is in love with the Captain and listens to her Mother Superior, Julie shows all the confusion wonderfully on her face. Even though Maria is a rather clumsy woman at the beginning who talks too much and too openly, Julie also shows that she is neither stupid nor naïve. Wanting to be a nun and so being able to spend a lot of time thinking, Maria is very well aware of her own faults and mistakes but she doesn’t seem to be able to stop them. She knows that she shouldn’t talk to the Captain so openly and fresh, but she keeps doing it because she believes, she knows that she is right. But she never appears rude or unpleasant, instead Julie Andrews’s natural charm and charisma make Maria a very loveable woman and it’s not hard to believe that the Captain would fall in love with her.

Julie Andrews’s Maria is a nanny, a love interest and a new mother to the children. And Julie shows all these aspects without ever losing the core of Maria which is hope, optimism and encouragement.

Julie Andrews is able to make even the most cringe-worthy moments of the movie believable and she wonderfully balances the cheesiness of the script and the character with a more serious approach to the material. Whenever Christopher Plummer opens his mouth and starts to sing, I can’t help but laughing, especially because “Edelweiss” is such a dreadful song and even the serious moment when he is singing the song on stage and has to stop because he is so moved is not very effective for me. But the way Julie Andrews looks at him, with so much concern, understanding and love and the way she gracefully moves to his side to support him, is a really great moment.

The real talent of Julie Andrews, which she also showed in Mary Poppins even though the role was less challenging, is to take cheesy, underdeveloped material and turn it into something much deeper and more mature than expected.

But even though I don’t want to overrate her performance. Julie Andrews gives a performance that is better than her movie but at the same time she is not able to lift her movie to a higher level. Despite her lovely presence and thought-out performance, The Sound of Music remains a thin, artificial and shallow experience. Not even Julie Andrews can change that. And I also don’t want to overrate her because the character of Maria is certainly not the deepest or richest or most interesting part ever written.

Still, Julie Andrews succeeds in her own way and for this, she gets

Best Actress 1965

The next year will be 1965 and the nominees were

Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music

Julie Christie in Darling

Samantha Eggar in The Collector

Elizabeth Hartman in A Patch of Blue

Simone Signoret in Ship of Fools