Lists: 50 great female performances ....

Here's those favourite great female performances we can return to any time:  (in no particular order, two maximum for each, not necessarily leading roles, all covered at labels for each. No Meryl or ... Cate Blanchett may be the most recent, )

• Jane Fonda – KLUTE / THEY SHOOT HORSES DON’THEY?
• Bette Davis – ALL ABOUT EVE  / THE LETTER
  
• Katharine Hepburn – THE LION IN WINTER / SUMMERTIME
• Vivien Leigh – A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE
• Judy Garland – A STAR IS BORN     
• Joan Fontaine – REBECCA
• Olivia De Havilland – THE HEIRESS
• Lee Remick – DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES / WILD RIVER
• Julie Harris – EAST OF EDEN
• Susan Hayward – I WANT TO LIVE! / WITH A SONG IN MY HEART
• Kay Kendall – LES GIRLS / THE RELUCTANT DEBUTANTE
  
• Faye Dunaway – CHINATOWN (Its as much her film as Jack’s ....)
• Janet Leigh – PSYCHO 
• Joan Crawford – JOHNNY GUITAR / MILDRED PIERCE
• Barbara Stanwyck – DOUBLE INDEMNITY
• Geraldine Page - SUMMER AND SMOKE / SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH
• Genevieve Bujold - OBSESSION
• Garbo – MATA HARI / QUEEN CHRISTINA
• Dietrich – THE SCARLET EMPRESS / THE DEVIL IS A WOMAN
• Marilyn Monroe – THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL / THE MISFITS
• Elizabeth Taylor – CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF
• Sophia Loren – WOMAN OF THE RIVER / MARRIAGE ITALIAN STYLE
• Monica Vitti – L'AVVENTURA / L'ECLISSE
• Jeanne Moreau – BAY OF ANGELS / LA NOTTE
  
• Anna Magnani – BELLISSIMA / WILD IS THE WIND (I hate THE ROSE TATTOO)
• Ingrid Bergman & Liv Ullmann – AUTUMN SONATA
• Deborah Kerr & Ava Gardner – NIGHT OF THE IGUANA
• Romy Schneider – DEATHWATCH / LUDWIG (right)
• Isabelle Adjani – HISTORY OF ADELE H.
• Catherine Deneuve - POTICHE (Great Catherine is an endless delight in Ozon's charmer).
• Cate Blanchett - CAROL / THE AVIATOR (Cate does Kate perfectly).
• Kate Winslet - TITANIC
• Gloria Swanson - SUNSET BOULEVARD
  
• Rosalind Russell - THE WOMEN / GYPSY
• Maureen O'Hara - THE QUIET MAN (Mary Kate Danagher rules)
• Kim Novak – VERTIGO / BELL BOOK & CANDLE
• Natalie Wood - THE SEARCHERS / THIS PROPERTY IS CONDEMNED
• Mary Astor - THE GREAT LIE 
• Barbra Streisand – FUNNY GIRL / THE OWL & THE PUSSYCAT
• Liza Minnelli - NEW YORK NEW YORK / CABARET
• Julie Christie - DARLING / AWAY FROM HER
• Tilda Swinton - I AM LOVE / A BIGGER SPLASH
• Claire Bloom - THE CHAPMAN REPORT
• Wendy Hiller & Pamela Brown & Nancy Price – I KNOW WHERE I’M GOING
• Ingrid Thulin – THE SILENCE
• Patricia Neal – HUD
• Glenda Jackson – STEVIE
• Sarah Miles – THE SERVANT /  I WAS HAPPY HERE
• Rita Tushingham & Lynn Redgrave – GIRL WITH GREEN EYES / SMASHING TIME
• Stephane Audran – LA FEMME INFIDELE
• Audrey Hepburn – SABRINA / THE NUN'S STORY
• Maggie Smith & Celia Johnson – THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE
• Judi Dench - NOTES ON A SCANDAL / PHILOMENA
• Tippi Hedren & Suzanne Pleshette & Jessica Tandy – THE BIRDS
• Deborah Kerr & Kathleen Byron - BLACK NARCISSUS.

One could go on and on: 

• Ida Lupino - ROADHOUSE
• Kathleen Turner - BODY HEAT
• Lauren Bacall - DESIGNING WOMAN
• Jean Simmons - THE BIG COUNTRY / HILDA CRANE
• Ava Gardner - THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA / BHOWANI JUNCTION
• Alida Valli - SENSO
• Anne Baxter - THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
• Linda Darnell - A LETTER TO THREE WIVES
• Vanessa Redgrave - THE BOSTONIANS / ISADORA
• Gladys Cooper - NOW VOYAGER / SEPARATE TABLES
• Flora Robson - TWO THOUSAND WOMEN / HOLIDAY CAMP
• Edith Evans & Joan Greenwood - THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST / TOM JONES
• Celia Johnson & Kay Walsh - THIS HAPPY BREED
• Geraldine McEwan & Prunella Scales - MAPP AND LUCIA
• Sian Phillips - I, CLAUDIUS
• Eileen Atkins, Francesca Annis, Julia McKenzie, Imelda Staunton - CRANFORD
• Peggy Ashcroft & Judy Parfitt - THE JEWEL IN THE CROWN
• Beryl Reid & Susannah York & Coral Brown - THE KILLING OF SISTER GEORGE
• Paula Prentiss - MAN'S FAVOURITE SPORT / THE STEPFORD WIVES
• Capucine - NORTH TO ALASKA / WHAT'S NEW PUSSYCAT?

I loved her in the movies

Another enjoyable addtion to the Christmas gift list is Robert Wagner's new book I LOVED HER IN THE MOVIES, his recollections of all the great actresses he knew and worked with, decade by decade, starting with the 1930s.

Whatever one thinks of Wagner as an actor, he is fairly lightweight and agreeable (insufferable movie snob Martin will probably think he should be a shoe salesman too, like his judgement on Kerwin Matthews) and, like Dirk Bogarde in England, Wagner knew everyone (he and Natalie visited the Bogardes in the South of France on one of their European trips). Unlike his contemporaries Jeff or Tab Hunter, Wagner was a Hollywood kid, growing up there - he went to school with Norma Shearer's son, so knew Norma well in her later retired years, and he dated Gloria Swanson's daughter, and writes affectionately about Gloria, she was not like Norma Desmond at all.

We also get affectionate tributes and stories on Irene Dunne, Rosalind Russell, Crawford, Davis (Natalie played her young daughter in THE STAR and she and Wagner were friends for a long time), Stanwyck, Loretta Young, Katharine Hepburn (whom he knew through friendship with Spencer Tracy with whom he co-starred twice), Claudette Colbert and Jean Arthur. He certainly moved in the right circles! 

There's also Lana Turner, Greer Garson, Susan Hayward (very helpful to the novice actor on WITH A SONG IN MY HEART, left), Ida Lupino, Jennifer Jones, Claire Trevor, Betty Grable, Ann Sheridan, Joan Blondell, Lucille Ball, Linda Darnell and Gene Tierney, the impossible Betty Hutton, as well as characters like Thelma Ritter, Maureen Stapleton and Eve Arden. Wagner knows too how difficult it was for actresses to maintain long careers ...

The 1950s saw him pals with Doris and Debbie, the young Marilyn, Janet Leigh, June Allyson, Jean Peters, Joan Collins, Angie Dickinson, Debra Paget. He was at Romanoffs that famous 1957 night when Jayne Mansfield usurped Sophia Loren's debut (left) - he later played Loren's husband in De Sica's THE CONDEMNED OF ALTONA in 1962 and writes very affectionately about her, and also Capucine (Cappy) from THE PINK PANTHER, There were some difficult ladies too - Shelley Winters for one! 
Joanne Woodward and Glenn Close also come in for some respectful praise, and of course there's Elizabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn, Julie Andrews and Natalie. 

Wagner, now in his mid-80s parlayed his looks into a long career on film and television. He was good enough for Olivier for his TV CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF in '76. Its always fun seeing him as PRINCE VALIANT in that wig! His first memoir PIECES OF MY HEART is an agreeable read about it all too. 
He was a 20th Century Fox boy and Natalie was a Warner Bros girl, so he got to know Jack Warner well too - and is hilarious about the abuse Warner heaped on Judy Garland (who would have been so ideal for GYPSY in 62 with Natalie), and he also recounts Vittorio De Sica's hilariously rude comment on Raquel Welch who was driving them mad with her delays on THE BIGGEST BUNDLE OF THEM ALL .... Star gossip does not get much better. As he says: "Movies and TV go on forever - only the delivery system changes ...".

Legendary ladies at lunch ....

I remember this particular issue of AFTER DARK from February 1981 and had it at the time, nice to find it on ebay, cheap too. I wanted to re-read this interview with two great Broadway ladies having lunch: Geraldine Page and Julie Harris. They were doing a new play at the time, MIXED COUPLES, their first time on stage together - they had though both been in Coppola's YOU'RE A BIG BOY NOW, his lovely debut feature in 1966. 

I read somewhere that we Londoners were lucky in that Maggie Smith and/or Judi Dench were often on the boards here - but New Yorkers had regular appearances by Harris and Page. 
Harris though did bring her wonderful 1977 show THE BELLE OF AMHERST to London, which wowed me so much I had to write and tell her, and surprisingly, she wrote back, with this lovely card - the only time I ever wrote to (and got a reply) from a performer I liked. 

We have been entranced with Miss Harris (who passed away in 2013) ever since THE MEMBER OF THE WEDDING and of course EAST OF EDEN. 

Page knew Dean too, as per the photograph below: (They were in THE IMMORALIST on Broadway).

This issue of AFTER DARK too has great interviews and pictures with David Hockney and Lily Tomlin (who I am now enjoying in the GRACE AND FRANKIE boxset) and there are also comments on LA from the likes of LA regulars like Natalie Wood, Bette Davis, Gore Vidal etc. as well as Quentin Crisp on Mae West!

We also remember having this photobook FAME reviewed here, some great images by Brad Benedict of celebrity culture, like this great image of Richard Gere (then hot off AMERICAN GIGOLO)  as presumably a L.A. hustler ... More on Harris & Page at their labels - Julie was a 'Person we Like' in  2010 (that got 1,992 views here).  

4 1950s ladies: June, Jane, Joan, Dorothy

Those 1950s leading ladies were certainly kept busy in that very busy decade: not only Marilyn and Liz Taylor (4 films in 1954 before she did GIANT in 1955), Grace (also 4 in 1954) and Audrey, Janet, Kim, Ava, Susan Hayward, Deborah Kerr, Jean Simmons, Julie Harris, Doris and Debbie, Sandra Dee and Carol Lynley and those exciting new girls: Lee Remick, Shirley McLaine, Joanne Woodward, Eva Marie Saint, Natalie Wood, Carroll Baker (a serious actress then) and Jean Seberg.
Bardot. Loren, La Lollo, Mangano, Anita Ekberg, Leslie Caron burst forth from Europe, while Claire Bloom,  Kay Kendall, Glynis Johns and Joan Collins emerged from England (where Yvonne Mitchell, Sylvia Syms, Virginia McKenna, Diana Dors and more were leading players), Then there's that second tier including Angela Lansbury (still in supporting parts in the '50s), Vera Miles, Martha Hyer, Shelley Winters, Gloria Graham, Ruth Roman, Cyd Charisse, Mitzi Gaynor, Dorothy Malone, Jane Russell, Virginia Mayo, Ann Blyth, Jan Sterling, Rhonda Fleming, Yvonne De Carlo, Debra Paget, Jayne Mansfield ... and the arrival of Stella Stevens, Angie Dickinson, Hope Lange, while starlets Pier Angeli, Gia Scala, Inger Stevens, Kathryn Grant, Tuesday Weld, Diane Baker, Suzy Parker got their breaks (or not) ... while the 1940s and 1930s stars were gainfully employed too: Ingrid Bergman back, bigger than ever, Bacall, Baxter, O'Hara. Vivien Leigh, Rita and Lana, sisters Olivia and Joan, plus 'oldies' Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Katharine Hepburn, Barbara Stanwyck. European actresses like Anna Magnani and Simone Signoret delivered Oscar-winning performances. (This is turning into an issue of "Who's Who in Hollywood" - have I forgot anyone?).

Here are 4 more: June Allyson, Jane Wyman, Dorothy McGuire and Joan Collins ...

Remembering the great female stars of the 1950s one usually overlooks June Allyson (1917-2006), but there she was, busy throughout the decade, usually cast as devoted wives (THE GLENN MILLER STORY, THE STRATTON STORY, STRATEGIC AIR COMMAND all with James Stewart), and usually wearing those buttoned up blouses and white gloves .... she was popular in the late 1940s with her sweet smile, husky voice and sunny disposition, the ideal girl next door, with films like LITTLE WOMEN, WORDS AND MUSIC and GOOD NEWS (that "Varsity Drag" number!). Critic David Shipman is rather caustic about her in his "The Great Movie Stars" tome). She did several remakes: MY MAN GODFREY and our favourite here, THE OPPOSITE SEX in 1956, that musical remake of the 1939 camp classic THE WOMEN) - THE OPPOSITE SEX is almost as camp as a great raft of 1950s gals wear fabulous frocks and June leads the cast, laying into Joan Collins as mantrap Crystal Allen - thats a bitchslap above. She is also in a rather good Sirk: INTERLUDE set in Germany, 1957, and a Ross Hunter: STRANGER IN MY ARMS in 1959 See Allyson label. She was also in the all-star EXECUTIVE SUITE in 1954 when she also did our other favourite: Negulesco's marvellous WOMAN'S WORLD where she is another ditzy housewife ... June later went into television and was married to Dick Powell.

Jane Wyman (1917-2007) was also very popular in the 1950s, particularly after Sirk's MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION in 1954 and ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS in 1955. (Review at Wyman label). She began in the early 1930s and her 111 credit on IMDB include JOHNNY BELINDA (for which she won Best Actress Oscar in 1948), Hitch's STAGE FRIGHT in 1950, THE GLASS MENAGERIE, LUCY GALLANT, Aunt Polly in POLLYANNA.and later coasted as devoted wives in HOLIDAY FOR LOVERS and BON VOYAGE. She later had a long stint in FALCON CREST and of course the obligatory MURDER, SHE WROTE. She had of course been married to Ronald Reagan in the 1940s.

Dorothy McGuire (196-2001) always seemed the perfect wife and mother, in films like Wyler's FRIENDLY PERSUASION, a fond memory from 1956, particlarly her scenes with Coop and Samantha the goose, Disney's OLD YELLER, the superior sudser A SUMMER PLACE in 1959 (see review at McGuire label), and the less superior SUSAN SLADE. Then there's the fun SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON and the enrosssing William Inge drama THE DARK AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS, also 1960. Her other popular films included CLAUDIA, Kazan's A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN in 1945, THE ENCHANTED COTTAGE, THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE, GENTLEMAN'S AGREEMENT, THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN,  In 1965 she played the greatest mother of all, in George Stevens' THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD. She had also done a lot of theatre and later television including RICH MAN POOR MAN. 

IMDB says: "A genuine model of sincerity, practicality and dignity in most of the roles she inhabited, actress Dorothy McGuire offered Tinseltown more talent than it probably knew what to do with." 

What can one say about Joan Collins? the great survivor, still visible now in her 80s. After her British movies like THE GOOD DIE YOUNG (1954) and TURN THE KEY SOFTLY, she relocated to Hollywood - we love her evil Nellifer with the ruby in her navel in Hawks' LAND OF THE PHAROAHS in '55 (right), and her Crystal (as bitchy as Joan Crawford in the original) in THE OPPOSITE SEX for MGM (left, in that amusing 'tropical' number), before her stint at 20th Century Fox: improbably out west in THE BRAVADOS, THE VIRGIN QUEEN (that was Bette Davis), ISLAND IN THE SUN, THE WAYWARD BUS, a funny vamp in RALLY ROUND THE FLAG BOYS, a stripper in SEVEN THIEVES etc Television rescued her from the likes of KINGDOM OF THE ANTS in the 1980s as we tuned in to her Alexis Colby every week in DYNASTY - London's gay nightclub Heaven used to show her catfights with Krystle, like that fight in the lily pond, on a loop, as we danced. Her tell-alls have been amusing too, particularly on the likes of Warren Beatty and her other lovers.

The early '60s of course brought in that new lot: the emergence of Jane Fonda, Ann-Margret, Suzanne Pleshette, ditzy Pamela Tiffin; the British new girls led by Julie Christie, Susannah York, Sarah Miles, Rita Tushingham, Samantha Eggar, Jane Asher, Jane Merrow; plus the Europeans emerging from the arthouse to the local Odeon: Moreau, Vitti, Cardinale, Romy Schneider, Anouk Aimee, Ingrid Thulin, Mercouri, sisters Deneuve and Dorleac, Elke Sommer & Senta Berger, then mid-decade the arrival of Julie Andrews, Faye Dunaway and the Redgrave girls and, er, Raquel Welch ... while the late '60s saw Maggie and Glenda, Barbra and Liza ready to sweep the '70s ...

RIP, continued

Setsuko Hara (1920-2015), aged 95. Another veteran actress, also aged 95 and named Hara has passed away - it was Maureen O'Hara recently and now we hear that Japanese actress Setsuko Hara died in September, though it has only been announced now. She was of course the muse of director Yazijiro Ozu, starring in several of his classics, most notably as Noriko in a trilogy, the most well-known and revered being the great TOKYO STORY in 1953, also LATE SPRING and EARLY SUMMER.  She clocked up a total of 77 credits, but never married and  lived quietly in her later years - she gave up acting in 1966 but was one of Japan's best-loved stars during her 30 year career. 

Her main roles saw her as the dutiful daughter looking after aged parents and she became known as The Eternal Virgin. She did six films with Ozu, and also worked with Kurosawa and Naruse. Anyone who has seen TOKYO STORY will know who wonderful she was and how she quietly commands the screen - I will be re-watching it again soon before too long. 

Eilis goes to Brooklyn

BROOKLYN would seem to have stolen a march on CAROL, that other literary adaptation about shopgirls in Fifties New York, by getting into cinemas first. We still have to wait two weeks more for Todd Haynes' long-awaited CAROL (it was only filmed last year). John Crowley's film, as scripted by Nick Hornby from Colm Toibin's marvellous and successful novel will leave you in a happy daze, with smiles and a few tears as one leaves the cinema. It is going to be very popular too. The early screening today was practically full. Perhaps Toibin's recent novel "Nora Webster" would also be a good movie?

BROOKLYN is an old fashioned period piece that offers fine acting, beautiful cinematography, charming writing grounded in reality, and thought provoking direction. As I said about the book here in 2010: It is set in the Ireland of the '50s when smart local girl Eilis works in a shop but gets an opportunity to move to Brooklyn and study and improve herself. Small town life of the time is nicely captured and Eilis finds life in Brooklyn much the same among the Irish community there, but before too long she finds her feet - and an Italian boyfriend, also seeking to improve his lot. Then a death calls her back to Ireland where she has to make some hard choices about what to do next.

The Fifties background looks quite right for once, and not trowelled on, the colour schemes are soothing and the production design perfect. As this is 1952 passing mention is made of THE QUIET MAN and SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, a nice touch.The casting is marvellous too, even to the smallest parts - the people we see in the streets or at the store where Eilis works, or the faces of the men at the homeless shelter, and the girls at the Brooklyn boarding house. Jim Broadbent and Julie Walters are as sterling as ever, Brid Brennan is marvellously nasty, and Fiona Glascott is touching as Eilish's sister Rose. 

At the centre though are two stunning performances that hold the attention and enthrall us. Saoirse Ronan, mesmerising as Eilis, she matures before our eyes, and Emory Cohen as Tony, the Italian plumber she falls for in New York. 
He is a marvellous presence and they have great chemistry together, and some very touching scenes. I simply loved every minute of it. Saoirse will be an Oscar contender along with Cate, Rooney, Kate Winslet and Maggie Smith .... going to be an interesting award season. BROOKLYN will be a Best Picture contender too - CAROL will have a lot to live up to. Now for THE LADY IN THE VAN and Winslet's THE DRESSMAKER looks a lot of fun too.

Ireland looks good here too, though Enniscorthy looks rather drab. Emigration from Ireland to America was common in the fifties. I remember a schoolfriend's family moving to San Diego which seemed impossibly exotic to us (his father was a bank manager) and a girl who worked for my mother also going to America - we saw her off from Shannon Airport and the photos she sent looked exactly like Coney Island here.

30 movie questions .....

I copied this from pal Martin's facebook page.  Dare you take the 30 question quiz?

01 - Your favorite movie : I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING

02 - The last movie you watched : THE CHEAP DETECTIVE

03 - Your favorite action/adventure movie : RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK or AIR FORCE ONE / DEEP IMPACT

04 - Your favorite horror movie : EYES WITHOUT A FACE / THE INNOCENTS

05 - Your favorite drama movie : ANATOMY OF A MURDER / WILD RIVER

06 - Your favorite comedy movie : SOME LIKE IT HOT

07 - A movie that makes you happy : THE BANDWAGON ./ A LETTER TO THREE WIVES

08 - A movie that makes you sad : UMBERTO D / AMOUR

09 - A movie that you know practically the whole script of : TOO MANY - ALL ABOUT EVE

10 - Your favorite director : MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI

11 - Your favorite movie from your childhood : THE VIKINGS / EL CID

12 - Your favorite animated movie : THE JUNGLE BOOK

13 - A movie that you used to love but now hate : CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND

14 - Your favorite quote from any movie : "WHY WOULD A GUY WANT TO MARRY A GUY?" - "SECURITY!" (SOME LIKE IT HOT)

15 - The first movie you saw in theaters : JOHNNY GUITAR

16 - The last movie you saw in theaters : GONE GIRL

17 - The best movie you saw during the last year : BLUE IS THE WARMEST COLOUR

18 - A movie that disappointed you the most : STRANGER BY THE LAKE

19 - Your favorite actor : DIRK BOGARDE (MASON, DE NIRO, GRANT, STEWART ...)

20 - Your favorite actress : TOO MANY - see Actresses-1 label.

21 - The most overrated movie : THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

22 - The most underrated movie : PADDINGTON

23 - Your favorite character from any movie : LINA LAMONT - SINGIN' IN THE RAIN

24 - Favorite documentary : THE MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA

25 - A movie that no one would expect you to love : KILL BILL 1 &2

26 - A movie that is a guilty pleasure : TOO MANY: VALLEY OF THE DOLLS, THE SINGING NUN (see Trash-1 label for reviews and more)

27 - Favorite classic movie : CASABLANCA / OLD ACQUAINTANCE

28 - Movie with the best soundtrack : BLOW-UP / UN HOMME ET UNE FEMME / THE LION IN WINTER / 2001 /  BARRY LYNDON /AMERICAN GIGOLO

29 - A movie that changed your opinion about something : 

30 - Your least favorite movie : MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW - see review at 1930s-1 label

10 more  questions:

Your favourite musical : THE BANDWAGON / LES GIRLS / GYPSY / SOUTH PACIFIC
Your favourite western : THE SEARCHERS / RIO BRAVO and, er, NORTH TO ALASKA
Your favourite epic : EL CID / LAWRENCE OF ARABIA / FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE / CLEOPATRA
Your favourite noir : DOUBLE INDEMNITY / LAURA / MILDRED PIERCE
Your favourite sci-fantasy : 2001 / LORD OF THE RINGS / THE BIRDS
Your favourite French film : PLEIN SOLEIL / LE FEU FOLLET / LES DEMOISELLES DE ROCHEFORT 
Your favourite Italian film : VOYAGE TO ITALY / L'AVVENTURA / LA NOTTE BRAVA
Your favourite World Cinema film: TOKYO STORY / BLACK ORPHEUS / UNCLE BOONMEE
Your favourite costume drama : THE LEOPARD / THE SCARLET EMPRESS / MARIE ANTOINETTE - both of them
Your favourite thriller: KLUTE / THE PARALLAX VIEW / THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR

All those actresses

A thread over at IMDB on favourite actresses, got me thinking on just who are my favourite actresses and how would I rank them ..... This then is my top 25 (or so) ... but we like so many more --- so there's also a second tier.  I must have forgot some .... (left: Remick & Hepburn in A DELIATE BALANCE).


Sophia Loren
Monica Vitti
Lee Remick
Romy Schneider
Marilyn Monroe
Susan Hayward
Kay Kendall
Katharine Hepburn
Bette Davis
Garbo

Dietrich

Ingrid Bergman
Anouk Aimee
Julie Christie
Faye Dunaway
Deborah Kerr
Jean Simmons
Elizabeth Taylor
Julie Harris
Joan Fontaine
Janet Leigh
Anne Baxter
Ruth Roman
Catherine Deneuve
Frncoise Dorleac
Silvana Mangano
Barbara Stanwyck.

5 more:
Audrey Hepburn
Simone Signoret
Maggie Smith
Judi Dench
Lauren Bacall !

Plus: Geraldine Page, Sarah Miles, Vanessa Redgrave, Belinda Lee, Lilli Palmer, Claudia Cardinale, Gina Lollobrigida, Jeanne Moreau, Melina Mercouri, Joan Greenwood, Claire Bloom, Ava Gardner, Kim Novak, Jean Seberg, Irene Papas, Irene Dunne, Margaret Sullavan, Loretta Young, 

Mary Astor, Norma Shearer, Glenn Close, Alison Steadman, Imelda Staunton, Joan Sims, Isabelle Adjani, Stephane Audran, Ingrid Thulin, Celia Johnson, Flora Robson, Gladys Cooper, Margaret Leighton, Capucine, Judy Garland, Wendy Hiller, Yvonne Mitchell, Kay Walsh, Pamela Brown, Eleanor Parker, Dolores Gray, Dorothy Malone, Vera Miles, Martha Hyer, Suzanne Pleshette, Brigitte  Bardot, Susannah York, Rita Tushingham, Vivien Leigh, Cyd Charisse, Eva Marie Saint, Francesca Annis, Natalie Wood, Olivia De Havilland, Debra Paget, Lea Massari, Alida Valli, Anne Bancroft, Lana Turner, Jane Fonda, June Allyson ... 

Phew! We like all those gals in THE WOMEN, 1939 and its 1956 remake too - THE OPPOSITE SEX - as per posts on them. Plus that line-up for the 2001 VANITY FAIR Hollywood issue! Meryl!, Sophia!, Catherine! Vanessa! Kate! Cate! Nicole! Gywneth! Penelope! - Were they all there at the same time ?
We will have to tackle Actors and Directors next, or soon ...