Can You Please List Your 25 Favorite Actresses?

[Mr. Arkadin]

Ingrid Thulin--Ah Bergman...Thulin is icy cold in Wild Strawberries but in Cries and Whispers she’s a dying sister...and even knowing that, your heart breaks at her screams

Harriet Andersson (Bibi Andersson, too!)--More Bergman. Harriet is wonderful in Winter Light while Bibi shines in Persona, Seventh Seal and Smiles of a Summer Night

Not to be nitpicky, but Harriet Andersson is the dying sister in Cries and Whispers. Still a great actress and awesome film! She's also wonderful in Summer with Monika and Sawdust and Tinsel (both 1953), if I could tack a few on to your great list.

[mongoII]

melwalton, don't feel so bad. I ended up bumping about 20 each of both actors and actresses from my lists. It wasn't easy.

[MichiganJ]

Mr. Arkadin wrote:

Not to be nitpicky, but Harriet Andersson is the dying sister in Cries and Whispers. Still a great actress and awesome film! She's also wonderful in Summer with Monika and Sawdust and Tinsel (both 1953), if I could tack a few on to your great list.

Oops. You are not nitpicky at all, it’s “my bad” (as the kids today, say). I was thinking of Thulin’s performance in The Silence (yet another great Bergman), but the heartbreaking screams I alluded to were definitely those of Andesson in Cries and Whispers. Thanks for straightening that out. (I love Andresson in Sawdust and Tinsel but have not yet seen Summer with Monika--one of the few Bergman’s I haven’t seen.)

I’m glad to find another fan of Bergman, he’s certainly one of my favorite filmmakers. I don’t think he’s given nearly enough credit for the amazing performances he got from his casts. One could go on about Liv Ullman, for instance. Her silent role in Persona is fascinating (I love the repeated 10-minute, or so, monologue by Bibi, especially when the camera is focused on Liv). Shame, Anna, and Autumn Sonata (I know a lot of people don’t like this one, but it’s pretty great, too.)

While I’m at it, Gunn Wållgren gives an absolutely stellar performance as the matriarch in Fanny and Alexander. As this is the only film I’ve seen her in (I think), I did not think to include her on my list. But, as with ChiO’s brilliant point about Maria Falconetti’s only performance being in Passion of Jean of Arc, I’d like to submit them both to my list. (Putting me way over 25, MissGoddess. Sorry.)

[MissGoddess]

I’d like to submit them both to my list. (Putting me way over 25, MissGoddess. Sorry.)

No worries! I know it's impossible sometimes to throw any of our favorite "children" out into the cold!

[Mr. Arkadin]

Mr. Arkadin wrote:

Not to be nitpicky, but Harriet Andersson is the dying sister in Cries and Whispers. Still a great actress and awesome film! She's also wonderful in Summer with Monika and Sawdust and Tinsel (both 1953), if I could tack a few on to your great list.

Oops. You are not nitpicky at all, it’s “my bad” (as the kids today, say). I was thinking of Thulin’s performance in The Silence (yet another great Bergman), but the heartbreaking screams I alluded to were definitely those of Andesson in Cries and Whispers. Thanks for straightening that out. (I love Andresson in Sawdust and Tinsel but have not yet seen Summer with Monika--one of the few Bergman’s I haven’t seen.)

I’m glad to find another fan of Bergman, he’s certainly one of my favorite filmmakers. I don’t think he’s given nearly enough credit for the amazing performances he got from his casts. One could go on about Liv Ullman, for instance. Her silent role in Persona is fascinating (I love the repeated 10-minute, or so, monologue by Bibi, especially when the camera is focused on Liv). Shame, Anna, and Autumn Sonata (I know a lot of people don’t like this one, but it’s pretty great, too.)

While I’m at it, Gunn Wållgren gives an absolutely stellar performance as the matriarch in Fanny and Alexander. As this is the only film I’ve seen her in (I think), I did not think to include her on my list. But, as with ChiO’s brilliant point about Maria Falconetti’s only performance being in Passion of Jean of Arc, I’d like to submit them both to my list. (Putting me way over 25, MissGoddess. Sorry.)

Liv Ullman was around the top of my list. One of the best, bar none. I'm in total agreement with Falconetti. She might only have one role, but it's a great one.

[melwalton]

Mongo

Rightt on , Joe. 25 is a very small number, sometimes. ... mel

[coopsgirl]

Fave Actresses:

Clara Bow – she’s my number 1! Like Gary Cooper as my fave actor, Clara had a very natural, real style and is also a fascinating person. She was born and raised in such dire poverty with a terrible home life and she rose above it to become one of the biggest stars Hollywood ever had. I can’t really explain it but I just feel some kind of connection with her and I have since the first time I saw a picture of her a couple of years ago.

Barbara Stanwyck – I’m glad to see she made so many people’s lists. If not for Clara, Babs would be my number 1. She was always great and one of the things I like best about her is when a scene called for her to get real worked up about something, she never became hammy or overdid it. If she was working today I would say she would leave everyone else in her dust.

Jean Arthur – How great was she? Always charming and delightful despite her intense camera fright. She could do both drama and comedy (as many of Capra’s films she appeared in while classified as “comedies” had dramatic sequences as well) and she is just always entertaining. One of my fave scenes of hers is in Mr. Deeds when she and Gary are sitting in the park singing ‘Swanee River’, near the end she giggles and it’s so cute and seems so spontaneous as if she just couldn’t help but let it out.

Here are the rest in no particular order:

Fay Wray, Mynra Loy, Carole Lombard, Hayley Mills (love her Disney stuff), Marie Dressler, Ingrid Bergman, Irene Dunne, Loretta Young, Mary Brian, Esther Ralston, Colleen Moore, Jean Harlow, Janet Gaynor, Lucille Ball, Thelma Todd, Patsy Kelly, Claudette Colbert, Greer Garson, Frances Dee, Merle Oberon, Betty Compson, Lupe Velez

[movieman1957]

Jean Arthur
Ginger Rogers
Gene Tierney
Katharine Hepburn
Vera Miles
Helen Mirren
Claudette Colbert
Myrna Loy
Deborah Kerr
Irene Dunne
Jeanne Crain
Thelma Todd
Mildred Davis (Harold Lloyd's costar/wife)
Audrey Hepburn
Olivia de Havilland
Carole Lombard
Gail Russell
Maureen O'Sullivan
Maureen O'Hara
Loretta Young
Teresa Wright
Spring Byington
Claire Trevor
Mae Busch (often played Mrs. Oliver Hardy)
June Allyson

and a host of others

[MissGoddess]

Hi Angie! I just got my copy of the Victor Fleming biography and hope to take it up over the holidays. Are you planning to read it? If not, I'll let you know if anything interesting turns up about his time with Clara.

Cool to see Patsy Kelly and Hayley Mills on your list. I love The Moonspinners.

[MissGoddess]

Howdy, Chris! So Genie Beanie is Number Three on your list?
Marvelous! I knew you had wonderful taste. And I love that
the ladies who made their funny men look funnier get their due from
you.

No Margaret Dumont?

[movieman1957]

I was ready to put her on the list. Anyone that can put up with Groucho gets consideration but to tell the truth there is hardly anything else I have seen her in. I guess you could say the same thing for Mae Busch and Davis but I didn't get 26.

[MissGoddess]

I was ready to put her on the list. Anyone that can put up with Groucho gets consideration but to tell the truth there is hardly anything else I have seen her in. I guess you could say the same thing for Mae Busch and Davis but I didn't get 26.

You can have 26, Chris. It just wouldn't be fittin' to leave Maggie
behind.

I recommend you watch What A Way to Go!, if only for those first
scenes with Margaret Dumont as Shirley MacLaine's rapaciously
gold-digging mother. Oh my goodness, I have seldom laughed
SO hard as when I first saw her nagging her husband until he
sank into his chair and all the "mottos" on the wall change to
reflect the true spirit of that home. Too, too funny.

[movieman1957]

26. Margaret Dumont.

Her imdb listings are pretty long but a bunch you never get to see. I'll look for "What A Way To Go."

Gee, I could add Bette Davis, Ann Sheridan, Lauren Bacall, Grace Kelly, Shirley Jones, and on and on and on.

[MissGoddess]

26. Margaret Dumont.

Her imdb listings are pretty long but a bunch you never get to see. I'll look for "What A Way To Go."

Gee, I could add Bette Davis, Ann Sheridan, Lauren Bacall, Grace Kelly, Shirley Jones, and on and on and on.

I know, it's SO hard. Maybe I should have asked people for their
"Top 50" favorites. Believe it or not, it's even more interesting
to see who the bottom 10 or 15 names are, if they're chosen with
care. Then you really start to see some unexpected names crop
up.

TCM shows WAWTG now and then, and it might even be on DVD.

[stuart.uk]

Miss G

Here's a clip of Hayley from Wild At Heart, followed by an interview on Loose Woman. The girl on the right actress Lynda Bellingham, who was in The Sweeney movie, is one of the great crushes of my life. Colleen Nolan of The Nolan Sisters is also on the panel. Hayley ends up marrying the guy who's giving her a hard time on the clip

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