This list was a little more difficult to compile - unlike the men's list, this leans more heavily on films released in the last two or three decades. I've also seen fewer of the films - 58 of the 79 winners versus 64 of the 79 male winners (that's 78 years of the Academy Awards plus one tie in each category). Again, please keep in mind that I am rating the performances and not the films. Check out this complete list of nominees and winners.
1) Faye Dunaway, "Network"
2) Vivien Leigh, "Gone With the Wind"
3) Diane Keaton, "Annie Hall"
4) Ellen Burstyn, "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore"
5) Frances McDormand, "Fargo"
6) Sissy Spacek, "Coal Miner's Daughter"
7) Claudette Colbert, "It Happened One Night"
8) Holly Hunter, "The Piano"
9) Julie Andrews, "Mary Poppins"
10) Emma Thompson, "Howards End"
Unfortunately, that leaves no room for Joan Crawford in "Mildred Pierce", Jodie Foster in "The Silence of the Lambs", Hilary Swank in "Boys Don't Cry", Louise Fletcher in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest",. Olivia de Havilland in "The Heiress", and a host of other worthy performances.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Top 10 Best Actress Oscar-Winning Performances
Produced by DB at 1:16 PM
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I'm a little surprised to see Diane Keaton in "Annie Hall" third on your list, as it's actually my favorite female performance of all time - Oscar or no Oscar. I've only seen about half the Best Actresses, so...
1. Diane Keaton, "Annie Hall"
2. Frances McDormand, "Fargo"
3. Viven Leigh, "A Streetcar Named Desire"
4. Faye Dunaway, "Network"
5. Elizabeth Taylor, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
I love Diane Keaton in "Annie Hall", obviously. Maybe her performance in that film is by now too wrapped up with her real-life personality - as well as her onscreen persona - to stack up against Faye Dunaway in "Network" and Vivien Leigh in "Gone With the Wind". The same is true of Woody Allen on a much more profound scale - I love Woody as an actor, but if he had won the Best Actor Oscar for "Annie Hall", I doubt I would rank him above De Niro in "Raging Bull" or Brando in "On the Waterfront". Besides, Keaton only has to out-act Woody, Paul Simon, and Tony Roberts, while Dunaway has to contend with William Holden, Robert Duvall, and Peter Finch, and still scorches the screen with probably the greatest screen portrayal of a flawed professional woman.
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