I have been on an acting binge lately and have determined to publicize a list of the greatest acting performances of all time; this is conjunction with my current two-part series on acting that can be found in my pages, as well as my earlier list of my favorite actors. I’m sure a list of my favorite actresses will come next. With this list, I see little to no necessity to divide based on gender or—worse yet—to divide into four, first by gender then again by the ever-present lead-role/supporting-role dynamic. So, I have made a list wherein all acting performances that I personally have witnessed (irregardless of gender or prevalence in the film) are given equal footing and wherein only the best are counted. The selection of number one, I know, is bold. But I dare anyone to see this person in this movie and tell me that I’m wrong. Of course, I think I’m right. It’s my opinion.
The reason, I think, people don’t put men and women together in these races is that history is against women naturally considering the famine that surrounds lead female roles in movies. With that consideration in mind, however, I think the women represent themselves pretty well in my list: they make up 36% of it, including the top spot.
- Maria Falconetti—The Passion of Joan of Arc
- Peter O’Toole—Lawrence of Arabia
- Klaus Kinski—Aguirre: The Wrath of God
- Bibi Andersson—Persona
- Robert DeNiro—Raging Bull
- Marlon Brando—On the Waterfront
- Meryl Streep –Sophie’s Choice
- Alec Guinness—The Bridge on the River Kwai
- Anthony Hopkins—The Silence of the Lambs
- Peter Sellers—Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
- Gloria Swanson—Sunset Boulevard
- Bette Davis—All About Eve
- Laurence Olivier—Hamlet
- George C. Scott—Patton
- Marlon Brando—The Godfather
- Cate Blanchett—Blue Jasmine
- Enzo Staiola—The Bicycle Thief
- Katharine Hepburn—The African Queen
- John Wayne—The Searchers
- Orson Welles—Citizen Kane
- James Stewart—It’s A Wonderful Life
- Setsuko Hara—Tokyo Story
- Anna Magnani—Rome, Open City
- Takashi Shimura—Ikiru
- Paul Newman—The Hustler
- Charlie Chaplin—City Lights
- Daniel Day-Lewis—There Will Be Blood
- Peter Finch—Network
- Al Pacino—The Godfather Part II
- Robert Mitchum—The Night of the Hunter
- Emil Jannings—The Last Laugh
- Dustin Hoffman—Midnight Cowboy
- James Stewart—Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
- Bette Davis—Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
- Karuna Banerjee—Aparajito
- Peter Lorre—M
- Charles Laughton—Witness for the Prosecution
- Marcello Mastroianni—La Dolce Vita
- Moira Shearer—The Red Shoes
- Lillian Gish—Broken Blossoms, or the Yellow Man and the Girl
- Charlie Chaplin—The Great Dictator
- James Stewart—Vertigo
- George O’Brien—Sunrise
- Lamberto Maggiorani—The Bicycle Thief
- Humphrey Bogart—The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
- Ralph Fiennes—Schindler’s List
- Robert DeNiro—Taxi Driver
- Jean Gabin—La bête humaine
- Rosalind Russell—His Girl Friday
- Peter O’Toole—The Ruling Class
- Ingrid Bergman—Notorious
- Humphrey Bogart—Casablanca
- Anthony Perkins—Psycho
- Alec Guiness—Kind Hearts and Coronets
- Gong Li—To Live
- Johnny Depp—Pirate of the Carribean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
- Ingrid Bergman—Casablanca
- Claude Laydu—Diary of a Country Priest
- Arletty—Children of Paradise
- Laurence Olivier—Wuthering Heights
- Isabella Rossellini—Blue Velvet
- Maria Casares—Children of Paradise
- Katharine Hepburn—The Lion in Winter
- Giulietta Masina—Nights of Cabiria
- Victor Sjöström—Wild Strawberries
- Ingrid Thulin—Winter Light
- Barbara Stanwyck—Double Indemnity
- James Dean—Rebel without a Cause
- Vivien Leigh—Gone With the Wind
- Laurence Olivier—Richard III
- Katharine Hepburn—The Philadelphia Story
- Elizabeth Taylor—Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
- Phillip Noiret—Cinema Paradiso
- Dita Parlo—L’Atalante
- Walter Brennan—Rio Bravo
- Bette Davis—Jezebel
- Buster Keaton—The General
- Takashi Shimura—Rashomon
- Jean-Pierre Léaud—The 400 Blows
- Gary Cooper—The Pride of the Yankees
- Humphrey Bogart—In a Lonely Place
- Teresa Wright—The Men
- Gene Wilder—Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
- Heath Ledger—The Dark Knight
- John Wayne—The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
- Agnes Moorehead—The Magnificent Ambersons
- Marlene Dietrich—Witness for the Prosecution
- Orson Welles—The Third Man
- Michel Simon—Boudu Saved from Drowning
- Sylvester Stallone—Rocky
- Tom Hanks—Saving Private Ryan
- Arletty—Le jour se leve
- Monica Vitti–-L’eclisse
- Peter O’Toole—Becket
- Gregory Peck—To Kill a Mockingbird
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Chishû Ryû—There Was a Father
-
Irène Jacob—The Double Life of Véronique
-
Jean Gabin—Le jour se leve
-
Michel Simon—L’Atalante
- Audrey Hepburn—My Fair Lady
- Gunnar Björnstrand—Winter Light
- Charles Laughton—The Private Life of King Henry VIII
- Cary Grant—Bringing Up Baby
- Jean-Paul Belmondo—Breathless
- Jack Lemmon—The Apartment
- Tom Hanks—Philadelphia
- Frances McDormand—Fargo
- Harrison Ford—Star Wars
- Paul Newman—Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
- Josephine Hull—Harvey
- Charles Laughton—Mutiny on the Bounty
- Harriet Andersson—Through a Glass Darkly
- Jacques Tati—Mr. Hulot’s Holiday
- Groucho Marx—Duck Soup
- Clark Gable—Mutiny on the Bounty
- Robert Mitchum—Out of the Past
- Lauren Bacall—The Big Sleep
- Diane Keaton—Annie Hall
- Debbie Reynolds—Singin’ in the Rain
- Judy Garland—A Star is Born
- Richard Harris—This Sporting Life
- Greta Garbo—Grand Hotel
- Shirley MacLaine—The Apartment
- Dustin Hoffman—Kramer vs. Kramer
- Marilyn Monroe—Bus Stop
- Danielle Darrieaux—The Earrings of Madame de…
- Marcello Mastroianni—8 ½
- Juliette Binoche—Three Colors: Blue
- Rosell Zeche—Veronica Voss
- Kathy Bates—Misery
- Toshiro Mifune—Yojimbo
- Gene Hackman—The Conversation
- Richard Burton—Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
- George C. Scott—Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
- Toshiro Mifune—High and Low
- Jack Lemmon—Some Like It Hot
- Donna Reed—From Here to Eternity
- F. Murray Abraham—Amadeus
- Joan Fontaine—Letter from an Unknown Woman
- Judith Anderson—Rebecca
- Rex Harrison—My Fair Lady
- Gene Kelly—An American in Paris
- Val Kilmer—Tombstone
- Jean Gabin—Grand Illusion
- Audrey Hepburn—Breakfast at Tiffany’s
- Takashi Shimura—Seven Samurai
- Lee J. Cobb—12 Angry Men
- Jack Nicholson—Chinatown
- Claude Rains—Notorious
- Jodie Foster—Taxi Driver
- Faye Dunaway—Chinatown
- Clark Gable—Gone With the Wind
- James Stewart—Harvey
- Christopher Walken—The Deer Hunter
- Marlon Brando—The Men
- Kenneth Branagh—Henry V
- Ingrid Bergman—Gaslight
- Faye Dunaway—Network
- Montgomery Clift—A Place in the Sun
- Dustin Hoffman—Rain Man
- Robert Duvall—Apocalypse Now
- Kim Novak—Vertigo
- Greta Garbo—Ninotchka
- Henry Fonda—The Grapes of Wrath
- Celia Johnson—Brief Encounter
- Kurt Douglas—Paths of Glory
- Marcel Dalio—The Rules of the Game
- Tony Curtis—Sweet Smell of Success
- Jack Nicholson—One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
- Errol Flynn—The Adventures of Robin Hood
- Robin Williams—Good Morning, Vietnam
- Spencer Tracy—Boy’s Town
- Barbara Stanwyck—The Lady Eve
- Louise Brooks—Pandora’s Box
- Omar Sharif—Doctor Zhivago
- Clark Gable—It Happened One Night
- Woody Allen—Manhattan
- Peter Sellers—Being There
- Anthony Quinn—La Strada
- Catherine Deneuve—Belle de Jour
- Christian Bale—Empire of the Sun
- Ingrid Thulin—Cries and Whispers
- Johnny Depp—Ed Wood
- Richard Harris—A Man Called Horse
- Olivia de Havilland—Gone with the Wind
- Robert Mitchum—Cape Fear
- Tom Hanks—Cast Away
- Javier Bardem—No Country for Old Men
- John Wayne—True Grit
- Carlheinz Böhm—Peeping Tom
- Corinne Marchand—Cléo from 5 to 7
- Buster Keaton—Sherlock, Jr.
- Catharine Deneuve—Repulsion
- Hanna Schygulla—The Marriage of Maria Braun
- Paulette Goddard—Modern Times
- Michael Keaton—Birdman or (the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
- Bela Lugosi—Dracula
- Charles Laughton—The Hunchback of Notre Dame
- Claudette Colbert—It Happened One Night
- Jean Renoir—The Rules of the Game
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