100 favorite film actresses: #10-#1

10. Maggie Smith

Key Roles: Jean Brodie (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie)

Augusta Bertram (Travels with My Aunt)

Thetis (Clash of the Titans)

Charlotte Bartlett (A Room with a View)

Mother Superior (Sister Act)

Gunilla Garson Goldberg (The First Wives Club)

Minerva McGonagall (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone)

9. Madeline Kahn

Key Roles: Lili von Shtupp (Blazing Saddles)

Elizabeth (Young Frankenstein)

Mrs. White (Clue)

8. Audrey Hepburn

Key Roles: Princess Ann (Roman Holiday)

Sabrina Fairchild (Sabrina)

Jo Stockton (Funny Face)

Holly Golightly (Breakfast at Tiffany’s)

Regina Lampert (Charade)

Eliza Doolittle (My Fair Lady)

Susy Hendrix (Wait Until Dark)

7. Michelle Pfeiffer

Key Roles: Isabeau d’Anjou (Ladyhawke)

Sukie Ridgemont (The Witches of Eastwick)

Susie Diamond (The Fabulous Baker Boys)

Selina Kyle / Catwoman (Batman Returns)

Ellen Olenska (The Age of Innocence)

Melanie Parker (One Fine Day)

Claire Spencer (What Lies Beneath)

Rita Harrison Williams (I am Sam)

Ingrid Magnussen (White Oleander)

Lea de Lonval (Cheri)

6. Laura Linney

Key Roles: Meryl Burbank (The Truman Show)

Sammy Prescott (You Can Count on Me)

Annabeth Markum (Mystic River)

Sarah (Love Actually)

Clara McMillen (Kinsey)

Wendy Savage (The Savages)

5. Ingrid Bergman

Key Roles: Ilsa Lund (Casablanca)

Paula Alquist (Gaslight)

Dr. Constance Peterson (Spellbound)

Alicia Huberman (Notorious)

Anna Koreff (Anastasia)

Gladys Aylward (The Inn of the Sixth Happiness)

Greta (Murder on the Orient Express)

4. Kate Winslet

Key Roles: Marianne Dashwood (Sense and Sensibility)

Rose DeWitt Bukater (Titanic)

Iris Murdoch (Iris)

Clementine Kruczynski (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind)

Sarah Pierce (Little Children)

Hanna Schmitz (The Reader)

April Wheeler (Revolutionary Road)

3. Annette Bening

Key Roles: Merteuil (Valmont)

Evelyn Ames (Postcards from the Edge)

Sarah Turner (Regarding Henry)

Sydney Ellen Wade (The American President)

Carolyn Burnham (American Beauty)

Julia Lambert (Being Julia)

Deirdre Burroughs (Running with Scissors)

2. Meryl Streep

Key Roles: Joanna Kramer (Kramer vs. Kramer)

Sarah / Anna (The French Lieutenant’s Woman)

Sophie Zawistowski (Sophie’s Choice)

Karen Silkwood (Silkwood)

Karen Blixen (Out of Africa)

Lindy Chamberlain (A Cry in the Dark)

Suzanne Vale (Postcards from the Edge)

Madeline Ashton (Death Becomes Her)

Francesca Johnson (The Bridges of Madison County)

Lee (Marvin’s Room)

Kate Gulden (One True Thing)

Susan Orlean (Adaptation)

Clarissa Vaughan (The Hours)

Aunt Josephine (Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events)

Yolanda Johnson (A Prairie Home Companion)

Miranda Priestly (The Devil Wears Prada)

Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Doubt)

Julia Child (Julie & Julia)

1. Katharine Hepburn

Key Roles: Jo (Little Women)

Susan Vance (Bringing Up Baby)

Tracy Lord (The Philadelphia Story)

Tess Harding (Woman of the Year)

Amanda Bonner (Adam’s Rib)

Rose Sayer (The African Queen)

Christina Drayton (Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner)

Ethel Thayer (On Golden Pond)

100 favorite film actresses: #20-#11

20. Helen Mirren

Key Role(s): Queen Charlotte (The Madness of King George)

Chris (Calendar Girls)

The Queen (The Queen)

Cameron Lynne (State of Play)

19. Joan Allen

Key Role(s): Vera Tucker (Tucker: The Man and His Dream)

Pat Nixon (Nixon)

Betty Parker (Pleasantville)

Laine Hanson (The Contender)

Pamela Landy (The Bourne Supremacy)

18. Vivien Leigh

Key Role(s): Scarlett O’Hara (Gone with the Wind)

Blanche DuBois (A Streetcar Named Desire)

Mary Treadwell (Ship of Fools)

17. Emma Thompson

Key Role(s): Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing)

Elinor Dashwood (Sense and Sensibility)

Karen (Love Actually)

Sybil Trelawney (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban)

Headmistress (An Education)

16. Catherine O’Hara

Key Role(s): Delia Deetz (Beetle Juice)

Kate McCallister (Home Alone)

Sally (The Nightmare Before Christmas)

Sheila Albertson (Waiting for Guffman)

Cookie Fleck (Best in Show)

Mickey Crabbe (A Mighty Wind)

Marilyn Hack (For Your Consideration)

15. Sigourney Weaver

Key Role(s): Ripley (Alien)

Dana Barrett (Ghostbusters)

Katharine Parker (Working Girl)

Ellen Mitchell (Dave)

Alice Goodwin (A Map of the World)

Max Connors (Heartbreakers)

Lenny (The TV Set)

Ship’s Computer (WALL-E)

Dr. Grace Augustine (Avatar)

14. Toni Collette

Key Role(s): Muriel Heslop (Muriel’s Wedding)

Harriet Smith (Emma)

Lynn Sear (The Sixth Sense)

Fiona (About a Boy)

Kitty (The Hours)

Sheryl Hoover (Little Miss Sunshine)

Mary Daisy Dinkle (Mary and Max)

13. Bette Davis

Key Role(s): Mildred Rogers (Of Human Bondage)

Julie (Jezebel)

Charlotte Vale (Now, Voyager)

Margo (All About Eve)

Baby Jane Hudson (What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?)

Charlotte (Hush…Hush Sweet Charlotte)

Libby Strong (The Whales of August)

12. Diane Keaton

Key Role(s): Kay Adams (The Godfather)

Kay Corleone (The Godfather, Part II)

Annie Hall (Annie Hall)

Louise Bryant (Reds)

J.C. Wiatt (Baby Boom)

Annie Paradis (The First Wives Club)

Bessie (Marvin’s Room)

Erica Barry (Something’s Gotta Give)

11. Dianne Wiest

Key Role(s): Holly (Hannah and Her Sisters)

Helen Buckman (Parenthood)

Peg (Edward Scissorhands)

Helen Sinclair (Bullets Over Broadway)

Louise Keeley (The Birdcage)

Annie Cassell (I am Sam)

100 favorite film actresses: #30-#21

30. Julie Andrews

Key Role(s): Mary Poppins (Mary Poppins)

Maria (The Sound of Music)

Victoria Grant (Victor/Victoria)

29. Marcia Gay Harden

Key Role(s): Dr. Leslie Rosen (The First Wives Club)

Allison (Meet Joe Black)

Lee Krasner (Pollock)

Celeste Boyle (Mystic River)

Brooke Cavendar (Whip It)

28. Frances McDormand

Key Role(s): Abby (Blood Simple)

Marge Gunderson (Fargo)

Elaine Miller (Almost Famous)

Linda Litzke (Burn After Reading)

27. Glenn Close

Key Role(s): Sarah Cooper (The Big Chill)

Iris Gaines (The Natural)

Alex Forrest (Fatal Attraction)

Sunny von Bulow (Reversal of Fortune)

Cruella de Vil (101 Dalmatians)

26. Kathy Bates

Key Role(s): Annie Wilkes (Misery)

Evelyn Couch (Fried Green Tomatoes)

Dolores Claiborne (Dolores Claiborne)

Molly Brown (Titanic)

Libby Holden (Primary Colors)

Mrs. Helen Givings (Revolutionary Road)

Madame Peloux (Cheri)

25. Cate Blanchett

Key Role(s): Elizabeth I (Elizabeth)

Meredith Logue (The Talented Mr. Ripley)

Galadriel (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring)

Veronica Guerin (Veronica Guerin)

Magdalena Gilkeson (The Missing)

Katharine Hepburn (The Aviator)

Jude (I’m Not There)

Daisy (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)

24. Jodie Foster

Key Role(s): Iris (Taxi Driver)

Tallulah (Bugsy Malone)

Sarah Tobias (The Accused)

Clarice Starling (The Silence of the Lambs)

Dede Tate (Little Man Tate)

Eleanor Arroway (Contact)

Meg Altman (Panic Room)

23. Sissy Spacek

Key Role(s): Carrie White (Carrie)

Loretta Lynn (Coal Miner’s Daughter)

Mae Garvey (The River)

Ruth Fowler (In the Bedroom)

22. Sandra Bullock

Key Role(s): Annie Porter (Speed)

Lucy Moderatz (While You Were Sleeping)

Angela Bennett (The Net)

Birdee Pruitt (Hope Floats)

Gwen Cummings (28 Days)

Gracie Hart (Miss Congeniality)

21. Patricia Clarkson

Key Role(s): Melinda Moores (The Green Mile)

Eleanor Fine (Far From Heaven)

Joy Burns (Pieces of April)

Olivia Harris (The Station Agent)

Shirley Wershba (Good Night, and Good Luck)

Judy (Vicky Cristina Barcelona)

Rachel 2 (Shutter Island)

100 favorite film actresses: #40-#31

40. Brenda Blethyn

Key Role(s): Cynthia Rose Purley (Secrets & Lies)

Grace (Music from Another Room)

Mrs. Bennet (Pride & Prejudice)

Grace Turner (Atonement)

39. Jane Fonda

Key Role(s): Cat Ballou (Cat Ballou)

Gloria (They Shoot Horses Don’t They?)

Judy Bernly (9 to 5)

Chelsea Thayer Wayne (On Golden Pond)

38. Whoopi Goldberg

Key Role(s): Celie Johnson (The Color Purple)

Oda Mae Brown (Ghost)

Deloris van Cartier (Sister Act)

Corrina Washington (Corrina, Corrina)

37. Juliette Binoche

Key Role(s): Hana (The English Patient)

Vianne (Chocolat)

36. Ellen Burstyn

Key Role(s): Chris MacNeil (The Exorcist)

Alice Hyatt (Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore)

Sara Goldfarb (Requiem for a Dream)

35. Elizabeth Taylor

Key Role(s): Velvet Brown (National Velvet)

Angela Vickers (A Place in the Sun)

Leslie Benedict (Giant)

Martha (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?)

34. Angela Lansbury

Key Role(s): Nancy Oliver (Gaslight)

Mrs. Iselin (The Manchurian Candidate)

Miss Price (Bedknobs and Broomsticks)

Mrs. Potts (Beauty and the Beast)

33. Anjelica Huston

Key Role(s): Maerose Prizzi (Prizzi’s Honor)

Tamara Broder (Enemies, A Love Story)

Grand High Witch (The Witches)

Morticia Addams (The Addams Family)

Baroness Rodmilla de Ghent (Ever After: A Cinderella Story)

Etheline Tenenbaum (The Royal Tenenbaums)

32. Joan Cusack

Key Role(s): Shelley (My Bodyguard)

Cyn (Working Girl)

Alsatia Zevo (Toys)

Debbie Jellinsky (Addams Family Values)

Emily Montgomery (In & Out)

Jessie (Toy Story 2)

Rosalie Mullins (The School of Rock)

31. Shirley MacLaine

Key Role(s): Fran Kubelik (The Apartment)

Irma la Douce (Irma la Douce)

Aurora Greenway (Terms of Endearment)

Ouiser Boudreaux (Steel Magnolias)

Doris Mann (Postcards from the Edge)

100 favorite film actresses: #50-#41

50. Natalie Portman

Key Role(s): Mathilda (The Professional)

Novalee Nation (Where the Heart Is)

Sara (Cold Mountain)

Alice (Closer)

49. Marisa Tomei

Key Role(s): Mona Lisa Vito (My Cousin Vinny)

Natalie Strout (In the Bedroom)

Cassidy (The Wrestler)

48. Marilyn Monroe

Key Role(s): Miss Casswell (All About Eve)

Lorelei Lee (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes)

The Girl (The Seven Year Itch)

Sugar Kane Kowalczyk (Some Like it Hot)

47. Imelda Staunton

Key Role(s): Charlotte Jennings Palmer (Sense and Sensibility)

Bunty (Chicken Run)

Vera (Vera Drake)

Dolores Umbridge (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix)

Sonia Teichberg (Taking Woodstock)

46. Judi Dench

Key Role(s): M (GoldenEye)

Queen Elizabeth (Shakespeare in Love)

Armande Voizin (Chocolat)

Iris Murdoch (Iris)

45. Debbie Reynolds

Key Role(s): Kathy Selden (Singin’ in the Rain)

Polly Parish (Bundle of Joy)

Janice Courtney (My Six Loves)

Beatrice Henderson (Mother)

44. Goldie Hawn

Key Role(s): Judy Benjamin (Private Benjamin)

Joanna Stayton (Overboard)

Marianne Graves (Bird on a Wire)

Helen Sharp (Death Becomes Her)

Elise Elliot (The First Wives Club)

43. Tilda Swinton

Key Role(s): Valerie Thomas (Adaptation)

White Witch (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch…)

Karen Crowder (Michael Clayton)

Julia (Julia)

Katie Cox (Burn After Reading)

Elizabeth Abbott (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)

42. Barbara Stanwyck

Key Role(s): Eugenia Harrington (The Lady Eve)

Phyllis Dietrichson (Double Indemnity)

Leona Stevenson (Sorry, Wrong Number)

41. Angela Bassett

Key Role(s): Tina Turner (What’s Love Got to Do with It?)

Bernadine Harris (Waiting to Exhale)

Rachel Constantine (Contact)

Stella Payne (How Stella Got Her Groove Back)

100 favorite film actresses: #60-#51

60. Janet Leigh

Key Role(s): Marion Crane (Psycho)

Eugenie Chaney (The Manchurian Candidate)

59. Julie Christie

Key Role(s): Lara (Doctor Zhivago)

Fiona Anderson (Away from Her)

58. Nicole Kidman

Key Role(s): Suzanne Stone Maretto (To Die For)

Satine (Moulin Rouge!)

Grace Stewart (The Others)

Virginia Woolf (The Hours)

Claudia (Nine)

57. Faye Dunaway

Key Role(s): Bonnie Parker (Bonnie and Clyde)

Evelyn Mulwray (Chinatown)

Joan Crawford (Mommie Dearest)

56. Lauren Bacall

Key Role(s): Nora Temple (Key Largo)

Mrs. Hubbard (Murder on the Orient Express)

Hannah Morgan (The Mirror Has Two Faces)

55. Julianne Moore

Key Role(s): Amber Waves (Boogie Nights)

Cathy Whitaker (Far From Heaven)

Laura Brown (The Hours)

54. Olivia de Havilland

Key Role(s): Melanie Hamilton (Gone with the Wind)

Catherine Sloper (The Heiress)

Miriam (Hush…Hush Sweet Charlotte)

53. Miranda Richardson

Key Role(s): Jude (The Crying Game)

Lady Van Tassel (Sleepy Hollow)

Mrs. Tweedy (Chicken Run)

Vanessa Bell (The Hours)

52. Jenifer Lewis

Key Role(s): Zelma Bullock (What’s Love Got to Do with It?)

Margueritte Coleman (The Preacher’s Wife)

Mama Odie (The Princess and the Frog)

51. Mary McDonnell

Key Role(s): Stands with a Fist (Dances with Wolves)

Liz (Sneakers)

100 favorite film actresses: #70-#61

70. Emily Blunt

Key Role(s): Tamsin (My Summer of Love)

Emily Chalton (The Devil Wears Prada)

Queen Victoria (The Young Victoria)

69. Gene Tierney

Key Role(s): Laura Hunt (Laura)

Isabel Bradley (The Razor’s Edge)

Lucy Muir (The Ghost and Mrs. Muir)

68. Kristin Scott Thomas

Key Role(s): Katharine Clifton (The English Patient)

Robin Kimball (Life as a House)

Josephine (Arsene Lupin)

Helene Perkins (Tell No One)

67. Maureen O’Hara

Key Role(s): Doris Walker (Miracle on the 34th Street)

Mary Kate Danaher (The Quiet Man)

Katherine McLintock (McLintock!)

66. Barbra Streisand

Key Role(s): Fanny Brice (Funny Girl)

Katie Morosky (The Way We Were)

Rose Morgan (The Mirror Has Two Faces)

65. Penelope Cruz

Key Role(s): Hermana Rosa (All About My Mother)

Raimunda (Volver)

Maria Elena (Vicky Cristina Barcelona)

Lena (Broken Embraces)

64. Claudette Colbert

Key Role(s): Ellie (It Happened One Night)

Betty (The Egg and I)

63. Jean Hagen

Key Role(s): Beryl Caighn (Adam’s Rib)

Lina Lamont (Singin’ in the Rain)

62. Lily Tomlin

Key Role(s): Violet Newstead (9 to 5)

Rhonda Johnson (A Prairie Home Companion)

61. Allison Janney

Key Role(s): Ms. Perky (10 Things I Hate About You)

Loretta (Drop Dead Gorgeous)

Sally Lester (The Hours)

Peach (Finding Nemo)

Bren MacGuff (Juno)

100 favorite film actresses: #80-#71

80. Margo Martindale

Key Role(s): Millie (The Rocketeer)

Sister Colleen (Dead Man Walking)

Mrs. Latch (The Hours)

79. Doris Day

Key Role(s): Calamity Jane (Calamity Jane)

Josephine McKenna (The Man Who Knew Too Much)

Jan Morrow (Pillow Talk)

Cathy Timberlake (That Touch of Mink)

78. Susan Sarandon

Key Role(s): Janet Weiss (The Rocky Horror Picture Show)

Louise Sawyer (Thelma & Louise)

Sister Helen Prejean (Dead Man Walking)

77. Dana Ivey

Key Role(s): Margaret Alford (The Addams Family)

Miss Millie (The Color Purple)

76. Josephine Hull

Key Role(s): Abby Brewster (Arsenic and Old Lace)

Veta Louise Simmons (Harvey)

75. Laura Dern

Key Role(s): Dr. Ellie Sattler (Jurassic Park)

Ruth Stoops (Citizen Ruth)

74. Alice Drummond

Key Role(s): Librarian (Ghostbusters)

Lucy (Awakenings)

Clara (To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything…)

Sister Veronica (Doubt)

73. Juliet Stevenson

Key Role(s): Paula Paxton (Bend it Like Beckham)

Mrs. Squeers (Nicholas Nickleby)

Evie (Being Julia)

72. Donna Reed

Key Role(s): Mary Hatch Bailey (It’s a Wonderful Life)

71. Samantha Morton

Key Role(s): Hattie (Sweet and Lowdown)

Agatha (Minority Report)

Sarah (In America)

Olivia Pitterson (The Messenger)

**Editor’s Note: The “key role” choices are based on films that I have in fact seen. I apologize for the sheer disappointment, for example, of leaving off Wild at Heart and Rambling Rose from the Laura Dern list, but alas, I haven’t seen either. Just imagine how much higher she’d be on the list if I had seen them!

100 favorite film actresses: #90-#81

90. Reese Witherspoon

Key Role(s): Tracy Flick (Election)

June Carter (Walk the Line)

Elle Woods (Legally Blonde)

89. Tippi Hedren

Key Role(s): Melanie Daniels (The Birds)

Marnie Edgar (Marnie)

88. Amy Sedaris

Key Role(s): Jerri Blank (Strangers with Candy)

87. Amy Adams

Key Role(s): Ashley Johnsten (Junebug)

Giselle (Enchanted)

86. Kathleen Turner

Key Role(s): Joan Wilder (Romancing the Stone)

Jessica Rabbit (Who Framed Roger Rabbit?)

85. Eileen Brennan

Key Role(s): Mrs. Peacock (Clue)

Capt. Doreen Lewis (Private Benjamin)

84. Naomi Watts

Key Role(s): Ann Darrow (King Kong)

Anna (Eastern Promises)

83. Liza Minnelli

Key Role(s): Sally Bowles (Cabaret)

82. Debra Winger

Key Role(s): Emma Horton (Terms of Endearment)

Abby (Rachel Getting Married)

81. Anne Hathaway

Key Role(s): Kym (Rachel Getting Married)

Lureen Newsome (Brokeback Mountain)

100 favorite film actresses: #100-#91

All right people… a major project will now be underway here on the blog. It’s time to pay tribute to my all-time favorite ladies of filmdom. We’ll go ahead and start with Nos. 100 thru 91. For your consideration for greatness in movies, here are the ladies…

100. Judy Holliday

Key Role(s): Emma “Billie” Dawn (Born Yesterday)

99. Julia Roberts

Key Role(s): Erin Brockovich (Erin Brockovich)

Vivian Ward (Pretty Woman)

Anna Scott (Notting Hill)

98. Lisa Kudrow

Key Role(s): Lucia DeLury (The Opposite of Sex)

Mamie (Happy Endings)

97. Stockard Channing

Key Role(s): Carol Ann (To Wong Foo, Thanks for…)

Sister Husband (Where the Heart Is)

96. Helena Bonham Carter

Key Role(s): Mrs. Lovett (Sweeney Todd)

Marla Singer (Fight Club)

95. Vera Farmiga

Key Role(s): Madolyn (The Departed)

Alex Goran (Up in the Air)

94. Anne Baxter

Key Role(s): Eve Harrington (All About Eve)

93. Grace Kelly

Key Role(s): Lisa Carol Fremont (Rear Window)

92. Rachel Weisz

Key Role(s): Tessa Quayle (The Constant Gardener)

Evelyn Carnahan (The Mummy)

91. Meg Ryan

Key Role(s): Kathleen Kelly (You’ve Got Mail)

Annie Reed (Sleepless in Seattle)