MovieChat Forums > La Môme (2007) Discussion > The Top 100 performances of all time

The Top 100 performances of all time

posted 16 years ago by dinasztie13
141 replies | jump to latest

I just want to know what's your opinion about this topic. Marion is #5 on my list I think she absolutely deserved the Oscar. She was so heartbreaking and extraordinary. I didn't see Marion Cotillard. I saw Edith Piaf herself. It was a really difficult role but she gave her best. And she won a very-well-deserved Oscar. This is one of those wins that keep me believing in the Academy's choice, even after the win of The English Patient, Gwyneth Paltrow (it's a nearly endless list).

So here are my favorite 100 performances:
1. Meryl Streep as Sophie Zawitowska in Sophie’s Choice
2. Robert De Niro as Jake La Motta in Raging Bull
3. Marlon Brando as Terry Maloy in On the Waterfront
4. Dustin Hoffman as Enrico ‘Ratso’ Rizzo in Midnight Cowboy
5. Marion Cotillard as Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose
6. Ingrid Bergman as Charlotte Andergast in Autumn Sonata
7. Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone in The Godfather
8. Al Pacino as Sonny in Dog Day Afternoon
9. Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski in The Streetcar Named Desire
10 Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard
11. Dustin Hoffman as Raymond Babbit in Rain Man
12. Diane Keaton as Annie Hall in Annie Hall
13. Jack Nicholson as R. P. MacMurphy in One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest
14. Jane Fonda as Bree Daniels in Klute
15. Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver
16. Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance in The Shining
17. Dustin Hoffman as Dorothy Michaels/Michael Dorsey in Tootsie
18. Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs
19. Gena Rowlands as Mabel Longhetti in A Woman under Influence
20. Jack Nicholson as Jake Gittes in Chinatown
21. Jack Lemmon as Jerry/Daphne in Some Like It Hot
22. Bette Davis as Baby Jane Hudson in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane
23. Kevin Spacey as Lester Burnham in American Beauty
24. Faye Dunaway as Evelyn Cross Mulwray in Chinatown
25. Bette Davis as Margo Channing in All about Eve
26. Cate Blanchett as Queen Elizabeth I in Elizabeth
27. Julie Christie as Fiona Anderson in Away from Her
28. Katharine Hepburn as Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in the Winter
29. Samuel L. Jackson as Jules in Pulp Fiction
30. Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank in Truman Show
31. John Travolta as Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction
32. Christopher Walken as Nick Chevatorevich in The Deer Hunter
33. Thomas Haden Church as Jack in Sideways
34. Anne Bancroft as Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker
35. Dustin Hoffman as Benjamin Braddock in The Graduate
36. Imelda Staunton as Vera Drake in Vera Drake
37. Jack Nicholson as Melvin Udall in As Good as It Gets
38. Geoffrey Rush as David Helfgott in Shine
39. Liv Ullman as Elisabeth Vogler in Persona
40. Sean Penn as Matthew Pancelet in Dead Man Walking
41. Elisabeth Shue as Sera in Leaving Las Vegas
42. Frances McDormand as Marge Gundelson in Fargo
43. Kate Winslet as Clementine in Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind
44. Marcello Mastroianni as Guido Anselmi in 8½
45. Peter Sellers as Dr Strangelove in Dr Strangelove
46. Elizabeth Taylor as Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
47. Paul Giamatti as Miles in Sideways
48. Richard Burton as George in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
49. Dustin Hoffman as Ted Kramer in Kramer vs. Kramer
50. Faye Dunaway as Bonnie Parker in Bonnie and Clyde
51. Audrey Hepburn as Princess Ann in Roman Holiday
52. Ingrid Bergman as Paula Alquist Anton in Gaslight
53. Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine in Casablanca
54. James Stewart as George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life
55. Giulietta Masina as Cabiria in The Nights of Cabiria
56. Malcolm McDowell as Alex in A Clockwork Orange
57. Virginia Madsen as Maya in Sideways
58. Philip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote in Capote
59. Elizabeth Taylor as Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
60. Woody Allen as Alvy Singer in Annie Hall
61. Gene Hackman as Popeye Doyle in The French Connection
62. Nicole Kidman as Virginia Woolf in The Hours
63. Helen Mirren as Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen
64. Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch in To Kill the Mockingbird
65. Anne Bancroft as Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate
66. Peter Finch as Howard Beale in Network
67. Peter O’ Toole as King Henry II in The Lion in the Winter
68. Johnny Depp as Edward in Edward Scissorhands
69. Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump in Forrest Gump
70. Giulietta Masina as Gelsomina in La Strada
71. Meryl Streep as Karen Blixen in Out of Africa
72. Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goeth in Schindler’s List
73. Emma Thompson as Margaret J. Schlegel in Howard’s End
74. Helen Mirren as Mrs. Wilson in Gosford Park
75. Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes in Misery
76. Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow in The Pirates of Carribean
77. Samantha Morton as Hattie in Sweet and Lowdown
78. Diane Wiest as Holly in Hannah and her Sisters
79. Linda Blair as Regan Theresa MacNeil in The Exorcist
80. Louise Fletcher as Nurse Ratched in One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest
81. Uma Thurman as Mia Wallace in Pulp Fiction
82. Anouk Amiée as Anne Gauthier in A Man and a Woman
83. Liza Minelli as Sally Bowles in Cabaret
84. Paul Scofield as Sir Thomas Moore in A Man for all Seasons
85. Faye Dunaway as Diana Christensen in Network
86. Robert De Niro as Michael in The Deer Hunter
87. F. Murray Abraham as Salieri in Amadeus
89. Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in The Godfather part II
90. Adrien Brody as Wladislaw Szpilman in The Pianist
91. Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa Lund in Casablanca
92. Brenda Blethyn as Cynthia Rose Purley in Secrets and Lies
93. Julie Walters as Susan/Rita in Educating Rita
94. Valentina Cortese as Séverine in Day For Night
95. Paul Newman as Brick Pollitt in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
96. Ernest Borgnine as Marty Piletti in Marty
97. Walter Matthau as Willie Gingrich in The Fortune Cookie
98. Jon Voight as Joe Buck in Midnight Cowboy
99. Marlene Dietrich as Christine Helm Vole in Witness for Prosecution
100. Michael Caine as Dr Frank Bryant in Educating Rita

[–] heberald26 16 years ago

dinasztie13

Bravo! Great job, what a list!

[–] cntrmsztkjpnsk 16 years ago

... would I add

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] cntrmsztkjpnsk 16 years ago

I just thought about her as iTunes plays Zbigniew Preisner.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] I_Created_U 7 years ago

Nice list indeed, but it suffers from a serious lack of diversity!

How about Denzel Washington in Malcolm-X or Min-sik Choi in Oldboy?

People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs

[–] heberald26 16 years ago

I think dinasztie13 was limiting the list to theatrical film performances, Sybil was a TV movie. If you're going to include TV performances YOU HAVE to include Cicely Tyson in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman.

dinasztie13, back to the list I didn't see Vivien Leigh in Streetcar Name Desire?

[–] Prom_Queen_Carrie 16 years ago

It's not complete without Charlize Theron in Monster. One of the best performances I've ever seen. It was NOT just makeup.

[–] dinasztie13 16 years ago

It may be one of the best performances, but I haven't seen that film.:)

[–] ttdragster14 16 years ago

THat's shocking. Our lists are almost identical, maybe 10 differences tops, and of course the rankings are a little bit different. I don't know that I'd put Cotillard so high up on the list. And the one big oversight I saw- Liv Ullmann- Scenes from a Marriage. And I also think if Ingrid Bergman for Autumn Sonata then Liv Ullmann for Autumn Sonata, as well.

All in all, though, a great, great list.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] Prom_Queen_Carrie 16 years ago

yeah I would also put Sissy in Carrie and Shelley Duvall in 3 Women.

[–] mmb1998 15 years ago

Judy Garland in Judgment at Nuremberg was one of the best performances I've seen.

[–] gargleglop 13 years ago

My only complaint is no Daniel-Day Lewis. I don't see any way that you could leave his performances in My Left Foot and There Will Be Blood could be left off. Those are top 20 in my opinion, but they definitely deserve top 100 on a list like this.

[–] rrb 13 years ago

In complete agreement about Day-Lewis. I read only the OP and the last post, so forgive me if the following has been said.

What I liked the most about the OP’s list:
• Streep’s Sophie as #1
• Pacino’s Sonny
• Faye Dunaway in Chinatown
• Valentina Cortese in Day for Night

Unfathomable omissions
• Vivien Leigh’s Blanche
• Laurence Olivier’s (I’d say Heathcliff or Hamlet, but you can fill in the blank)
• O’Toole’s Lawrence
• Gene Hackman’s (I’d say Popeye Doyle, but again, you pick)
• Jane Fonda’s Gloria in They Shoot Horses
• Bette Davis’ Julie in Jezebel
• Heath Ledger’s Ennis in Brokeback
• Signoret in Room at the Top
• Anjelica Huston’s Lily in The Grifters
• George C. Scott’s Patton
• James Cagney’s Cody in White Heat
• Vanessa Redgrave in Howard’s End and Julia
• Maggie Smith’s Jean Brodie and Judith Hearne
• Katherine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby

I’m sure there are more, but I’ll think about that tomorrow…

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[–] ekentb 16 years ago

COMPLETELY agree with you. Roger Ebert even said that it was one of the greatest perfomances ever on the silver screen. I never tire of that performance.

No, no..."cruelty." I always think that has a nobler ring to it.

[–] Prom_Queen_Carrie 16 years ago

here is my list:

female:

1. Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs
2. Charlize Theron in Monster
3. Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice
4. Emily Watson in Breaking the Waves
5. Hilary Swank in Boys Don't Cry
6. Vivien Leigh in A Streetcar Named Desire
7. Sissy Spacek in Carrie
8. Faye Dunaway in Chinatown
9. Shelley Duvall in 3 Women
10. Frances McDormand in Fargo

male:

1. Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire
2. Robert De Niro in Raging Bull
3. Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs
4. Dustin Hoffman in Midnight Cowboy
5. Al Pacino in The Godfather Part 2
6. Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver
7. Marlon Brando in On The Waterfront
8. Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cukoos Nest
9. Gregory Peck in To Kill A Mockingbird
10. Nicholas Cage in Leaving Las Vegas

[–] glckl-1 16 years ago

Just a few I'd add:

Nicole Kidman in The Others.
Meryl Streep in Evil Angels.
Meryl Streep in Ironweed.
Naomi Watts in 21 Grams.
Maria Falconetti in La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc.
Ellen Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream .
Whoopi Goldberg in The Color Purple.
Dianne Wiest in Bullets Over Broadway.
Reese Witherspoon in Election.
Angelina Jolie in Girl, Interrupted.
Salma Hayek in Frida.
Felicity Huffman in Transamerica.
Toni Collette in The Sixth Sense.

Great list though!! =D

[–] Carl-Alfie 16 years ago

Hilary Swank in Million Dollar Baby
Julia Roberts in Erin Brokovich
Catherine Zeta Jones in Chicago

Just a few that sprang to mind that I didn't see on the post so far!!
And I agree completely with the post about Charlize Theron in Monster, absolutely amazing, brilliant performance!!

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[–] tlcarpenter 16 years ago

I LOVE this thread....

Here are some perfomances I feel should be added to the list

Kim Stanley Seance on a Wet Afternoon
Faye Dunaway Puzzle of a Downfall Child
Vivien Leigh Gone With the Wind
Geraldine Page Trip to Bountiful
Sandy Dennis Come Back to the Five & Dime Jimmy Dean Jimmy Dean
Susan Tyrrell Fat City
Paula Prentiss Last of the Red Hot Lovers
Glenda Jackson Stevie
Sigourney Weaver Map of the World
Ellen Burstyn Resurrection

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] THESTARCHILD_90 16 years ago

The best performance of all time in my opinion is Maria Falconetti in The Passion of Joan of Arc. How has no one mentioned that? Honestly!

Back to the comment including tv movies...

Meryl Streep in Angels in America
Angelina Jolie in Gia
Helen Mirren in Elizabeth I
Uma Thurman in Hysterical Blindness
Rachael Stirling in Tipping the Velvet
Anne-Marie Duff in The Virgin Queen

for theatrically featured films...

Marion Cotillard in La Vie en Rose
Charlize Theron in Monster

[–] glckl-1 16 years ago

I mentioned Maria Falconetti!

And I agree...I feel like no one has seen her outstanding performance!

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] THESTARCHILD_90 16 years ago

glckl-1...I'm glad you agree with me on Maria Falconetti.

troy-32...if that performance is what you were referring to, I definitely reccomend watching it again!

[–] volstork 16 years ago

Diving back into the classics, I would add:

Judy Holiday in Born Yesterday

Clark Gable in It Happened one Night

Claudette Colbert in It Happened One Night

Rosalind Russell in The Women

Bette Davis in All About Eve

Jimmy Stewart in Anatomy of a Murder

Cary Grant in The Philadelphia Story

[–] initechemployee 15 years ago

The entire thread is great. Nobody will get a top 100 that is perfect with anybody, but among all the great suggestions, I think it proves that there is no way you could put a list down to just 100 performances. A few that I didn't see in any of the suggestions on the thread...

- Charlie Chaplin as A Tramp in City Lights
- Jack Nicholson as David Locke in The Passenger (one of the few great Nicholson performances not mentioned)
- Willem Dafoe as Max Schreck in Shadow of the Vampire
- Ian McKellen as James Whale in Gods and Monsters, as well as Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings trilogy

[–] www-mitchell51 14 years ago

great list but i dont agree completely your missing a lot of people

especially angelina jolie in girl interrupted it annoys me when most people think she's just some tabloid star. her performance in this film is electric she makes!! the film. you cant help but look at her !!

also charlize theron in monster
sean penn in milk
hilary swank in boys dont cry
angelina again in changeling
cate blanchett in the aviator
and heath ledger in the dark knight !!
jennifer connelly in a beautiful mind
angelina again in gia
and you forgot DANIEL DAY LEWIS
in my left foot gangs of new york and there will be blood !
and so many more actually when i think of it i really dont agree with your list

[–] bethwilliam 12 years ago

Don't forget -

1. Heath Ledger as The Joker
2. Anthony Hopkins as Dr Hannibal Lecter
3. Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler
4. Ralph Fiennes in Schindlers List (Amon Goeth)
5. Helen Mirren as The Queen.

[–] bella_maria11 16 years ago

I really like your list, mine would've looked something like that exept my top number one is no other than Björk for Dancer in the Dark. She just takes acting on to a completly different level.

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[–] jake-414 16 years ago

what about Ellen Burstyn for Requiem for A Dream
or Martin Sheen for Apocalypse Now

" If it looks like a duck and sounds like a duck, it may be a terrorist. Either way shoot it"

[–] drama_king_18 15 years ago

I totally agree that Bjork deserves to be on that list...top 5. Ellen Burstyn for Requiem for a Dream most definitely in top 5. Emily Watson in Breaking the Waves was also incredible.
How about Ellen Page in Hard Candy...her best film in my opinion.

Let the world change you and you can change the world.

[–] drama_king_18 16 years ago

Top 5 Female Performances:
1: Ellen Burstyn...Requiem For A Dream
2: Charlize Theron...Monster
3: Marion Cotillard...La Vie En Rose
4: Kate Winslet...anything
5: Kathy Bates...Misery

Top 5 Male Performances:
1: Gael Garcia Bernal...anything
2: Djimon Hounsou...Blood Diamond
3: Malcolm McDowell...A Clockwork Orange
4: Javier Bardem...No Country For Old Men
5: Phillip Seymour Hoffman...Capote

Let the world change you and you can change the world.

[–] THESTARCHILD_90 16 years ago

I love Gael Garcia Bernal; especially in Bad Education. He is a phenomenal actor!

[–] RangerDanger75 16 years ago

No love for Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview,Christy Brown or Bill the Butcher?

[–] weji 16 years ago

UH HELLLOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! no one mentioned Elizabeth Taylor in Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?. that was like the best performances by an actress ever, well not ever, but she was very very good! i thought it was very strange no one mentioned her.

WARNING: I'M SEXY!

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] EskimoTshrtSales 16 years ago

Why not Plainview? Are you one of those people who thinks he was immitating John Huston? I personally think that's absurd, I would certainly include that particular performance on any list of the greatest of all time.

[–] keane_keane_keane 16 years ago

I don't see any Daniel Day-Lewis on there, so it's an incomplete list. Com'on, There Will Be Blood alone should be in the top twenty at worst. Not to mention My Left Foot or In the Name of the Father. My favorite actor of all time, and in my opinion the greatest actor of cinema. He deserves a little credit. Also, I totally agree with a great deal of your list, Hopkins in Remains of the Day would have been included, as well. But, I just had the honor of watching La Vie en Rose today, and was spellbound. I was sad that Ellen Page didn't win the oscar, but now I'm positive it was deserved, she broke my heart on screen. Simply brilliant and seemingly effortless.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] julane 16 years ago

Great thread! To add to the list, I think I will never recover from Gena Rowlands's performance in A Woman Under the Influence... And what about Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca or The African Queen? Peter O'Toole in The Ruling Class? There are just too many to mention when you really start thinking about it...

[–] alwaysthehours666 16 years ago

NO Linda Blair PLEASE!!!!I just saw The Exorcist and i swear to god i'll never watch it again!!!!

What about Nicole Kidman in To Die For?