Top 50 Actresses Project: Overview

By the end of my last project (Sci Fi Top 100), I found myself extremely annoyed by the genre’s lack of important female characters. I thought to myself, “For my next project, it sure would be nice to watch a bunch of movies with strong female leads.” So I started hunting for a list of such movies. Unfortunately, I found that, on most of these lists, the main female character was either the romantic interest or the villain, which isn't exactly what I have in mind when I think "strong female lead." Super frustrating.

Still, I persisted, and in the end, I decided to go with a Top 50 Actresses list. I culled this list from AMC. They provided the list of actresses, but I’m the one who chose the movie to watch for each actress. Therefore, while I still ran up against the “most female lead characters are romantic interests” problem, I was able to include quite a few movies where this was not the case. Since this list is voted on by the public, it appears that it can change over time. To avoid confusion, below I’m posting the list as it stood when I copied it down, along with the movies I chose.

A few notes about this project:

My main concern was that I wanted to make sure none of these films were movies that I previously reviewed, an issue I ran up against during both the AFI Top 100 and the Sci Fi Top 100.

So my general rule was that, if the actress won a Best Actress (not Best Supporting) Academy Award for a role, that is the movie I chose to review unless I previously reviewed it. If she won more than one, I chose which of those movies to review based on personal preference.

If I already reviewed one or all of her Award-winning performances OR if she hasn’t won a Best Actress Academy Award, then I looked at her acting credits and chose one of her movies to review. My choices were largely based on IMDB ratings (typically I chose something in the 7s or higher), coupled with my interest in the film based on its description. I avoided movies from the 1970s as much as possible. I've discovered that I'm not a big fan of 1970s film making.

Very occasionally, I have vetoed an Award-winning film simply because I don’t want to watch it. After watching lots of films I had little to no interest in, I wanted to give myself a little leeway. Also, the list is subject to change. Some of these films are surprisingly difficult to get one’s hands on, despite the fact that I have access to an astounding number of ways to see films.

Since the focus of this project is more on performances rather than the films themselves, I’ll include a section about that with each review. Additionally, where applicable, I will provide links to other movies of that performer's that I’ve reviewed.

As usual, I will watch the list from the bottom up, beginning with #50 and making my way to #1. At the end of the project, I will provide a master list of reviews & some final thoughts. Here is the list of Top 50 Actresses:

1. Bette Davis - Jezebel
2. Barbra Streisand - Funny Girl
3. Ingrid Bergman - Gaslight
4. Olivia de Havilland - The Heiress
5. Audrey Hepburn - Roman Holiday
6. Jane Fonda - Klute
7. Barbara Stanwyck - Ball of Fire
8. Deborah Kerr - The King and I
9. Vivien Leigh - Waterloo Bridge
10. Claudette Colbert - Since You Went Away
11. Greta Garbo - Ninotchka
12. Jean Arthur - The Devil and Miss Jones
13. Katharine Hepburn - The Lion in Winter
14. Kate Winslet - The Reader
15. Susan Hayward - I Want to Live!
16. Elizabeth Taylor - Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
17. Judi Dench - Philomena
18. Marlene Dietrich - Witness for the Prosecution
19. Cate Blanchett - Blue Jasmine
20. Shirley MacLaine - Being There
21. Julie Andrews - Mary Poppins
22. Lauren Bacall - To Have and Have Not
23. Sophia Loren - Two Women
24. Judy Garland - A Star Is Born
25. Carole Lombard - To Be or Not to Be
26. Joan Fontaine - Suspicion
27. Joan Crawford - Mildred Pierce
28. Meryl Streep - Sophie’s Choice
29. Myrna Loy - The Thin Man
30. Rita Hayworth - Gilda
31. Maureen O’Hara - The Quiet Man
32. Mary Pickford - Coquette
33. Nicole Kidman - The Hours
34. Jean Harlow - The Public Enemy
35. Natalie Portman - Black Swan
36. Natalie Wood - Splendor in the Grass
37. Mae West - I’m No Angel
38. Diane Keaton - Reds
39. Doris Day - Pillow Talk
40. Jodie Foster - Inside Man
41. Ginger Rogers - Kitty Foyle
42. Ava Gardner - The Killers
43. Grace Kelly - The Country Girl
44. Marilyn Monroe - The Misfits
45. Sally Field - Norma Rae
46. Reese Witherspoon - Walk the Line
47. Halle Berry - Monster’s Ball
48. Angelina Jolie - Changeling
49. Sandra Bullock - The Blind Side
50. Julia Roberts - Erin Brockovich