Top Ten Favorite Lead Actress Performances

by wowbobwow | created - 07 Oct 2010 | updated - 07 Oct 2010 | Public
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1. The Lion in Winter (1968)

PG | 134 min | Biography, Drama, History

1183 A.D.: King Henry II's three sons all want to inherit the throne, but he won't commit to a choice. When he allows his imprisoned wife Eleanor of Aquitaine out for a Christmas visit, they all variously plot to force him into a decision.

Director: Anthony Harvey | Stars: Peter O'Toole, Katharine Hepburn, Anthony Hopkins, John Castle

Votes: 34,229 | Gross: $22.28M

Katherine Hepburn as Elanor of Aquitaine

2. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

Not Rated | 131 min | Drama

75 Metascore

A bitter, aging couple, with the help of alcohol, use their young houseguests to fuel anguish and emotional pain towards each other over the course of a distressing night.

Director: Mike Nichols | Stars: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal, Sandy Dennis

Votes: 79,936

Elizabeth Taylor as Martha

3. Stella Dallas (1937)

Approved | 106 min | Drama, Romance

A working-class woman is willing to do whatever it takes to give her daughter a socially promising future.

Director: King Vidor | Stars: Barbara Stanwyck, John Boles, Anne Shirley, Barbara O'Neil

Votes: 6,278 | Gross: $2.00M

Barbara Stanwyck as Stella Dallas

4. The Grifters (1990)

R | 110 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

86 Metascore

A small-time conman has torn loyalties between his estranged mother and new girlfriend, both of whom are high-stakes grifters with their own angles to play.

Director: Stephen Frears | Stars: Anjelica Huston, John Cusack, Annette Bening, Jan Munroe

Votes: 30,560 | Gross: $13.45M

Anjelica Houston as Lilly Dillon

5. Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957)

Approved | 107 min | Adventure, Drama, War

During World War II, an American marine and an Irish nun form an unlikely friendship after being stranded on a South Pacific island. They find comfort in one another while hoping for a rescue, as they try to avoid capture by the Japanese.

Director: John Huston | Stars: Robert Mitchum, Deborah Kerr

Votes: 9,622

Deborah Kerr as Sister Angela

6. Thelma & Louise (1991)

R | 130 min | Adventure, Crime, Drama

89 Metascore

Two best friends set out on an adventure, but it soon turns around to a terrifying escape from being hunted by the police, as these two women escape for the crimes they committed.

Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis, Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen

Votes: 173,287 | Gross: $45.36M

Susan Sarandon as Louise Sawyer

7. Notes on a Scandal (2006)

R | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Romance

73 Metascore

A veteran high school teacher befriends a younger art teacher, who is having an affair with one of her fifteen-year-old students. However, her intentions with this new "friend" also go well beyond a platonic friendship.

Director: Richard Eyre | Stars: Cate Blanchett, Judi Dench, Andrew Simpson, Tom Georgeson

Votes: 84,603 | Gross: $17.51M

Judi Dench as Barbara Covett

8. Mulholland Drive (2001)

R | 147 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller

86 Metascore

After a car wreck on Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesiac, she and a Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.

Director: David Lynch | Stars: Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, Justin Theroux, Jeanne Bates

Votes: 384,016 | Gross: $7.22M

Naomi Watts as Betty Elms & Diane Selwyn

9. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

R | 118 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

86 Metascore

A young F.B.I. cadet must receive the help of an incarcerated and manipulative cannibal killer to help catch another serial killer, a madman who skins his victims.

Director: Jonathan Demme | Stars: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine

Votes: 1,548,914 | Gross: $130.74M

Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling

10. Far from Heaven (2002)

PG-13 | 107 min | Drama, Romance

84 Metascore

In 1950s Connecticut, a flustered housewife faces a marital crisis and mounting racial tensions in the outside world.

Director: Todd Haynes | Stars: Julianne Moore, Dennis Quaid, Dennis Haysbert, Patricia Clarkson

Votes: 49,324 | Gross: $15.85M

Julianne Moore as Cathy Whitaker



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