Greatest Female Acting Performance in a Film?

Susan Hayward in Valley of the Dolls.

Hard Choices.

The iconic performances were Leigh's, Landsbury's and Bancroft's?

Maggie Smith in The Prime iof Miss Jean Brodie

God forbid OP ever watch a non-English language movie.

^ Fun at parties.

R6 if you call the staff break room at HomeGoods in Tuscaloosa, Alabama a "party".

R5 Foreign, I would add:

Maggie Cheun in In the Mood for Love

Stephane Audran in Babette's Feast AND The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie

Delphine Seyrig in Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

Stefania Sandrelli in The Conformist

And just for fun, the great Rosemary Harris in Sunshine

R8, take your snide and conserve it to substitute for the love, affection and sex you plainly need.

Charlotte Rampling in The Damned, too

Snide is an adjective, dear.

I’m sure most posters here will choose a performance they saw in the movie’s initial release during their formative years, which is why it’s shameful that you left out Lillian Gish in Broken Blossoms.

Curse you, OP !!!

Falconetti in The Passion of Joan of Arc

Arletty in Les Enfants du Paradis

Setsuko Hara in Late Spring

Some more foreign candidates—

Giulietta Masina in "Nights of Cabiria"

Isabelle Huppert in "The Piano Teacher"

Ingrid Thulin, Harriet Andersson and Liv Ullmann in "Cries and Whispers"

On DataLounge, a list of greatest female performances has to include the aforementioned Maggie Smith and Glenn Close, plus Jill Clayburgh (An Unmarried Woman).

And Buck would never have left out Mary Tyler Moore in Ordinary People.

Isabelle Adjani in "The Story of Adele H."

Hattie McDaniel, "Gone With The Wind."

^ Isabelle Adjani - "The Story of Adele H" Danielle Darrieux - "The Earrings of Madame de" Betty Davis - "All About Eve" Glenda Jackson - "Women in Love" Liv Ullman - "Shame" Gena Rowlands - "Gloria"

Maggie Smith as Professor McGonagall in the Harry Potter Series

#OMG #Class #British #Books #Learning #BookLover #Class #HighBrow #Sophisticated #LOVE

I'm surprised Holly Hunter in The Piano hasn't had any votes

Kate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine) so overrated; Gena Rowlands so overdone; Holly Hunter so one-note

[Quote]I'm surprised Holly Hunter in The Piano hasn't had any votes

I'm not. She was so one-note.

Vivien Leigh in "A Streetcar Named Desire".

Everyone’s avoiding the obvious choice

Angela chewed scenery.

MTM might be the best.

I don't know if I would call these the greatest, but they certainly left an impression.

Katherine Hepburn in "The African Queen"

Lauren Bacall in "To Have and Have Not"

Marilyn Monroe in "Some Like it Hot"

Barbara Stanwick in "Double Indemnity"

Elizabeth Taylor in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"

Judy Garland in "The Wizard of Oz"

Harriet Andersson in Through a Glass Darkly

Ingrid Thulin in Winter’s Light

Liv Ullmann in Autumn Sonata and Face to Face

Monica Vitti in L’Avventura

Deborah Kerr in The Innocents

Moira Shearer in The Red Shoes

Setsuko Hara in Late Spring

Catherine Deneuve in Peau D’âne and Belle de Jour

Anna Karina in Pierrot le Fou

Barbara Stanwyck in The Lady Eve

Rita Hayworth in Gilda

Katherine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby and The Lion in Winter

R22- I prefer Kim Hunter as Zira in The Planet Of The Apes (1968)

Maria Falconetti in The Passion of the Joan of Arc — the greatest female performance in cinematic history.

"You can't save French Toast."

I’m also partial to

Linda Florentino in The Last Seduction

Sigourney Weaver in Aliens

Olivia Colman in Tyrannosaur

^^* Fiorentino

Maggie Smith/Anne Bancroft THE PUMPKIN EATER/1964

Yootha Joyce/Anne Bancroft THE PUMPKIN EATER/1964

Glenda Jackson MARAT/SADE 1968

Regina Linnanheimo, the Bette Davis of Finland! This is from the classic "blind woman who's cured and discovers her husband is fooling around around with her sister but she doesn't let on that she's cured and gets her revenge" story.

Divine in Female Trouble

Anna Magnani, she's an ancient Roman mask come come to life.