take a bow

recently in "the times", english director ken russell adumbrated a list of actresses whose personalities or performances have wowed him. unfortunately his list includes glenda jackson, so it's daft. nevermind. here are some of my favourites:

garbo in "camille" (no one photographed so well).
paulette godard in "modern times" (gorgeous).
louise brooks in "diary of a lost girl" (love the bob).
catherine zeta-jones in "chicago" (again, the jazz-age bob).
diana lynn in "the miracle of morgan's creek" (sassy).
myrna loy in "the thin man" (for the way she drinks martinis).
angela lansbury in "gaslight" (a wonderfully vile cockney upstart).
elizabeth taylor in "who's afraid of virginia woolf?" (bravura performance).
miranda richardson in "dance with a stranger" (terrific character acting).
christina ricci in "the opposite of sex" (funny).
barbara bel geddes in "vertigo" (the best thing in it).
judith anderson in "rebecca" (creepy).
bette davis in "all about eve" (the best melodramatist of them all).
jean arthur in "a foreign affair" (hilarious when painting her face).
ella raines in "the strange affair of uncle harry" (looks great in a suit).
jean seberg in "breathless" (très cool).
katherine hepburn in "stage door" (especially when making fun of her bryn mawr backgroud).
grace kelly in "to catch a thief" (glamorama).
barbara stanwyck in "the lady eve" (always 3 steps ahead of henry fonda).
geraldine page in "interiors" (frosty good taste).
kirsten dunst in "bring it on" (for that deranged perkiness).
the entire cast of "the women".

that's all i can think of off the top of my head. i'm sure there are others.

ps. also the boiler-suited unionist in "the man in the white suit" who tells alec guinness "tea break—we fought for it!"