Definitely on my top-five list.
I just want to honorable mention Holly Hunter in The Piano. Not one line was spoken.
Henry Fonda in Once Upon A Time In The West.
Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov - Spartacus
Angela Lansbury - The Manchurian Candidate
Anthony Perkins - Psycho
Jack Lemmon - Glengarry Glen Ross
Hillary Swank - Boys Don’t Cry
Vanilla Ice - Cool As Ice
NOTE: One of the above is a joke
Steve Buscemi - Fargo
William H. Macy - Fargo
Peter Sarsgaard - Shattered Glass
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Owning Mahowney
Jack Nicholson - One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Anthony Hopkins - Silence of the Lambs
Thank you, everyone, for the great suggestions. I want to especially thank Eve and **Ilsa-Lund ** for making sure that the Silent Era was not forgotten (Has America ever had an actress greater than Lillian Gish??).
But in hindsight I realize that my question was too broad (I am still a newbie on these message boards). In fact I was thinking of NON-starring roles. It is easy to pick out great starring performances like George C. Scott in Patton, Marlon Brando in The Godfather, and Anthony Perkins in Psycho. But I am looking for those dazzling small roles - where a bit-player or character actor basically hijacks the film.
With that in mind we can see that Dooku offered three fine suggestions:
Charles Laughton in Spartacus (1960)
Peter Ustinov in Spartacus (1960)
Angela Lansbury in *The Manchurian Candidate * (1962)
I would like to offer four more of my own:
Myrna Loy (as Fu’s kinky daughter) in *The Mask of Fu Manchu * (1932)
Ernest Thesiger (as Dr. Praetorious) in *The Bride of Frankenstein * (1935)
Walter Huston (as the Devil) in *All That Money Can * Buy (a.k.a. The Devil and Daniel Webster - 1941)
Sterling Hayden (as the crazed Jack D. Ripper) in *Dr. Strangelove * (1964)
Respectfully,
Houston and Edward Arnold were the stars of the movie, and Houston got an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.
I haven’t seen the movie in question, but as far as the Academy is concerned the distinction between a lead vs. supporting role is pretty ill-defined, if it exists.
Jose Ferrer in "The Caine Mutiny"
He appears in the last 30 minutes of the film and his performance is rivetting.
Al Pacino in the first two Godfather movies. Masterful descent from law-abiding patriot to cold-blooded killer.
Toshiro Mifune in Heaven and Hell
I would have nominated Joseph Cotten for Citizen Kane and equally for the Third Man. Maybe he just worked well with Welles.
And despite my approval of George Sanders, I think it was more the roles than his performance that were great (Addison de Witt not withstanding).
Eve, I agree that one choice is so difficult with different times and tastes.
Overall though, I have to go for Welles in Citizen Kane. If I could sneak a second it would be Zasu Pitts for Greed.
This is totally objective and it’s impossible to crown one “king performance” but I’m just going to name a few that I have really enjoyed over the years:
-Really everyone in Citizen Kane, but especially Everett Sloane, Dorothy Comingale, and Orson Welles
-Gary Oldman in Immortal Beloved
-Everyone in Glengarry Glenross, especially Jack Lemmon
-The movie was nothing really out of the ordinary, but Ben Kingsley’s performance in House of Sand and Fog was incredible in my opinion
-Stellaaaaaa!
-Jack Nicholson as RP McMurphy
-Keanu Reeves in The Matrix
Paul Scofield in A Man for All Seasons.
Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire
Vivien Leigh in Gone With the Wind
Lawrence Olivier in The Marathon Man
Billy Bob Thornton in The Man Who Wasn’t There
Sissy Spacek in Coal Miner’s Daughter
Dustin Hoffman in Kramer v. Kramer
Ellyn Burnstyn in Requiem for a Dream
Jane Wyman in Johnny Belinda (1948). She won the Best Actress Oscar, playing a deaf, mute girl and never uttering a word throughout the entire film. Now that’s acting!
It’s surprising how overwhelmingly we have chosen dramatic performances over comedic. Yet, you hear actors say again and again that great comedy is harder than drama.
Interestingly, Woody Allen disgarees with that cliché. He says that he’s done comedy and he’s done drama, and drama is harder.
OK then, how about **Eddie Murphy ** in The Nutty Professor? He created a number of distinct human beings, and the main character had moments of true heart.
They’re wrong. Not everyone who can act well can make people laugh, but not everyone who can make people laugh is a great actor. De Niro is a great actor, but anyone who ever suffered through Analyse That knows how erratic his comedic skills can be. Billy Connolly, on the other hand, is one of the funniest men ever to live - but with rare exceptions he’s only a competent actor. The gifts are separate.
Bugger - forgot to add:
The reason actors are mistaken in this regard is because they don’t see this; they only know that they’re good at one but not so good at the other (even if they’re wrong - like Jim Carrey, who is a poor comedian but a good actor).
I don’t about the greatest performances ever but maybe in a career.
Liam Neeson tore my heart out in Schindler’s List
Robert Duvall was outstanding as Gus in Lonesome Dove
and in The Searchers the Duke was great.
there are plenty of others and y’alls list so far is terrific.
I’ve got to add Mel Gibson in Braveheart though. He made me laugh and cry, made the hair stand up on my arms. I would’ve fought right there with him…some of my ancestors did.
Maybe these aren’t exactly up to y’alls standards but I know I can watch these movies over and over again and they are still good. 