Ten Best Actresses of All Time Relay Race

Well I'm not usually a fan of these types of posts, and am quite content when my name gets skipped, but this one was too interesting to pass up.

Originally conceived by the genius Nostra of My Filmviews, and passed on to me by Andy of The Film Emporium, the concept of this blog-a-thon is as follows:

“I’ve created a list of what I think are the best actresses of all time. At the end of the post I, just like in a real relay race, hand over the baton to another blogger who will write his own post. This blogger will have to remove one actress (that is an obligation) and add his/her own choice and describe why he/she did this. At the end the blogger chooses another blogger to do the same. The idea is to make this a long race, so that enough bloggers get a chance to remove and add an actress. We will end up with a list (not ranked in order) which represents a common agreement of the best actresses. It will also mean that those who follow this relay race will get to know new blogs as well!”

Here is a list of the blogs that have participated thus far:

• My Filmviews [Original List]
• The Velvet Café [-Marilyn Monroe +Liv Ullmann]
• Martin Teller [-Natalie Portman +Barbara Stanwyck]
• The Movie Review Warehouse [-Tilda Swinton +Emma Thompson]
• Benefits of a Classical Education [-Julie Delpy +Viola Davis]
• Just Another Movie Blog [-Emma Thompson +Juliette Binoche]
• Film Actually [-Liv Ullmann +Judy Garland]
• Public Transportation Snob [-Frances McDormand +Ingrid Bergman]
• FlixChatter [-Judy Garland +Judi Dench]
• Defiant Success [-Viola Davis +Audrey Hepburn]
• And So It Begins… [-Judi Dench +Gena Rowlands]
• Southern Vision [-Kate Winslet +Isabelle Huppert]
• The Film Emporium [-Gena Rowlands +Kate Winslet]

And the current line-up:

Audrey Hepburn

Barbara Stanwyck

Cate Blanchett

Ingrid Bergman

Isabelle Huppert

Julianne Moore

Juliette Binoche

Kate Winslet

Katherine Hepburn

Meryl Streep

My Removal:

I actually think the list at this point is pretty solid so taking anyone out will be a very tough decision that will likely result in some backlash. But this is supposed to be a fun game after all, so I'm going to treat it like one since there really isn't any objective way to do it.

Therefore I've decided that the list has just too many Katherines (and its derivatives) for my liking and needs some wider first name variety, so one of them has to go.

Now as far as I and everyone else is concerned Hepburn is untouchable, so that leaves Blanchett and Winslet to battle it out.

I think both are equally gifted, they each have an Oscar, a bunch more nominations and decent bodies of work. I think that if this relay race gets run again 20 years from now, they will no doubt be unanimously considered among the best of all time, but at this point it remains debatable.

Still, I can't decide who goes and who stays so I'll need some external help.

As my tie breaker, I'm going to refer to a post made last year by CS from Big Thoughts from a Small Mind pitting the two together, and looking through the comments I count 10 votes for capital 'C' Cate to 6 votes for capital 'K' Kate.

Also, according to the Hollywood Stock Exchange: CBLAN is worth H$105.59 while KWINS is only worth H$24.91 (at the time of writing).

Click to reveal

So it's bye for now Kate Winslet. Sorry Andy and co.

My Addition:

Now for the even tougher task of choosing who I want to add to the list...

There are several ways I could play it:

Go for a safe pick and take one of the well known legends who have yet to be named, people like Bette Davis, Greta Garbo, or Lauren Bacall.

Get some brownie points for replacing one of the well deserving actresses previously taken out in earlier rounds such as Liv Ullmann or Gena Rowlands.

Do what everyone expects of me and choose a foreign actress, of which many names immediately come to mind: Ingrid Thulin, Bibi Andersson, Simone Signoret, Jeanne Moreau, Isabelle Adjani, Monica Vitti, Anna Magnani, Anouk Aimée...

Or choose someone from left field, who chances are won't last very long on the list because most people won't be familiar with their work, but at the very least get them some attention for a brief moment.

Click to reveal

I've decided to go with a combination of the last two, and add some variety to the list by choosing Hong Kong actress Maggie Cheung.

Here are my reasons why:

For her multiple collaborations with renowned director Wong Kar Wai including an iconic role co-starring opposite Tony Leung in one of my all time personal favorite films, In The Mood For Love.


Since her first appearance at the age of 19 in 1984, she has starred in over 70 motion pictures; and is currently a five time Hong Kong Film Award winner and also a five time Taiwan Golden Horse Award winner.

In 2004 she became the first Asian actress to be awarded at Cannes for her role (performed in fluent English, French, and Cantonese) as a heroin junkie with dreams of a singing career, in Clean, a film directed by French director Olivier Assayas who was her ex-husband at the time—talk about an amicable breakup.

She also won a Silver Bear for Best Actress at the 1992 Berlin International Film Festival for her performance as 1930's Chinese actress Ruan Ling Yu in Stanley Kwan's Center Stage.

Making her one of only eight actresses in history to be awarded prizes at both Cannes and Berlin. Two of whom are currently on the top 10 list (Juliette Binoche and Meryl Streep)

Maggie Cheung

Well there you have it, I now pass the baton over to Michaël Parent from Le Mot du Cinephiliaque. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.

What do you think of my choices? Flame away below.