Favorite Actors: leading women or supporting roles
Actors I like and the performances I liked them in.
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Ruth Elizabeth Davis was born April 5, 1908, in Lowell, Massachusetts, to Ruth Augusta (Favor) and Harlow Morrell Davis, a patent attorney. Her parents divorced when she was 10. She and her sister were raised by their mother. Her early interest was dance. To Bette, dancers led a glamorous life, but then she discovered the stage, and gave up dancing for acting. To her, it presented much more of a challenge.
After graduation from Cushing Academy, she was refused admittance to Eva Le Gallienne's Manhattan Civic Repertory. She enrolled in John Murray Anderson's Dramatic School and was the star pupil. She was in the off-Broadway play "The Earth Between" (1923), and her Broadway debut in 1929 was in "Broken Dishes". She also appeared in "Solid South". Late in 1930, she was hired by Universal, where she made her first film, called Bad Sister (1931). When she arrived in Hollywood, the studio representative who went to meet her train left without her because he could find no one who looked like a movie star. An official at Universal complained she had "as much sex appeal as Slim Summerville" and her performance in "Bad Sister" didn't impress.
In 1932, she signed a seven-year deal with Warner Brothers Pictures. Her first film with them was The Man Who Played God (1932). She became a star after this appearance, known as the actress that could play a variety of very strong and complex roles. More fairly successful movies followed, but it was the role of Mildred Rogers in RKO's Of Human Bondage (1934) that would give Bette major acclaim from the film critics. She had a significant number of write-in votes for the Best Actress Oscar, but didn't win. Warner Bros. felt their seven-year deal with Bette was more than justified. They had a genuine star on their hands. With this success under her belt, she began pushing for stronger and more meaningful roles. In 1935, she received her first Oscar for her role in Dangerous (1935) as Joyce Heath.
In 1936, she was suspended without pay for turning down a role that she deemed unworthy of her talent. She went to England, where she had planned to make movies, but was stopped by Warner Bros. because she was still under contract to them. They did not want her to work anywhere. Although she sued to get out of her contract, she lost. Still, they began to take her more seriously after that.
Returning after losing her lawsuit, her roles improved dramatically. In 1938, Bette received a second Academy Award win for her work in Jezebel (1938) opposite the soon-to-be-legendary Henry Fonda. The only role she didn't get that she wanted was Scarlett O'Hara in Gone with the Wind (1939). Warners wouldn't loan her to David O. Selznick unless he hired Errol Flynn to play Rhett Butler, which both Selznick and Davis thought was a terrible choice. It was rumored she had numerous affairs, among them George Brent and William Wyler, and she was married four times, three of which ended in divorce. She admitted her career always came first.
She made many successful films in the 1940s, but each picture was weaker than the last and by the time her Warner Brothers contract had ended in 1949, she had been reduced to appearing in such films as the unintentionally hilarious Beyond the Forest (1949). She made a huge comeback in 1950 when she replaced an ill Claudette Colbert in, and received an Oscar nomination for, All About Eve (1950). She worked in films through the 1950s, but her career eventually came to a standstill, and in 1961 she placed a now famous Job Wanted ad in the trade papers.
She received an Oscar nomination for her role as a demented former child star in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). This brought about a new round of super-stardom for generations of fans who were not familiar with her work. Two years later, she starred in Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964). Bette was married four times.
In 1977 she received the AFI's Lifetime Achievement Award and in 1979 she won a Best Actress Emmy for Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter (1979). In 1977-78 she moved from Connecticut to Los Angeles and filmed a pilot for the series Hotel (1983), which she called Brothel. She refused to do the TV series and suffered a stroke during this time.
Her last marriage, to actor Gary Merrill, lasted ten years, longer than any of the previous three. In 1985, her daughter Barbara Davis ("B.D.") Hyman published a scandalous book about Bette called "My Mother's Keeper." Bette worked in the later 1980s in films and TV, even though a stroke had impaired her appearance and mobility. She wrote a book, "This 'N That", during her recovery from the stroke. Her last book was "Bette Davis, The Lonely Life", issued in paperback in 1990. It included an update from 1962 to 1989. She wrote the last chapter in San Sebastian, Spain.
Sadly, Bette Davis died on October 6, 1989, of metastasized breast cancer, in Neuilly-sur-Seine, Hauts-de-Seine, France. Many of her fans refused to believe she was gone.Everything but omg Mrs. Skeffington.- Actress
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Ingrid Bergman was one of the greatest actresses from Hollywood's lamented Golden Era. Her natural and unpretentious beauty and her immense acting talent made her one of the most celebrated figures in the history of American cinema. Bergman is also one of the most Oscar-awarded actresses, tied with Meryl Streep and Frances McDormand, all three of them second only to Katharine Hepburn.
Ingrid Bergman was born on August 29, 1915 in Stockholm, Sweden, to a German mother, Frieda Henrietta (Adler), and a Swedish father, Justus Samuel Bergman, an artist and photographer. Her mother died when she was only two and her father died when she was 12. She went to live with an elderly uncle.
The woman who would be one of the top stars in Hollywood in the 1940s had decided to become an actress after finishing her formal schooling. She had had a taste of acting at age 17 when she played an uncredited role of a girl standing in line in the Swedish film Landskamp (1932) in 1932 - not much of a beginning for a girl who would be known as "Sweden's illustrious gift to Hollywood." Her parents died when she was just a girl and the uncle she lived with didn't want to stand in the way of Ingrid's dream. The next year she enrolled at the Royal Dramatic Theatre School in Stockholm but decided that stage acting was not for her. It would be three more years before she would have another chance at a film. When she did, it was more than just a bit part. The film in question was The Count of the Old Town (1935), where she had a speaking part as Elsa Edlund. After several films that year that established her as a class actress, Ingrid appeared in Intermezzo (1936) as Anita Hoffman. Luckily for her, American producer David O. Selznick saw it and sent a representative from Selznick International Pictures to gain rights to the story and have Ingrid signed to a contract. Once signed, she came to California and starred in United Artists' 1939 remake of her 1936 film, Intermezzo (1939), reprising her original role. The film was a hit and so was Ingrid.
Her beauty was unlike anything the movie industry had seen before and her acting was superb. Hollywood was about to find out that they had the most versatile actress the industry had ever seen. Here was a woman who truly cared about the craft she represented. The public fell in love with her. Ingrid was under contract to go back to Sweden to film Only One Night (1939) in 1939 and June Night (1940) in 1940. Back in the US she appeared in three films, all well-received. She made only one film in 1942, but it was the classic Casablanca (1942) opposite Humphrey Bogart.
Ingrid was choosing her roles well. In 1943 she was nominated for an Academy Award for her role in For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943), the only film she made that year. The critics and public didn't forget her when she made Gaslight (1944) the following year--her role of Paula Alquist got her the Oscar for Best Actress. In 1945 Ingrid played in Spellbound (1945), Saratoga Trunk (1945) and The Bells of St. Mary's (1945), for which she received her third Oscar nomination for her role of Sister Benedict. She made no films in 1947, but bounced back with a fourth nomination for Joan of Arc (1948). In 1949 she went to Italy to film Stromboli (1950), directed by Roberto Rossellini. She fell in love with him and left her husband, Dr. Peter Lindstrom, and daughter, Pia Lindström. America's "moral guardians" in the press and the pulpits were outraged. She was pregnant and decided to remain in Italy, where her son was born. In 1952 Ingrid had twins, Isotta and Isabella Rossellini, who became an outstanding actress in her own right, as did Pia.
Ingrid continued to make films in Italy and finally returned to Hollywood in 1956 in the title role in Anastasia (1956), which was filmed in England. For this she won her second Academy Award. She had scarcely missed a beat. Ingrid continued to bounce between Europe and the US making movies, and fine ones at that. A film with Ingrid Bergman was sure to be a quality production. In her final big-screen performance in 1978's Autumn Sonata (1978) she had her final Academy Award nomination. Though she didn't win, many felt it was the most sterling performance of her career. Ingrid retired, but not before she gave an outstanding performance in the mini-series A Woman Called Golda (1982), a film about Israeli prime minister Golda Meir. For this she won an Emmy Award as Best Actress, but, unfortunately, she did not live to see the fruits of her labor.
Ingrid died from cancer on August 29, 1982, her 67th birthday, in London, England.For Gaslight.- Actress
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Born on April 11, 1939, New York City born and bred Louise (Marie) Lasser was the daughter of Jewish author tax specialist Sol J. Lasser. Living a childhood of privilege and having a prestigious education, the eccentric comedy actress lightened things up considerably in her own household despite her mother Paula's mental instability. Tragic circumstances occurred when her mother, whom Louise saved once, committed suicide following the breakup of her marriage. Her father would also take his own life years later.
A political science major at Brandeis University, Louise first won notice singing in Greenwich Village dives, improvisational revues and on Broadway in the early 1960s. In 1962, Louise understudied Barbra Streisand as Miss Marmelstein in "I Can Get It for You Wholesale. Lasser was also the first woman to win a Clio Award for Best Actress in a 1967 commercial for Florida Orange Juice.
Arguably best known as the second Mrs. Woody Allen, Louise, known for her lethargic comedy presence, made her TV debut in a failed comedy pilot entitled The Laughmakers (1962), one of Allen's forays into the medium. She also made a brief, uncredited appearance as a masseuse in film What's New Pussycat (1965) and had a voiceover in What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966). Marrying Woody on February 2, 1966, Louise went on to co-star with the comic master, earning a comedy name for herself in several of his other inaugural farcical romps -- particularly Take the Money and Run (1969), Bananas (1971) and Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * But Were Afraid to Ask (1972). On Broadway, she appeared in "Henry, Sweet Henry" (1967), "The Chinese and Dr. Fish" (1970) and as a replacement in the comedy "Thieves" (1974).
Following the end of her four-year marriage to Woody, Louise struck out on her own. On TV, she appeared to good advantage in guest episodes of "Love, American Style," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," "The Bob Newhart Show," "McCloud" and "Medical Center." On film, she appeared in the dramedy Such Good Friends (1971) and the crime comedy thriller Slither (1973).
After appearing in the lightweight TV-movie Coffee, Tea or Me? (1973) with fresh-faced starring performances from Karen Valentine and John Davidson, and offering a kookier supporting perf as a police station receptionist opposite Alan Alda in the dark comedy murder mystery Isn't It Shocking? (1973), Louise hit major cult status as the enervated, beleaguered, pig-tailed, titular housewife/heroine of the bizarre Norman Lear nighttime soap satire Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976). It was here that Louise buffed up beautifully her deadpan neurotic comedy persona. The program's pilot was nominated for an Emmy and Louise herself for "Classification of Outstanding Program and Individual Achievement."
The syndicated show certainly had it's own soap opera-styled problems on the set. In July of 1976, she was asked to host a first season episode of "Saturday Night Live." It was said that Louise's erratic behavior was highly difficult to work with in sketches. That same year, she was also arrested after police discovered cocaine in her purse at a boutique store. She was ordered to six months of counseling. With the pressures of television mounting, the star decided to leave the show in 1977 (the series had her character suddenly leaving town and husband with no notice), and the series was re-titled "Forever Fernwood."
Following her "Mary Hartman" departure, Louise appeared on stage in productions of Marie and Bruce" (1980) followed by "A Couple of a White Chicks Sitting Around Talking." She also attempted another ensemble comedy series with the all-female show It's a Living (1980) as waitress Maggie but, once again, left the show after only one season. She also had a recurring neurotic role on the popular medical show St. Elsewhere (1982).
Elsewhere, Louise went on to co-star with the equally neurotic Charles Grodin in the offbeat romantic TV-movie comedy Just Me and You (1978). On film, she made a brief cameo in ex-husband Woody Allen's film dramedy Stardust Memories (1980), appeared as a hooker with a heart of gold in star/director/co-writer Marty Feldman's comedy In God We Trust (or Gimme That Prime Time Religion) (1980), and was a prime focus in the wacky Coen Brothers crime comedy Crimewave (1985). She headed the cast as the mother of good/evil twins in the slasher flick Blood Rage (1987), was featured in the Sally Field/Michael Caine romantic comedy Surrender (1987), and was fourth-billed in the teen drama Sing (1989). She finished off the decade in Cheech Marin's hippie comedy Rude Awakening (1989) as an aging drug customer(!)
The weird and wacky continued with an assortment of off-kiltered characters in independent films. She appeared in the bizarre sci-fi horror Frankenhooker (1990); played Robby Benson's mom in the comedy Modern Love (1990), also written and directed by Benson; and played Jeremy Piven's mom in another comedy Layin' Low (1996). She was also featured in the films Sudden Manhattan (1996), Happiness (1998) and Mystery Men (1999).
Into the millennium, she enjoyed a romantic subplot in the film Fast Food Fast Women (2000), portrayed a retired gangster lady in Queenie in Love (2001), played a landlady in the horror opus Wolves of Wall Street (2002). She and Renée Taylor played "wealthy" sisters married to losers in the poorly-reviewed comedy Gold Diggers (2003), and appeared with Ms. Taylor again in the romantic comedy Driving Me Crazy: Proof of Concept (2012)
More recently seen on TV episodes of "CSI" and "Girls," Louise was once an acting technique teacher with Herbert Berghof's HB Studio. She eventually set up her own acting establishment, the Louise Lasser Acting Studio, on New York City's Upper East Side. In 2014, she directed the Off-Off-Broadway production of "Chinese Coffee." She never remarried after divorcing the Wood Man.For Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman- Actress
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Born in London, Jean Marsh became interested in show business while taking dancing and mime classes as therapy for a childhood illness. After attending a charm school and working as a model, she started acting in repertory and took voice lessons. Her repertory work was supplemented by a number of film appearances as a dancer. She then spent three years in America, appearing in Sir John Gielgud's Broadway production of "Much Ado About Nothing" and numerous TV shows, including an episode of The Twilight Zone (1959). Returning to London, she won roles on stage, film and TV. It was during this period that she appeared in Doctor Who (1963), first as Princess Joanna in "The Crusade" and then as Sara Kingdom in "The Daleks' Master Plan." In the early 1970s she co-created and starred in LWT's Upstairs, Downstairs (1971). Since then she has maintained a very busy career in the theatre, on TV - including a starring role in the US sitcom Nine to Five (1982) and films such as Return to Oz (1985) and Willow (1988). She also co-created another successful series, The House of Eliott (1991).For creating and starring in Upstairs, Downstairs as Rose Buck.- Actress
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Early in her career she worked in repertory in Manchester and while there obtained occasional television roles. When offered scripts she can usually tell within 5 pages if it is suitable for her. When it came to 'To the Manor Born' which was intended for a radio series, she considered it one of the best scripts that she'd read and asked to show it to BBC television light entertainment head John Howard Davis and the rest is history.For her role as Margo Leadbetter in "The Good Life" known as "Good Neighbors" in the U.S.- Actress
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Juliette Binoche was born in Paris, France, to Monique Yvette Stalens, a director, teacher, and actress, and Jean-Marie Binoche, a sculptor, director, and actor. Her mother was born in Czestochowa, Poland, of French, Walloon Belgian, and Polish descent, while her father is French. Juliette was only 23 when she first attracted the attention of international film critics with The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988). Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times film critic with an international following of his books on film and TV reviews, wrote that she was "almost ethereal in her beauty and innocence". That innocence was gone by the time Binoche completed Louis Malle's Damage (1992) (aka "Fatale"). In an interview after the film was released, Binoche said: "Malle was trying direct and wanted something more sophisticated". A year later, Krzysztof Kieslowski's Three Colors: Blue (1993) was added to her film credits. After a sabbatical from film-making to become a mother in 1994, Binoche was selected as the heroine of France's most expensive ($35 million) movie ever: The Horseman on the Roof (1995). More recently, she has made The English Patient (1996), for which she won an Oscar for 'Best supporting actress' and Chocolat (2000).I just like her.- Actress
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Yolande Moreau was born on 27 February 1953 in Brussels, Belgium. She is an actress and director, known for When the Sea Rises (2004), Amélie (2001) and Seraphine (2008).When the Sea Rises, Séraphine- Jennifer Anne Ehle is an American actress, the daughter of English actress Rosemary Harris and American author John Ehle. She won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in the 1995 BBC miniseries Pride and Prejudice. For her work on Broadway, she won the 2000 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for The Real Thing, and the 2007 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for The Coast of Utopia.Pride and Prejudice- best version ever
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Eight time Academy Award-nominated actress Glenn Close was born and raised in Greenwich, Connecticut. She is the daughter of Elizabeth Mary H. "Bettine" (Moore) and William Taliaferro Close (William Close), a prominent doctor. Both of her parents were from upper-class families.
Glenn was a noted Broadway performer when she was cast in her award-winning role as Jenny Fields in The World According to Garp (1982) alongside Robin Williams. For this role, a breakthrough in film for Close, she later went on to receive an Academy Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actress. The following year she was cast in the hit comedy The Big Chill (1983) for which she received a second Oscar Nomination, once again for Supporting Actress in the role of Sarah Cooper. In her third film, Close portrayed Iris Gaines a former lover of baseball player Roy Hobbs portrayed by Robert Redford, in one of the greatest sports films of all time, The Natural (1984). For a third time, Close was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Close went on to star in films like The Stone Boy (1984), Maxie (1985) and Jagged Edge (1985). In 1987 Close was cast in the box office hit Fatal Attraction (1987) for which she portrayed deranged stalker Alex Forrest alongside costars Michael Douglas and Anne Archer. For this role she was nominated for the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Actress. The following year Close starred in the Oscar Winning Drama Dangerous Liaisons (1988) for which she portrayed one of the most classic roles of all time as Marquise Isabelle de Merteuil, starring alongside John Malkovich and Michelle Pfeiffer. For this role she was nominated once again for the Academy Award and BAFTA Film Award for Best Actress. Close was favorite to win the coveted statue but lost to Jodie Foster for The Accused (1988). Close had her claim to fame in the 1980s. Close starred on the hit Drama series Damages (2007) for which she has won a Golden Globe Award and two Emmy Awards. In her career Close has been Oscar nominated eight times, won three Tonys, an Obie, three Emmys, two Golden Globes and a Screen Actors Guild Award.Fatal Attraction, The Big Chill, Damages- Actress
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Nicola Jane Walker is an English actress, known for her starring roles in various British television programs from the 1990s onward, including that of Ruth Evershed in the spy drama Spooks from 2003 to 2011 and DCI Cassie Stuart in Unforgotten from 2015 to 2021. She has also worked in theatre, radio and film. She won the 2013 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress for the play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, and has twice been nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress for the BBC drama Last Tango in Halifax.As "Stevie" in River.