100 Greatest Movie Performances of All Time by Premiere Magazine Part 1 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 |
Premiere Magazine (in its April 2006 issue), in an article written by numerous authors, published a list of the 100 Greatest (Movie) Performances of All-Time, to celebrate the best movie performances in film history. The defining performances were excerpted and abbreviated from the article. Facts and Commentary About the List:
Additionally Recommended:
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100 Greatest Movie Performances of All Time by Premiere Magazine (part 1, by reverse ranking) |
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Character Name | Played By | Film Title | The Performance |
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Alex De Large | Malcolm McDowell | A Clockwork Orange (1971) | A self-aggrandizing, sadistic rapist and hooligan, for whom McDowell suffered various forms of torture for the performance (near drowning, scratched corneas, etc.). |
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Navin Johnson | Steve Martin | The Jerk (1979) | "I was born a poor black child..." |
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Phyllis Dietrichson | Barbara Stanwyck | Double Indemnity (1944) | A hard-boiled killer and femme fatale. |
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Don Logan | Ben Kingsley | Sexy Beast (2001) | A sadistic, violent, sociopathic gangster. |
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Billie Dawn | Judy Holliday | Born Yesterday (1950) | A bubble-headed chorus girl in search of culture, with the voice of Betty Boop. |
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Tina Turner | Angela Bassett | What's Love Got to Do With It (1993) | A vulnerable pop diva who triumphs over adversity, and brutal domestic abuse. |
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Hans Beckert | Peter Lorre | M (1931) | A compulsive serial child murderer/predator with bulging eyes and whiny, nasal voice who whistles the Peer Gynt Suite. |
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Mildred Pierce | Joan Crawford | Mildred Pierce (1945) | A self-possessed, hard-working single mother devoted to winning her obnoxious daughter Veda's love. |
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'Dirty' Harry | Clint Eastwood | Dirty Harry (1971) | A cool, bigoted cop who tortures suspects. |
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Bree Daniels | Jane Fonda | Klute (1971) | A non-stereotypical hooker with an emotional heart. |
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Jeffrey 'The Dude' Lebowski | Jeff Bridges | The Big Lebowski (1998) | The Dude, His Dudeness, El Duderino, a full-time slacker, bowler, and roach-smoker. |
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Juxian | Gong Li | Farewell, My Concubine (1993) | A scheming, manipulative courtesan involved in a love triangle with her gay husband and his 'stage brother'. |
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Nick Chevotarevich | Christopher Walken | The Deer Hunter (1978) | A gaunt, hollow-eyed war casualty forced to play Russian Roulette in Saigon. |
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Ethan Edwards | John Wayne | The Searchers (1956) | A stoic, rugged, ex-Confederate anti-hero on a vengeful search for his Comanche-kidnapped niece. |
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Bruno Antony | Robert Walker | Strangers on a Train (1951) | A seductive and evil psychopath who trades murders with a tennis player (Farley Granger) that he met on a train. |
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Frances Farmer | Jessica Lange | Frances (1982) | A vulnerable starlet on the verge of insanity. |
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Lilly Dillon | Anjelica Huston | The Grifters (1990) | A cool, aging grifter who murders her son (John Cusack). |
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Brandon Teena | Hilary Swank | Boys Don't Cry (1999) | A real-life Nebraska woman determined to be a man, leading to her violent and tragic death. |
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General George S. Patton, Jr. | George C. Scott | Patton (1970) | A gruff-voiced, regal military genius and ego-driven eccentric. |
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Clementine Kruczynski | Kate Winslet | Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) | A rainbow-haired, impulsive, motor-mouthed bohemian who erased her boyfriend's (Jim Carrey) memory. |
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Catherine | Jeanne Moreau | Jules and Jim (1962) | An attention-craving woman involved in a menage a trois with French-born Jim (Henri Serre) and Austrian Jules (Oskar Werner). |
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Captain Jack Sparrow | Johnny Depp | Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) | An outrageous, redefined pirate character with gold-capped teeth and mascara. |
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Sanjuro Kuwabatake | Toshiro Mifune | Yojimbo (1961) | An out-of-work samurai offering his services to a crime-war-ridden town. |
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Leo Smalls, Jr. (aka Fast Black) | Morgan Freeman | Street Smart (1987) | An alternatingly smooth and menacingly sinister New York pimp. |
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J.J. Hunsecker | Burt Lancaster | Sweet Smell of Success (1957) | An all-powerful, cruel gossip columnist who holds court at '21'. |