Top 20 Favorite Actresses

I picked my favorite actresses, as in actresses I personally love or fell in love with--at some point--which does not necc. mean they are great actresses - though most are. (I love Liz Taylor and Kate Hepburn, for example, but I'm not "in" love with them like I am with Bibi Andersson or Kate Jackson). Also I've included the top two films I love them for. If they didn't have at least two, they're not in this list (i.e. Linda Fiorentino).

Where applicable I have linked to something I've written about them in the past, or else linked to a recommended writer who may offer more about them than I could -- as when reading about Jane Fonda, one naturally reaches for the work of Kim Morgan, or if thinking Michelle Pfeiffer it's Nathaniel R. When it's Vera Farmiga, I like to think it's all about me... and Vera Farmiga... 4 Eva.

1. MARLENE DIETRICH - Morocco, Shanghai Express

2. Lauren Bacall - The Big Sleep, To Have and Have Not

3. Cate Blanchett - Notes on a Scandal, Elizabeth II: The Golden Age

4. Barabara Stanwyck - Night Nurse, The Lady Eve

5. Jane Fonda - Klute, They Shoot Horses Don't They?

6. Vera Farmiga - Joshua, Down to the Bone

7. Naomi Watts - The Ring, Mulholland Drive

8. Veronica Lake -This Gun for Hire, The Glass Key

9. Asia Argento - New Rose Hotel, Scarlet Diva

10. Natasha Henstridge - Species, Ghosts of Mars

11. Sue Lyon - Lolita, Night of the Iguana

12. Anita Louise - Our Betters, Midsummer Night's Dream

13. Myrna Loy - The Thin Man, Mask of Fu Manchu

14. Kate Winslet - Heavenly Creatures, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

15. - Ella Raines - Phantom Lady, Hail the Conquering Hero 

16. Beatrice Dalle - Betty Blue, Inside

17. Kim Novak - Bell, Book & Candle, Strangers When We Meet

18. Bibi Andersson - Persona, Passion of Anna

19. Sandahl Bergman - Conan The Barbarian, All that Jazz

20. Isabelle Adjani - Camille Claudel, Possession

Damn, you see a trend emerging here? I'm seeing a trend emerging here.

Runners up would be: Susan Cabot, Lizabeth Scott, Ginger Rogers, Michelle Pfeiffer,  Cathy O'Donnell, Darryl Hannah, Evan Rachel Wood, Famke Janssen, Linda Fiorentino, Linda Darnell, Martha Vickers, Gail Patrick, Anna Karina, Kay Francis, Mia Farrow and Linda Hamilton