10. Walter Matthau; Fail-Safe, In 1964 Sidney Lumet’s Fail-Safe shocked audiences everywhere, through all the plot turns and moments of surprise, Matthau’s performance managed to keep up with all of it and forever cemented great moments in our heads.
9. Joan Crawford; The Grand Hotel, In 1932 everyone watched with delight and sadness, The Grand Hotel, knowing they would see a knock out performance from the great Greta Garbo, yet it was a young Joan Crawford who stole the film.
8. Gong Li; To Live, Gong Li’s performances in movies such as Farewell My Concubine and Raise the Red Lantern will always stand out, but for me her most, memorable performance was in 1994 she gave the thunderous performance in To Live.
7. Bette Davis; What Ever Happened To Baby Jane. In 1962, Bette Davis left fans everywhere in a state of absolute petrification when she stared in Robert Aldrich’s Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.
6. Marlon Brando; On the Water Front. In 19554, the film On the Water Front had so much talent that the screen was barely able to hold all of it and one performance managed to stand out, perhaps more than the rest.
5. Daniel Day-Lewis; My Left Foot. In 1989 Daniel Day-Lewis did what he does better than anyone else, he simply left all movie fans in tears, as his portrayal of Christy Brown ripped its way into our hearts and won him his first oscar.
4. Humphrey Bogart; African Queen. The role that was different from every role that Bogart had been doing and far different from the role that he was known for, was the role that finally won him an oscar and was a performance that no one could forget.
3. James Cagney; White Heat. In 1949, a gangster movie came out that planted its way into the history of film with glory and passion. Cagney once again played a brutal character who shot his way into our hearts with great velocity.
2. Al Pacino; Scent of a Woman. In !992, Pacino brought to life retired Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade and somehow managed to once again leave audiences in a disbelief that anyone could be that good.
1. Peter O’Toole; The Lion in Winter. Sadly, O’Toole never won best actor; however, he won our hearts and excitement as he resurrected Henry the second in front of our eyes.
Remember these aren’t necessarily in any order and aren’t the only ones, who could forget Jack Nicholson in The One Who Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest, De Niro in Raging Ball, Lumet in The Heat Of The Night, Kathrin Hephurn in any movie she was ever in? We all have performances that we can never forget and never want to, please actors and actresses don’t stop giving them!
Botherations in a Bird's Eye View 