The Best Actresses Ever - 1950s

101. Rita Moreno

Rita Moreno is one of the very few performers to win an Oscar, an Emmy, a Tony and a Grammy, thus becoming an EGOT. She was born Rosita Dolores Alverío in the hospital in Humacao, Puerto Rico on December 11, 1931 (but raised in nearby, smaller Juncos, which had no hospital), to seamstress Rosa ...

877 points

102. Kuniko Igawa

Actress | Bakushû

Born Toshiko Nonaka, she began acting as Toshiko Kôno before changing her name again after World War II during the golden age of Japanese cinema to Kuniko Igawa. She became a café owner after she retired, which occurred in 1977, in Kamakura. Coffee Igawa is still a going concern despite her death ...

846 points

103. Leonora Ruffo

Actress | I vitelloni

Elegant Italian leading lady of the 50's and 60's, born Bruna Bovi, the youngest of five siblings in Rome. As a youth she was noted for her prowess as a gymnast, a fact which contributed to her discovery for the screen by the director Pietro Francisci in 1952. Possessed of luminous eyes and a ...

839 points

104. Claude Farell

Actress | Titanic

Claude Farell was born on May 7, 1914 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]. She was an actress, known for Titanic (1943), The Andromeda Breakthrough (1962) and The Secret of Mayerling (1949). She died on March 17, 2008 in Saint-Jean-Le-Priche, Saône-et-Loire, France.

839 points

105. Lída Baarová

Actress | Die Fledermaus

Lída Baarová was born on September 14, 1914 in Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now in Czech Republic]. She was an actress, known for Die Fledermaus (1937), Virginity (1937) and Jsem devce s certem v tele (1933). She was married to Kurt Lundwall and Jan Kopecky. She died on October 28, 2000 in ...

839 points

106. Miki Odagiri

Actress | Ikiru

Miki Odagiri is known primarily for her important and timeless role as the upbeat office girl in Akira Kurosawa's classic Ikiru opposite Takashi Shimura, whose character is dying of cancer, and Miki, as Toyo Odagiri, inspires him to live... just by being herself: bubbly, spontaneous, and optimistic...

839 points

107. Vivien Leigh

Actress | A Streetcar Named Desire

If a film were made of the life of Vivien Leigh, it would open in India just before World War I, where a successful British businessman could live like a prince. In the mountains above Calcutta, a little princess is born. Because of the outbreak of World War I, she is six years old the first time ...

831 points

108. Carroll Baker

Actress | Baby Doll

Carroll Baker was born on May 28, 1931 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, the daughter of a traveling salesman, William W. Baker. She attended community college for a year and then worked as a dancer and magician's assistant. After a brief marriage, she had a small part in Easy to Love (1953), did TV ...

829 points

109. Zhanna Prokhorenko

Actress | Ballada o soldate

Zhanna Prokhorenko was born on 11 May, 1940, in Poltava, Ukraine, Soviet Union (now Poltava, Ukraine). Her father, Trofim Prokhorenko, an Air Force officer, was killed in WWII, when she was a one-year-old baby. She was brought up by single mother and went to school in Leningrad. Young Zhanna ...

828 points

110. Antonina Maksimova

Actress | Otello

Antonina Maksimova was born on November 7, 1916 in Tula, Russian Empire [now Russia]. She was an actress, known for Othello (1956), Ballad of a Soldier (1959) and Mayakovsky itskeboda ase... (1958). She died on October 4, 1986 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].

828 points

111. Betty Garde

Actress | Caged

Betty Garde was a versatile actress, who began in show business after winning a playwriting competition at high school. Joining Actor's Equity in 1922, she became a noted performer on stage in Boston and Philadelphia, eventually making her debut on Broadway in 1925. Betty, at least early in her ...

828 points

112. Julie Harris

Actress | The Haunting

One of the finest classical and contemporary leading ladies ever to grace the 20th century American stage, five-time Tony Award winner Julie Harris was rather remote and reserved on camera, finding her true glow in front of the theatre lights. The freckled, red-haired actress not only was nominated...

827 points

113. Miroslava

Actress | La muerte enamorada

Born in interwar Prague as Miroslava Stanclová, her father died and she was adopted by a Jewish doctor, the psychoanalyst Dr. Oskar Leo Stern (1900-1972) who married her mother, Miroslava (née Becka; 1898-1945). Dr. and Mrs. Stern had a son, Ivo (1931-2011), the actress's half-brother. The family ...

825 points

114. Izolda Izvitskaya

Actress | Sorok pervyy

Izolda Izvitskaya was born on June 21, 1932 in Dzerzhinsk, Nizhegorodskiy kray, RSFSR, USSR [now Nizhegorodskaya oblast, Russia]. She was an actress, known for The Forty-First (1956), Ottsy i deti (1959) and Po tonkomu ldu (1966). She was married to Eduard Bredun. She died on March 1, 1971 in ...

823 points

115. Sharmila Tagore

Actress | Gulmohar

A Bengali actress who achieved success young, Sharmila appeared in numerous Bengali classics before making the jump to Hindi cinema, which first made her a romantic actress and later a legendary actress thanks to her intense films opposite Superstar Rajesh Khanna. A distant relative of poet ...

823 points

116. Angie Dickinson

Actress | Rio Bravo

Angie Dickinson was born in Kulm, North Dakota, in 1931, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. L. H. Brown. Mr. Brown was the publisher of The Kulm Messenger. The family left North Dakota in 1942 when Angie was 11 years old, moving to Burbank, California. In December of 1946, when she was a senior at ...

823 points

117. Birgitta Valberg

Actress | Jungfrukällan

Birgitta Valberg was born on December 16, 1916 in Stockholm, Sweden. She was an actress and assistant director, known for The Virgin Spring (1960), Paradistorg (1977) and A Time in the Sun (1966). She died on March 29, 2014 in Sweden.

821 points

118. Maria Schell

Actress | Superman

Maria Schell studied in a religious institution in Colmar (Haut-Rhin, France). She received a dramatic training in Zurich, Switzerland. To pay her studies, she was a secretary there. Besides being a film star; Maria appeared in plays in Zurich, Basel, in Vienna (Josefstad Theater), Berlin, Munich (...

818 points

119. Gudrun Brost

Actress | Jungfrukällan

Gudrun Brost was born on April 6, 1910 in Malmö, Skåne län, Sweden. She was an actress, known for The Virgin Spring (1960), Hour of the Wolf (1968) and June Night (1940). She was married to Sven Forssell. She died on June 28, 1993 in Stockholm, Stockholms län, Sweden.

817 points

120. Annika Tretow

Actress | Gycklarnas afton

Annika Tretow was born on January 31, 1919 in Stockholm, Sweden. She was an actress, known for Sawdust and Tinsel (1953), Den långa julmiddagen (1956) and Vägen till Klockrike (1953). She died on May 11, 1979.

817 points

121. Sylva Koscina

Actress | Le fatiche di Ercole

Sylva Koscina was born on August 22, 1933 in Zagreb, Croatia, Yugoslavia [now Zagreb, Croatia]. She was an actress, known for Hercules (1958), Hornets' Nest (1970) and Judex (1963). She was married to Raimondo Castelli. She died on December 26, 1994 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

812 points

122. Marisa Pavan

Actress | The Rose Tattoo

Maria Luisa Pierangeli and her twin sister Anna Maria were born in Sardinia, Italy. They were fraternal twins with different personalities as well. Anna Maria was dreamy and innocent; Maria Luisa was independent and studious. They moved to Rome in the late 1940s. In 1948 their lives changed when ...

811 points

123. Susan Harrison

Actress | Sweet Smell of Success

Susan Harrison was born on August 26, 1938 in Leesburg, Florida, USA. She was an actress, known for Sweet Smell of Success (1957), Key Witness (1960) and The Twilight Zone (1959). She was married to Cassius Marcus Conger and Joël Colin. She died on March 5, 2019 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

810 points

124. Barbara Nichols

Actress | Sweet Smell of Success

She was the archetypal brassy, bosomy, Brooklynesque blonde with a highly distinctive scratchy voice. Barbara Nichols started life as Barbara Marie Nickerauer in Queens, New York on December 10, 1928, and grew up on Long Island. Graduating from Woodrow Wilson High School, she changed her ...

810 points

125. Coral Browne

Actress | Auntie Mame

Australian actress who worked primarily in Britain and specialized in superior, upper-crust sorts. Browne began her stage career in Melbourne but moved to England at the age of 21 and quickly brightened the West End with her sharp delivery and stylish sense of comedy. Her film appearances were ...

809 points

126. Yôko Minamida

Actress | Hausu

Yôko Minamida was born on March 1, 1933 in Tokyo, Japan. She was an actress, known for House (1977), Samurai no ko (1963) and Aoi sanmyaku (1963). She was married to Hiroyuki Nagato. She died on October 21, 2009 in Tokyo, Japan.

807 points

127. Delia Garcés

Actress | Él

Delia Garcés was born on October 13, 1919 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She was an actress, known for El (1953), Casa de muñecas (1943) and El gran amor de Bécquer (1946). She was married to Alberto de Zavalía. She died on November 7, 2001 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

804 points

128. Sandra Milo

Actress | 8½

During the 1950s and 1960s bosomy, scintillating, dark-haired Tunisian leading lady Sandra Milo played bored patricians, manipulative mistresses and other enticing ladies of questionable morals with typical sensuous flare in scores of Italian and French productions.

Born Elena Liliana Greco in Tunis...

803 points

129. Giovanna Ralli

Actress | C'eravamo tanto amati

Giovanna Ralli was born on January 2, 1935 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. She is an actress and writer, known for We All Loved Each Other So Much (1974), The Mercenary (1968) and A Prostitute Serving the Public and in Compliance with the Laws of the State (1971). She was previously married to Ettore Boschi.

803 points

130. Liselotte Pulver

Actress | One, Two, Three

She attended business school, after graduating from which she turned to acting. Pulver quickly received his first major roles in the theater. In 1949 she celebrated her film debut in "Swiss Tour" alongside Simone Signoret, Cornel Wilde and Heinrich Gretler. In 1954 the actress made her breakthrough...

803 points

131. María Casares

Actress | Les enfants du paradis

María Casares was born on November 21, 1922 in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain. She was an actress, known for Children of Paradise (1945), Orpheus (1950) and The Ladies of the Bois de Boulogne (1945). She was married to André Schlesser. She died on November 22, 1996 in Alloue, Charente, France.

802 points

132. Marie Déa

Actress | Orphée

Marie Déa was born on May 17, 1912 in Nanterre, Seine [now Hauts-de-Seine], France. She was an actress, known for Orpheus (1950), Les Visiteurs du Soir (1942) and Foolish Husbands (1941). She was married to Lucien Nat. She died on March 1, 1992 in Paris, France.

802 points

133. Juliette Gréco

Actress | The Sun Also Rises

Juliette Gréco was born on February 7, 1927 in Montpellier, Hérault, France. She was an actress, known for The Sun Also Rises (1957), Crack in the Mirror (1960) and The Big Gamble (1961). She was married to Gérard Jouannest, Michel Piccoli and Philippe Lemaire. She died on September 23, 2020 in ...

802 points

134. Joanna Moore

Actress | Touch of Evil

Armed with an entrancing whiskey-like voice that complemented her stunning, creamy blonde looks, Southern-bred beauty Joanna Moore had so much going for her when her film and TV career first took off in the late 1950s. Sadly, what began as an exciting Hollywood carnival ride would all too soon ...

802 points

135. Hayley Mills

Actress | Pollyanna

Born Hayley Catherine Rose Vivien Mills in London in 1946, she is the daughter of the great actor Sir John Mills and the well-known novelist-playwright Mary Hayley Bell. Her sister is the actress Juliet Mills. She grew up in her parents' home, an outgoing, funny child, and, because she spent so ...

800 points

136. Misa Uehara

Actress | Kakushi-toride no san-akunin

The very brief acting career of Misa Uehara might've never been were it not for the stubbornness of the man who directed her in her screen debut. When it came time to cast the role of Princess Yukihime for Akira Kurosawa's samurai adventure picture The Hidden Fortress (1958), hundreds of ...

800 points

137. Simone Simon

Actress | Cat People

Diminutive, fiery-tempered Simone Simon was born in France, but spent much of her early childhood in Madagascar, where her father managed a graphite mine. Her schooling was somewhat unsettled, her family moving from city to city (Berlin, Budapest, Turin) before finally establishing themselves in ...

794 points

138. Jeanne Crain

Actress | Pinky

Jeanne Crain was born in Barstow, California, on May 25, 1925. The daughter of a high school English teacher and his wife, Jeanne was moved to Los Angeles not long after her birth after her father got another teaching position in that city. While in junior high school, Jeanne played the lead in a ...

774 points

139. Ruth Roman

Actress | Strangers on a Train

Ruth Roman was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, the youngest of three daughters of Lithuanian-Jewish parents Mary Pauline (Gold) and Abraham Roman. Her father, a carnival barker, died when she was a small child, forcing her mother to support the family by working as a waitress and cleaning woman. Ruth ...

772 points

140. Betsy Blair

Actress | Marty

Betsy Blair was born in Cliffside, New Jersey, a child model before finding work as a chorus dancer at the early age of 15. She received her first mini-break on Broadway in "Panama Hattie" in 1940 delivering a single line, but by the next year she had copped the ingénue lead in William Saroyan's "...

768 points

141. Joanne Woodward

Actress | Rachel, Rachel

Joanne Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward was born on February 27, 1930, in Thomasville, Georgia, to Wade Woodward and Elinor Gignilliat Trimmier Woodward in a modest household. Her one older brother, Wade Jr., who was the favorite of her father, eventually became an architect. Elinor Woodward was a ...

767 points

142. Melina Mercouri

Actress | Pote tin Kyriaki

Melina Mercouri was born in Athens, Greece on October 18, 1920. An early woman activist, she was elected to the Greek Parliament in 1977. Later Miss Mercouri was to become the first woman to hold a Senior cabinet post "Minister of Culture" in the Greek government. In 1971 she wrote her ...

763 points

143. Dorothy Malone

Actress | Written on the Wind

The blonde, sultry, dreamy-eyed beauty of Dorothy Malone, who was born Mary Maloney in Chicago on January 29, 1924, took some time before it made an impact with American film-going audiences. But once she did, she played it for all it was worth in her one chance Academy Award-winning "bad girl" ...

728 points

144. Maj-Britt Nilsson

Actress | Sommarlek

Rare indeed to spot a dark-haired Swede on film but the delicately beautiful Maj-Britt Nilsson was certainly one of them, along with Harriet Andersson, who went on to captivate film audiences in the bleak films of Ingmar Bergman.

Born in Stockholm on December 11, 1924, the lovely Nilsson was ...

728 points

145. Martha Scott

Actress | The Ten Commandments

Martha Ellen Scott was born in Jamesport, Missouri, to Letha (McKinley) and Walter Alva Scott, an engineer and garage owner. She entered films in the early 1940s, following an initial appearance in stock. Her first film appearance was Our Town (1940), playing the same character as she played on the...

723 points

146. Judy Holliday

Actress | Born Yesterday

Judy Holliday was born Judith Tuvim in New York City on June 21, 1921. Her mother, a piano teacher, was attending a play when she went into labor and made it to the hospital just in time. Judy was an only child. By the age of four, her mother had her enrolled in ballet school which fostered a ...

704 points

147. Nina Foch

Actress | The Ten Commandments

A leading lady of the 1940s, the tall and blonde Foch usually played cool, aloof and often foreign, women of sophistication. As film roles became harder to find, Foch proved to be versatile in many areas. She was a panelist on several TV quiz shows, worked as George Stevens' assistant director for ...

699 points

148. Lana Turner

Actress | Madame X

Lana Turner had an acting ability that belied the "Sweater Girl" image MGM thrust upon her, and even many of her directors admitted that they knew she was capable of greatness (check out The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)). Unfortunately, her private life sometimes overshadowed her professional ...

698 points

149. Hideko Takamine

Actress | Ukigumo

Along with Hara Setsuko and Tanaka Kinuyo, Takamine Hideko remains one of Japan's most admired and prolific film actresses. Born as Hirayama Hideko in Hakodate, Hokkaido in northern Japan in 1924, she became a child actress for Shochiku Studio at age five appearing in the film Haha. She would go on...

695 points

150. Terry Moore

Actress | Peyton Place

Born Helen Luella Koford on January 7, 1929, the Los Angeles, California native worked as a model before she made her film debut at age 11 in 20th Century-Fox's Maryland (1940). Through the 1940s, she worked under a variety of names (her own, Judy Ford and January Ford) before settling on Terry ...

693 points

151. Rhonda Fleming

Actress | Out of the Past

A native-born Californian, Rhonda Fleming attended Beverly Hills public and private schools. Her father was Harold Cheverton Louis (1896-1951). Her mother, Effie Olivia Graham (1891-1985), was a famous model and actress in New York. She has a son (Kent Lane), two granddaughters (Kimberly and Kelly)...

665 points

152. Ruth Donnelly

Actress | Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Feisty, ebullient character comedienne who, for three decades, enlivened Hollywood films with her drollery and quick-fire repartee. The daughter of a newspaper editor and music critic, Ruth made her stage debut in the chorus of the touring production 'The Quaker Girl' in 1913. Four years later, she...

659 points

153. Elizabeth Sellars

Actress | The Barefoot Contessa

Hazel-eyed Glaswegian Elizabeth Sellars enrolled at Lincoln's Inn (in central London) to study law with the intention of becoming a barrister. Somehow, this fell through, though she continued to nurture a lifelong interest in the legal profession which kept her reading law books well into her ...

658 points

154. Ginger Rogers

Actress | Kitty Foyle

Ginger Rogers was born Virginia Katherine McMath in Independence, Missouri on July 16, 1911, the daughter of Lela E. Rogers (née Lela Emogene Owens) and William Eddins McMath. Her mother went to Independence to have Ginger away from her husband. She had a baby earlier in their marriage and he ...

652 points

155. Anne Francis

Actress | Forbidden Planet

Anne Francis got into show business quite early in life. She was born on September 16, 1930 in Ossining, New York (which is near Sing Sing prison), the only child of Phillip Ward Francis, a businessman/salesman, and the former Edith Albertson. A natural little beauty, she became a John Robert Powers...

650 points

156. Silvana Mangano

Actress | Dune

Silvana Mangano was born on April 21, 1930 in Rome, Italy and was raised in poverty during World War II. She trained as a dancer for seven years and supported herself as a model. In 1946, at age 16, she won the Miss Rome beauty pageant and through this, she obtained role in a Maria Della Costa film...

644 points

157. Glynis Johns

Actress | Mary Poppins

Glynis Johns was the daughter of actor Mervyn Johns. Best known for her light comedy roles and often playful flirtation, Glynis was born in South Africa while her parents were on tour there (her mother was a concert pianist) but was always proud of her Welsh roots and took delight in playing the ...

632 points

158. Cathy O'Donnell

Actress | The Best Years of Our Lives

Born and raised in Alabama as Ann Steely, O'Donnell attended high school and college in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, then worked as a stenographer to finance a trip to Hollywood, where she was spotted by a talent scout, leading to her being signed to a contract by producer Samuel Goldwyn.

Recognizing ...

626 points

159. Lauren Bacall

Actress | To Have and Have Not

Lauren Bacall was born Betty Joan Perske on September 16, 1924, in New York City. She was the daughter of Natalie Weinstein-Bacal, a Romanian Jewish immigrant, and William Perske, who was born in New Jersey, to Polish Jewish parents. Her family was middle-class, with her father working as a ...

623 points

160. Ellie Lambeti

Actress | To teleftaio psemma

She studied theatre at Marika Kotopouli's drama school. She worked with Karolos Koun Art Theatre. She played at "Blood Wedding" (Federico García Lorca) and "The glass Menagerie" (Tennessee Williams) in the late forties. She also worked with Mrs Katerina (famous Greek actress at that time) and with ...

623 points

161. Natalie Wood

Actress | Rebel Without a Cause

Natalie Wood was an American actress of Russian and Ukrainian descent. She started her career as a child actress and eventually transitioned into teenage roles, young adult roles, and middle-aged roles. She drowned off Catalina Island on November 29, 1981 at age 43.

Wood was born July 20, 1938 in ...

620 points

162. Ingrid van Bergen

Actress | Escape from East Berlin

Ingrid van Bergen was born on June 15, 1931 in Danzig-Langfuhr, Free City of Danzig [now Wrzeszcz, Gdansk, Pomorskie, Poland]. She is an actress, known for Escape from East Berlin (1962), Roses for the Prosecutor (1959) and Was wissen Sie von Titipu? (1972).

620 points

163. Vera Miles

Actress | The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Born in Boise City, Oklahoma, Vera Miles attended school in Pratt, Kansas and Wichita, Kansas. The patrician beauty of Miss Miles won her the title of "Miss Kansas" in 1948, leading soon to small roles in Hollywood films and television series. Fame came to the forthright, spirited Miles when she ...

604 points

164. Peggy Cummins

Actress | Gun Crazy

Peggy Cummins was an Irish actress, appearing in several films between 1940 and 1961. Her best known role was that of trigger-happy bank robber Annie Laurie Starr in the film "Gun Crazy".

In December, 1925, Cummins was born under the name of "Augusta Margaret Diane Fuller" in Prestatyn, Denbighshire...

586 points

165. Eileen Heckart

Actress | The Bad Seed

Versatile, award-winning character actress Eileen Heckart, with the lean, horsey face and assured, fervent gait, was born Anna Eileen Herbert on March 29, 1919, in Columbus, Ohio. An only child, she lived with her mother after her parents separated when she was 2 years old, and was eventually ...

585 points

166. Shirley MacLaine

Actress | Terms of Endearment

Shirley MacLaine was born Shirley MacLean Beaty in Richmond, Virginia. Her mother, Kathlyn Corinne (MacLean), was a drama teacher from Nova Scotia, Canada, and her father, Ira Owens Beaty, a professor of psychology and real estate agent, was from Virginia. Her brother, Warren Beatty, was born on ...

584 points

167. Evelyn Keyes

Actress | The Seven Year Itch

No shrinking violet this one, but despite her talent, vivacity and sheer drive, lovely and alluring blonde Evelyn Keyes would remain for the most part typed as a "B" girl on the silver screen. In spite of her ripe contributions to such superior pictures as Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941), The Jolson ...

582 points

168. Sylvia Syms

Actress | The Queen

London-born Sylvia May Laura Syms hit major film appeal at a relatively young age. Born on January 6, 1934, she was educated at convent schools before receiving dramatic training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. She made her stage debut in a production of "The Apple Cart" in 1954.

A repertory ...

580 points

169. Kathryn Grant

Actress | Anatomy of a Murder

A pert, vivacious and absolutely stunning brunette, the former Kathryn Grant (nee Olive Kathryn Grandstaff) is now known publicly as Kathryn Crosby. She was born in Houston, Texas in 1933 and appeared on stage from age 3. A graduate of the University of Texas and a student nurse at one point, she ...

576 points

170. Phyllis Thaxter

Actress | Superman

This warm and winning, very non-theatrical brunette was born Phyllis St. Felix Thaxter in Portland, Maine, on November 20, 1919. The daughter of Maine Supreme Court Justice Sidney Thaxter, her acting talent came from her mother's side, who was a one-time Shakespearean actress. Phyllis was educated ...

558 points

171. Susan Hayward

Actress | With a Song in My Heart

Susan Hayward was born Edythe Marrener in Brooklyn, New York, on June 30, 1917. Her father was a transportation worker, and Susan lived a fairly comfortable life as a child, but the precocious little redhead had no idea of the life that awaited her. She attended public school in Brooklyn, where she...

555 points

172. Anouk Aimée

Actress | 8½

The daughter of actress Geneviève Sorya, in 1948 she played the part of Juliette in The Lovers of Verona (1949). During the 1950s and 1960s she made various films, including Montparnasse 19 (1958) and La Dolce Vita (1960), but only Lola (1961) , Jacques Demy, and A Man and a Woman (1966) Claude ...

554 points

173. Judith Anderson

Actress | Rebecca

Dame Judith Anderson was born Frances Margaret Anderson on February 10, 1897 in Adelaide, South Australia. She began her acting career in Australia before moving to New York in 1918. There she established herself as one of the greatest theatrical actresses and was a major star on Broadway ...

541 points

174. Cristina Gaioni

Actress | Nella città l'inferno

Actress and model Maria Cristina Gaioni was born in Milan, the daughter of painter Adriano Gaioni (1913-1965). She began in films as an extra after completing drama studies at the Piccolo Teatro in Milan under the auspices of theatrical impresario Giorgio Strehler. Her first film appearance was a ...

541 points

175. Ingrid Bergman

Actress | Casablanca

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 ...

538 points

176. Mildred Natwick

Actress | The Trouble with Harry

A disarming character lady quite capable of scene-stealing, Mildred Natwick was a well-rounded talent with distinctively dowdy features and idiosyncratic tendencies who, over a six-decade period, assembled together a number of unforgettable matrons on stage and (eventually) film and TV. Whimsical, ...

513 points

177. Hermione Baddeley

Actress | The Secret of NIMH

A brash character actress who specialized in cinema, television, and theater, Hermione Youlanda Ruby Clinton-Baddeley was born on November 13, 1906 in Broseley, Shropshire. She was the youngest of four sisters - including Angela Baddeley, also an actress - and her half-brother, Very Rev William ...

512 points

178. Olga Lindo

Actress | The Stars Look Down

Olga Lindo was born on July 13, 1899 in London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Stars Look Down (1940), Time Flies (1944) and Sapphire (1959). She died on May 7, 1968 in London, England, UK.

512 points

179. Sylvie

Actress | La vieille dame indigne

Sylvie was born on January 3, 1883 in Paris, France. She was an actress, known for La vieille dame indigne (1965), The Adultress (1953) and Roger la Honte (1922). She died on January 5, 1970 in Compiègne, Oise, France.

511 points

180. Eleonora Rossi Drago

Actress | Estate violenta

She never found the international cross-over fame destined for Sophia Loren and Gina Lollobrigida, and most American audiences would not recognize her name, but voluptuous, visually stunning Eleonora Rossi Drago certainly made male hearts pulsate in Europe with her scores of princesses and ...

509 points

181. Leora Dana

Actress | Tora! Tora! Tora!

Character actress Leora Dana was born on April 1, 1923. She got a late start in acting, at age 33, with Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot (1957) as Annie Fry. Although this fine actress made only 19 films, many were plum roles. One of the films where Leora stood out was Some Came Running (1958), ...

509 points

182. Nicole Maurey

Actress | The Day of the Triffids

This glamorous French import who was born Nicole Arlette Maurey in a Paris suburb on December 20, 1925, began studying dancing in her early career but switched to films in 1944, where she was cast in various heroine roles.

She made her French film debut with a featured role in the costume period ...

508 points

183. Carla Del Poggio

Actress | Senza pietà

At 15, while she was studying foreign languages and modern dance, she started attending the Italian school for performing arts, Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia of Rome. The director Vittorio De Sica chose her for her debut role in "Maddalena, zero in condotta". At 19, she met her future ...

508 points

184. Claudia Cardinale

Actress | C'era una volta il West

Like many other female Italian film stars, Claudia Cardinale's entry into the business was by way of a beauty pageant. She was 17 years old and studying at the Centro Sperimentale in Rome when she entered a beauty contest, which resulted in her getting a succession of small film roles. Her earthy ...

505 points

185. Lea Padovani

Actress | Tempi nostri - Zibaldone n. 2

Lea Padovani was born on July 28, 1923 in Montalto di Castro, Lazio, Italy. She was an actress, known for The Anatomy of Love (1954), Give Us This Day (1949) and Princess of Cleves (1961). She died on June 23, 1991 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.

505 points

186. Jennifer Jones

Actress | The Towering Inferno

One of the world's most underrated Academy Award-winning actresses, Jennifer Jones was born Phylis Lee Isley on 2 March 1919 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Flora Mae (Suber) and Phillip Ross Isley, who ran a travelling stage show. As a young aspiring actress, she met and fell for young, handsome, aspiring ...

504 points

187. Joan Bennett

Actress | Suspiria

Joan Geraldine Bennett was born on February 27, 1910, in Palisades, New Jersey. Her parents were both successful stage actors, especially her father, Richard Bennett, and often toured the country for weeks at a time. In fact, Joan came from a long line of actors, dating back to the 18th century. ...

492 points

188. Anna Maria Ferrero

Actress | War and Peace

When Americans recall famous Italian film goddesses, the names of Loren, Lollobrigida and Cardinale usually role quickly off the tongue. Not so for this Rome-born lead actress and brunet beauty who nevertheless made a respectable sexy impact in international films during the 1950's and early 1960's.

...

477 points

189. Alida Valli

Actress | The Third Man

Enigmatic, dark-haired foreign import Alida Valli was dubbed "The Next Garbo" but didn't live up to postwar expectations despite her cool, patrician beauty, remote allure and significant talent. Born in Pola, Italy (now Croatia), on May 3, 1921, the daughter of a Tridentine journalist and professor...

445 points

190. Valentina Cortese

Actress | La nuit américaine

Valentina Cortese was born in Milan on New Year's Day of 1923. She made her movie debut in 1940 and played many "ingenue" parts in Italian films of that period, before making a real sensation in Caccia all'uomo (1948) and Tempesta su Parigi (1948), playing both female leads, Fantine and Cosette (...

445 points

191. Lee Grant

Actress | In the Heat of the Night

Academy Award-winner Lee Grant was born Lyova Haskell Rosenthal on October 31, 1925 in Manhattan, New York City, to Witia (Haskell), a teacher and model, and Abraham Rosenthal, an educator and realtor. Her father was of Romanian Jewish descent, and her mother was a Russian Jewish immigrant. Lee ...

443 points

192. Gladys George

Actress | The Roaring Twenties

One of the finest, if relatively short-lived, character actresses of Hollywood, during the 1930s and 1940, Gladys George was born into an acting family who were literally on the road at the time of her birth.

Her parents were actually English and touring with a Shakespearean theater company in ...

443 points

193. Neva Patterson

Actress | All the President's Men

Lean-framed, arch and edgy, somewhat hard-looking, dark-haired Neva Patterson, known by face perhaps as opposed to name, was a familiar presence in heavily-styled drama of the 1950s and 1960s radio, stage, film and TV. Christened Neva Louise Patterson in 1920 (some sources incorrectly state 1922) ...

440 points

194. Mari Törőcsik

Actress | Kölyök

She graduated in 1957 after which she went to work to the National Theatre. Her first role was Solveig in Peer Gynt. She was a student in the College when Zoltan Fabri gave her the main character cast in the film: Korhinta (1955). She is a well-balanced (sense and sensibility) actress, who can act ...

439 points

195. Diane Varsi

Actress | Peyton Place

This lovely, long-haired, fresh-faced and most promising product of the late 1950s was born Diane Marie Antonia Varsi in San Mateo, California, on February 23, 1938, the elder of two daughters of Russell Varsi, a florist, and wife Beatrice DeMerchant. A troubling childhood led to her dropping out ...

439 points

196. Virginia McKenna

Actress | Born Free

Talented flaxen-blonde British star combined her deep loves for acting and for wildlife throughout most her adult life. Born in London, England on June 7, 1931, her family possessed a sturdy theatrical background. Mother Anne was a jazz pianist, composer and cabaret performer while father Terry, an...

438 points

197. Françoise Arnoul

Actress | French Cancan

Leading French actress and dancer, born Annette Marie Mathilde Gautsch in Constantine, Algeria. Francoise was the daughter of French Artillery General Charles-Lionel-Honoré Arnould (1882-1969), who was stationed in Morocco when she was born. Her family moved to Paris in 1945, where she studied ...

438 points

198. Sophia Loren

Actress | La ciociara

Sophia Loren was born as Sofia Scicolone at the Clinica Regina Margherita in Rome on September 20, 1934. Her father Riccardo was married to another woman and refused to marry her mother Romilda Villani, despite the fact that she was the mother of his two children (Sophia and her younger sister ...

437 points

199. Yvonne Sanson

Actress | Il conformista

Yvonne Sanson was born on August 29, 1925 in Thessaloniki, Central Macedonia, Greece. She was an actress, known for The Conformist (1970), Chains (1949) and The Mysterious Rider (1948). She died on July 23, 2003 in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy.

436 points

200. Akemi Negishi

Actress | Nemuri Kyôshirô: Joyôken

Akemi Negishi might never have become an actress but for Josef von Sternberg. The legendary director was in Japan looking for a woman to play the seductress who leads a bunch of soldiers astray in his upcoming (and as it turned out, last) movie _Anatahan (1954)_. But Sternberg spotted Negishi one ...

409 points