My Picks: The 50 Best Male Performances in Film

 Just like my previous post, I'll be listing my top fifty male performances. Again, I'm not limiting myself to one role per actor.

My top 50, in alphabetical order by film title:

Humphrey Bogart as Charlie Allnut in The African Queen (1951, John Huston)

Harold Russell as Homer Parish in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946, William Wyler)

Cary Grant as Dudley The Bishop's Wife (1947, Henry Koster)

Humphrey Bogart as Rick Blaine in Casablanca (1942, Michael Curtiz)

Paul Newman as Brick Pollitt in Cat On a Hot Tin Roof (1958, Richard Brooks)

Jack Lemmon as Joe Clay in Days of Wine and Roses (1962, Blake Edwards)

Sidney Poitier as Noah Cullen & 

Tony Curtis as John Jackson in The Defiant Ones (1958, Stanley Kramer)

Fred MacMurray as Walter Neff in Double Indemnity (1944, Billy Wilder)

James Dean as Cal Trask in East of Eden (1955, Elia Kazan)

Andy Griffith as Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes in A Face In the Crowd (1957, Elia Kazan)

Burt Lancaster as Milton Warden,

Frank Sinatra as Angelo Maggio &

Montgomery Clift as Robert Prewitt in From Here to Eternity (1953, Fred Zinnemann)

Bing Crosby as Father Chuck O'Malley in Going My Way (1944, Leo McCarey)

Clark Gable as Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind (1939, Victor Fleming)

Henry Fonda as Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath (1940, John Ford)

Spencer Tracy as Matt Drayton in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967, Stanley Kramer)

Henry Travers as Clarence &

James Stewart as George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life (1946, Frank Capra)

Clark Gable as Peter Warne in It Happened One Night (1934, Frank Capra)

Gregory Peck as Father Francis Chisholm in The Keys of the Kingdom (1944, John Stahl)

Dana Andrews as Mark McPherson in Laura (1944, Otto Preminger)

Sidney Poitier as Homer Smith in Lilies of the Field (1963, Ralph Nelson)

Ray Milland as Don Birnam in The Lost Weekend (1945, Billy Wilder)

Peter O'Toole as King Henry II in The Lion in Winter (1968, Anthony Harvey)

Kirk Douglas as Vincent van Gough in Lust for Life (1956, Vincent Minnelli)

Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon (1941, John Huston)

Frank Sinatra as Frankie Machine in The Man With the Golden Arm (1955, Otto Preminger)

Ernest Borgnine as Marty Piletti in Marty (1955, Delbert Man)

Dick Van Dyke as Bert in Mary Poppins (1964, Robert Stevenson)

Gary Cooper as Longfellow Deeds in Mr. Deeds Comes to Town (1936, Frank Capra)

Cary Grant as T.R. Devlin in Notorious (1946, Alfred Hitchcock)

Marlon Brando as Terry Malloy in On the Waterfront (1954, Elia Kazan)

Montgomery Clift as George Eastman in A Place in the Sun (1951, George Stevens)

Gary Cooper as Lou Gehrig in The Pride of the Yankees (1942, Sam Wood)

Leslie Howard as Henry Higgins in Pygmalion (1938, Anthony Asquith)

James Dean as Jim Stark in Rebel Without a Cause (155, Nicholas Ray)

Gregory Peck as Joe Bradley in Roman Holiday (1953, William Wyler)

Joseph Cotten as Charles Oakley in Shadow of a Doubt (1943, Alfred Hitchcock)

Gene Kelly as Don Lockwood in Singin' In the Rain (1952, Stanley Donen)

Warren Beatty as Bud Stamper in Splendor In the Grass (1961, Eliz Kazan)

James Mason as Norman Maine in A Star Is Born (1954, George Cukor)

Robert Walker as Bruno Anthony in Strangers On a Train (1951, Alfred Hitchcock)

William Holden as Joe Gillis in Sunset Blvd (1950, Billy Wilder)

Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch & Phillip Alford as Jim Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962, Robert Mulligan)

James Stewart as John "Scottie" Ferguson in Vertigo (1958, Alfred Hitchcock)

Robert Taylor as Roy Cronin in Waterloo Bridge (1940, Mervyn LeRoy)

Laurence Olivier as Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights (1939, William Wyler)

My Picks: The 50 Best Female Performances in Film

I was inspired to do this post/meme after seeing it featured on Defiant Success and True Classics. (I'll also be posting my top 50 male performances later in the week.)  I am not, however, limiting myself to only one role per actor. Many of the actresses on this list are remembered for several performances and I think more than just one should be celebrated.

My top 50, in order by film title:

Katharine Hepburn as Rose Sayer in The African Queen (1951, John Huston).

Bette Davis as Margo Channing in All About Eve (1950, Joseph Mankiewicz)

Myrna Loy as Milly Stephenson in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946, William Wyler)

Judy Holliday as Emma "Billie" Dawn in Born Yesterday (1950, George Cukor.)

Celia Johnson as Laura Jesson in Brief Encounter (1945, David Lean)

Ingrid Bergman as Ilsa Lund in Casablanca (1942, Michael Curtiz)

Elizabeth Taylor as Margaret "Maggie" Pollitt in Cat On a Hot Tin Roof (1958, Ricard Brooks)

Shirley MacLaine as Martha Dobie in The Children's Hour (1961, William Wyler)

Bette Davis as Judith Traherne in Dark Victory (1939, Edmund Goulding)

Lee Remick as Kirsten Clay in Days of Wine and Roses (1962, Blake Edwards)

Barbara Stanwyck as Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity (1944, Billy Wilder)

Patricia Neal as Marcia Jeffries in A Face In the Crowd (1957, Elia Kazan)

Deborah Kerr as Karen Holmes in From Here to Eternity (1953, Fred Zinnemann)

Ingrid Bergman as Paula Anton in Gaslight (1944, George Cukor)

Rita Hayworth as Gilda Farrell in Gilda (1946, Charles Vidor)

Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind (1939, Victor Fleming)

Greta Garbo as Grusinskaya in Grand Hotel (1932, Edmund Goulding)

Katharine Hepbun as Christian Drayton in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967, Stanley Kramer)

Ida Lupino as Marie in High Sierra (1941, Raoul Walsh)

Susan Hayward as Barbara Graham in I Want to Live! (1958, Robert Wise)

Lana Turner as Lora Meredith in Imitation of Life (1959, Douglas Sirk)

Susan Kohner as Sarah Jane Johnson in Imitation of Life (1959, Douglas Sirk)

Donna Reed as Mary Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life (1946, Frank Capra)

Jane Wyman as Belinda McDonald in Johnny Belinda (1948, Jean Negulesco)

Claire Trevor as Gaye Dawn in Key Largo (1948, John Huston)

Gene Tierney as Ellen Berent in Leave Her to Heaven (1945, John Stahl)

Katharine Hepburn as Queen Eleanor in The Lion In Winter (1968, Anthony Harvey) 

Greer Garson as Marie Curie in Madame Curie (1943, Mervyn LeRoy)

Ginger Rogers as Susan Applegate in The Major and the Minor (1942, Billy Wilder)

Mary Astor as Brigit O'Shaughnessy in The Maltese Falcon (1941, John Huston)

Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins in Mary Poppins (1964, Robert Stevenson)

Joan Crawford as Mildred Pierce in Mildred Pierce (1945, Michael Curtiz)

Ingrid Bergman as Alicia Hubberman in Notorious (1946, Alfred Hitchcock)

Bette Davis as Charlotte Vale in Now, Voyager (1942, Irving Rapper)

Eva Marie Saint as Edie Doyle in On the Waterfront (1954, Eliz Kazan)

Joan Fontaine as The Second Mrs. DeWinter in Rebecca (1940, Alfred Hitchcock)

Audrey Hepburn as Princess Ann in Roman Holiday (1953, William Wyler)

Audrey Hepburn as Sabrina Fairchild in Sabrina (1954, Billy Wilder)

Claudette Colbert as Anne Hilton in Since You Went Away (1944, John Cromwell)

Olivia de Havilland as Virginia Cunningham in The Snake Pit (1948, Anatole Litvak)

Dorothy McGuire as Helen Capel in The Spiral Staircase (1946, Robert Siodmak)

Natalie Wood as Deanie Loomis in Splendor In the Grass (1961, Elia Kazan)

Judy Garland as Esther Blodgett/Vicki Lester in A Star Is Born (1954, George Cukor)

Barbara Stanwyck as Stella Dallas in Stella Dallas (1937, King Vidor)

Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond in Sunset Blvd (1950, Billy Wilder)

Grace Kelly as Frances Stevens in To Catch a Thief (1955, Alfred Hitchcock)

Lauren Bacall as Marie "Slim" Browning in To Have and Have Not (1944, Howard Hawkes)

Mary Badham as Jean Louise "Scout" Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962, Robert Mulligan)

Kim Novak as Madeleine Elster/Judy Barton in Vertigo (1958, Alfred Hitchcock) 

Merle Oberon as Cathy Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights (1939, William Wyler)

This was so hard. I seriously have no idea how I'm going to finish my top 50 male performances. Unfortunately,  I had to leave a lot of great roles out (Adam's Rib, Spellbound) but these are my all-time favorites, and I hope you enjoyed this post.