Bette Davis Eyes

The first time I saw All About Eve, I didn't really like it that much or appreciate it. I was too young, and I kept expecting Bette Davis to say "Poor Eve" with an accompanying hand gesture--thank you very much Will & Grace. So I put the film back on my Netflix queue and once again I watched it. (The same narrative goes for Sunset Boulevard--that one comes in the mail in a week or two.) Well this time I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated the film, and I also knew that no one was going to say "Poor Eve." Anyway, Bette Davis as Margo Channing is one of the great screen performances of celluloid, and it got me thinking about other iconic roles in the history of film.

I think the two best examples of what I'm looking for are Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's and Peter O'Toole as T.E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia. When one says Audrey Hepburn, one immediately thinks of the little black dress, the tiara--or that hat--the cigarette holder, the wayfarers. One thinks of her drinking coffee and eating a pastry in front of a Tiffany's store window, singing "Moon River" on the fire escape, the rain-drenched kiss with George Peppard after the fraught taxi ride, or any of the other classic scenes. It is the very definition of iconic. Likewise, it isn't hard to see Peter O'Toole with those piercing blue eyes, wearing--well I'm not sure what he's wearing--Arabian garb, riding horses and camels in front of the devastating beauty of all of Arabia (actually filmed in Jordan).

I'm looking for those roles that are not simply iconic--or we have to include Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia in Return of the Jedi--but that are also great performances. Maybe we should include Carrie Fisher. So here's the rest of my initial list:

Meryl Streep as Sophie Zawistowski in Sophie's Choice. One of the greatest performances by one of our greatest actresses. Amazing.

Marlon Brando as Stanely Kowalski in A Streetcar Named Desire (or really any movie). A sweaty Marlon Brando in a torn undershirt yelling "Hey Stella!" There's nothing more to say.

Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz. Maybe it's not a tour de force performance, but what about her checkered blue dress skipping down the yellow brick road? And it's Judy Garland! (Say it in your best Liza Minnelli voice.)

Elizabeth Taylor as Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Because you have to include Elizabeth Taylor, right? One of her best performances.

Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. "All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close up." & "I am big. It's the movies that got small."

Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance in The Shining. "Here's Johnny!"

So here's some more greats that I haven't seen yet. Robert DeNiro in Raging Bull or Taxi Driver, Maria (Renee) Falconetti in La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc, Katharine Hepburn in Long Day's Journey Into Night, Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke, and Marilyn Monroe in The Seven Year Itch. So what do we think? What are the greatest iconic performances?