Ah, I am going to have to put some thought into this one.

Thanks...I think. Okay, I've posted my favorites on my blog.

How on earth did you get to meet the beautiful Gong Li! She's incredible!

Jack:

Look forward to your list.

Pearl:

Excellent list. Thanks so much.

Cocoa:

I was in China doing research and scouting locations for a movie. While there I met with many Chinese directors and actors. Spending time with Gong Li while she was shooting a film was a great experience. Her craft is second to none.

Ever since my first visit to San Simeon - site of W.R. Hearst's huge estate, I have been fasinated by that era and Marion Davies. She has had a bad reputation as a bad actress whose only claim to fame was being Hearst's mistress. Perhaps we can thank Orson Welles and Citizen Kane for that.

Never mind the fact that she was his companion for decades, or the fact in the 1940s she loaned Hearst millions and saved him from bankruptcy.

Charlie Chaplin considered her to be one of the world's best comediennes. The problem was Hearst kept trying to push her to dramatic roles.

Watch the silent movie Show People - she is hysterical and has a self-deprecating sense of humor. Then watch Marianne - This came out just as the "talkies" were coming and if I am not mistaken, this was originally a silent movie then re-shot with dialogue.

It is a horrible movie - and she has a dramatic role.

One of the rules at "The Ranch" - San Simeon - for all guests was a strict limit on alcohol - and if you were caught smuggling in your own bottle your suitcase was left at the door with chauffeur to take you out. That happened to David Niven.

I believe the main reason for this was Marion's problem with booze - and one can wonder if she felt trapped doing movies she hated versus ones that would make the world laugh, and had she continued, given her immortality.

Glad you got one of my favorites Irene Dunne. I also like Martha Plimpton a lot. And Hope Davis. Lauren Bacall.

Blanche Baker, Margaret Hamilton, Barbara O'Neil, Brigit Bardot, Isabel Adjani, Kasia Orzazewski, Hattie McDaniel, Agnes Moorehead, Esla Lanchester, Maggie Smith, Thelma Ritter, Eleanor Parker, Alexis Smith, Jenny Agutter, Sally Field, Irene Papas, Gevevieve Bujold, Julie Harris, Joan Hackett, Claudette Colbert

Great list! I'm heartened to see someone remember Mae Clark besides me! I was tagged a week ago and it was a very difficult list to compile - more so because of who I had to leave off. I have many favorites.
My list:
The Shelf: meme: 20 actresses

" ... As always, I'm tagging all my reader-commenters and lurkers ... "

ok, here goes,
(even though i despise the political views of some of the actresses, [ and love the views and personal lives of some of them ],
i still think they fulfill the criteria of,
" ... screen a film—any film, even a lousy movie—just to watch a particular actress weave her magical spell ... ")

Marlene Dietrich, Colette Colbert, Maggie Smith, Vanessa Redgrave, Melina Mercouri, Deborah Kerr, Sophia Loren, Kim Novak, Ursula Andress, Kate Blanchett, Meryl Streep, Mira Furlan, Melanie Griffith, Jamie Lee Curtis, Julia Roberts, Meg Ryan, Sandra Bullock, Peta Wilson, Alberta Watson, Demi Moore

I'm going for

Judi Dench, Brenda Fricker, Kate Blanchet, Meryl Streep, Anne Bancroft, Honor Blackman, Rachel Weiss, Emma Thompson, Susan Sarandon, Ciara Knightly, Scarlet Johansen, Kathy Bates, Helen Mirren, Annette Benning, Sarah Jessica Parker, Maureen O'Hara, Pamela Grier, Gwyneth Paltrow, Uma Thurman and Dakota Fanning.

Robert I am curious do yo rate highlty any contemporary actresses ?

Well, here's my 20 for today. . .another day might be 20 more:

Pola Negri, Clara Bow, Claudette Colbert, Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Gloria Swanson, Mabel Normand, Jean Harlow, Barbara Stanwyck, Mae Murray, Vivian Leigh, Colleen Moore, Greer Garson, Patsy Kelly, Thema Todd, Dolores Costello, Jean Arthur, Lana Turner, Joan Blondell, Jane Powell.

And Bill - speaking of Marion Davies, get yourself a copy of "Silent Stars" by Jeanine Basinger. She has a wonderful chapter appreciating Miss Davies.

Correction: Do you rate highly any contemporary actresses

The first time I ever laid eyes on Frances Dee was when I saw "I Walked With A Zombie", and I was immediately fetched by her breathtaking beauty. Those dark eyes!

I'd add Jane Greer, if only because of her performance in "Out of the Past" (one of my all-time favorite films).

Bill:

Show People is one of my all time favorite movies. Davies is just brilliant, Lucy before Lucy.

Welles, before he died, said that he "did a dirty" to Marion Davies with "Citizen Kane" and has regretted it ever since.

Yehudit:

Irene Dunne is one of the Hollywood greats. Never get tired of watching her, even in the strange but compelling "Stingaree."

Martha Plimpton and Hope Davis. As Offspring #3 would say: "Very in-te-resting."

Miranda:

Amazing list. I need to screen a few movies to catch up to you.

JC:

Thanks so much for dropping in. I left a comment on your fine site. So glad to see another movie lover pay tribute to Mae Clarke.

Do stay in touch.

Exdem:

Wonderful list. Obviously, we leave politics aside.

Ted:

Great job. Pam Grier also made Dirty Harry's fine list.

I like many contemporary actresses, but don't feel like committing professional suicide—aside from being an outspoken Hollywood conservative—by rating people I know and work with.

Christopher:

Pola Negri was offered the lead role in "Sunset Boulevard" and turned it down. Swanson was second choice and wisely accepted. I believe Negri's last appearance is in Disney's 1964 "The Moonspinners" starring Hayley Mills.

And yes, the Basinger book is excellent. She understands how Hollywood works in contrast to most film writers who are slaves to the tediously wrong-headed autear theory.

Paco:

Dee was incredible. She was married to actor Joel McCrea for 57 years. In fact, McCrea died on their 57th wedding anniversary.

Jane Greer should have had a brilliant career. See the excellent book: "Dark City Dames" by Eddie Muller.

Robert-
I think Mae Clark was fantastic in the vastly underrated Waterloo Bridge - her eyes and face expressed so much anguish, love, despair- it was heart wrenching.
I also loved her in Lady Killer with Cagney, not to mention her famous turn in Public Enemy.
I saw on imdb a long time ago that she had a string of bit parts and uncredited appearances in the 50s and on.

JC:

Most people have only seen the Vivien Leigh-Robert Taylor version of "Waterloo Bridge." Hence, Mae Clarke's—born: Violet Mary Klotz— powerful performance has been relegated to back seat status.

I think that Clarke's fine work has been completely overshadowed by the grapefruit in the face scene from "Public Enemy." It's become, in essence, her movie legacy to the exclusion of all else. A real shame. And yes, like so many leading and feature actors from the 20'and 30's her career suffered a serious decline and it was all but over by the mid 30's.

It's hard to get to the top in Hollywood, even harder to stay on top for more than, oh, six years.

BTW, I added you to my Hollywood blogroll. You have a great site. Keep up the fine work.

Robert - I was always a sucker for Pola, ever since I saw her in the silly (yet compelling) "Eyes Of The Mummy." She and Swanson are the two women I instantly point to whenever I want to tell people "THIS is a movie star!"

As far as "Sunset," I always wanted to meet Billy Wilder, not only to thank him for that wonderful movie, but to ask him "I know you asked Pola Negri and Mary Pickford to play Norma before you got Gloria Swanson - but did you ever think of Theda Bara?" I love Swanson, but. . .boy, to think of Bara in that role. What would she have been like?

This one will be fun. Give me a day or two. By the way, I love your list of classic actresses, and can pretty much agree with you on every one. I have a few classic actresses still up my sleeve, though, so there won't be unforgivable, unimaginative overlap.

My favorite actresses are Norma Shearer, Claudette Colbert, Ingrid Bergman, Marjorie Main, Loretta Young, Jean Harlow, Carole Lombard and Katharine Hepburn.

Dear Robert: Enjoy DEADLINE U.S.A.

Robert,

I love your list, but you didn't mention my favorite actress of all-time! Would you care to comment on Myrna Loy?

There was a time when I *so* wanted to be Nick Charles...

As a lurker, I took the liberty of chiming in. I kept thinking of more and more as I read others' lists. Thanks!