Top 10 Greatest Performances Ever?

Marlon Brando - A Streetcar Named Desire, On The Waterfront, The Godfather, Last Tango In Paris
Gena Rowlands - A Woman Under The Influence
Jack Nicholson - One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
Stacy Keach - Fat City
Giulieta Masina - La Strada
Matti Pellonnpaa - Shadows In Paradise
Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood
Art Carney - Harry and Tonto
Peter Finch - Network
Robert De Niro - Taxi Driver
Ruth Gordon - Harold and Maude
Al Pacino - Scent of a Woman
John Cassavetes - Mikey and Nicky
Gene Hackman - The Conversation
Henry Fonda - The Grapes of Wrath
Jean Gabin - La Grande Illusion
Gian Maria Volonte - The Working-Class Goes To Heaven
Burt Lancaster - Birdman of Alcatraz
Ernest Borgnine - Marty
Shirley Booth - Come Back, Little Sheba
Robert Mitchum - Friends of Eddie Coyle

Nice to see some love for Davis, Sellers, and Rockwell.

To cheat and make it 15 of my own favourites rather than the "best"...

Mickey Rourke - Angel Heart
Al Pacino - Godfather Part 2
Naomi Watts - Mulholland Drive
Scarlet Johansson - Under the Skin
Gabriel Byrne - Millers Crossing
Richard E Grant - Withnail and I
Juliette Binoche - Three Colours Blue
Rutgar Hauer - Blade Runner
Bill Murray - Groundhog Day
Adèle Exarchopoulos - Blue Is The Warmest Colour
Samuel Jackson - Pulp FIction
Sigourney Weaver - Alien
Toshiro Mifune - Yojimbo
Natalie Portman - Black Swan
Malcolm McDowell - A Clockwork Orange

The best performances that I've ever seen in no order:

Peter O'Toole - Lawrence of Arabia
Daniel Day-Lewis - There Will Be Blood (seems that most agree with this one)
Ray Liotta - Goodfellas
Sean Bean - The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
Al Pacino - Scarface
Orson Welles - Citizen Kane
Alain Delon - Le Samourai
Alan Rickman - Die Hard
Robert De Niro - Taxi Driver
Anthony Perkins - Psycho

Its a shame Hans Gruber never worked again after Diehard.

Fixed.

Since I was just talking about Die Hard in the other thread the character name was in my head instead of the actor's.

Probably a good reflection of the performance, I'd agree one of the best screen villains ever.

LEADING ACTOR

1.) Robert De Niro -Taxi Driver (1976)
2.) Robert De Niro -Raging Bull (1980)
3.) Marlon Brando -Last Tango in Paris (1972)
4.) Klaus Kinski -Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972)
5.) Denzel Washington -Malcolm X (1992)
6.) Daniel Day-Lewis -There Will Be Blood (2007)
7.) Al Pacino -Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
8.) Paul Newman -Hud (1963)
9.) Jean-Louis Barrault -Children of Paradise (1945)
10.) Alec Guiness -Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
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LEADING ACTRESS
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1.) Liv Ullmann -Persona (1966)
2.) Bibi Andersson -Persona (1966)
3.) Maria Falconetti -The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
4.) Liv Ullmann -Scenes from a Marriage (1973)
5.) Giulietta Massina -Nights of Cabiria (1957)
6.) Susan Sarandon -Dead Man Walking (1995)
7.) Harriet Andersson -Through a Glass Darkly (1961)
8.) Meryl Streep -Sophie's Choice (1982)
9.) Gena Rowlands -A Woman Under the Influence (1974)
10.) Faye Dunaway -Network (1976)
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SUPPORTING ACTOR
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1.) Samuel L. Jackson -Pulp Fiction (1994)
2.) Orson Welles -The Third Man (1949)
3.) Robert Duvall -Apocalypse Now (1979)
4.) Tom Cruise -Magnolia (1999)
5.) Marlon Brando -The Godfather (1972)
6.) Robert De Niro -Mean Streets (1973)
7.) Peter Finch -Network (1976)
8.) Jack Lemmon -Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
9.) Erich Von Stroheim -The Grand Illusion (1937)
10.) Douglas Rain -2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
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SUPPORTING ACTRESS
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1.) Cloris Leachman-The Last Picture Show (1971)
2.) Nastassja Kinski -Paris, Texas (1984)
3.) Frances McDormand -Fargo (1996)
4.) Juliet Berto -Out 1 (1971)
5.) Eslinda Nunez -Lucia (1968)
6.) Agnes Moorehead -The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
7.) Mariel Hemmingway -Manhattan (1979)
8.) Ingrid Thulin -Cries and Whispers (1972)
9.) Thelma Ritter -Pickup on South Street (1953)
10.) Julianne Moore -Boogie Nights (1997)


OVERALL

1.) Robert DeNiro -Taxi Driver (1976)
2.) Robert DeNiro -Raging Bull (1980)
3.) Liv Ullmann -Persona (1966)
4.) Bibi Andersson -Persona (1966)
5.) Samuel L. Jackson -Pulp Fiction (1994)
6.) Maria Falconetti -The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
7.) Marlon Brando -Last Tango in Paris (1972)
8.) Cloris Leachman -The Last Picture Show (1971)
9.) Klaus Kinski -Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972)
10.) Denzel Washington -Malcolm X (1992)