I do think Meryl Streep is the greatest actress ever. She is versatile and can play any type of role in any genre. Streep elevates every film she is in and disappears into the role. I enjoy all her performances, even when she is in a film that I don't really like. What do you think? Is she the best? If not, who is?
shareI think by the time she gets to Meryl's age, Kate Winslet may take the mantle. She has already done more variety than Meryl Streep has.
shareKate Winslet and Cate Blanchett are better than Meryl imo. Although Meryl was excellent in Doubt, I wish Cherry Jones took that part. For Devil Wears Prada, I wish Kristin Scott Thomas played Miranda. She was supposed to be Anna Wintour, a rail thin, British, cold as steel boss. Why always Meryl?
She's just getting nominated for Oscars just for being Meryl.
shareWinslet is underrated
shareI have never liked Meryl Streep. When "Out of Africa" hit the theaters, all I could remember of her from that movie was her long hair. She literally leaves no impression on me except someone who is trying to act. If I can see the effort behind the acting, it takes me completely out of the movie or whatever it is I am watching. At that point, for me, it's not acting.
I know some people love her, but I am not one of them.
I have many actresses I enjoy; I don't know that I could name any of them "the greatest." Not every actress, or actor, is right for every role. Kathryn Hepburn, Jean Harlow, Lauren Bacall, Marilyn Monroe, Barbara Stanwyck, Bette Davis, Vivian Leigh, Madeline Kahn, Diane Keaton, Jodie Foster, Sissy Spacek, Geraldine Page, Maggie Smith, Holly Hunter, Frances McDormand, Jessica Lange, Angelina Jolie, and Judi Dench are some of my favorites.
Good list and perspective on acting
shareWell said, Missy. Her "acting" gets in the way of her acting.
And let's face it, she's no beauty. I've cringed in movies where she's the love interest.
Her sitting front and center at the Oscars in a big, red dress came off a tad obnoxious. Queen Meryl reigns over her kingdom. Gimme a break. She’s talented no doubt, but overused. She has a lot of facial expressions and vocal inflections that she masterfully uses, but by now we have seen them all, many many times. It’s almost like you could create a Streep algorithm and plug it into a robot and spin out a predictibly good performance. I know directors love a sure thing, but geez take a risk, go for the unusual. There are a lot of actresses in her age range who need work.
shareI don’t find her watchable at all and her choice of films is usually Oscar bait, she’s had that luxury to pick films since the late 70’s. Many of her contemporaries haven’t.
Glenn Close who’s never won an Oscar is a far better actress in my opinion and has starred in much more memorable films. For a long time Judi Dench and Helen Mirren never had such substantial leading roles as Streep, but have given better performances too.
The Oscars are meaningless and have been for decades.
Close, Dench & Mirren are among the greats... 👍
shareClose, Dench, and Mirren are great, but I still think Streep is better.
shareThis has been the argument for decades, but it really doesn’t hole up to scrutiny anymore. It’s true that in the first seven years of her film career, three of her films went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, (The Deer Hunter, Kramer vs. Kramer & Out of Africa), however in the subsequent thirty-five years and fifteen Oscar nods, only one of her films achieved as much as a nomination for Best Picture, (The Hours), and as with majority of her films since 1985, Meryl’s performance garnered the only Oscar nomination the films received.
Point being, Meryl doesn’t really have the luxury of picking the great roles, but rather manages to get good roles in mediocre films and elevates the material.
Also, when people say the Oscars are meaningless, the fact is this translates to they don’t agree with the Academy’s choices, (that's fine, I don't always either), but in truth, there’s no one whose star is so big that they’re not clamoring for a front row seat when they’re nominated, including the richest man on the planet, (Jeffrey Bezos), when an Amazon production was nominated for Best Picture.
Isabelle Huppert would be my choice. Highly underrated, despite being aclaimed... 😉
Elizabeth Taylor. Incredible actress and icon... 😎
Good thread... What about actresses from the 40s & 50s?
From the 40s and 50s, some of my favourites would be Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, Bette Davis, Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, and Doris Day.
shareShe's not . Streep is the greatest impersonator and has the best range (though Cloris Leachman gives her a good run in that dept), but that doesn't equal raw natural talent; not to say that Streep is a bad actor, but take away the mimicry/range, and you'd have a B+ actor.
shareIn my opinion, Meryl Streep is a very talented actress and a very pretty lady. However, my favorite actress in the entire world is Helen Hunt!
share