Stars’ ‘personal best’ portrayals recalled

REDFORD AND NEWMAN. Exceptional screen pairing.

Popular film luminaries get to play many roles in the course of their decades-long careers, but when all is said and done, they are remembered for only a few of them—unless they happen to be Meryl Streep, whose filmography spells versatility incarnate—a virtual gallery of memorable portrayals!

Most other lead players are remembered for their first stellar appearance, like Peter O’Toole’s titular performance in “Lawrence of Arabia.” He was very judiciously cast in that film, because he embodied the idiosyncratic essence of the controversial character he was tapped to play.

Ditto for Daniel Day-Lewis, whose bravura thespic triumph as the physically constricted and tormented title character in “My Left Foot,” is still cited in thespic circles as a prime example of “total” characterization.

For the late Judy Garland, the portrayal that “made” her was the adolescent character of Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz.” Later, Garland was a standout in “A Star Is Born” and won an Oscar for her arresting performance in “Judgement at Nuremberg,” but her winsome, winning performance as Dorothy is still her personal best in the eyes of many of her diehard fans.

Instructively enough, when Garland’s daughter, Liza Minnelli, acted in the theater, she won an award for her performance in the musical, “Flora, The Red Menace,” but she’s remembered most for her personification of Sally Bowles in “Cabaret.”

Barbra Streisand excelled as a performer in “Yentl,” which she also directed, but some fans dote on her ditzily endearing star turn in “The Way We Were”—where she made up a great screen love team with Robert Redford. For his part, Redford is remembered for his other exceptional screen pairing—with Paul Newman in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”!

Other “signature” portrayals: Ingrid Bergman in “Joan of Arc.” Joan Crawford in “Mildred Pierce.” Bette Davis in “All About Eve.” —And, jointly, Crawford and Davis were corrosive together in “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?”

More: Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner both for “The King and I.” Natalie Wood and Rita Moreno for “West Side Story.” Julie Andrews for “The Sound of Music” and “Mary Poppins.” Marlon Brando in “A Streetcar Named Desire.”

For her part, Vivien Leigh, Brando’s costar in that exceedingly dramatic film is also remembered for “Gone With The Wind,” the sweeping Civil War epic that made her a big star!