Admittedly, this is the least diverse of my favorite Oscar winners lists as there are only four here that come after the 1960s. It’s either that I haven’t seen many Best Actress winners from recent years…or I haven’t enjoyed the recent winners’ performances enough to rank them in my top 20. Anyway, this list definitely reflects how much I love films from the classic Hollywood era!

In chronological order, my 20 favorite Best Actress winners!

Claudette Colbert as Ellie Andrews in It Happened One Night
Competition: Grace Moore for One Night of Love; Norma Shearer for The Barretts of Wimpole Street; Bette Davis for Of Human Bondage (write-in nomination)
Other Nominations: Private Worlds; Since You Went Away

Bette Davis as Julie Marsden in Jezebel
Competition: Fay Bainter for White Banners; Wendy Hiller for Pygmalion; Norma Shearer for Marie Antoinette; Margaret Sullavan for Three Comrades
Other Nominations: Of Human Bondage (write-in nomination); Dangerous (WON); Dark Victory; The Letter; The Little Foxes; Now, Voyager; Mr. Skeffington; All About Eve; The Star; What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind
Competition: Bette Davis for Dark Victory; Irene Dunne for Love Affair; Greta Garbo for Ninotchka; Greer Garson for Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Other Nominations: A Streetcar Named Desire (WON)

Ginger Rogers as Kitty Foyle in Kitty Foyle
Competition: Bette Davis for The Letter; Joan Fontaine for Rebecca; Katharine Hepburn for The Philadelphia Story; Martha Scott for Our Town
Other Nominations: N/A

Joan Fontaine as Lina McLaidlaw Aysgarth in Suspicion
Competition: Bette Davis for The Little Foxes; Olivia de Havilland for Hold Back the Dawn; Greer Garson for Blossoms in the Dust; Barbara Stanwyck for Ball of Fire
Other Nominations: Rebecca; The Constant Nymph

Ingrid Bergman as Paula Alquist Anton in Gaslight
Competition: Claudette Colbert for Since You Went Away; Bette Davis for Mr. Skeffington; Greer Garson for Mrs. Parkington; Barbara Stanwyck for Double Indemnity
Other Nominations: For Whom the Bell Tolls; The Bells of St. Mary’s; Joan of Arc; Anastasia (WON); Murder on the Orient Express (Best Actress in a Supporting Role, WON); Autumn Sonata

Joan Crawford as Mildred Pierce for Mildred Pierce
Competition: Ingrid Bergman for The Bells of St. Mary’s; Greer Garson for The Valley of Decision; Jennifer Jones for Love Letters; Gene Tierney for Leave Her to Heaven
Other Nominations: Possessed; Sudden Fear

Jane Wyman as Belinda McDonald for Johnny Belinda
Competition: Ingrid Bergman for Joan of Arc; Olivia de Havilland for The Snake Pit; Irene Dunne for I Remember Mama; Barbara Stanwyck for Sorry, Wrong Number
Other Nominations: The Yearling; The Blue Veil; Magnificent Obsession

Olivia de Havilland as Catherine Sloper in The Heiress
Competition: Jeanne Crain for Pinky; Susan Hayward for My Foolish Heart; Deborah Kerr for Edward, My Son; Loretta Young for Come to the Stable
Other Nominations: Gone with the Wind (Best Actress in a Supporting Role); Hold Back the Dawn; To Each His Own (WON); The Snake Pit

Audrey Hepburn as Princess Ann in Roman Holiday
Competition: Leslie Caron for Lili; Ava Gardner for Mogambo; Deborah Kerr for From Here to Eternity; Maggie McNamara for The Moon Is Blue
Other Nominations: Sabrina; The Nun’s Story; Breakfast at Tiffany’s; Wait Until Dark

Joanne Woodward as Eve White/Eve Black/Jane in The Three Faces of Eve
Competition: Deborah Kerr for Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison; Anna Magnani for Wild Is the Wind; Elizabeth Taylor for Raintree County; Lana Turner for Peyton Place
Other Nominations: Rachel, Rachel; Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams; Mr. & Mrs. Bridge

Sophia Loren as Cesira in Two Women
Competition: Audrey Hepburn for Breakfast at Tiffany’s; Piper Laurie for The Hustler; Geraldine Page for Summer and Smoke; Natalie Wood for Splendor in the Grass
Other Nominations: Marriage Italian Style

Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins in Mary Poppins
Competition: Anne Bancroft for The Pumpkin Eater; Sophia Loren for Marriage Italian Style; Debbie Reynolds for The Unsinkable Molly Brown; Kim Stanley for Seance on a Wet Afternoon
Other Nominations: The Sound of Music; Victor Victoria

Elizabeth Taylor as Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Competition: Anouk Aimée for A Man and a Woman; Ida Kaminska for The Shop on Main Street; Lynn Redgrave for Georgy Girl; Vanessa Redgrave for Morgan!
Other Nominations: Raintree County; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; Suddenly, Last Summer; BUtterfield 8 (WON)

Katharine Hepburn as Christina Drayton in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
Competition: Anne Bancroft for The Graduate; Faye Dunaway for Bonnie and Clyde; Edith Evans for The Whisperers; Audrey Hepburn for Wait Until Dark
Other Nominations: Morning Glory (WON); Alice Adams; The Philadelphia Story; Woman of the Year; The African Queen; Summertime; The Rainmaker; Suddenly, Last Summer; Long Day’s Journey Into Night; The Lion in Winter (WON – tied with Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl); On Golden Pond (WON)

Barbra Streisand as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl
Competition: Katharine Hepburn for The Lion in Winter (TIE); Patricia Neal for The Subject Was Roses; Vanessa Redgrave for Isadora; Joanne Woodward for Rachel, Rachel
Other Nominations: The Way We Were; A Star is Born (Best Original Song, WON); The Prince of Tides (Best Picture); The Mirror Has Two Faces (Best Original Song)

Liza Minnelli as Sally Bowles in Cabaret
Competition: Diana Ross for Lady Sings the Blues; Maggie Smith for Travels with My Aunt; Cicely Tyson for Sounder; Liv Ullmann for The Emigrants
Other Nominations: The Sterile Cuckoo

Diane Keaton as Annie Hall for Annie Hall
Competition: Anne Bancroft for The Turning Point; Jane Fonda for Julia; Shirley MacLaine for The Turning Point; Marsha Mason for The Goodbye Girl
Other Nominations: Reds; Marvin’s Room; Something’s Gotta Give

Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs
Competition: Geena Davis for Thelma & Louise; Laura Dern for Rambling Rose; Bette Midler for For the Boys; Susan Sarandon for Thelma & Louise
Other Nominations: Taxi Driver (Best Actress in a Supporting Role); The Accused (WON); Nell

Frances McDormand as Marge Gunderson in Fargo
Competition: Brenda Blethyn for Secrets & Lies; Diane Keaton for Marvin’s Room; Kristin Scott Thomas for The English Patient; Emily Watson for Breaking the Waves
Other Nominations: Her other nominations came from performances in a supporting role!
Mississippi Burning; Almost Famous; North Country

Am I missing any good winners? Who are your favorite Best Actress winners in Oscar history?