A Little R-E-S-P-E-C-T
34. LEA THOMPSON (actress, Back to the Future, "Caroline in the City"). "My favorite movie heroine is Ruth Gordon in Harold and Maude, because she just had so much gusto in her life--nothing ever got in the way of her enjoying each day."
35. RACHEL TICOTIN (actress, Don Juan DeMarco, Total Recall). "This may sound strange, but I admired the mother character JoBeth Williams played in the Poltergeist movies. She was brave and strong and funny and warm--she was everything a mother should be."
36. BONNIE HUNT (actress, Jumanji, Only You). "One of my favorites was Claudette Colbert in Midnight. She arrives in Paris with nothing but the evening gown on her back, and within a few hours she has turned the entire city upside town--people fall all over them-selves, just trying to make her happy. I thought she was just great."
37. TONI COLLETTE (actress, Muriel's Wedding, The Efficiency Expert). "Judy Davis in My Brilliant Career was a great inspiration to me. Her character there is so forthright and strong. I've always admired Davis in the choices she makes and the way she transforms into every character she plays--I guess I've always admired actors who can forget who they are and get into somebody else, leaving themselves behind."
38. MARY STUART MASTERSON (actress, Fried Green Tomatoes, Bed of Roses). "I just loved Katharine Hepburn in Woman of the Year. She was bright and funny, yet romantic too. But then I'm crazy about those romantic-style movies--that's why I did Bed of Roses."
39. CHRISTINA APPLEGATE (actress, Wild Bill, "Married...With Children"). "I'd have to select Meryl Streep in Sophie's Choice. I don't think anyone has ever played a char-acter in so much unspoken pain. If we're talking about strong women, I must mention Elizabeth Taylor's character in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? There's a strong woman for you--she's amazing,"
40. JOELY FISHER (actress, "Ellen," I'll Do Anything). "My choice is Sally Field in Norma Rae. She is certainly what everyday women identify with. But isn't it interesting that in films today we haven't really tapped into what a true heroine is? The heroines I see in my life are women in the armed forces, and mothers. My mom [Connie Stevens] is my true heroine."
41. LAURA SAN GIACOMO (actress, sex, lies, and videotape, The Stand). "Katharine Hepburn was an early heroine of mine. What pictures? The Philadelphia Story, Bringing Up Baby, Adam's Rib, Woman of the Year, Pat and Mike--the list goes on and on. I guess she was a heroine to me because she was always playing characters who spoke their mind, yet she was also vulnerable enough to have her mind changed. She wasn't just arbitrarily sticking up for herself--she was going to learn from things, as well."
42. DIANE LADD (actress, Rambling Rose, Black Widow). "You know who really showed strength and vulnerability at the same time? Simone Signoret in Room at the Top. She showed sex and earthiness, too--I loved her for that, because she was really like the epitome of all women."
43. KATHLEEN QUINLAN (actress, Apollo 13, The Doors). "I think immediately of Luise Rainer in The Good Earth. She was absolutely translucent, a completely gentle fighting spirit. She reminds me of Meryl Streep, come to think of it."
44. CLEA LEWIS (actress, Diabolique, "Ellen"). "I liked the little girl who played Veruca Salt in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, because she was enthusiastic and she knew exactly what she wanted--everything, right now. I also admired Audrey Hepburn's Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's, because she's elegant, self-created, yet vulnerable--a strange combination of street-smart and dreamer. Plus, she really knew how to dress for a walk in the park."
45. TALIA SHIRE (actress, The Godfather, Rocky), "I admired Barbara Stanwyck in just about everything, but Stella Dallas was extraordinary because of the range the role allowed her to show. Stanwyck could be tough, she could be ten-der, she could be anything. Once I met her, and I remarked how uncomfortable I felt with acting. She told me. 'I look at each role like trying on a new dress.' That helped me,"
46. NANCY TRAVIS (actress, "Almost Perfect," 3 Men and a Baby). "I wanted to become an actress because of Vivien Leigh's portrayal of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind. I admired how colorful she was, how she would fly in the face of decorum and what was expected of her. I admired her strength, too, her burning desire to have it all."
47. MARY STEENBURGEN (actress, Melvin and Howard, Nixon). "When I was growing up, I not only admired, I wanted to be Ann-Margret--she was always playing girls who caused a big fuss but could somehow handle all the extra attention. I bought a yellow dress which was a version of what she wore in Bye Bye Birdie. I put it on and stood in front of a full-length mirror: I was a flat-chested 10-year-old with kinky, dark hair, and somehow it just wasn't the same."
48. KATHY NAJIMY (actress, Sister Act, Hocus Pocus). "My favorite movie heroine is Sandra Bullock in Speed, because she went through bombings, fires, deaths, terrorists, medians and make-outs with Keanu Reeves--and never once smudged her makeup or wrinkled her miniskirt."
49. PATRICIA KALEMBER (actress, "Sisters," The Unspoken Truth). "I admired Barbara Stanwyck in a picture she made with Burt Lancaster called Sorry, Wrong Number. Stanwyck wasn't playing her usual tough cookie--she was neurotic, weak and afraid. That was a big departure for her, but you'd never have known it; she never made a comment on the character."
50. LONI ANDERSON (actress, Stroker Ace, Sorry, Wrong Number). "I especially admired Sophia Loren in Two Women. I certainly related to the mother-daughter relationship, though I've never been through that harrowing an experience. I was overwhelmed by Loren's portrayal of such a good mother."
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Bob Thomas interviewed women about their favorite screen villainesses for the April '95 issue of Movieline.
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