What actress has the best filmography?

Tough to say. Moreau and Deneuve have pretty awesome filmographies from the late 50s to the 70s. Some Hollywood actresses have brilliant filmographies for like 10 or 15 years but I can't think of anyone able to sustain them longer than that.

Greta Garbo has always been my go-to for this. It'd also be tough to argue against Liv Ullmann as well.

The great classic Japanese actresses have some pretty terrific filmographies, they were lucky that Naruse, Ozu, Mizoguchi.. were very female-centred directors who created some fascinating, complex women characters. I'm particularly fond of Hideko Takamine's filmography, she's also less "stuck" to one or two of these directors but actually did a bunch of great/little gems movies starring in less famous directors movies (Matsuyama, Kinoshita, Yamamoto, Toyoda...). Liv Ullmann with Bergman too (without forgetting her few films with Jan Troell).

In Hollywood it's harder for me to single out an actress, you have actresses like Diate keaton or Faye Dunaway who have like 2 or so stone cold classics masterpieces and then their filmos quicky become much less interesting and actresses like Meryl Streep who perhaps don't have such unanimous masterpieces but a much more consistent and interesting filmo overall. My girl Gena Rowlands is one of the closest "in type" to the Japaneses/Ullmann actresses. Some classic actresses are heavy contenders too, anyway, I have to think about it more to say who I would pick in Hollywood...

I say K. Hepburn but I'm not objective when it comes to Katie...

From the active ones probably Mirren and Dench but Streep and Keaton have also solid filmographies.

True so does Claudia Cardinale :


C'era una volta il West (Leone)
Rocco e i suoi fratelli / Il gattopardo (Visconti)
8½ (Fellini)
Fitzcarraldo (Herzog)

That's a rock solid top 5 to what you can add a bunch of very good Italian movies.


I was thinking about Laura Dern filmo, very interesting and differents stuff.