Greatest Film Performances
of the 1970s (US/UK)
Criteria: Film Performances of the 1970s are ranked based on initial and lasting acclaim, popular and cultural recognition, plus influence. In order to qualify for this list the performance has to come from a predominately English-language film produced or co-produced by American or British production companies.
Actor - Film Title (Year of Release)
1. Marlon Brando
The Godfather (1972)
2. Robert De Niro
Taxi Driver (1976)
3. Jack Nicholson
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
4. Al Pacino
The Godfather Part II (1974)
5. George C. Scott
Patton (1970)
6. Al Pacino
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
7. Gene Hackman
The French Connection (1971)
8. Diane Keaton
Annie Hall (1977)
9. Jack Nicholson
Chinatown (1974)
10. Ellen Burstyn
Alice Don't Live Here Anymore (1974)
11. Gena Rowland
A Woman Under Influence (1974)
12. Al Pacino
Serpico (1973)
13. Jane Fonda
Klute (1971)
14. Dustin Hoffman
Kramer vs Kramer (1979)
15. Peter Finch
Network (1976)
16. Al Pacino
The Godfather (1972)
17. Marlon Brando
Last Tango in Paris (1972)
18. Malcolm McDowell
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
19. Peter Sellers
Being There (1979)
20. Robert De Niro
The Deer Hunter (1978)
21. Jack Nicholson
The Last Detail (1973)
22. Jon Voight
Coming Home (1978)
23. Louise Fletcher
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
24. Sylvester Stallone
Rocky (1976)
25. Christopher Walken
The Deer Hunter (1978)
26. Jane Fonda
Coming Home (1978)
27. Jack Lemmon
Save the Tiger (1973)
28. Robert De Niro
The Godfather Part II (1974)
29. Robert De Niro
Mean Streets (1973)
30. Gene Hackman
The Conversation (1974)
31. Dustin Hoffman
Lenny (1974)
32. Sally Field
Norma Rae (1979)
33. Robert Duvall
Apocalypse Now (1979)
34. Al Pacino
...And Justice for All (1979)
35. Robert Duvall
The Great Santini (1979)
36. Laurence Olivier
Sleuth (1972)
37. Jack Nicholson
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
38. Gene Hackman
I Never Sang for My Father (1970)
39. Topol
Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
40. Art Carney
Harry & Tonto (1974)
41. Richard Dreyfuss
The Goodbye Girl (1977)
42. Faye Dunaway
Network (1976)
43. Sissy Spacek
Carrie (1976)
44. Faye Dunaway
Chinatown (1974)
45. Melvin Douglas
I Never Sang for My Father (1970)
46. Gene Wilder
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
47. Peter O'Toole
The Ruling Class (1972)
48. Liza Minneli
Cabaret (1972)
49. Michael Caine
Sleuth (1972)
50. James Caan
The Godfather (1972)
51. Joel Grey
Cabaret (1972)
52. Robert Duvall
The Godfather (1972)
53. James Earl Jones
The Great White Hope (1970)
54. Alec Guinness
Star Wars (1977)
55. Meryl Streep
Kramer vs Kramer (1979)
56. Jason Robards
All the President's Men (1976)
57. Laurence Olivier
Marathon Man (1976)
58. Peter Finch
Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)
59. Glenda Jackson
A Touch of Class (1973)
60. Harvey Keitel
Mean Streets (1973)
61. Julie Christie
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
62. Gene Wilder
Young Frankenstein (1974)
63. Jill Clayburgh
An Unmarried Woman (1978)
64. Gary Busey
The Buddy Holly Story (1978)
65. Tatum O'Neal
Paper Moon (1973)
66. Robert Redford
The Sting (1973)
67. Linda Blair
The Exorcist (1973)
68. Paul Newman
The Sting (1973)
69. Laurence Olivier
The Boys from Brazil (1978)
70. Jane Fonda
Julia (1977)
71. Richard Burton
Equus (1977)
72. Woody Allen
Annie Hall (1977)
73. John Travolta
Saturday Night Fever (1977)
74. Jack Lemmon
The China Syndrome (1979)
75. Melvyn Douglas
Being There (1979)
76. Martin Sheen
Apocalypse Now (1979)
77. Vanessa Redgrave
Mary, Queen of Scotts (1971)
78. Maggie Smith
California Suite (1978)
79. Meryl Streep
The Deer Hunter (1978)
80. Diana Ross
The Lady Sings the Blues (1972)
81. Cicely Tyson
Sounder (1972)
82. Warren Beatty
Heaven Can Wait (1978)
83. Dustin Hoffman
Marathon Man (1976)
84. William Holden
Network (1976)
85. George Burns
The Sunshine Boys (1975)
86. George C. Scott
Hospital (1971)
87. Glenda Jackson
Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)
88. Valerie Perrine
Lenny (1974)
89. Diane Ladd
Alice Don't Live Here Anymore (1974)
90. John Cazale
The Godfather Part II (1974)
91. Barbra Streisand
The Way We Were (1973)
92. Ben Johnson
The Last Picture Show (1971)
93. Roy Scheider
The French Connection (1971)
94. Clint Eastwood
Dirty Harry (1971)
95. Jon Voight
Deliverance (1972)
96. Ellen Burstyn
The Exorcist (1973)
97. Gene Hackman
Scarecrow (1973)
98. John Huston
Chinatown (1974)
99. Carrie Snodgress
Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970)
100. Albert Finney
Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
101. Faye Dunaway
The Flight of Condor (1975)
102. Robert Shaw
Jaws (1975)
103. Lily Tomlin
Nashville (1975)
104. Jodie Foster
Taxi Driver (1976)
105. Marsha Mason
The Goodbye Girl (1977)
106. Albert Finney
Scrooge (1970)
107. Caren Black
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
108. Karl Malden
Patton (1970)
109. Joanne Woodward
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972)
110. Marsha Mason
Cinderella Liberty (1973)
111. Joanne Woodward
Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams (1973)
112. Marisa Berenson
Cabaret (1972)
113. Jane Alexander
The Great White Hope (1970)
114. Paul Winfield
Sounder (1972)
115. Glenda Jackson
Stevie (1978)
116. Geraldine Page
Interiors (1978)
117. Anne Bancroft
The Turning Point (1977)
118. Jason Robards
Julia (1977)
119. Vanessa Redgrave
Julia (1977)
120. Glenda Jackson
Hedda (1975)
121. Bettle Midler
The Rose (1979)
122. Roone Blakley
Nashville (1975)
123. David Carradine
Bound for Glory (1976)
124. Dustin Hoffman
All the President's Men (1976)
125. Jill Clayburgh
Starting Over (1979)
126. Ruth Gordon
Harold & Maude (1971)
127. Lee Strasberg
The Godfather Part II (1974)
128. Michael V. Gazzo
The Godfather Part II (1974)
129. Roy Scheider
All That Jazz (1979)
130. Maximilian Schell
The Man in the Glass Booth (1975)
131. Walter Matthau
The Sunshine Boys (1975)
132. Henry Gibson
Nashville (1975)
133. Frederic Forrest
The Rose (1979)
134. Jill Clayburgh
La Luna (1979)
135. Lily Tomlin
The Late Show (1977)
136. Robert De Niro
New York, New York (1977)
137. James Woods
The Onion Field (1979)
138. Diane Keaton
Looking For Mr. Goodbar (1977)
139. Jane Fonda
The China Syndrome (1979)
140. Sigourney Weaver
Alien (1979)
141. Brad Davis
The Midnight Express (1978)
142. Ali MacGraw
Love Story (1970)
143. Ryan O'Neal
Love Story (1970)
144. Piper Laurie
Carrie (1976)
145. Burgess Meredith
Rocky (1976)
146. James Whitmore
Give 'em Hell, Harry! (1975)
147. Ann-Margaret
Tommy (1975)
148. Richard Dreyfuss
Jaws (1975)
149. Jeff Bridges
The Last Picture Show (1971)
150. John Mills
Ryan's Daughter (1970)
151. John Houseman
The Paper Chase (1973)
152. Julie Christie
Don't Look Now (1973)
153. Sissy Spacek
Badlands (1973)
154. Sally Kellerman
M*A*S*H (1970)
155. Ellen Burstyn
Same Time, Next Year (1978)
156. Maureen Stapleton
Interiors (1978)
157. Maximilian Schell
Julia (1977)
158. Peter Firth
Equus (1977)
159. Tim Curry
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
160. Burgess Meredith
The Day of the Locust (1975)
161. Richard Farnsworth
Comes a Horseman (1978)
162. John Hurt
The Midnight Express (1978)
163. Robert Redford
All the President's Men (1976)
164. Barbra Streisand
An Owl and Pussycat (1970)
165. Elliott Gould
M*A*S*H (1970)
166. Maggie Smith
Travels with My Aunt (1972)
167. Robert Redford
The Candidate (1972)
168. Max von Sydow
The Exorcist (1973)
169. Christopher Lee
The Wicker Man (1973)
170. Talia Shire
Rocky (1976)
171. John Savage
The Deer Hunter (1978)
172. Anthony Hopkins
Magic (1978)
173. John Cazale
The Deer Hunter (1978)
174. Rita Moreno
The Ritz (1976)
175. Michael Caine
The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
176. Sean Connery
The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
177. Donald Sutherland
Klute (1971)
178. Walter Matthau
Kotch (1971)
179. Dustin Hoffman
Little Big Man (1970)
180. Gene Hackman
Superman (1978)
181. Donald Sutherland
M*A*S*H (1970)
182. Ellen Burstyn
The Last Picture Show (1971)
183. Ann-Margret
Carnal Knowledge (1971)
184. Shirley MacLaine
The Turning Point (1977)
185. Mariel Hemingway
Manhattan (1979)
186. Richard Dreyfuss
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
187. Diahann Carroll
Claudine (1974)
188. Ingrid Bergman
Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
189. James Caan
The Gambler (1974)
190. Helen Hayes
The Airport (1970)
191. Leonard Frey
Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
192. Robert Duvall
Network (1976)
193. Art Carney
The Late Show (1977)
194. Justin Henry
Kramer vs Kramer (1979)
195. Kris Kristofferson
A Star Is Born (1976)
196. John Wayne
The Shootist (1976)
197. Paul Newman
Slap Shot (1977)
198. Brad Dourif
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
199. Jeanne Berlin
The Heartbreak Kid (1972)
200. Goldie Hawn
Butterflies Are Free (1972)
1. Marlon Brando
The Godfather (1972)
2. Robert De Niro
Taxi Driver (1976)
3. Jack Nicholson
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
4. Al Pacino
The Godfather Part II (1974)
5. George C. Scott
Patton (1970)
6. Al Pacino
Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
7. Gene Hackman
The French Connection (1971)
8. Diane Keaton
Annie Hall (1977)
9. Jack Nicholson
Chinatown (1974)
10. Ellen Burstyn
Alice Don't Live Here Anymore (1974)
11. Gena Rowland
A Woman Under Influence (1974)
12. Al Pacino
Serpico (1973)
13. Jane Fonda
Klute (1971)
14. Dustin Hoffman
Kramer vs Kramer (1979)
15. Peter Finch
Network (1976)
16. Al Pacino
The Godfather (1972)
17. Marlon Brando
Last Tango in Paris (1972)
18. Malcolm McDowell
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
19. Peter Sellers
Being There (1979)
20. Robert De Niro
The Deer Hunter (1978)
21. Jack Nicholson
The Last Detail (1973)
22. Jon Voight
Coming Home (1978)
23. Louise Fletcher
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
24. Sylvester Stallone
Rocky (1976)
25. Christopher Walken
The Deer Hunter (1978)
26. Jane Fonda
Coming Home (1978)
27. Jack Lemmon
Save the Tiger (1973)
28. Robert De Niro
The Godfather Part II (1974)
29. Robert De Niro
Mean Streets (1973)
30. Gene Hackman
The Conversation (1974)
31. Dustin Hoffman
Lenny (1974)
32. Sally Field
Norma Rae (1979)
33. Robert Duvall
Apocalypse Now (1979)
34. Al Pacino
...And Justice for All (1979)
35. Robert Duvall
The Great Santini (1979)
36. Laurence Olivier
Sleuth (1972)
37. Jack Nicholson
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
38. Gene Hackman
I Never Sang for My Father (1970)
39. Topol
Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
40. Art Carney
Harry & Tonto (1974)
41. Richard Dreyfuss
The Goodbye Girl (1977)
42. Faye Dunaway
Network (1976)
43. Sissy Spacek
Carrie (1976)
44. Faye Dunaway
Chinatown (1974)
45. Melvin Douglas
I Never Sang for My Father (1970)
46. Gene Wilder
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
47. Peter O'Toole
The Ruling Class (1972)
48. Liza Minneli
Cabaret (1972)
49. Michael Caine
Sleuth (1972)
50. James Caan
The Godfather (1972)
51. Joel Grey
Cabaret (1972)
52. Robert Duvall
The Godfather (1972)
53. James Earl Jones
The Great White Hope (1970)
54. Alec Guinness
Star Wars (1977)
55. Meryl Streep
Kramer vs Kramer (1979)
56. Jason Robards
All the President's Men (1976)
57. Laurence Olivier
Marathon Man (1976)
58. Peter Finch
Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)
59. Glenda Jackson
A Touch of Class (1973)
60. Harvey Keitel
Mean Streets (1973)
61. Julie Christie
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
62. Gene Wilder
Young Frankenstein (1974)
63. Jill Clayburgh
An Unmarried Woman (1978)
64. Gary Busey
The Buddy Holly Story (1978)
65. Tatum O'Neal
Paper Moon (1973)
66. Robert Redford
The Sting (1973)
67. Linda Blair
The Exorcist (1973)
68. Paul Newman
The Sting (1973)
69. Laurence Olivier
The Boys from Brazil (1978)
70. Jane Fonda
Julia (1977)
71. Richard Burton
Equus (1977)
72. Woody Allen
Annie Hall (1977)
73. John Travolta
Saturday Night Fever (1977)
74. Jack Lemmon
The China Syndrome (1979)
75. Melvyn Douglas
Being There (1979)
76. Martin Sheen
Apocalypse Now (1979)
77. Vanessa Redgrave
Mary, Queen of Scotts (1971)
78. Maggie Smith
California Suite (1978)
79. Meryl Streep
The Deer Hunter (1978)
80. Diana Ross
The Lady Sings the Blues (1972)
81. Cicely Tyson
Sounder (1972)
82. Warren Beatty
Heaven Can Wait (1978)
83. Dustin Hoffman
Marathon Man (1976)
84. William Holden
Network (1976)
85. George Burns
The Sunshine Boys (1975)
86. George C. Scott
Hospital (1971)
87. Glenda Jackson
Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971)
88. Valerie Perrine
Lenny (1974)
89. Diane Ladd
Alice Don't Live Here Anymore (1974)
90. John Cazale
The Godfather Part II (1974)
91. Barbra Streisand
The Way We Were (1973)
92. Ben Johnson
The Last Picture Show (1971)
93. Roy Scheider
The French Connection (1971)
94. Clint Eastwood
Dirty Harry (1971)
95. Jon Voight
Deliverance (1972)
96. Ellen Burstyn
The Exorcist (1973)
97. Gene Hackman
Scarecrow (1973)
98. John Huston
Chinatown (1974)
99. Carrie Snodgress
Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970)
100. Albert Finney
Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
101. Faye Dunaway
The Flight of Condor (1975)
102. Robert Shaw
Jaws (1975)
103. Lily Tomlin
Nashville (1975)
104. Jodie Foster
Taxi Driver (1976)
105. Marsha Mason
The Goodbye Girl (1977)
106. Albert Finney
Scrooge (1970)
107. Caren Black
Five Easy Pieces (1970)
108. Karl Malden
Patton (1970)
109. Joanne Woodward
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds (1972)
110. Marsha Mason
Cinderella Liberty (1973)
111. Joanne Woodward
Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams (1973)
112. Marisa Berenson
Cabaret (1972)
113. Jane Alexander
The Great White Hope (1970)
114. Paul Winfield
Sounder (1972)
115. Glenda Jackson
Stevie (1978)
116. Geraldine Page
Interiors (1978)
117. Anne Bancroft
The Turning Point (1977)
118. Jason Robards
Julia (1977)
119. Vanessa Redgrave
Julia (1977)
120. Glenda Jackson
Hedda (1975)
121. Bettle Midler
The Rose (1979)
122. Roone Blakley
Nashville (1975)
123. David Carradine
Bound for Glory (1976)
124. Dustin Hoffman
All the President's Men (1976)
125. Jill Clayburgh
Starting Over (1979)
126. Ruth Gordon
Harold & Maude (1971)
127. Lee Strasberg
The Godfather Part II (1974)
128. Michael V. Gazzo
The Godfather Part II (1974)
129. Roy Scheider
All That Jazz (1979)
130. Maximilian Schell
The Man in the Glass Booth (1975)
131. Walter Matthau
The Sunshine Boys (1975)
132. Henry Gibson
Nashville (1975)
133. Frederic Forrest
The Rose (1979)
134. Jill Clayburgh
La Luna (1979)
135. Lily Tomlin
The Late Show (1977)
136. Robert De Niro
New York, New York (1977)
137. James Woods
The Onion Field (1979)
138. Diane Keaton
Looking For Mr. Goodbar (1977)
139. Jane Fonda
The China Syndrome (1979)
140. Sigourney Weaver
Alien (1979)
141. Brad Davis
The Midnight Express (1978)
142. Ali MacGraw
Love Story (1970)
143. Ryan O'Neal
Love Story (1970)
144. Piper Laurie
Carrie (1976)
145. Burgess Meredith
Rocky (1976)
146. James Whitmore
Give 'em Hell, Harry! (1975)
147. Ann-Margaret
Tommy (1975)
148. Richard Dreyfuss
Jaws (1975)
149. Jeff Bridges
The Last Picture Show (1971)
150. John Mills
Ryan's Daughter (1970)
151. John Houseman
The Paper Chase (1973)
152. Julie Christie
Don't Look Now (1973)
153. Sissy Spacek
Badlands (1973)
154. Sally Kellerman
M*A*S*H (1970)
155. Ellen Burstyn
Same Time, Next Year (1978)
156. Maureen Stapleton
Interiors (1978)
157. Maximilian Schell
Julia (1977)
158. Peter Firth
Equus (1977)
159. Tim Curry
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)
160. Burgess Meredith
The Day of the Locust (1975)
161. Richard Farnsworth
Comes a Horseman (1978)
162. John Hurt
The Midnight Express (1978)
163. Robert Redford
All the President's Men (1976)
164. Barbra Streisand
An Owl and Pussycat (1970)
165. Elliott Gould
M*A*S*H (1970)
166. Maggie Smith
Travels with My Aunt (1972)
167. Robert Redford
The Candidate (1972)
168. Max von Sydow
The Exorcist (1973)
169. Christopher Lee
The Wicker Man (1973)
170. Talia Shire
Rocky (1976)
171. John Savage
The Deer Hunter (1978)
172. Anthony Hopkins
Magic (1978)
173. John Cazale
The Deer Hunter (1978)
174. Rita Moreno
The Ritz (1976)
175. Michael Caine
The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
176. Sean Connery
The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
177. Donald Sutherland
Klute (1971)
178. Walter Matthau
Kotch (1971)
179. Dustin Hoffman
Little Big Man (1970)
180. Gene Hackman
Superman (1978)
181. Donald Sutherland
M*A*S*H (1970)
182. Ellen Burstyn
The Last Picture Show (1971)
183. Ann-Margret
Carnal Knowledge (1971)
184. Shirley MacLaine
The Turning Point (1977)
185. Mariel Hemingway
Manhattan (1979)
186. Richard Dreyfuss
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
187. Diahann Carroll
Claudine (1974)
188. Ingrid Bergman
Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
189. James Caan
The Gambler (1974)
190. Helen Hayes
The Airport (1970)
191. Leonard Frey
Fiddler on the Roof (1971)
192. Robert Duvall
Network (1976)
193. Art Carney
The Late Show (1977)
194. Justin Henry
Kramer vs Kramer (1979)
195. Kris Kristofferson
A Star Is Born (1976)
196. John Wayne
The Shootist (1976)
197. Paul Newman
Slap Shot (1977)
198. Brad Dourif
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
199. Jeanne Berlin
The Heartbreak Kid (1972)
200. Goldie Hawn
Butterflies Are Free (1972)
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Edited By: Tim, Bruno
List Begun: 2019-10-19