Rene Russo: The Greatest Actress of All Time

You know what, I agree with that. Maybe not the best, but certainly very underrated. She was great in The Thomas Crown Affair and Tin Cup

The Greatest Actress of all time? I remember her but I scarcely remember any of her scenes in movies. Good actress but not terribly memorable. Never reached the A List of acting.

Too hard to decide between Thomas Crown Affair, Get Shorty, Tin Cup, and In The Line of Fire!! I agree, she doesn't get the respect she deserved. She picked some great films.

She truly is underrated. I need to check out Frank and Cindy (2015). I remember seeing the trailer but I never got around to searching it out.

It states on the internet that she has a bipolar disorder and is a born again Christian.

Who issn't at least a little Bi-Polar?

She used to date Todd Fisher, maybe she caught bi polar from Carrie.

You forgot the Thor movies, OP. That's how I got acquainted with her and she was the best part of those movies. I remember being so pissed when she got killed.

The born again Christian thing makes me hate her, though.

Jesus, that's quite a list. Several of my favorite movies are on there. I can't choose!

Wrong greatest. She was the greatest model of all time, well, one of them. Scavullo said she was the most beautiful girl in the world and her face was everywhere in the '70s. Also considered one of the nicest and most professional women in the business. She said she wanted to make enough money so she didn't have to think about it anymore and just retire.

Her sister Toni was a rock and roll groupie and eventually got married and divorced to Bernie Taupin.

She fucking owned that movie "The Thomas Crown Affair." Very sexy and aggressive. That was her best role ever hands down! Pierce played second fiddle as the lead.

R12, I totally agree. And she looked amazing. Her clothes were fabulous. I think Michael Kors did her wardrobe.

Greatest Actress of all time???? Check out her IMDB page and there's hardly anything worthwhile.

That said she is truly one of the great beauties of the fashion world ever! So if you want to praise her, praise her for her modeling work, NOT her very limited acting work - btw, why do I feel like a school teacher reprimanding a stupid student right now, the hyperbole in OP's thread is so childish, maybe?

OP are you on some Asperger's spectrum, and I have to walk on eggs shells not to trigger you?

A long while ago, after watching "A Thomas Crown Affair" I did a little sleuthing and came up with these pix, both shot by big time HOMO Cosmopolitan photog Francesco Scavullo. Faye was so beautiful when she made this move, and Rene is just as ravishing, albeit I know Rene is older than Faye when their respective movies were made.

Really I've said once, I've said it a million times, they don't make faces like these anymore

She was always lovely and just....OK. Beautiful woman with a slightly masculine vibe and zero "IT" factor. I will not throw shade, she was very capable and had talent. Otherwise, she seemed mostly destined for a prime time TV show gig than becoming a movie queen. I liked her, but she was not all that memorable. Nothing bad to say, nut no huge raves either,.

Yes, Thomas Crow Affair put Michael Kors on someone's map and then he did Project Runway, the rest is history. Now he's a suburban mother's aspirational notion of high fashion, ha! And that's why his company is in so much trouble and hemorrhaging money.

Michael Kors sold out when he started that cheap line that ends up in every bargain basement discount bin. I have a wool coat from his early days (that cost me like $950 back in 2000 or something) and it is beautifully made and still holds up great. His lower line cheapened his name and ruined his upper end appeal. His terrible bitchy personality and orange skin don't help his cause either.

She was pretty great even in her supporting role in Nightcrawler a few years ago. Definitely underrated.

She definitely deserved a GG nom for Thomas Crown.

She was really great in Ransom, she’s a very good and reserved Actress. Mel Gibson was chewing the scenery and she helped balance him. She always seems to have great chemistry with her male costars and bring out their best acting, makes scenes look very natural.

I love that this thread, in true DL style, turned into a Roast of Michael Kors.

R14 I think OP was attempting to stir debate

How could you omit the film she was chasing Moose and Squirrel?

I like Rene but GREATEST ACTRESS OF ALL TIME?

OP, you're embarrassing yourself and Ms. Russo. She belongs in the top 100 and that is a great place to be.

I like Rene.

Hadn't heard she is Born Again. Isn't her husband the director of Nightcrawler?

Also, she was raised by two lesbians. She mentioned this to support Rosie O'Donnell. I think this was when Rosie was coming out.

2002 NEW YORK (AP) _ While appearing on ABC’s ``Good Morning America″ to promote her new movie, ``Showtime,″ Rene Russo cried on Thursday and discussed being raised by lesbians after her father left.

She was inspired to talk about her childhood following a segment on Rosie O’Donnell’s ``Primetime Thursday″ interview, in which O’Donnell reveals that she’s a lesbian and discusses her opposition to a Florida ban on gay adoption. O’Donnell has three adopted children.

``I wasn’t going to say this, but I was just listening to Rosie O’Donnell and I have to tell you, I wanted to burst into tears,″ Russo said, her eyes welling up.

``First of all, I want to say thank you to her. Second, I’d like to say that when I was born _ oh, I’m going to cry, but this is for you, Rosie _ my dad left and it was women in my life that were gay that raised me and that helped and nurtured me. ...

``I wanted to call my mom to say, look, mom, I’m going on national television to say thank you for all your friends, because she was just pretty much abandoned and a lot of her friends came and helped her to raise me and my sister,″ the 48-year-old actress said. ``And if it weren’t for that, I don’t know where we’d be.″

Russo’s movie, ``Showtime,″ a comedy co-starring Robert De Niro and Eddie Murphy, opens Friday.

If it bleeds it leads.

Like r3 said, she chose some great projects. Very watchable.

I saw the interview about being raised by lesbians too. Great in Nightcrawler. If she is a born again then she is obviously supportive of gay rights which is a good thing. I don’t know how that works though.

Thomas Crown

Anyone who said Thomas Crown has to be nuts. TC is synonymous with Faye Dunaway, who embodied the word stylish. Who could forget that chess game with McQueen?

She wasn't very memorable, but she was good in In The Line Of Fire and , especially, Ransom.

She has what you could call the ‘Tina Turner or Dolly Parton Vibe’. She’s successful and no one dislikes her.

She was very good in The Thomas Crown Affair, she had a great wardrobe but she made it her own. That said, there are several actresses playing maids in 50s movies who deserve a more prominent place in the fictional list of best actresses of all time. She is maybe the letter N once you played the alphabet twice.

R32 completely agree

OP, you are completely insane (or one of the Gilroy brothers). And, the only film I've seen with Rene Russo is Nightcrawler. It was an interesting film about capitalism.

Rene was actually one of the best looking fashions models to ever grace the pages of VOGUE and Harper's Bazaar.

Rene was a true natural beauty, she had a gorgeous face, beautiful eyes and fantastic natural thick wavy hair. There was none of the fakery of today's disgusting pre-fabricated 'models'. Reality show assholes such as Bella 'Lugosi' Hadid have NO place in the world of modeling. What a monster! Bella is so fake, plastic and downright UGLY! The fact that Bella tried to look like former model Carla Bruni is also a joke!

One of the few models to ever successfully make the transition to acting. But she always just seemed like unobtrusive window dressing for the male star.

She was the Rod Taylor of leading ladies.

I agree she is underrated. Funny enough, my BF and I were talking about her recently. she didn't try to chew up the scenery. I worked in Hollywood a million years ago. She was known to be very down to earth, private, protective of her family, and I did know that she regularly went to Church - which is an anomaly in LA - but she wasn't like some Jesus freak.

It's all bone structure sweety darling.

I liked her character in Two for the Money with Pacino and McConaughey. I love that movie altho I cannot explain why and rewatch every few yrs.

She used to grace the covers of Cosmopolitan a lot in the 70s and 80s. She was so beautiful back then and she has such gorgeous hair.

She was especially good in Nightcrawler. IMO, she has talent but she just hasn't made enough movies. She's been married to a screen writer for years who wrote Nightcrawler but I heard she preferred the domestic life of being a mother.

Rene Russo... the last time I heard of her, the internet was new and exciting...

[quote] Who issn't at least a little Bi-Polar?

I’m bipolar — I have a job at the North Pole but I spend about three months out of the year in the Antarctic training the reindeer.

Just a nice Christian girl with her tits hangin’ out.

She looks like a man. VERY masculine features.

Thomas Crown Affair is a good movie.

I did like her acting... but seeing as she went over to the crazy cult of christianity insanity, I won’t be able to stomach watching her any more.

[quote] Russo faced this agonizing issue during promotional interviews, explaining that she spent hours in prayer and turned to a therapist. She discussed her role as wife and mother. She described her charismatic, slain-in-the-Holy Spirit conversion as a teen and her return to faith as an adult in Bible classes at the famous Church on the Way in Van Nuys.

[quote]The ultimate issue, she said, was not nudity. "I don't know where in the Bible it says, 'Don't be nude in a motion picture,' " she told Los Angeles Magazine. The question was whether she should, as a Christian, accept the challenge of playing a fictional character that is amoral, manipulative and, at times, plain old nasty.

I like her. Looking at OP's list, I've realized that I've seen only 1 or 2 RR movies. I voted for TC Affair since I remember liking that movie.

It was kinda depressing when she shows up for her tiny, thankless role as the love interest in The Intern. She was lovely and great in the role, of course, but it was depressing since she deserves bigger, splashier parts.

Really liked her in the Thomas Crown Affair. Wow, r45...perfect nips...

Greatest actress of all time? No. But for someone who was originally cast for her looks, she actually proved herself to be a talented actress and held her own opposite the likes of Eastwood, Costner, Hackman, Gibson and others. I was confused why she pretty much vanished for about a decade after The Thomas Crown Affair. She was hot in that and it was a hit. I remember she complained about not having much to do in Thor and so they killed her off in the second one kind of like what South Park did with Chef when Isaac Hayes spoke up.

Well, they brought her back for Avengers End Game because you’re never dead dead in those movies.

She knew how to pick her projects. Tin Cup, Thomas Crown, In the Line of Fire, and especially Get Shorty were all great movies, the kind you watch over and over again because they are so well done. I don’t know if she’s a “great” actress but she certainly is watchable.

R52 Did they?

I honestly never saw her in that movie. Then again, I was bored shitless while watching it so wasn't paying full attention after a while. I missed Michelle Pfeiffer's appearance as well.

Thomas Crown: perfect costumes, sets, sound. Outstanding lead actor/actress ... and then there is Dennis Leary

Poor video quality but illustrates the strength of the film

She's no Cybill Shepherd

[quote] heard she preferred the domestic life of being a mother.

Her daughter is now an adult and it seems doubtful she spends time cleaning her large home. I doubt any woman truly enjoys "the domestic life of being a housewife."

Where do you people get such such nonsense?

R53, it was when somehow/for some reason (fat) Thor is back at that place and he sees her, knows she is dead and they have a conversation and she comes to understand that she is dead. Maybe he had gone back in time. It was actually very moving.

This where she talks about her mom and their lesbian friends.