Judi Dench vs Maggie Smith vs Vanessa Redgrave vs Helen Mirren

Smith, Redgrave & Mirren have won the Triple Crown of Acting. Oscar, Emmy & Tony Award

Dench just has the Oscar & Tony, missing the Emmy

R1 Yes, but none of others have ever played DL icon Barbara Covett so Judi Dench still has the edge.

Nessie. Easily. The rest all got their start in tacky tits and teeth sexploitation potboilers. There’s only one towering Miss Jean Brodie!

I can't imagine doing without a one of them, so I refuse to rate them.

The fair way would be to compare them if they've done the same role. Who was the better Jean Brodie, Redgrave or Smith?

Love all four, but for me Vanessa is the least same-y, and the least hammy. She has managed to avoid the scores of repetitive cutesy / crotchety old lady roles that have made the others more popular with the masses, while still showing she is capable of them when need be (Song for Marion). I guess Helen hasn't done as many either, but her niche is also a little mainstream and she's also largely the same character in all of them. Dench got the best roles thanks to the Weinstein connection, and her Notes on a Scandal performance really is one for the ages.

However, Redgrave also has genuine arthouse projects like The Devils, Prick Up Your Ears, Blow Up, Mirka, The Trojan Women, The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh, Playing For Time (okay it was a TV movie but none of the others could pull this off), etc. She's been more of a risk taker, and I can't imagine the other 3 giving a performance as subtle as something like Julia or Atonement without resorting to their tics and sometimes cartoonish mugging for the camera. She's been better in the period biopics they've all done (Mary Queen of Scots, Isadora, etc.), has a musical or two on her resume, and also has the same lengthy list of stage credits. I saw her in The Year of Magical Thinking and she was a powerhouse. Dench was also very good on stage in Peter and Alice when I saw her.

Redgrave. She's been the most versatile.

Eileen Atkins

[quote]Love all four, but for me Vanessa is the least same-y, and the least hammy.

Seriously?!?!!

Oh I laughed so much.

The main question is why no one wants to hire Vanessa these days. When did she last have a role of note?

Dench and Mirren work regularly and Maggie Smith has mostly retired except for Downton but who doesn't anyone want Redgrave in their movies when she's such a big name?

Girls! Girls! Girls! They’re all cunts.

R9 Umm... there are not that many leading roles for ancient broads? How many big parts in high profile films every year are written for elderly British women? These 4 have to share the primary film ones between them, and even snap up some of the better TV offers as well. Most of the rest are on Coronation Street or getting 2-episode arcs on Call The Midwife.

Her commercial peak was also much earlier than these other three, with Dench, Mirren, and Smith doing tentpole blockbusters like James Bond, Harry Potter, Exotic Marigold Hotel, Red, Downton Abbey, Fast and Furious 9... Mirren is also recognisable from The Queen's success. What's your point? Just because Redgrave doesn't do as many mainstream projects as these three doesn't mean her body of work as an actress isn't better? She probably would have hated being Fast and Furious and said no to all these old biddy parts.

1. Maggie Smith 2. Vanessa Redgrave 3. Helen Mirren (but only up to and including The Queen - everything after is garbage)

4. Dench - wouldn't have a career outside of the UK if it wasn't for Harvey.

Maggie, Judi, Helen, Vanessa.....in that order. Maggie is strong and versatile.... Dowager Countess, homeless lady, witch...Judi is typecast nice old lady but she can act....Helen hmmm, versatile but not always believable....Redgrave gives weak performances.

You know who's missing from your list, OP? Dame Diana Rigg. She was the one who got all the good "old lady" parts.

May she RIP.

All i see when Redgrave is on screen is a privileged woman pretending to be someone else, she never convinces me she IS the character.

What is a weekend?

Glenda Jackson.

And what about me, bitches?! 5 Tony awards, 6 Golden Globes, 3 Academy awards nominations, 18 Emmy nominations and 1 Grammy nomination.

[quote]Her commercial peak was also much earlier than these other three, with Dench, Mirren, and Smith doing tentpole blockbusters like James Bond, Harry Potter, Exotic Marigold Hotel, Red, Downton Abbey, Fast and Furious 9... Mirren is also recognisable from The Queen's success. What's your point?

My point is that none of the big name directors or writers want Redgrave in their movies, despite her name recognition and body of work.

There are roles for older actresses but no one seems to want Vanessa. And let's be honest, she isn't fussy.

[quote]4. Dench - wouldn't have a career outside of the UK if it wasn't for Harvey.

Oh please, the idea that Judi Dench (made a dame in 1988 when she was in her mid 50s) owes her career to an obese rapist bully is hilarious.

She was cast in James Bond before Mrs Brown came along, which incidentally was her 3rd BAFTA movie win out of 5 nominations.

Without Miramax all of her movies she got nominated for would still have been made, she would still have been cast in them, and she would still have received recognition because she's Judi Dench.

What am I, chopped Vivian Vance?

R19 You must have bumped your head. She's always worked with much better directors than Smith or Dench.

Joe Wright, Sidney Lumet, Ken Russell, Lee Daniels, Julian Schnabel, Bennett Miller, Michaelangelo Antonioni, Jim Sheridan, John Ivory, Stephen Frears, Brian De Palma, Franco Zeffirelli, Peter Hall, John Schlesinger, Herbert Ross, Stephen Daldry, Michael Cacoyannis, Karel Reisz, Richard Attenborough, Lajos Koltai, Ry*an M*rphy, Bille August, Joseph Losey, David Hare, etc. Many of these were in the last 15 years too. To paraphrase Faye Dunaway, "her movies are the hit of Cannes and all of Europe."

Even her fellow actors like Ralph Fiennes, Christoph Waltz, Sean Penn, Charlton Heston, and Tim Robbins have cast her when they direct films, because they know she's that good.

Glenda Jackson is greater than all of them combined.

Judi Dench wouldn't even have a film career if Glenda hadn't quit acting.

R20 Oh please! Dench sucked Harvey. She has a tattoo on her arse to state how much she loves him.

She is appalling as Meryl Streep "I never heard anything about Harvey" No shit Sherlock. The whole fucking world knew.

She may have joined Bond in 1995 but it was a minor role. Harvey put her on the map in the US and internationally as he came in her mouth.

I’d rather see Maggie Smith do Noel Coward and Restoration Comedy. I’d rather see Judi Dench do Shakespeare, Chekhov and Sondheim. I’d rather see Vanessa Redgrave do Tennessee Williams and Ibsen. I’d rather see Helen Mirren do Pinter.

Vanessa can take only small roles because she operates at seriously diminished lung capacity. But she gets lots of them (currently, Mrs. Higgins in MY FAIR LADY). Agree that the (untitled, by choice presumably) Jackson still belongs in this pantheon.

Of all of them I enjoy watching Maggie the most; her comedic timing is as impeccable as her sense for the dramatic. Judi and Vanessa rate highly as well. Helen has a sexual energy that the other three don't have but I've found her work to lackluster as of late.

Vanessa is tops, and Maggie is just slightly beneath her. Judi and Helen are technically skilled and have played the publicity game as older performers, and they have lots of name recognition with the general public, but how many of the films they made in their publicity whore period will be remembered?

Dench is a hunchback

Smith is wall-eyed

Redgrave is a communist and hates Jews

Mirren shows her tits too much

Dench is the Queen of PBS. As Time Goes By had been a staple of PBS for decades.