What is Jessica Lange's most famous/iconic role?

Patsy Cline in Sweet Dreams.

King Kong

I love Blue Sky but I’m not sure an “iconic” performance can happen in a movie that’s unfortunately obscure.

I have four bitches!

Bonnie and Clyde

Chinatown

Network

Mommie Dearest

I have 4!

Badlands, Carrie, 3 Women & Coal Miner's Daughter

Frances, Tootsie and King Kong

Just being Jessica Lange is her icon role, that woman never lets her guard down.

I would definitely say Frances--one of the greatest performances of the latter half of the 20th century on film. A shame it had to come out the same year as Sophie's Choice.

Her second greatest would be as Patsy Cline in Sweet Dreams.

She has said that Tootsie is the film people know her from the most although now American Horror Story opened her up to a whole bunch of younger audiences.

Frances & Sweet Dreams may be regarded as 'great performances' from Jessica Lange but the films have no standing today and didn't even have much back in their day.

Tootsie and to a lesser extent All That Jazz are probably the only two ICONIC films that Lange has appeared in but Tootsie is all about Dustin Hoffman with Lange's role rather minor (as good as she is in it) and she is barely in All That Jazz.

M. has no iconic films in which she plays a major role. The Deer Hunter & Manhattan are the only two and she is barely in the later and rather minor (as good as she is in it) is the former.

Frances

[quote] Frances & Sweet Dreams may be regarded as 'great performances' from Jessica Lange but the films have no standing today

Oh, but Sophie's Choice does?

R13 You are correct. Sophie's Choice is in the same boat. A film with next to no standing but has an ICONIC performance (God only knows why, though).

You guys reminded me of this piece from The Onion, highlighting Meryl's lack of classic movies in her filmography. 😂

My friends and I were sitting around yesterday having a casual conversation about how the one thing all great actors have in common is that they have all starred in at least one classic piece of cinema. For my good friend Al Pacino it's obviously The Godfather and Dog Day Afternoon. For Robert De Niro there's Raging Bull and Taxi Driver. And for Diane Keaton, a no-brainer: Annie Hall.

The one actor who truly stumped us, however, was me. Now, I know I'm a good actress. I'm Meryl Streep. I've won two Academy Awards, and I have been nominated for 15. That's a record. But what my friends and I figured out is that the name Meryl Streep isn't really synonymous with one truly unforgettable film. It's weird to think about, but it's undeniably true.

Go ahead, try and name a classic movie I've starred in. Not a classic character I've portrayed, mind you, but an overall amazing piece of cinema. You can't. You just can't.

Right off the bat, you're probably thinking Kramer Vs. Kramer. That's what my friends and I immediately jumped to also! But let's be honest, Kramer Vs. Kramer isn't really a masterpiece in the same way that, say, The French Connection or On The Waterfront is a masterpiece. It's not a bad movie by any stretch of the imagination; it's actually pretty good. I'd watch it if it were on. But if anything, it's more Dustin Hoffman's movie than Meryl Streep's movie. And when you think Dustin Hoffman, Kramer Vs. Kramer is a distant fourth behind The Graduate, Tootsie, and Midnight Cowboy.

Look, I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers here. I'm just calling it like it is.

Of course, next Sophie's Choice comes up. Sure. Absolutely. That makes complete sense. But have you actually watched Sophie's Choice lately? Boy, talk about a movie that has not aged well. My performance is very good. No question. Oscar-worthy even. But if it weren't me delivering those long monologues, people would see Sophie's Choice for what it really is: a fairly routine melodrama, with a Holocaust backstory thrown in to make the love triangle seem less banal.

I looked at AFI's top 100 movies list and Sophie's Choice was No. 91, behind Forrest Gump and The Sixth Sense. And truthfully, all I could say was, "That's about right."

So now is when you have to start really digging into my filmography because you're starting to think, "Can it be true that one of this generation's greatest actresses, maybe even the greatest—a national treasure, you might say—has never been in a film as good as Network, which isn't even Faye Dunaway's best movie?"

The Deer Hunter. Yes! Actually, no. A couple things bother me about The Deer Hunter. One, it's overrated. Yes, I said it. And two, how long was I in the The Deer Hunter? Three, maybe four minutes? Truthfully, I don't really remember being in the The Deer Hunter at all. (Same goes for Manhattan.) Then there's Out Of Africa, which, come on. We all know that movie was kind of the worst. That and The Bridges Of Madison County…don't even get me started on The Bridges Of Madison County.

Marvin's Room? We're scraping now, aren't we? Doubt. Yeah, 20 years from now people are definitely going to be talking about the film adaptation of Doubt. The River Wild. Look, I like The River Wild. Solid thriller. Good cast. Not a classic.

Oh, and for those of you who want to say The Devil Wears Prada? Please. I don't need your charity.

The annoying thing about all of this is that I've worked with directors who have produced some of the finest films in American cinema. I'm just not in any of them. I do a movie with Robert Altman, but it's A Prairie Home Companion. Mike Nichols calls me up, not for Carnal Knowledge, but Heartburn. Does anyone in the world other than Mike Nichols own the DVD of Heartburn?

So here we are. I'm 60 years old without a One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest or Bonnie And Clyde to my name. Meryl Streep: "Great actress, okay movies."

And by the way, The Manchurian Candidate is not a classic. Well, at least not the one I was in.

Meryl in Devil Wears Prada and Death Becomes Her.

Not that anyone saw it but I think Jessica is wonderful in Men Don’t Leave.

This:

That article on Streep is funny in that it comes up with examples then dismisses them because they personally don't consider it a classic.

For me, it's definitely Blue Sky. I think for the general public it's either Frances or Sweet Dreams.

R1- Beverly D'Angelo did a better job as Patsy Cline in Coal Miner's Daughter.

Totally agree with R21. She even did her own singing!

[quote]What is Jessica Lange's most famous/iconic role?

These trolls are in the same league as the Republican fascists.

Or is it M*r**l having a little fun?

Being the star of OP's delusions.

R19 No, most of her films are not considered classics by a wide range of people. Popular or well liked doesn’t mean “classic,” classics have to do with cultural legacy and artistic merit. I think The Deer Hunter and Manhattan are her only true classics right now. Death Becomes Her is a camp hoot. I think The Bridges of Madison County, Angels in America and MAYBE Adaptation could be classics in 50 years. Meryl is someone who’s scared of risks and takes middling tripe so she can give a good performance.

At least Meryl has her overblown performance in Sophie’s Choice (frankly the scene of Jeanne Moreau walking in the rain from Elevator to the Gallows is a much better piece of acting that Meryl in that whole film). Jessica Lange is an inexplicably more acclaimed Eleanor Parker.

Frances for which she should have won the Best Actress Oscar.

Sweet Dreams, Blue Sky and Titus nipping at the heals of Frances Farmer..

I don't agree with the Eleanor Parker comparison. I think she is closer in spirit to Gena Rowlands.

Right now her most iconic roles are in American Horror Story (Constance Langdon, Sister Jude, Fiona Goode), and I don't think anything comes close. It's definitely not the best thing she's been in (Tootsie, All That Jazz), and it's not her best performance (Frances), but that show defines what people think of her right now.

Her best work in movies has, unfortunately, been in movies that are either barely remembered or essentially forgotten (Frances, Sweet Dreams, Blue Sky, Country).

She was mesmerizing on Broadway in Long Day's Journey into Night. They should film it with her.

[quote] Frances & Sweet Dreams may be regarded as 'great performances' from Jessica Lange but the films have no standing today and didn't even have much back in their day.

Just stating something so does not make it fact, Ms. Kellyanne.

Frances was kind of panned. The reviews were all Lange is tremendous and shockingly good BUT the film doesn't match her.

OP is like the self-centered fat child at a game at his birthday party telling everyone else what the rules are: "NO, that doesn't count because I SAY it doesn't count and it's MY game!"

Ridiculously tedious, and now blocked.

r31 got triggered

When she dies, there’s no way that the academy is NOT using a scene of her young and gorgeous in King Kong for the In Memoriam. Everything else is a toss up. They could choose Francis, Tootsie, Sweet Dreams, Blue Sky, any, all, or none of the above. But they’re using that scene where she gets showered in a waterfall on Kong’s palm.

It has to be her most iconic scene and role.

I don't think they'd pick King Kong since she's known to hate it.

I'd pick the scene on the street at the end of Tootsie.

R28 I agree, we deserve a film adaptation with her in this. She could easily pick up a 3rd Oscar.

R33 Agreed. '76 King Kong is currently available to watch for free on YouTube and I thought similar having rewatched it over the weekend after so many years.

Oy. This. Again.

O.k. - I'll dare you all. Name all those Classic American films made from the '80s onward which are centered on a great starring role for an actress in her 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s Streep or Lange could have stared in but didn't.

R37 There are lots but chances are neither of them would have been as good as the actresses that ended up playing the roles.

Fine. Name these films, R38.

Gena Rowlands? ROFL. I’m not a huge fan of Gena, but she’s regarded as one of the great post-studio era actresses, especially by film buffs for her work with John Cassavetes. I have never heard anyone talk about Lange outside the DL.