82. Anne Baxter (All About Eve)

82. A few days ago, I sank into the delicious playwright's wife Karen Richards (Celeste Holm, #86), and stated that she distinguishes herself from a mouth-watering cast. Well, this wasn't to say that there weren't other members of that cast that deserved a spot on this list as well, as can be seen from the woman on the left.

While Bette Davis's immortal role of Margo Channing may not always equate itself with Bette Davis for me (I've also got Baby Jane Hudson and Charlotte Vale vying for my attentions), Anne Baxter is Eve Harrington in my eyes. That perfect hair, that cool, rehearsed demeanor, that heart of a vixen trapped in the body of a mouse ("no, not mouse, never mouse, if anything rat"). Baxter may have played other roles well (such as her Oscar-winning turn in The Razor's Edge), but it is with this dewy-eyed creation that she wins over any naysayers. From her sparkling tete-a-tete with George Sanders in the hotel to her pure Hollywood awards acception speech to the final, strings-soaked curtain call, she owns Eve Harrington, and bewitches the audience. Movie villains may come and go-Anne Baxter and Eve Harrington are forever.

A film festival with Anne Baxter may seem pointless (after all it, was Easter yesterday-you already saw The Ten Commandments). Therefore, I recommend two other are-they-good-or-evil? films: Charade, with Cary Grant's character switching every-which-way-he-can, and North by Northwest, again with Cary Grant (but this time it's Eva Marie Saint who keeps you guessing).