52. Emma Thompson as Miss Kenton
      The Remains of the Day (1993)

For Miss Kenton, head housekeeper of a 1930s English manor, there’s only one task more daunting than keeping the silver polished: trying to buff away the impossibly thick coating smothering the emotions of model butler Mr. Stevens (Anthony Hopkins). Some would argue that Hopkins faced the greater acting challenge in conveying heartache through that formidable reserve. But Thompson had to both match his decorum (she took a few tips from the Windsors’ butler) and chip away at Stevens’s wall of repression. It’s the dramatic equivalent of Ginger Rogers doing all those fancy steps backwards, in heels—and Thompson manages the dance expertly, at once ever-dutiful and gracefully defiant.

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