72. Judy Garland as Esther Blodgett a.k.a. 
      Vicki Lester
      A Star Is Born (1954)

Garland’s self-initiated comeback vehicle—and, ultimately, her last big splash—sticks in the memory first because of that fabulous voice. But in watching her portray a club singer boosted to big-screen luminescence by fading star Norman Maine (James Mason), we tend to focus as much on her exquisitely twitchy mouth as the sounds coming out of it. Whether Garland is playing fluttery-hearted as Mason first urges her to dream big, or communicating the frayed vulnerability that tinges her eventual fame, the lips have it. Behind the scenes, the star’s unsteadiness was another story entirely, prompting director George Cukor to fume, “This is the behavior of someone unhinged.” But onscreen, she wrings enormous sympathy out of her portrait of a woman who keeps her feet firmly on the ground as she’s reaching for the stars.

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