Michelle Pfeiffer’s 10 Best Roles

By Rachel West. 29 Apr 2018 9:00 AM

Michelle Pfeiffer celebrates her 60th birthday on April 29. In honour of her big day, we’re looking back at her 10 best movie roles.

Columbia Pictures

Buena Vista Pictures

Warner Bros.

Universal Pictures

Warner Bros.

MGM

Alliance Atlantis

Warner bros.

20th Century Fox

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‘The Age Of Innocence’
Columbia Pictures
As a soon-to-be divorcee, Pfeiffer's character is cast out of New York’s social circles in Martin Scorsese’s 1870s period drama “The Age Of Innocence”. Michelle is luminous as Countess Ellen Olenska who comes between her young cousin May (Winona Ryder) and her fiancé (Daniel Day-Lewis) in this tale of social mores and cutting emotional attacks.
‘Dangerous Minds’
Buena Vista Pictures
Marine-turned-high school teacher LouAnne Johnson takes charge in the 1995 drama “Dangerous Minds”. Faced with a group of underprivileged students who underestimate her character, Pfeiffer pulls out all the stops as the caring instructor who just wants to reach them.
‘The Witches of Eastwick’
Warner Bros.
Director George Miller’s campy fantasy film about an unlucky-in-love trio played by Pfeiffer, Cher, and Susan Sarandon who, thanks to Jack Nicholson, discover they’re actually witches, turning Pfeiffer’s mousy and bookish Sukie into someone with a lot more power.
‘Scarface’
Universal Pictures
As the cocaine-fuelled wife of a crime kingpin, Pfeiffer made her big-screen breakthrough in Brian De Palma’s 1980s ode to excess. Violent, profane, and yet a commercial success, Pfeiffer played up the idea of a mob trophy wife and turned it on its head.
‘Dangerous Liaisons’
Warner Bros.
Beautiful people are horrendously wicked in the period drama “Dangerous Liaisons”. With a cast clad in powdered wigs and corsets, the film is filled to the brim with schemers and womanizers, and a young Keanu Reeves. Pfeiffer earned her first-ever Oscar nomination for playing the righteous Madame Marie de Tourvel, who gets caught up in a web of seduction weaved by Vicomte de Valmont (John Malkovich) and Marquise de Merteuil (Glenn Close).
‘Married To The Mob’
MGM
“Married To The Mob” borders on farce in its depiction of Mafia widow Angela de Marco, but Pfeiffer’s big-haired, gold-clad performance is the perfect place for the actress to show off her more comedic skills.
‘Love Field’
MGM
Pfeiffer earned her third and most recent Oscar nomination for her role as a 1960s Dallas housewife whose obsession with first lady Jackie Kennedy leads her to be present for the assassination of JFK. Deep in her own grief over the loss of her own child, Pfeiffer’s Lurene Hallett finds herself at JFK’s funeral, making some unlikely friendships that cross racial and social borders.
‘Hairspray’
Alliance Atlantis
As the ultimate stage mom, Pfeiffer’s racist, WASP-y villain Velma Von Tussle will do whatever underhanded deed it takes to keep a 1950s teen dance show segregated so her daughter can remain in the spotlight. The actress leaned back on her musical beginnings in “Grease 2” to deliver a breathy and campy ode to her former pageant days with “(The Legend Of ) Miss Baltimore Crabs”.
‘Batman Returns’
Warner bros.
Pfeiffer made it cool to be a cat lady in Tim Burton’s dark superhero movie, “Batman Returns”. Mousy Selina Kyle turned the tables on her boss Max Schreck (Christopher Walken) and treated Michael Keaton’s Batman like a play thing while clad in a now-iconic leather catsuit. Meow.
‘The Fabulous Baker Boys’
20th Century Fox
Pfeiffer earned her second Oscar nod for her role as singer and former escort Susie Diamond, who joins a brotherly jazz duo, The Baker Boys (played by real-life brothers Jeff and Beau Bridges). The actress cements her status as a late 1980s blonde bombshell, thanks to one of the film’s most famous scenes: a seductive Susie slithering on top of a grand piano in a silky red dress.

Michelle Pfeiffer’s 10 Best Roles

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