Julie Christie is an Oscar-winning actress who has been largely absent from movie screens this century, enjoying a semi-retirement that finds her returning for the odd performance here and there. Yet she’s always finding new fans as younger generations discover her cinematic classics. Let’s take a look at 20 of her greatest films, ranked worst to best.
Born on April 14, 1940, Christie rose to prominence for her work in London, starting with a breakthrough performance in John Schlesinger‘s “Billy Liar” (1963). She won the Oscar as Best Actress just two years later for Schlesinger’s “Darling” (1965), playing a fashion model who sleeps her way to the top. That same year, she shot to stardom thanks to David Lean‘s romantic epic “Doctor Zhivago” (1965), which casts her as a political activist’s wife who falls in love with a physician (Omar Sharif) during the Russian Revolution.
She earned a second Best Actress nomination for Robert Altman‘s elegiac western “McCabe & Mrs. Miller” (1971), playing a Cockney prostitute who teams up with a gambler (her then-boyfriend Warren Beatty) to open a brothel. Though their relationship was short-lived, Christie did reunite with Beatty onscreen for “Shampoo” (1975) and “Heaven Can Wait” (1978).
Christie’s on-screen performances became fewer and father between in the 1980s and 1990s. She returned to the Oscar race with Alan Rudolph‘s “Afterglow” (1997), playing a former actress who experiences marriage woes with her handyman husband (Nick Nolte).
She looked poised to win a second Best Actress trophy for playing a woman slowly succumbing to Alzheimer’s in Sarah Polly‘s “Away from Her” (2007). The film brought her victories at the Golden Globes, SAG, and Critics Choice, yet she lost the Oscar to Marion Cotillard (“La Vie en Rose”).
Christie received additional Globe nominations for “Darling” and “Shampoo.” She won the BAFTA for “Darling” and competed again for “Billy Liar,” “Doctor Zhivago,” “Fahrenheit 451” (1966, shared with “Zhivago”), “The Go-Between” (1971), “Don’t Look Now” (1973), “Finding Neverland” (2004), and “Away from Her.” She received the BAFTA Fellowship in 1997.
Tour our photo gallery above of Christie’s 20 greatest films, and see if your favorite made the cut.
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20. TROY (2004)
Image Credit: Alex Bailey/Warner Bros/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Wolfgang Petersen. Screenplay by David Benioff, based on ‘The Iliad’ by Homer. Starring Brad Pitt, Eric Bana, Orlando Bloom, Diane Kruger, Brian Cox, Sean Bean, Brendan Gleeson, Peter O’Toole, Julie Christie.
Christie’s cinematic output has been infrequent this century, which makes a movie like “Troy” doubly-disappointing. Luckily for her, she’s barely in this turgid sword-and-sandals epic, so it’s easy to erase from her filmography. The decades-long Trojan War is condensed to just a few weeks, with the origins whittled down to soap opera shenanigans. Brad Pitt has never been duller than as Achilles, a great warrior fighting for the Greeks. Christie appears briefly as his mother, Thetis. Some thrilling battle sequences (enhanced through CGI) can’t make up for the sloggy pace and tedious dialogue. “Gladiator” this is not.
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19. POWER (1986)
Image Credit: Lorimar/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Sidney Lumet. Written by David Himmelstein. Starring Richard Gere, Julie Christie, Gene Hackman, Kate Capshaw, Denzel Washington, E.G. Marshall, Beatrice Straight, J.T. Walsh.
Sidney Lumet’s “Power” features an outstanding cast giving their all to a lackluster screenplay. Richard Gere stars as Pete St. John, a savvy political consultant whose longtime client, Ohio senator Sam Hastings (E.G. Marshall), plans to step down. He joins the campaign for his successor (J.T. Walsh), run by a brilliant P.R. expert (Denzel Washington), but finds himself embroiled in corruption and scandal. His ex-wife (Julie Christie), a dedicated journalist, and his former partner (Gene Hackman) help him uncover the truth. Though the film has a lot to say about politics, it never has much of a plot to make those points.
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18. DEMON SEED (1977)
Image Credit: Mgm/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Donald Cammell. Screenplay by Robert Jaffe and Roger O. Hirson, based on the novel by Dean Koontz. Starring Julie Christie, Fritz Weaver, Gerrit Graham, Berry Kroeger, Robert Vaughn.
“Demon Seed” tries to be a sort of “Rosemary’s Baby” for the digital age, with the devil replaced by a supercomputer. Though it lacks the psychological complexity and skill of Roman Polanski’s horror masterpiece, it’s still an entertaining B-movie in its own right. Christie stars as Susan, a woman whose scientist husband (Fritz Weaver) creates an organic A.I. named Proteus IV. When the computer falls in love with Susan, he takes over the house and forcibly impregnates her, creating a human/robot hybrid. The super silly material works in large part thanks to Christie’s dedicated performance.
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17. HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN (2004)
Image Credit: Warner Bros. Directed by Alfonso Cuaron. Screenplay by Steve Kloves, based on the novel by J. K. Rowling. Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Robbie Coltrane, Michael Gambon, Richard Griffiths, Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, Fiona Shaw, Maggie Smith, Timothy Spall, David Thewlis, Emma Thompson, Julie Walters, Julie Christie.
Legend has it Alfonso Cuaron had never read any of the “Harry Potter” books, nor seen the previous two films, before being approached about helming this third entry in the franchise. It was at the insistence of pal Guillermo del Toro that he went to his local bookstore and picked up copies of J. K. Rowling’s fantasy novels, for which fans should be forever grateful. “Prisoner of Azkaban” is by far the darkest, most complex movie in the series about a teenage wizard (Daniel Radcliffe) and his magical friends (Rupert Grint and Emma Watson) battling the forces of evil, thanks to Cuaron’s nuanced handling of the material. Christie appears as the short-tempered Madame Rosmerta, landlady of the Three Broomsticks pub.
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16. HEAT AND DUST (1983)
Image Credit: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock Directed by James Ivory. Screenplay by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, based on her novel. Starring Julie Christie, Greta Scacchi, Shashi Kapoor, Zakir Hussain.
“Heat and Dust” is a lesser known entry in the Merchant-Ivory canon, but it’s international box office success marked a turning point for the filmmakers, leading the way to “A Room with a View,” “Howards End,” and “The Remains of the Day.” It centers on two people separated by sixty years — an Englishwoman in 1982 (Christie) and her great aunt (Greta Scacchi) — who each travel to India and fall in love. The film earned eight BAFTA bids, including Best Film, winning for Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s screenplay (adapted from her own novel). Surprisingly, Christie wasn’t among the nominees, although Scacchi competed for Best Newcomer.
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15. FINDING NEVERLAND (2004)
Image Credit: Film Colony/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Marc Forster. Screenplay by David Magee, based on the play ‘The Man Who Was Peter Pan’ by Allan Knee. Starring Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet, Julie Christie, Radha Mitchell, Dustin Hoffman, Freddie Highmore.
Though you can’t exactly accuse it being factually accurate, “Finding Neverland” is a charming and sweet-natured look at the man who created Peter Pan. Johnny Depp stars as J.M. Barrie, who forms a friendship with a widow (Kate Winslet) and her four children (including Freddie Highmore) that inspires him to write about a boy who never wants to grow up. Christie stars as Winslet’s mother, who isn’t too keen on having a grown man hanging out with her grandchildren. The film competed for seven Oscars, including Best Picture, winning for its score. Christie earned a BAFTA bid and SAG Ensemble nom, but was ignored by the Academy.
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14. HAMLET (1996)
Image Credit: Rolf Konow/Castle Rock/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Written for the screen and directed by Kenneth Branagh, based on the play by William Shakespeare. Starring Kenneth Branagh, Julie Christie, Billy Crystal, Gerard Depardieu, Charlton Heston, Derek Jacobi, Jack Lemmon, Rufus Sewell, Robin William, Kate Winslet, Ian McElhinney.
Shakespeare’s classic play about a melancholy Bard has been translated to the screen countless times, but never as faithfully as this 70mm, four hour version with Kenneth Branagh pulling off triple-duty as writer, director, and star. Christie plays Gertrude, Queen of Denmark, who marries Hamlet’s uncle, King Claudius (Derek Jacobi), after her husband dies. But her son suspects something is afoul. Several celebs stop by to make cameo appearances, including Jack Lemmon, Robin Williams, Billy Crystal, and Charlton Heston. The film earned Oscar nominations for Branagh in screenplay, as well as art direction, costumes, and score.
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13. THE GO-BETWEEN (1971)
Image Credit: Studiocanal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Joseph Losey. Screenplay by Harold Pinter, based on the novel by L.P. Hartley. Starring Julie Christie, Alan Bates, Margaret Leighton, Edward Fox, Dominic Guard.
Though it won the Palme d’Or at Cannes and earned an Oscar nomination for Margaret Leighton’s supporting turn, you don’t hear much about “The Go-Between” these days. That’s a shame, because it’s a terrific mood piece that perfectly captures its period. Told in flashback, it recounts the story of a young boy (Dominic Guard) who acts as a mail carrier for an English noblewoman (Christie) and a farmer (Alan Bates) who are having an illicit affair. Her mother (Leighton) wants her to marry a man of her own class, causing friction. Though she competed at BAFTA for this film, Christie earned an Oscar bid that same year for “McCabe & Mrs. Miller.”
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12. FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD (1967)
Image Credit: Vic/Appia/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by John Schlesinger. Screenplay by Frederic Raphael, based on the novel by Thomas Hardy. Starring Julie Christie, Terence Stamp, Peter Finch, Alan Bates, Prunella Ransome.
This adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s classic novel is praised for its lush photography by Nicolas Roeg but criticized for its muted emotions. Yet there’s something oddly powerful in the way director John Schlesinger and screenwriter Frederic Raphael holds the passions of their characters at arm’s length. Set in Victorian England, it star Christie as Bathsheba, a beguiling woman who romances three different men: a shepherd (Alan Bates), a farmer (Peter Finch), and a soldier (Terence Stamp). The film earned an Oscar nomination for Richard Rodney Bennett’s evocative score, though none of the actors were recognized.
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11. BILLY LIAR (1963)
Image Credit: Studio Canal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by John Schlesinger. Screenplay by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall, based on their play and Waterhouse’s novel. Starring Tom Courtenay, Julie Christie, Wilfred Pickles, Mona Washbourne, Helen Fraser, Gwendolyn Watts.
Christie’s big breakthrough came with this delectably droll comedy from John Schlesinger. Tom Courtenay stars a Billy, an unambitious undertaker’s assistant who spends most of his time daydreaming and spinning tall tales. When he reunites with a free-spirited ex girlfriend (Christie) who finds his fantasies delightful, it complicates things with two other ladies he’s seeing (Helen Fraser and Gwendolyn Watts). At times both whimsical and realistic, “Billy Liar” is a terrific showcase for its performers. The film earned six BAFTA nominations, including Best Film, Best British Film, and lead acting bids for Christie and Courtenay.
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10. FAHRENHEIT 451 (1966)
Image Credit: Anglo Enterprise/Vineyard/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Francois Truffaut. Screenplay by Jean-Louis Richard and Francois Truffaut, based on the novel by Ray Bradbury. Starring Oskar Werner, Julie Christie, Cyril Cusack, Anton Diffring.
Critics dismissed Francois Truffaut’s English-language debut as a disappointing adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s acclaimed sci-fi novel. Yet time has rendered a different verdict, and “Fahrenheit 451’s” stature has grown over the years (especially when compared to the recent HBO version). Set in a dystopian future where reading is outlawed, it centers on a fireman (Oskar Werner) who is tasked with rounding up books and burning them. Things take a turn for the worse when he starts hiding the forbidden items in his home. Christie earned a BAFTA nomination for her duel role as the fireman’s suspicious wife and a schoolteacher who inspires his curiosity with the written word. A perfect blending of Hollywood filmmaking and the French New Wave, this is a haunting look at the dangers of authoritarianism.
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9. PETULIA (1968)
Image Credit: Warner Bros/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Richard Lester. Screenplay by Lawrence B. Marcus, story by Barbara Turner, based on the novel ‘Me and the Arch Kook Petulia’ by John Haase. Starring Julie Christie, George C. Scott, Richard Chamberlain, Arthur Hill, Shirley Knight, Joseph Cotten.
“Petulia” tells a deceptively simple story set against the San Francisco hippie scene of the 1960s. George C. Scott stars as a physician reeling from a recent divorce from his wife (Shirley Knight). He befriends a newlywed socialite (Christie) who’s desperately unhappy with her abusive husband (Richard Chamberlain). Lester creates an eerily sterile, static world for his characters to inhabit, satirizing American materialism. He also elicits heartbreakingly nuanced performances from his actors, who can’t find happiness despite having everything in the world they could possibly want. It’s hard to imagine Sofia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation” without this intimate character study as a spiritual predecessor.
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8. AFTERGLOW (1997)
Image Credit: Moonstone/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Written and directed by Alan Rudolph. Starring Nick Nolte, Julie Christie, Lara Flynn Boyle, Jonny Lee Miller.
Christie returned to the Oscar race with Alan Rudolph’s romantic dramady, one of just a handful of films she made in the 1990s. She plays Phyllis Mann, a former actress who spends her days watching the B-movies that made her famous. Her husband, Lucky (Nick Nolte), is a handyman who still has a way with the ladies. When he meets an unhappily married woman (Lara Flynn Boyle), the two start having an affair. Meanwhile, Phyllis becomes romantically entangled with the woman’s husband (Jonny Lee Miller). A rather minor script is elevated by terrific performances all around. Christie won Best Actress prizes at the Independent Spirits, New York Film Critics Circle, and the National Society of Film Critics, losing at the Academy to Helen Hunt (“As Good as It Gets”).
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7. HEAVEN CAN WAIT (1978)
Image Credit: Paramount/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Warren Beatty and Buck Henry. Screenplay by Elaine May and Warren Beatty, based on the play by Harry Segall. Starring Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, James Mason, Jack Warden, Charles Grodin, Dyan Cannon, Vincent Gardenia, R. G. Armstrong.
Though their relationship had ended years earlier, Christie reunited with Warren Beatty for this celestial romantic comedy, which was also Beatty’s directorial debut (working with Buck Henry). Based on the play by Harry Segall (which was previously adapted as “Here Comes Mr. Jordan”), “Heaven Can Wait” centers on a Los Angeles Rams quarterback (Beatty) whose spirit is taken from his body before he was actually ready to die. He’s sent back to Earth to inhabit a recently deceased millionaire industrialist, who was poisoned by his wife (Dyan Cannon) and her lover (Charles Grodin). While there, he falls in love with an environmental activist (Christie) with whom the wealthy businessman had previously sparred. The box office smash earned nine Oscar nominations — including four for Beatty — winning for art direction.
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6. AWAY FROM HER (2007)
Image Credit: The Film Farm/Foundry Inc/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Written and directed by Sarah Polley, based on the short story ‘The Bear Came Over the Mountain’ by Alice Munro. Starring Julie Christie, Gordon Pinsent, Olympia Dukakis, Michael Murphy, Kristen Thompson, Wendy Creson.
Christie came out of semi-retirement to make “Away from Her,” delivering one of her greatest performances as a woman slowly succumbing to Alzheimer’s. When her husband of over 50 years (Gordon Pinsent) realizes he can no longer take care of her, he must come to grips with institutionalizing her. Tensions are further strained when she transfers her feeling for him onto another patient (Michael Murphy), causing him to become a silent observer to his own marriage. Actress Sarah Polley proves herself more than capable in her directorial debut, wrenching heartbreakingly honest performances out of her actors and earning an Oscar bid for her screenplay, adapted from Alice Munro’s short story. Christie seemed poised to win her second Best Actress prize, snagging awards at SAG, the Golden Globes, and Critics Choice; she ultimately lost at the Academy to Marion Cotillard (“La Vie en Rose”).
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5. SHAMPOO (1975)
Image Credit: Columbia/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Hal Ashby. Written by Robert Towne and Warren Beatty. Starring Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn, Lee Grant, Jack Warden, Tony Bill, Carrie Fisher.
Though it takes place on election night 1968, Richard Nixon’s rise to power is in the background of “Shampoo,” a loopy sex comedy about the trials and tribulations of a perpetual Don Juan. Warren Beatty is at the center as George, a Beverly Hills hairdresser who’s sleeping with several women: there’s his live-in girlfriend (Goldie Hawn); her best friend (Christie), who’s having an affair with a wealthy businessman (Supporting Actor nominee Jack Warden); and the businessman’s wife (Supporting Actress winner Lee Grant), to name a few. The film was a passion project for Beatty, who brought on Robert Towne to co-write (earning an Oscar bid for their efforts) and Hal Ashby to direct. The result is a pitch perfect satire of egoism and vapidity, sex and politics. Christie earned a Globe bid, but was snubbed at the Academy.
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4. DON’T LOOK NOW (1973)
Image Credit: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock Director by Nicolas Roeg. Screenplay by Allan Scott and Chris Bryant, based on the short story by Daphne Du Maurier. Starring Julie Christie, Donald Sutherland, Hilary Mason, Clelia Matania, Massimo Serato.
Nicolas Roeg’s adaptation of Daphne Du Maurier’s chilling short story casts Christie and Donald Sutherland as a married couple who travel to Venice following the accidental death of their young daughter. They encounter two elderly sisters, one of whom claims to be psychic and informs them that their daughter is trying to communicate from beyond the grave and warn them of danger. Filled with haunting and operatic images, “Don’t Look Now” continues to scare audiences over 40 years after its release. It’s particularly famous for a steamy, super-erotic sex scene between Sutherland and Christie. Although ignored by the Academy, it did receive seven BAFTA nominations, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actress, winning for its flashy, blood red cinematography.
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3. DARLING (1965)
Image Credit: Studiocanal Films/REX/Shutterstock Directed by John Schlesinger. Written by Frederic Raphael. Starring Julie Christie, Laurence Harvey, Dick Bogarde.
“Darling” works as a time capsule of swinging London in the 1960s, which will make “Austin Powers” fans chuckle. But once you get past the fab hairdos and fashions, you’ll find a strikingly modern character study. Christie won the Oscar as Best Actress for her mesmerizing performance as Diana, a beautiful fashion model who sleeps her way to the top. Several men fall under her spell, including Dirk Bogarde as a TV journalist who abandons his family to help her career and Laurence Harvey as an advertising executive who gets her a leading role in a movie after they hit the sheets. The film won additional prizes for its screenplay and costumes, and competed in Best Picture and Best Director (John Schlesigner). Christie also took home Best Actress trophies at BAFTA, the New York Film Critics and the National Society of Film Critics.
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2. DOCTOR ZHIVAGO (1965)
Image Credit: MGM/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by David Lean. Screenplay by Robert Bolt, based on the novel by Boris Pasternak. Starring Geraldine Page, Julie Christie, Tom Courtenay, Alec Guinness, Siobhan McKenna, Ralph Richardson, Omar Sharif, Rod Steiger, Rita Tushingham.
David Lean followed up the Oscar-winning successes of “The Bridge on the River Kwai” and “Lawrence of Arabia” with “Doctor Zhivago,” an epic romance set against the Russian Revolution that critics felt paled in comparison to his earlier triumphs. And yes, this story of a married physician and poet (Omar Sharif) who falls in love with a political activist’s wife (Christie) is at times soapy and credulity-straining. Yet its scope and majesty far outweighs its narrative weaknesses, and the director’s meticulous attention to detail makes for a stunningly beautiful production. The film won five Oscars out of 10 nominations, competing for Best Picture and earning Lean another bid as Best Director. Christie won Best Actress that year, albeit for “Darling” (she competed at BAFTA for this film and “Fahrenheit 451” the next year).
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1. MCCABE & MRS. MILLER (1971)
Image Credit: Warner Bros/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Robert Altman. Screenplay by Robert Altman and Brian McKay, based on the novel ‘McCabe’ by Edmund Naughton. Starring Warren Beatty, Julie Christie, Rene Auberjonois, Michael Murphy, Antony Holland, Bert Remsen, Shelley Duvall, Keith Carradine.
Robert Altman followed up the rollicking war comedy “M*A*S*H” with this elegiac and hauntingly beautiful western, casting two of Hollywood’s most glamorous stars in their most unglamorous roles. Set in the Pacific Northwest mining town of Presbyterian Church, it centers on a rugged gambler (Warren Beatty) and a Cockney prostitute (Christie) who join forces to open a high-class brothel. Business is booming until a giant corporation comes to town, bringing tragedy along with it. There’s always rain and fog in this town, gloomily photographed by Vilmos Zsigmond and underscored with Leonard Cohen folk songs. Beatty and Christie disappear into their roles, playing desperately sad people who watch their dreams sift away. Christie earned an Oscar nomination in Best Actress, losing to Jane Fonda (“Klute”).
