Who was the best Amanda Wingfield?

Of the original list, I saw all but Sally Field and Jessica Lange and did see the Gertrude Lawrence version.  I ALWAYS wondered why they hired her, because I did not like her at all.  Of the filmed ones, I preferred Joanne Woodward the most.  I still remember Katharine Hepburn's 'rise and shine' more vividly than anyone's but I could never get past the face that she was Katharine Hepburn.

Of the staged performances, I think that both Stapleton and Tandy gave their most disappointing performances.  I know that I saw Harris, but I really don't remember her performance.  So I guess I would say that I liked Cherry Jones' live performance the most, but that I still preferred Joanne  Woodward.

I did not see Judith Ivey, but I can certainly picture her in the role.

I did not see Julie Harris and I SO wish I had.

But Sally Field, in the Kennedy Center Tennessee William Celebration production, not the odd Broadway revival, was the best I have seen!   You could easily see the young girl beneath, the belle with a trail of gentleman callers at the door. She had lost some of that in the different production she did on Broadway. I almost wish I hadn't seen that as it somewhat sullied my memory of her performance in DC.

I've seen only one version of Glass Menagerie on stage - with Jessica Lange on Broadway  ( with Christian Slater).  Jessica touched me with her sensitive portrayal of the faded southern belle in difficult circumstances.

Dramatic plays like this deserve to be filmed for posterity and for aspiring drama students.

Jessica Tandy gave a quite remarkable performance in 1983.  I still remember her delivery of the line: A little silver slipper of a moon. Look over your left shoulder, Laura, and make a wish !  Like poetry.  The rest of the cast did not meld well, but Jessica Tandy hit it out of the park 100%.

Funny enough, I am fortunate to have seen Jessica Lange, Cherry Jones and Sally Field- three incredible actresses- as Amanda, and all three were upstaged by other performers, I thought.

Well, Field was just misdirected into oblivion, so maybe not a good example. I thought Lange and Jones did fine work but Sarah Paulson's performance made me forget Lange almost entirely, and both Zachary Quinto and Celia Keenan-Bolger walked away with the 2014 production. (Though to be fair, the night I saw Ms. Jones, she was clearly struggling with her voice/projection, in the middle of a cold winter run). 

but six months into this covid game, id kill to see any of them read anything. anywhere.

I have only seen the Cherry Jones production and the night I saw it she was also the weakest in the cast. Really disappointing as I was dying to see her after seeing her in "Doubt". She just chewed up the scenery. (I think I did hear that she had a cold at the time I saw it in January.) Brian J. Smith walked off with the show. But unfortunately Ms Jones' performance seemed to throw the whole evening off. The rest of the cast was fine.

uncageg said: "I have only seen the Cherry Jones production and the night I saw it she was also the weakest in the cast. Really disappointing as I was dying to see her after seeing her in "Doubt". She just chewed up the scenery. (I think I did hear that she had a cold at the time I saw it in January.) Brian J. Smith walked off with the show. But unfortunately Ms Jones' performance seemed to throw the whole evening off. The rest of the cast was fine."

I saw this production fairly early in the run, shortly after opening, and Jones' performance was already quite hammy. In general, I feel like her stage work since DOUBT has been overly broad and not particularly memorable. 

I grew up on the Joanne Woodward version and I don't know...there's just something missing for me. I don't know if it's the pacing, the way it was filmed, the blocking, or what but it just doesn't have that snap I'd like. It's kind of sleepy, which I get because it's a "memory" play and everything is supposed to seem like it's from Tom's memory and have that effect.

Anyway, I remember the Katharine Hepburn version vividly when it was available on Netflix. Katharine Hepburn was miscast but I liked the conviction in which she played Amanda...but again, totally miscast. Sam Waterson was too bland for me, but Michael Moriarty and Joanna Miles as Jim and Laura respectively were standouts. IMO, by far the best Jim and Laura captured on film. I can see why they won Emmys for those performances. They brought real life, energy, character, and flavor to the roles while still being faithful to the material and characterizations.

The worst I've seen was my university's production. I know it's not fair to compare a school production to any professional one, but I don't know what the director learned from studying the play but he made Laura truly have a limp that thudded throughout the stage all performance and that seemed to go against the original intent of Williams since she's also a character totally capable of walking all over town in the cold to avoid typing class which shows she's not nearly as physically or emotionally disabled as the other characters perceive her to be.