Lady Macbeth Appearances
full disclosure: this is bar none my absolute favorite play. I've collected film versions and adaptations of this play since I was a teenager. I tried very hard to only put in versions of the story and character that I thought were particularly interesting.
The earliest known film verson of Macbeth is a silent film from 1908, featuring the screen debut of actress and Grand Opera performer Louise Carver as Lady Macbeth. No one knows if any copies of the fim still exist.
There are several more adaptations of Macbeth during the silent film era, but the 1916 production stands out because it's produced by D.W. Griffith himself. It starred fameous stage and screen Shakespearian actors Herbert Beerbohm Tree as Macbeth and Constance Collier as Lady Macbeth.
Orson Wells' Macbeth from 1948 is absolutely bananas. He plays the lead, obviously... but Jeanette Nolan's turn as Lady Macbeth is just an absolute feast to watch. She's amazing.
Dame Judith Anderson delivered a truely groundbreaking performance of Lady Macbeth live on television in an episode of 1954's Hallmark Hall of Fame. She and her co-star Maurice Evans reprised their roles in a filmed-for television performance for Hallmark in 1960 with a different supporting cast.
One of the first modern retellings of Macbeth on film was the 1955 movie Joe Macbeth, which resets the action in 1920's criminal underworld. It features Ruth Roman as Lilly Macbeth
the 1957 Akira Kurosawa film Throne of Blood is a retelling of Macbeth set in Japan. Isuzu Yamada plays the lady Macbeth analog, Washizu Asaji.
BBC's Play of the Month was an anthology live-performance series that ran from 1965 to 1983. the Sept 1970 episode feature an absolutely suptuous production of Macbeth with some awe-inspiring design work. Janet Suzman starred as Lady Macbeth.
This is the movie that made me fall in love with Shakespeare. Roman Polanski's 1971 production of Macbeth. This movie was filmed as a coping mechanism for Polanski after the murder of his wife, Sharon Tate. It's a pretty graphic movie in every senes of the word, but it's also utterly gorgeous. Francesca Annis stars as Lady Macbeth.
1979's Macbeth is a filmed version of the Royal Shakespeare Company production directed by Trevor Nunn. If you ever want to watch a young Ian McKellen and Judi Dench play Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and just be in absolute awe of two genius actors, find this movie.
The Hungarian television film Macbeth from 1982 is watershed moment in the career of filmmaker Bela Tarr, because the movie consists of two shots... one five minute shot before the main title, and then a 57 minute shot that comprises the rest of the film. In this production Lady Macbeth is played by Hungarian actress Erzsébet Kútvölgyi.
the October 1983 episode of BBC's long-running series BBC Television Shakespeare starred Jane Lapotaire as Lady Macbeth. This is the show that wound up introducing a lot of young future theater kids in America to Shakespeare.
Another movie to reset the story of Macbeth among American mob culture: 1991's Men of Respect starred John Turturro as mob enforcer Mike Battaglia, and Katherine Borowitz as his wife Ruthie.
Shakespeare; The Animated Tales was a series of twelve half-hour animated segments adapting different Shakespearian plays. the episode Macbeth aired in 1993 and starred the voice of Zoë Wanamaker as Lady Macbeth.
A new filmed version of a Royal Shakespeare Company production was released in 2001, this time a more modern staging starring Harriet Walter.
Of course sooner or later we'd get to the Bollywood adaptation; 2003's Maqbool is set, obviously, in the modern Mumbai underworld. It features Bollywood actress Tabu as Nimmi, the stand-in for Lady Macbeth
the 2005 BBC series ShakespeaRe-Told was a selection of four original stories, all retellings of Shakespeare plays. the Macbeth episode was set in a restaraunt, with sous chef Macbeth (James McAvoy) vieing for ownership of the restaraunt and his wife Emma goading him on. Emma is played by Keeley Hawes.
the 2006 Melbourne production of Macbeth is again set in the world of organized crime, but rather than just using the story of Macbeth it is a straight adaptation with a new setting. The movie launched the career of Sam Worthington and is directed by Geoffrey Wright (who also launched Russell Crowe's career with 1992's Romper Stomper) It's also noteworthy because Victoria Hill (who plays Lady Macbeth) co-wrote the movie with Wright. Lady Macbeth manages to feel more central to the movie without altering the original script.
Yet another filmed version of a Royal Shakespeare Company production, 2010's Macbeth has some brilliant staging, an absolutely fantastic cast featuring Kate Fleetwood as Lady Macbeth, and the sheer, unadulterated joy of watching Sir Patrick Stewart perform Shakespeare, something that really should be counted as one of life's great pleasures.
Justin Kurzel's 2015 film Macbeth is utterly gorgeous, and features Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard in the lead rolls. I love this movie.