The Stone Age: A Look at Sharon Stone's Best Work

Sharon Stone isn't a great actress; she is a great star and diva, and given a good director and strong script she can be great. Too often, though, Stone's career has been wasted on B-movies that misuse her beauty, intelligence and wit. She has garnered critical acclaim and an Oscar-nomination for her turn as a destructive hooker in the 1995 Scorsese drama Casino. Her iconic performance, of course, will remain as the murdering novelist, Catherine Tramell in 1992's Basic Instinct. Stone is an actress reminiscent of Joan Crawford or Bette Davis - she's got an over-sized personality that can overwhelm a movie; there are films where Stone manages to pull in her theatrics and give smaller performances (The Mighty, Bobby). The following are Stone's greatest work on film, which represents a talented, gifted actress, who just is very diffcult to cast in a cookie-cutter industry like film.

Basic Instinct (1992) Sharon Stone was already a veteran when she made this film, though she had an unimpressive resume of B-movies. Her performance as a killer writer is frightening and extremely sexy. She steals the movie from Michael Douglas, with a flashy role that is much more than just her uncrossing her legs. Stone was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance.

Casine (1995) It would be three years before Sharon Stone would offer another good performance. In between, she made four forgettable films, that couldn't benefit from her work. Martin Scorsese's mobster-drama about the corrupt and violent world of organized crime tied with casinos in Las Vegas benefits greatly from an explosive performance from Stone as Ginger McKenna. The film is one of Scorsese's weaker efforts, though he assembled a top-shelf cast that includes Robert DeNiro, Don RIckles, James Wood, Joe Pesci, though it's Stone's brilliantly outlandish performance that is really the most memorable part of the film. She steals every scene she is in, and that's mighty high praise, considering her costars. Stone was awarded a Golden Globe for this role, as well as, an Oscar nomination.