It's usually one incendiary role or performance that stays with me, an almost freak coincidence of actor, director, role and time.
I'm thinking of, for example:
Anton Walbrook in
Colonel Blimp
Clara Calamai in
Ossessione
Meiko Keji as Scorpion
Mario Adorf in
La Mala Ordina
Cher in
Moonstruck
Sophia Loren in
Marriage Italian Style and
Two Women
Lo Lieh in
King Boxer
Michael Douglas in
Wall Street
Silvana Mangano in
Bitter Rice
Dietrich photographed by von Sternberg
Kara Wai in almost any Shaw Brothers film
Maria Callas as Medea
Marilyn and Russell in
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Gian Maria Volonté in
Faccia a faccia
Jean-Louis Trintignant and Klaus Kinski in
The Great Silence
Jennifer Lopez in
Hustlers
Michèle Mercier in
Cemetery Without Crosses
Chen Kuan-tai in
The Boxer from Shantung
Rosalba Neri in
Top Sensation
But the actor who I like in almost every film I see him in (
Christmas in Rome,
Letters to Juliet and
Camelot being notable exceptions) and who has been in more films I love than anybody else is, of course, the great Franco Nero.