19 Great Performances by Women Playing Love Interests

19. Myrna Loy (The Best Years of Our Lives)

The role: Milly Stephenson is the wife of Fredric March’s veteran WWII pilot, Al. She tries to maintain order in the household while Al adjusts to civilian life and her daughter, Peggy (Teresa Wright), falls for a married man.

Why she’s great: William Wyler’s postwar weepie centers on three men, but the women surrounding them are every bit as dynamic. As Milly, Loy breaks the “long-suffering wife” mold by hinting at the unrest roiling beneath her serene façade. She can tap into profound reservoirs of doubt, frustration, and sorrow without saying a word, simply clasping her hands or shifting her eyes. And when she does talk, she adopts a pleasantly dry tone that wards off sentimentality. Her chemistry with March, less passionate than kind, provides compelling evidence against the perception of committed, long-term relationships in fiction as fundamentally dull.

Standout moment: To dispel her Peggy’s rose-colored view of their marriage, Milly turns to her husband and asks, “How many times have I told you I hated you and believed it in my heart? How many times have you said you were sick and tired of me, and we were all washed up? How many times have we had to fall in love all over again?” The knowing smile that Loy gives March is enough to make your heart swell.