Ralph Fiennes' Most Iconic Scenes

Ralph Fiennes made his movie debut as Heathcliff in the 1992 adaptation of Wuthering Heights, and he also appeared in the 1993 drama The Baby of Mâcon. But it was his work in Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List that really put the actor on the map. The film adapts the true story of Oskar Schindler (portrayed by Liam Neeson), a German industrialist who saved the lives of 1,200 Jewish people in Poland during World War II by bribing Nazi officers to send them to his munitions factory. Fiennes stars in the film as the heinous SS officer Amon Göth, who oversees the Kraków-Płaszów concentration camp and whose violence against Jewish citizens inspires Schindler to begin his rescue efforts.

Fiennes' portrayal of the brutal officer produces several searing scenes, including one in which he discusses the true nature of power. Göth believes that "control is power," while Schindler contends that mercy is actually the ultimate display of strength. Göth considers that to be a joke and makes light of his own brutality. Fiennes revealed to journalist Bob Woodward that in approaching this role, he set out to showcase the "banality" and "everydayness" of evil that the real-life version of his character and so many others like him represented, and this scene is certainly an example of that. Fiennes' chilling performance earned him a BAFTA win for Best Supporting Actor, and he was also nominated at the Academy Awards and Golden Globes for the role.

Ralph Fiennes' second Oscar nomination came shortly after the first thanks to his work in The English Patient. The romantic period drama features him as a badly burned hospital patient who tells his story to his attending nurse. Through flashback sequences, he is identified as Count László de Almásy (who is loosely based on the real-life explorer of the same name), a man on a mission to map out parts of the Sahara Desert whose team is joined by a wealthy British couple named Katherine (Kristin Scott Thomas) and Geoffrey (Colin Firth). The two help the cartographers' efforts by sharing their plane for aerial observations.

Almásy becomes attracted to Katherine, and, during one of the most unforgettable moments of the movie, he makes his intentions loud and clear without saying a word. At a soiree with all of their companions, Almásy asks Katherine to dance, and she confronts him about following her through the marketplace in Cairo. When she asks why he did not simply accompany her instead of watching her from a distance, he says nothing and instead stares at her intensely. Even though his response is silent, Katherine seems to get the message, and it marks the beginning of a very swoony — and dangerous — dance between the two. Fiennes would go on to play the leading man in other romance movies, including Oscar and Lucinda, The End of the Affair, and Maid in Manhattan. But The English Patient is an all-timer for the genre, thanks in no small part to Fiennes' passionate portrayal of the titular character.

Another of Ralph Fiennes' celebrated performances is as Bernard Lafferty in Bernard and Doris. The film is a fictionalized version of the story of the real-life billionaire Doris Duke (Susan Sarandon) and her relationship with Bernard, her beloved assistant who would go on to take control of her entire estate and who some suspected of secretly murdering her.

In the movie, Bernard moves into Doris' estate and, after a rocky start, slowly earns her trust by caring for her in an hour of need. As Doris' comfort level with Bernard begins to increase, he reveals more and more about himself, including the fact that he is gay, and he becomes her closest confidante. In one scene that showcases their unique bond, the two regale one another with song, and it's clear they both deeply enjoy the theatrics of their time spent together. Fiennes' performance in Bernard and Doris is carefully crafted to leave certain questions hanging over the character, which is a picture-perfect reflection of the mystery that still looms over his real-life counterpart. For this performance, Fiennes was nominated for a Golden Globe, an Emmy, and a Screen Actors Guild Award.

For his directorial debut, Ralph Fiennes got back to his roots as a Shakespeare aficionado, helming and starring in the title role of his modernized adaptation of Coriolanus. As with Shakespeare's play, Caius Martius Coriolanus is a war hero who has personally saved Rome from the Volscian army and its commander, Tullus Aufidius (Gerard Butler). But when his mother Volumnia (Vanessa Redgrave) pushes him to run for a political post in the Senate, he is betrayed by Brutus (Paul Jesson) and Sicinius (James Nesbitt), who accuse him of being a traitor.

When the two are successful at rousing the crowd into a chant cheering for Coriolanus' banishment from the city, he explodes with a scathing monologue of admonition, shouting, "You common cry of curs, whose breath I hate as reek of the rotten fens, whose loves I prize as the dead carcasses of unburied men that do corrupt my air, I banish you!" There are many other moments in the movie that showcase just how much of a command Fiennes has of the supreme source material here, but this one reveals such a striking heel turn of emotion that it's impossible to forget.

Wes Anderson's 2014 dramedy The Grand Budapest Hotel features an all-star ensemble cast, but Ralph Fiennes stands out as Monsieur Gustave H., the concierge of the eponymous resort in the great, fake nation of Zubrowka. Gustave is known for seducing elderly women of wealth in the hotel, including Madame D. (Tilda Swinton), who mysteriously dies and wills him a famous Renaissance painting titled Boy with Apple. Madame D.'s family is immediately suspicious and sics the police on him, leading to one of the all-time funniest police pursuit scenes in cinematic history.

In the film, Gustave and his lobby boy Zero (Tony Revolori) are informed of the police's presence, and though he tries to play it cool as his arrest warrant is announced, he can't help but begin to nervously babble, saying, "I knew there was something fishy. We never got the cause of death. She's been murdered, and you think I did it..." Instead of going forward to declare his innocence or mount a defense, though, he abruptly takes off, causing the five cops in capes and cartoonish caps to sprint after him. For his role in the hysterical film, Fiennes netted his fifth Golden Globe nomination and a BAFTA nod for Best Leading Actor.

In The Dig, Ralph Fiennes stars as Basil Brown, the determined excavator who uncovers a massive piece of history under the mounds of Sutton Hoo. He is hired by the landowner, an intrepid widow named Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan), because she knows these piles of earth likely contain valuable secrets about the past. With a small team and few resources, Basil painstakingly finds what looks to be the framing of an ancient ship that served as a burial chamber for a wealthy Anglo-Saxon. The implications are monumental, as the tomb could shed some light on the mysterious civilization. Once word of their discovery gets out, expert archaeologists from the government descend and take over, much to Basil's dismay.

In one pivotal moment from the movie, Basil returns to his home in frustration about being usurped. Although he has been invited to continue the dig alongside these newcomers, Basil knows they will likely claim credit for his findings. His wife May (Monica Dolan) puts a poignant end to his pity party, though, by asking whether he has dedicated his life to this work in hopes of fame. "I do it 'cause I'm good at it," he snaps back. "'Cause that's what my father taught me and what his father taught him. 'Cause you could show me a handful of soil from anywhere in Suffolk, and I can pretty much tell you whose land it's from." With that, Basil's entire purpose has been renewed, and he returns to find out what other treasures lay beneath the dirt.