Hi -
50mm f1.4 is a wonderful lens for intimate portraits, but mine is fairly soft wide open (which is a plus for portraiture in my opinion...).
I also have the 180mm f2.8 lens for theater work and mine is wonderful at 2.8 and even better at 5.6. This is true for strongly lit scenes with great contrast: take outside on a normal day, though, and it disappoints with fairly weak contrast.
While not specified, I also have a 85 f2 Nikkor that is even better for portraits, a 180mm f3.4 APO Leica Telyt R that handily out-resolves the sensor and an ancient, battered 200 f4 Nikon that comes close that Leica at f8 (but nowhere near that at f4). Oh, and another ancient Leica 100 f4 on bellows for serious macro work.
JohnF