Ranking the Best Supporting Actresses
As you can see by the amount of times I’ve done it so far on the blog, I like ranking things. Ranking things is fun.
Lists, of course, create controversy, because there’s always some schmuck that thinks something shouldn’t be ranked higher than something else. So before I create any list, I specify – this is not a be-all-end-all order. I’m just listing my favorites. The real purpose of this is – because I talk about so many films and put my opinions on so many films out there, people who read the blog really get a sense of my film tastes and how they correspond to their own. Therefore, when I provide these lists, people will be able to, based on prior knowledge of how my film tastes relate to theirs, crosscheck the films they have seen with the films they haven’t, and possibly discover some great films they haven’t seen yet.
The main goal here is for people to be like, “I like that movie, and he ranked this other one above it. So since I generally like a lot of the stuff he recommends, I’ll check it out.” Or the opposite; “He always like those damn movies. Well, at least I’ll know to skip it, since he always puts them that high.” This is why I like lists. Not to make definitive statements, but to show you more movies.
So I thought it would be fun to rank all the Oscar categories (that is, Quest categories. Big six). I decided to unveil them backwards, in order to build up to the one most people would obviously give a shit about — Best Picture. So today we start with the Supporting categories. First Best Supporting Actress, and then Best Supporting Actor in a little bit.
The problem starting with these two categories is that they’re typically the worst of the bunch. The Supporting categories, more so than any other, are almost a dumping ground for Oscar winners. Typically they reward either up-and-coming actors or veterans who’ve been around for a while and haven’t really been recognized yet. It’s a lot tougher to rank a category by performance when the winners aren’t necessarily based on performance. So the way I’m doing it (along with Best Supporting Actor) is ranking based on a combination of how memorable their performance was (be it iconic, just plain amazing, or both), and how much I liked the performance.
The goal here really is just to get people to see these movies. Don’t get so hung up on where things are ranked. It’s based on personal preference. (I’m perfectly willing to explain the rankings, though asking me to do so defeats the purpose of the list as I’ve defined it. And if you want to criticize anything, I require a minimum of 50 performances that you have to have seen before I take you even remotely seriously.)
Also, keep in mind, there are only 75 of these. The category only started in 1936.
Here are my rankings of the Best Supporting Actresses:
TIER 1: The Best of the Best:
1. Mo’Nique, Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire
2. Patty Duke, The Miracle Worker
3. Meryl Streep, Kramer vs. Kramer
4. Brenda Fricker, My Left Foot
5. Tatum O’Neal, Paper Moon
6. Estelle Parsons, Bonnie and Clyde
7. Hattie McDaniel, Gone With the Wind
8. Maggie Smith, California Suite
9. Anne Revere, National Velvet
10. Kim Hunter, A Streetcar Named Desire
TIER 2: Really Solid Performances:
11. Marisa Tomei, My Cousin Vinny
12. Dorothy Malone, Written on the Wind
13. Sandy Dennis, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
14. Mira Sorvino, Mighty Aphrodite
15. Eva Marie Saint, On the Waterfront
16. Rita Moreno, West Side Story
17. Melissa Leo, The Fighter
18. Shelly Winters, A Patch of Blue
19. Cate Blanchett, The Aviator
20. Anne Hathaway, Les Misérables
21. Josephine Hull, Harvey
22. Mercedes McCambridge, All the King’s Men
23. Goldie Hawn, Cactus Flower
24. Teresa Wright, Mrs. Miniver
25. Jennifer Connelly, A Beautiful Mind
26. Catherine Zeta-Jones, Chicago
27. Ruth Gordon, Rosemary’s Baby
28. Jane Darwell, The Grapes of Wrath
29. Linda Hunt, The Year of Living Dangerously
30. Judi Dench, Shakespeare in Love
TIER 3: More Solid Performances/Sentimental Favorites:
31. Anne Baxter, The Razor’s Edge
32. Helen Hayes, Airport
33. Mercedes Ruehl, The Fisher King
34. Gloria Grahame, The Bad and the Beautiful
35. Beatrice Straight, Network
36. Angelina Jolie, Girl, Interrupted
37. Lee Grant, Shampoo
38. Donna Reed, From Here to Eternity
39. Anjelica Huston, Prizzi’s Honor
TIER 4: Solid Performances All Around (But Not My Favorites):
40. Whoopi Goldberg, Ghost
41. Jessica Lange, Tootsie
42. Juliette Binoche, The English Patient
43. Shirley Jones, Elmer Gantry
44. Penelope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
45. Rachel Weisz, The Constant Gardener
46. Octavia Spencer, The Help
47. Jennifer Hudson, Dreamgirls
48. Celeste Holm, Gentleman’s Agreement
49. Cloris Leachman, The Last Picture Show
50. Wendy Hiller, Separate Tables
51. Jo Van Fleet, East of Eden
TIER 5: Performances That are Good/Enjoyable, But….Mehh:
52. Margaret Rutherford, The V.I.P.s
53. Kim Basinger, L.A. Confidential
54. Diane Wiest, Bullets over Broadway
55. Claire Trevor, Key Largo
56. Eileen Heckart, Butterflies are Free
57. Mary Steenburgen, Melvin and Howard
58. Shirley Winters, The Diary of Anne Frank
59. Vanessa Redgrave, Julia
60. Geena Davis, The Accidental Tourist
61. Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton
62. Diane Wiest, Hannah and Her Sisters
63. Alice Brady, In Old Chicago
64. Olympia Dukakis, Moonstruck
65. Lila Kedrova, Zorba the Greek
66. Katina Paxinou, For Whom the Bell Tolls
67. Gale Sondergaard, Anthony Adverse
TIER 6: The Worst of the Worst:
68. Fay Bainter, Jezebel
69. Anna Paquin, The Piano
70. Renée Zellweger, Cold Mountain
71. Marcia Gay Harden, Pollock
72. Mary Astor, The Great Lie
73. Maureen Stapleton, Reds
74. Ingrid Bergman, Murder on the Orient Express
75. Peggy Ashcroft, A Passage to India
76. Ethel Barrymore, None But the Lonely Heart
77. Miyoshi Umeki, Sayonara
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