The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actress – 1939
1939 was the greatest year in the history of movies. Bar none. There has never been so many great movies released in the same year outside of this one. It’s incredible. And the best thing about such a great year is, despite all the great movies, there was a definitive Best Picture winner: Gone With the Wind.
Gone With the Wind wins Best Picture, Best Director for Victor Fleming (talked about here), Best Actress for Vivien Leigh, and here. All perfect decisions. The only awards the film didn’t win were Best Actor, which went to Robert Donat for Goodbye Mr. Chips, which as I said here, is an award that should have went to Jimmy Stewart for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (and the Academy knew it because they blatantly gave him an Oscar the year after this), and Best Supporting Actor, which went to Thomas Mitchell for Stagecoach, which, as I said here, I love (despite also loving Claude Rains).
And that brings us to this historic category, which features the first black actress (or black anyone) to win an Academy Award. This one needed to happen, and I approve.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – 1939
And the nominee were…
Olivia de Havilland, Gone With the Wind
Geraldine Fitzgerald, Wuthering Heights
Hattie McDaniel, Gone With the Wind
Edna May Oliver, Drums Along the Mohawk
Maria Ouspenskaya, Love Affair (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actor – 1967
1967 is a landmark year made corporate, in my mind. In a year with Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate, and even Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, truly landmark films that mark the big break from classical Hollywood tradition, they go with In the Heat of the Night for Best Picture, which feels like the Hollywood version of one of those films. That’s just my own personal opinion on the matter.
Rod Steiger also won Best Actor for the film, which is cool. I wouldn’t necessarily vote for him, but he was good enough to win for The Pawnbroker, and this I look at as kind of a makeup Oscar. Best Actress was Katharine Hepburn for Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, which is fine. I don’t think she beat anyone else who needed to win. Sure, I’d have voted differently, but it’s not that bad, because her competition also won Oscars. Best Supporting Actress was Estelle Parsons for Bonnie and Clyde, which was a fantastic decision. She was incredible. And Best Director (talked about here) was Mike Nichols for The Graduate. Fantastic decision.
The Best Picture decision does actually feel softened by the fact that the wealth was spread around very well, but still, that’s the one that gets remembered. And then there’s this category, which silently adds another great and classic film to the shared wealth. And I fucking love that.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – 1967
And the nominees were…
John Cassavetes, The Dirty Dozen
Gene Hackman, Bonnie and Clyde
Cecil Kellaway, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
George Kennedy, Cool Hand Luke
Michael J. Pollard, Bonnie and Clyde (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actor – 1943
1943. Great year. Hard to argue when your Best Picture is Casablanca and Michael Curtiz also wins Best Director for it (talked about here). But you know what? Complaints can be made here. Complaints that Casablanca didn’t win more.
Best Actress this year was Jennifer Jones for The Song of Bernadette (talked about here). I’m sort of okay with this, because Ingrid Bergman was nominated for the wrong film. Best Supporting Actor was Charles Coburn for The More the Merrier (talked about here), which was a fine decision, and a great performance, but I personally think Claude Rains should have won for Casablanca. And Best Supporting Actress was Katina Paxinou for For Whom the Bell Tolls, which was in one of the weakest Best Supporting Actress categories of all time (and there was no Casablanca nomination there), so it was okay.
And then there’s this category. One of the top five worst Best Actor decisions of all time. One of the bottom three worst Best Actor-winning performances of all time. This is just a shitty decision all around. I actually went back to watch this film again to double check that it was so bad. It was.
BEST ACTOR – 1943
And the nominees were…
Humphrey Bogart, Casablanca
Gary Cooper, For Whom the Bell Tolls
Paul Lukas, Watch on the Rhine
Walter Pidgeon, Madame Curie
Mickey Rooney, The Human Comedy (more…)
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