The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actor – 1964
1964 is a year you can’t really argue with, because it’s a complete “Academy” decision. As much as I love Mary Poppins and especially Dr. Strangelove, My Fair Lady makes the most sense as an Oscar decision. It wins Best Picture, Best Director for George Cukor (which, good for him. He had to wait thirty years for it) and Best Actor for Rex Harrison. All of these are acceptable decisions. You may not have voted for them, but they are acceptable decisions.
Best Actress for this year was Julie Andrews for Mary Poppins, which is cool. Not a groundbreaking performance, but — it’s Mary Poppins. We’ll go with it. Best Supporting Actress for this year was Lila Kedrova for Zorba the Greek. I don’t particularly like it, but that’s because I think the Academy should vote for Agnes Moorehead every time she’s nominated and doesn’t have an Oscar (which, since she never won, is every time).
So that’s 1964. It has to be acceptable because of My Fair Lady. I’m cool with most of the decisions. Don’t particularly like two of them, which, ironically, are the supporting categories. But even so, they’re not very major, and the categories are weak as hell, so, meh.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – 1964
And the nominees were…
John Gielgud, Becket
Stanley Holloway, My Fair Lady
Edmond O’Brien, Seven Days in May
Lee Tracy, The Best Man
Peter Ustinov, Topkapi (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1978
Love me some 1978. The Deer Hunter is one of my favorite films. I think it’s a masterpiece. It wins Best Picture, Best Director for Michael Cimino (talked about here) and Best Supporting Actor for Christopher Walken (talked about here). All of them are fantastic decisions.
Then, Best Actor for this year was Jon Voight for Coming Home (talked about here). This is a decision that, while I wouldn’t have voted for it, is a great decision because it gave a deserving actor an Oscar. So I like it. And Best Supporting Actress was Maggie Smith for California Suite (talked about here), which, I like as a decision because — while sentimentally I like Meryl’s performance in Deer Hunter, she won the category the year after this, and Maggie Smith winning here gives both her and Meryl two Oscars (and you know Meryl’s gonna get a third one before all is said and done anyway). So I think it works out great. Plus Maggie Smith was amazing in the film.
Which leaves us with this category. The one category I don’t like at all from this year. I think this was a terrible, terrible decision. The only reason I don’t automatically proclaim this as one of the worst five Best Actress decisions of all time is because it’s Jane Fonda. And I love Jane Fonda. But she shouldn’t have won here, and this is definitely one of the ten worst Best Actress decisions of all time. Let me explain…
BEST ACTRESS – 1978
And the nominees were…
Ingrid Bergman, Autumn Sonata
Ellen Burstyn, Same Time, Next Year
Jill Clayburgh, An Unmarried Woman
Jane Fonda, Coming Home
Geraldine Page, Interiors (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actress – 1949
I like 1949. I have some problems, but, when you look directly at it, based on the nominated films and performances, I think they made the right decisions most of the way. All the King’s Men wins Best Picture. And while it is a great film, it doesn’t really feel like a Best Picture winner. But, among the nominees, it’s between that and Battleground, which I like a lot. So, since those were my two choices, I think it’s a fine decision. Broderick Crawford also won Best Actor for the film (talked about here), which was a fantastic decision. He was incredible.
The Best Actress was Olivia de Havilland in The Heiress (talked about here). Her second. And an absolute terrific decision. The performance alone is one of the top ten Best Actress decisions of all time, but, given the absolute weakness of the category (there’s no one else to vote for), this is a no-brainer all the way. Best Supporting Actor this year was Dean Jagger for Twelve O’Clock High, which I don’t like at all, since I think Ralph Richardson should have been a runaway winner in the category for his performances in The Heiress and The Fallen Idol. Oh, and Best Director — oh boy. This is the one I have big problems with. Joseph L. Mankiewicz wins for A Letter to Three Wives (talked about here). It’s just completely baffling that he wins here because — almost every other option in the category (specifically Carol Reed, Robert Rossen and William Wellman) was a better decision. A terrible, terrible choice, and one of the worst of all time in the category.
Which leaves us with this category. Which I love. Because — just looking at it, you go, “There’s only one choice.” And, she was clearly the best performance in the category. But, it’s like doing a polynomial fraction. Cross off everything on the top and on the bottom, and then you’re left with the one number. I love it.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – 1949
And the nominees were…
Ethel Barrymore, Pinky
Celeste Holm, Come to the Stable
Elsa Lanchester, Come to the Stable
Mercedes McCambridge, All the King’s Men
Ethel Waters, Pinky (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actor – 1994
These were my magic shoes. Mama said they’d take me anywhere.
1994 is a tough year. Because it’s one where, three major films were up for Best Picture: Forrest Gump, The Shawshank Redemption and Pulp Fiction. And, say what you will about this year, but, they made the right decision. It’s an Academy decision. Because, no matter which way they went here, it would be criticized. At least, with this decision, it’s the most consistent with who they are. No matter what you say about Forrest Gump winning Best Picture and Best Director for Robert Zemeckis — it makes sense. And you can’t criticize that (too much).
Best Actress for this year was Jessica Lange for Blue Sky (talked about here), which was kind of a Kate Winslet Oscar in a weak category. Lange had one of these coming for a long time, and the category was such that she became the best choice (because they didn’t want to give Jodie Foster a third one, which, I understand). Best Supporting Actor was Martin Landau for Ed Wood, which you can’t really argue with, no matter how much you loved Gary Sinise as Lieutenant Dan or Samuel L. Jackson as Jules Winnfield. And Best Supporting Actress was Dianne Wiest in Bullets over Broadway (talked about here), which — I don’t like. But I understand. Given the weakness of the category.
Now, as for this one, I feel like this is a category where — while the performance isn’t exactly groundbreaking, the characterization is such that the character has become so iconic and memorable that you have to give it to Hanks here. I know I talk shit about the 1993 decision, but this is one where I actually agree. (Also, just to point out: Tom Hanks made history here. He became the second actor to win back-to-back Best Actor Oscars, after Spencer Tracy, in 1937 & 1938. The kicker? Both actors did it at the same ages. Crazy, right?)
BEST ACTOR – 1994
And the nominees were…
Morgan Freeman, The Shawshank Redemption
Tom Hanks, Forrest Gump
Nigel Hawthorne, The Madness of King George
Paul Newman, Nobody’s Fool
John Travolta, Pulp Fiction (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1976
I love me some 1976. How can you not? Rocky, Taxi Driver, All the President’s Men, Network… and those were just the films nominated for Best Picture. How stacked a list is that? It’s probably the strongest Best Picture year of all time. And Rocky winning Best Picture, to me, was the best decision, mostly because it’s my favorite film of the bunch. Though I get people feeling otherwise (as long as they aren’t dicks about it).
Peter Finch wins Best Actor for Network (talked about here), which, while it wouldn’t have been my personal choice in the category, is totally acceptable as a result. I explained why in the article. Then Best Actress was Faye Dunaway, also for Network, which had to happen. She earned a statue twice over by this point and gave arguably the best performance of her career. Great call. (Shame about Talia Shire, though. Sentimental favorite.) Then Best Supporting Actress was Beatrice Straight, also from Network (talked about here), which I’m okay with (I think), though I’d have voted for Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver. And Best Supporting Actor was Jason Robards for All the President’s Men (talked about here), which I’m okay with, but I, personally would have gone with Burt Young or Burgess Meredith (not even sentimentally, I thought they legit gave better performances).
So that’s 1976. Awesome, in all, and it ends with this category, which, given the Best Picture choice, was pretty much a foregone conclusion.
BEST DIRECTOR – 1976
And the nominees were…
John G. Avildsen, Rocky
Ingmar Bergman, Face to Face
Sidney Lumet, Network
Alan J. Pakula, All the President’s Men
Lina Wertmüller, Seven Beauties (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actor – 1947
Oh, I don’t like 1947. This year just reeks of weak to me. Not that Gentleman’s Agreement is a bad film, it’s just — the rest of the year is so weak around it, to me, it feels like a weak choice. It’s a great film, and in the category, it totally should have won Best Picture. It also won Best Director for Elia Kazan, which — no objections there, and Best Supporting Actress for Celeste Holm, which I’m cool with. I like her. And the category was weak.
Best Actor this year was Ronald Colman for A Double Life, which is a really weak choice. Gregory Peck was so much better in Gentleman’s Agreement. Best Actress this year was Loretta Young in The Farmer’s Daughter, which is one of the worst Best Actress decisions of all time (probably second, maybe third, still, really, really bad). Rosalind Russell definitely should have won for Mourning Becomes Electra. The performances aren’t even close.
So that’s 1947. Just a weak set of films, Academy-wise, and overall weak choices outside of Best Picture and Director. Fortunately, though, this category does redeem a lot of it, because — Santa Claus. Instant redemption.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – 1947
And the nominees were…
Charles Bickford, The Farmer’s Daughter
Thomas Gomez, Ride the Pink Horse
Edmund Gwenn, Miracle on 34th Street
Robert Ryan, Crossfire
Richard Widmark, Kiss of Death (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1986
Love me some 1986. Actually, wait, I just said that without thinking about it? Do I? …Platoon, Best Picture, Best Director for Oliver Stone. Check. Best Actor for Paul Newman for The Color of Money (talked about here), this category. All likes a lot so far. Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress for Michael Caine (talked about here) and Dianne Wiest in Hannah and Her Sisters. Well — they can’t all be winners. But still, 4 out of 6, so, sure, I love me some 1986.
Oh, and hey, look at that — we took care of the recap there too. Don’t you love how I can change it up while pretending it’s all just random? (It was totally random.) Don’t you also love how I can save space by saying things briefly and then fucking it up by continuing to talk for absolutely no reason?
Anyway, let’s get to the category… (Big time sound effect!)
BEST ACTRESS – 1986
And the nominees were…
Jane Fonda, The Morning After
Marlee Matlin, Children of a Lesser God
Sissy Spacek, Crimes of the Heart
Kathleen Turner, Peggy Sue Got Married
Sigourney Weaver, Aliens (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actress – 1936
Oh hey, it’s the very first Best Supporting Actress category ever. That means several things. Most of all, it means that the rules don’t apply. You can’t judge this based on strictly the performances. You have to think of it as establishing the category. This sets the trend for what exactly is a supporting performance as we know it.
As for the rest of the year, The Great Ziegfeld wins Best Picture, which, is a pretty good choice, since it’s big and epic (at least, for 1936), and Best Actress for Luise Rainer, which, is a terrible decision. She was a supporting character at best in the film. And, surprisingly, William Powell does not win Best Actor for that film and for My Man Godfrey (being nominated for the latter), but rather, Paul Muni wins Best Actor for The Story of Louis Pasteur, which I don’t really like as a decision. It just seemed like too easy a performance to vote for. Powell, and especially Walter Huston, were better choices. (They could have given it to Muni, who very much deserved an Oscar, for The Story of Louis Pasteur the year after this. It would have made perfect sense.) Then Best Supporting Actor (the very first of that category) went to Walter Brennan for Come and Get It. While I don’t much care for the film or the performance, Brennan does play Swedish, and is an actor who epitomizes the category, so ultimately it was a good decision. Then Best Director was Frank Capra for Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, which, as much as I loved the film (as I said here), I think is a terrible decision.
So, keeping in mind it’s not so much the performance as much as it is a foundation for a category, let’s take a look at this one…
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – 1936
And the nominees were…
Alice Brady, My Man Godfrey
Beulah Bondi, The Gorgeous Hussy
Bonita Granville, These Three
Maria Ouspenskaya, Dodsworth
Gale Sondergaard, Anthony Adverse (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1969
I have mixed feelings about 1969. I love that the Academy finally went with a gritty film more reflective of the post-1967 cinematic landscape, and I like Midnight Cowboy a lot and think it’s a great film, but — I really, really love Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. And that love makes it really hard to be objective. So, while I’m totally okay with Midnight Cowboy winning Best Picture and this category, I’m not gonna even begin to pretend like I’d vote for it.
As for the rest of this year, John Wayne wins what is essentially a career achievement Oscar for True Grit, which, I’m actually totally cool with. All the major nominees here either won Oscars (mostly, Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight), were never going to win for their performances (Richard Burton. Because, while he was great, if they didn’t give it to Peter O’Toole in 1968, he wasn’t getting it here. Speaking of which…), or they shouldn’t have won for what they were nominated for in the category (Peter O’Toole). So I’m okay with it. Plus, it’s John Wayne. Him, Henry Fonda or Paul Newman could have won an Oscar any year over any other performance and I’d have been okay with it.
Then, Best Actress was Maggie Smith for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (talked about here). This is a rough category for me. I talked about it in the article, but, my favorite performance was by the most marginal of the nominees (and the other deserving nominees won eventually), so I’m ultimately okay with it, even though I’d have voted differently. Best Supporting Actor was Gig Young for They Shoot Horses, Don’t They (talked about here), which I like, and Best Supporting Actress was Goldie Hawn for Cactus Flower, which I also like (sort of. I’ll get to it eventually). So, that’s 1969. I’m pretty okay with it, even though it doesn’t feel ideal. It’s a big of a tough pill to swallow, which, coincidentally, is what a lot of the films of the 70s were about, so that’s perfect. And on top of that awesome connection, let’s get into this category…
BEST DIRECTOR – 1969
And the nominees were…
Costa-Gavras, Z
George Roy Hill, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Arthur Penn, Alice’s Restaurant
Sydney Pollack, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?
John Schlesinger, Midnight Cowboy (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actor – 1968
1968 is one of the weakest overall Academy years. Oliver! is a great film, don’t get me wrong, but it probably shouldn’t have won Best Picture. Then again, the film most of us would have liked to see win Best Picture, 2001: A Space Odyssey, was never going to win. It was way too ahead of its time to win. I understand that. I just feel the rest of the year around it was so weak that what we ended up with was a good film winning in a shitty category, which feels like a weak choice.
Carol Reed wins Best Director for Oliver!, which I find fitting, because him losing Best Director for The Third Man is the worst decision of all time in the Best Director category, and this decision, which made up for that one, is the second worst decision, since he beat Stanley Kubrick for 2001, who clearly should have won. So, in a way, they cancel out, but in another way, they’re both terrible. Then Best Actress was the only exact tie in Academy history, with both Katharine Hepburn winning for The Lion in Winter and Barbra Streisand winning for Funny Girl (talked about here). Honestly, Streisand should have won, so the tie works out just fine. Best Supporting Actress was Jack Albertson for The Subject was Roses (talked about here), which I guess is okay, even though I couldn’t not vote for Gene Wilder in The Producers there. And Best Supporting Actress was Ruth Gordon for Rosemary’s Baby (talked about here). I can’t really complain about it, despite the fact that I’d have voted for Sondra Locke in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.
Which brings us to this category. What a fucking terrible decision they made here.
(Note: This was written before Cliff Robertson died. I chose to leave it as was because — opinions shouldn’t change because people are dead.)
BEST ACTOR – 1968
And the nominees were…
Alan Arkin, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Alan Bates, The Fixer
Ron Moody, Oliver!
Peter O’Toole, The Lion in Winter
Cliff Robertson, Charly (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actor – 1980
Oh I hate 1980. What a dumb “Academy” decision. Ordinary People wins Best Picture and Best Director for Robert Redford (talked about here), beating out Raging Bull. Yeah. There’s no one that can defend that decision.
Best Actor this year (thank god) was Robert De Niro for Raging Bull, so at least some justice was has. Best Actress was Sissy Spacek for Coal Miner’s Daughter, which I really like as a decision, despite how good Mary Tyler Moore was in Ordinary People. And Best Supporting Actress was Mary Steenburgen for Melvin and Howard, which, to me, makes absolutely no goddamn sense at all. But, meh, it’s pretty irrelevant historically.
So that’s 1980. Two, maybe three good decisions, and two horrendously bad decisions. But we all know how badly Martin Scorsese should have won Best Director here, so there wasn’t really anything this year could have done to overcome that.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – 1980
And the nominees were…
Judd Hirsch, Ordinary People
Timothy Hutton, Ordinary People
Michael O’Keefe, The Great Santini
Jason Robards, Melvin and Howard
Joe Pesci, Raging Bull (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1952
Ah, the big fuck up. Which isn’t really a fuck up in hindsight, because they fixed their mistake in post. But, in this category, it’s a fuck up.
Actually, 1952 in general is a fuck up year. The Greatest Show on Earth wins Best Picture in a copout decision because the Academy didn’t want to vote for High Noon. Terrible decision, but despite what you may have heard, the film really isn’t that bad. It’s just not a Best Picture winner. Then Gary Cooper wins Best Actor for High Noon (talked about here), which really makes you wonder why they bothered to not vote for it in the first place. Why not just make it uniform, like you did with Citizen Kane? Either way, Krik Douglas should have won here.
Then Shirley Booth wins Best Actress for Come Back, Little Sheba (talked about here), which I don’t like as a decision at all. At best it’s a forgettable choice. Best Supporting Actor was Anthony Quinn for Viva Zapata! (talked about here), which I’ve come to accept as an okay decision, but is one I wouldn’t have made. And Best Supporting Actress was Gloria Grahame for The Bad and the Beautiful, which, as I discussed here, I’m sort of okay with, because the film got some attention, but she really wasn’t the best performance in the category, and the whole thing is just kind of fucked up and confusing.
That’s what 1952 is. A year that’s fucked up and confusing. Nothing makes sense, none of the decisions are all that great, and everyone just kind of walks away from it going, “What happened?” Kind of like a party at my house.
BEST DIRECTOR – 1952
And the nominees were…
Cecil B. DeMille, The Greatest Show on Earth
John Ford, The Quiet Man
John Huston, Moulin Rouge
Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 5 Fingers
Fred Zinnemann, High Noon (more…)
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