Archive for January 13, 2012

The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1964

Love 1964. My Fair Lady and Dr. Strangelove (and Mary Poppins!) are up for Best Picture. Obviously My Fair Lady is gonna win. My Fair Lady is always gonna win. It wins Best Picture, this category, and Best Actor for Rex Harrison (talked about here). Great decisions, since you know they were never gonna give Strangelove any love (they’re not that cool).

Best Actress was Julie Andrews for Mary Poppins. Self-explanatory. Best Supporting Actor was Peter Ustinov for Topkapi (talked about here). Blank, but not bad. And Best Supporting Actress was Lila Kedrova for Zorba the Greek, which, as I said here, is okay. The category was weak and she was an okay choice (though, really, Academy. No Agnes Moorehead?)

And this one — whether you love Strangelove or not — George Cukor had this earned twenty years before this.

BEST DIRECTOR – 1964

And the nominees were…

George Cukor, My Fair Lady

Michael Cacoyannis, Zorba the Greek

Peter Glenville, Becket

Stanley Kubrick, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

Robert Stevenson, Mary Poppins (more…)


Pic of the Day: ♫ “My heart wants to beat like the wings of the birds / That rise from the lake to the trees / My heart wants to sigh like a chime / That flies from a church on a breeze.” ♫