The Oscar Quest: Best Actresses Who Didn’t Win Best Actress
Another entry into this series — now it’s all the great Best Actress-nominated performances that didn’t win the Oscar.
This is probably the one category of all of them (alongside Best Picture) that holds the best performances. Because, unlike any of the other acting categories, Best Actress, to me, is the most “political.” More like — the actresses that win (especially now) are the actresses they decide they like at that moment. Julia, Reese, Sandra — it’s not always about the performance. So this category more than others is filled with great performances that didn’t win. This is the reason I wanted to do these lists.
Seriously — watch these performances. They’re terrific.
Miriam Hopkins, Becky Sharp (1935)
Carole Lombard, My Man Godfrey (1936)
Irene Dunne, The Awful Truth (1937)
Janet Gaynor, A Star is Born (1937) (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actors Who Didn’t Win Best Actor
Just as I did with Best Picture and Best Director, I’m going to list all the best performances nominated in the Best Actor category who didn’t win the Oscar. It’s my way of giving some ink to some performances that might otherwise get overlooked.
Here, I’m going to include great performances as well as iconic performances. And again, this has nothing to do with whether or not they should have won.
Many of these performances you’ll recognize. The ones you don’t — those are the ones you really should see. Trust me when I say these are really great performances.
Jackie Cooper, Skippy (1931)
William Powell, The Thin Man (1934)
Charles Laughton, Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)
Gary Cooper, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
Walter Huston, Dodsworth (1936) (more…)
