The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actor – 1962
I love 1962. Because you get the great Lawrence of Arabia winning Best Picture and Best Director for David Lean (taked about here), which is one of the most perfect pieces of cinema ever created, but you also get To Kill a Mockingbird, which is one of the most beautiful films ever made. And then you have these other films, like The Miracle Worker, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Manchurian Candidate, Cape Fear, Days of Wine and Roses, Dr. No, Lolita, Birdman of Alcatraz, David and Lisa, Requiem for a Heavyweight, The L-Shaped Room, Lonely are the Brave — I get goosebumps just thinking about it. So many good movies this year, it makes me happy to just be able to watch them all.
Then you have Gregory Peck winning Best Actor for To Kill a Mockingbird, and Anne Bancroft winning Best Actress and Patty Duke winning Best Supporting Actress for The Miracle Worker, and they’re all perfect decisions. There were no better decisions in those categories. So you have a year that’s fantastic movie-wise that’s also wonderful Oscar-wise as well. It’s rare that you get them both to link up like that.
And of all the six major categories of this year, the only one I don’t agree with is this one. Which is amazing, to have such a relatively minor category be the one you don’t like. And even then, it’s not like it’s egregious. It’s just — there were better decisions. But still, 1962 is a great year for movies. And that’s something to be happy about.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – 1962
And the nominees were…
Ed Begley, Sweet Bird of Youth
Victor Buono, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Telly Savalas, Birdman of Alcatraz
Omar Sharif, Lawrence of Arabia
Terrence Stamp, Billy Budd (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actor – 1948
I consider 1948 to be the single worst Best Picture choice in the history of the Academy. Simply because the category was so stacked, and they went with the worst possible choice. Of a category that included The Red Shoes, Johnny Belinda, The Snake Pit and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Hollywood, an industry based in southern California in America, chose Hamlet, a British production, as their Best Picture. Fortunately, they did not make the same mistake with Best Director, which went to John Huston for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (talked about here).
Best Actress this year was Jane Wyman for Johnny Belinda (talked about here), which I consider a top five Best Actress decision for all time. Best Supporting Actor was Walter Huston for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (talked about here), which was about 12 years coming for the man, and is a decision I love very much. And Best Supporting Actress was Claire Trevor for Key Largo, which I don’t like very much at all.
And then there’s this category, which — I do actually like a lot. I mean, Bogie wasn’t nominated, but outside of that, they made the best choice within the category. Olivier is a legend.
BEST ACTOR – 1948
And the nominees were…
Lew Ayres, Johnny Belinda
Montgomery Clift, The Search
Dan Dailey, When My Baby Smiles at Me
Laurence Olivier, Hamlet
Clifton Webb, Sitting Pretty (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1970
I have to be okay with 1970, because you just can’t argue with it. Patton is a film that’s gonna win Best Picture almost every time. It just is. And George C. Scott winning Best Actor for it (talked about here) is one of the greatest Best Actor decisions of all time (sorry, James Earl Jones. you were incredible too).
As for the rest of this year, Glenda Jackson winning Best Actress for Women in Love ranks as the single worst Academy decision of all time. You can feel my pain here. Best Supporting Actor was John Mills for Ryan’s Daughter, which I hate, as I said here. And Best Supporting Actress was Helen Hayes for Airport (talked about here), which is one of the few decisions from this year I actually like.
My problem with this year is — I love Love Story. It’s one of my favorite films of all time. And the fact that Patton was gonna win no matter what (much like 1997 with Titanic and L.A. Confidential) is quite disappointing. But fortunately, this category, Patton or not, was a good decision.
BEST DIRECTOR – 1970
And the nominees were…
Robert Altman, MASH
Federico Fellini, Satyricon
Arthur Hiller, Love Story
Ken Russell, Women in Love
Franklin J. Schaffner, Patton (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actor – 1994
All opinions aside… 1994 is a great year. Between Pulp Fiction, The Shawshank Redemption and Forrest Gump, we were treated with a great year for American movies. Let’s focus on that rather than what we think should have won.
Forrest Gump wins Best Picture, Best Director for Robert Zemeckis (talked about here) and Best Actor for Tom Hanks (talked about here). I understand the first two and like the second one (despite the fact that Hanks won the year before this, a decision I hate). Jessica Lange wins Best Actress for Blue Sky (talked about here), which was gonna happen at some point, and it worked out because they used her as an excuse to not give Jodie Foster her third statue in seven years. And Best Supporting Actress was Dianne Wiest for Bullets over Broadway (talked about here), which I don’t love, but understand.
And that leaves us with this, arguably the strongest category of 1994 (including Best Picture). I love all of these performances (well, the fifth one…), and picking a winner is really tough. But don’t worry, I totally did it.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – 1994
And the nominees were…
Samuel L. Jackson, Pulp Fiction
Martin Landau, Ed Wood
Chazz Palminteri, Bullets over Broadway
Paul Scofield, Quiz Show
Gary Sinise, Forrest Gump (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actress – 1942
Like 1942 but don’t love it. A lot of that has to do with the fact that the Best Picture choice feels too easy. It’s a good film, but not a definitive winner to me. And the year doesn’t seem to have that definitive winner (though, historically, they did make a good choice. I’m all about how the Oscars tie into history).
Mrs. Miniver wins Best Picture, Best Director for William Wyler (talked about here), Best Actress for Greer Garson, and this category. I love all of these decisions. (Though as an addendum to that, I’d have voted for Teresa Wright in Best Actress, because I voted for Greer Garson the year before this in Blossoms in the Dust because I think that performance was better, so me voting for Garson there and Wright this year meant that I voted for someone else in this category. Ya follow?)
The non-Miniver Oscars went to James Cagney, as Best Actor for Yankee Doodle Dandy (a fantastic decision) and Best Supporting Actor was Van Heflin for Johnny Eager, which is the biggest blank in the history of that category.
So let’s get into this one, which, as I already said, I love the decision, but through my bookkeeping, I’m voting for something else. Don’t worry, I’ll explain everything.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – 1942
And the nominees were…
Gladys Cooper, Now Voyager
Agnes Moorehead, The Magnificent Ambersons
Susan Peters, Random Harvest
Dame May Whitty, Mrs. Miniver
Teresa Wright, Mrs. Miniver (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actor – 1977
Oh, 1977. Annie Hall beats Star Wars. Isn’t that cute?
I really have no opinion on this year. I hate Woody Allen films and I hate what Star Wars has become. I mean, it clearly should have won Best Picture over Annie Hall, because it’s just superior in every way (except neurotic Jewish people. But — C-3PO…almost). Woody Allen should not have won Best Director over George Lucas (talked about here), either. Diane Keaton should have won Best Actress, though (talked about here), only she should have won it for Looking for Mr. Goodbar instead.
Best Supporting Actor this year was Jason Robards for Julia, which I don’t really care about, as I said here. And Best Supporting Actress was Vanessa Redgrave, also for Julia, which, as I said here, I don’t really care about either.
Which brings us to this category. Well — at least Woody didn’t win. And good thing Richard Dreyfuss did.
BEST ACTOR – 1977
And the nominees were…
Woody Allen, Annie Hall
Richard Burton, Equus
Richard Dreyfuss, The Goodbye Girl
Marcello Mastroianni, A Special Day
John Travolta, Saturday Night Fever (more…)
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…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1940
1940 is a year that I always say is good, but possibly not as good as it could have been (yet, it still ranks as a solid year). Rebecca wins Best Picture, beating The Grapes of Wrath. Maybe not the best decision, historically, but it’s still a solid film. Plus, there was this category to even it out. So it actually kind of works.
Jimmy Stewart won Best Actor for The Philadelphia Story (talked about here), which is the most blatant makeup Oscar of all time. They were clearly giving it to him for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington the year before. Henry Fonda or Charlie Chaplin really should have won that one. Best Actress was Ginger Rogers for Kitty Foyle, which I love, since it was the only time they could really reward her, and Joan Fontaine, who probably should have won, won the year after this, so it worked out. Best Supporting Actor was Walter Brennan for The Westerner (talked about here), which, despite it being his third, I feel actually was a good decision. And Best Supporting Actress was Jane Darwell for The Grapes of Wrath (talked about here), which makes perfect sense, because she’s “Ma.”
And then there’s this category, which, aside from the fact that Hitchcock never won an Oscar (not this category’s fault, really), is a fantastic decision.
BEST DIRECTOR – 1940
And the nominees were…
George Cukor, The Philadelphia Story
John Ford, The Grapes of Wrath
Alfred Hitchcock, Rebecca
Sam Wood, Kitty Foyle
William Wyler, The Letter (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actress – 1964
1964 is a year that you can’t do anything about, so it’s better to just enjoy it. My Fair Lady wins Best Picture, and as much as people love Dr. Strangelove, it was never gonna beat My Fair Lady. It just wasn’t. George Cukor finally wins his well-deserved Best Director statue for the film, and Rex Harrison also wins Best Actor for it (talked about here). I’m cool with the Cukor win, and the Harrison one too, just because I know that Strangelove never really had a shot at anything.
Best Actress this year was Julie Andrews for Mary Poppins, which is cool. The category didn’t really have a definitive winner, and Julie Andrews was gonna win one at some point anyway. Worked out just fine here. And Best Supporting Actor was Peter Ustinov for Topkapi (talked about here). I’m cool with it. The category was really bad. So it’s fine that he won.
And that’s pretty much 1964. Overall, good, as long as you realize what was and wasn’t possible. And then this category, which — meh, it sucked. I don’t really care what happened here. To an extent. I still have an opinion, though.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – 1964
And the nominees were…
Gladys Cooper, My Fair Lady
Edith Evans, The Chalk Garden
Grayson Hall, The Night of the Iguana
Lila Kedrova, Zorba the Greek
Agnes Moorehead, Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actor – 1938
I don’t much like 1938 as an Oscar year. It feels like a series of cop outs and weak choices. Almost like them saying, “We don’t know what we should do, so let’s do what we did before. That worked.”
Example 1: You Can’t Take It With You wins Best Picture out of a relatively weak set of nominees. It seems like the Academy, when faced with a French (Grand Illusion) and British (Pygmalion) film as potential winners (those two were clearly just as good, if not better, choices), they got nervous and said, “Well, It Happened One Night was a good choice, let’s do it again!” They also gave Frank Capra Best Director (talked about here), which makes sense, considering the Best Picture choice.
Example 2: Best Actor was Spencer Tracy for Boys Town (talked about here). It seems, faced with giving this to James Cagney for a performance in a gangster film (or Leslie Howard for Pygmalion), they balked and said, “Well, we gave it to Spencer Tracy last year, let’s do it again!” (This is the single worst Best Actor-winning performance of all time.)
Example 3: Best Actress was Bette Davis for Jezebel (talked about here). It seems, when faced with giving Wendy Hiller an Oscar (or Norma Shearer a second one), they decided, “We gave one to Bette Davis. That worked. Let’s do it again!”
And then Best Supporting Actress was Fay Bainter, also for Jezebel, and this was actually a good decision. Bainter was nominated for Best Actress as well, and was a well-respected actress. That one worked. And then there’s this category, which, again, feels like them not knowing what to do, and going, “Well, we gave it to Walter Brennan once before. That worked. Let’s do it again!”
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – 1938
And the nominees were…
Walter Brennan, Kentucky
John Garfield, Four Daughters
Gene Lockhart, Algiers
Robert Morley, Marie Antoinette
Basil Rathbone, If I Were King (more…)
