The Oscar Quest: Best Actor – 1936
1936 is a year I feel was the first real Academy decision. You know? Typically, when I say “Academy decision,” I mean one of those films that — of course it won Best Picture. From Here to Eternity, The Sound of Music, Forrest Gump, Titanic — films that you know were gonna win Best Picture no matter their quality. The English Patient. That’s an Academy decision. It’s big, expensive, and it has all the things the Academy likes in their films.
The Great Ziegfeld, to me, is the first obvious Best Picture winner. Strange though, that its director didn’t also win Best Director. That went to Frank Capra for Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (talked about here). That decision makes no sense to me at all. Best Actress was Luise Rainer for Ziegfeld (talked about here), which I think was a bad decision, but one I can sort of understand based on the category. It’s worse, though, that she won the year after this as well. It highlights all the reasons she shouldn’t have won here. Best Supporting Actor (the first in the category’s history) was Walter Brennan for Come and Get It. If anyone should have won the first Best Supporting Actor Oscar, it was Walter Brennan. And Best Supporting Actress was Gale Sondergaard for Anthony Adverse (talked about here). I do not understand this decision at all, and I feel Alice Brady was a much better decision in almost every way.
Which brings us to this category. Paul Muni was gonna win an Oscar at some point. It was only a matter of time. Here’s a dude who just bled Oscar. Everything he did, it seemed, was worth a nomination. He’s the only guy to have his very first performance (The Valiant) and his last performance (The Last Angry Man) be nominated for Oscars. Thing is, though — I don’t think he should have won here. He deserved it, but I don’t think this should have been his year.
BEST ACTOR – 1936
And the nominees were…
Gary Cooper, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Walter Huston, Dodsworth
Paul Muni, The Story of Louis Pasteur
William Powell, My Man Godfrey
Spencer Tracy, San Francisco (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actor – 1965
1965 is a strong year that is relatively unanalyzed. Mostly because, when you glance at it, you see, “Oh, The Sound of Music, and Dr. Zhivago was nominated,” and keept going. Clear-cut, no contention, moving on. But, when you look closer, Darling and A Thousand Clowns (not so much Ship of Fools) were also really strong films nominated for Best Picture. So, while the winner was easy to call, the category itself (among some of the others in the year) was really strong.
Robert Wise won Best Director for The Sound of Music, which comes with the territory (plus Lean won twice). Lee Marvin won Best Actor for Cat Ballou, which, as I said here, I hate. I hate it because it’s a terrible decision (Richard Burton or Rod Steiger really should have won), and because I can’t really argue about it that much, because I love Lee Marvin. Best Actress was Julie Christie for Darling (talked about here), which is a top ten decision for all time. Best Supporting Actress was Shelley Winters for A Patch of Blue (talked about here), which is a terrific decision (which is saying something, since she won one already).
That brings us to this category — one of, if not the weakest Best Supporting Actor category of all time. Holy shit. None of these performances would rate as a #2 for me in any year. And depending on the year, they might not even make #3. This is just terrible. (But fortunately the end decision does, performance quality aside, actually help keep the year strong. There’s no bad decision at all in the year.)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – 1965
And the nominees were…
Martin Balsam, A Thousand Clowns
Ian Bannen, The Flight of the Phoenix
Tom Courtenay, Dr. Zhivago
Michael Dunn, Ship of Fools
Frank Finlay, Othello (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1980
1980 is the beginning of what I consider the single worst decade in the history of the Academy Awards (not to mention the beginning of what would lead to our current state of events in the industry). The 80s, to me, are a decade that not only has the weakest Oscar years, but also the single worst decisions. Of 10 Best Picture choices, I think only two of the 80s decisions are strong, with two okay ones (from weak categories), two obvious ones, and the rest, terrible.
As for 1980, Ordinary People wins Best Picture, Best Director for Robert Redford (talked about here) and Best Supporting Actor for Timothy Hutton (talked about here). The Hutton decision is a good one (even though he’s really the lead of the film), but the other two — they beat Raging Bull. I think we all agree they were terrible. Then, Best Actor was Robert De Niro for Raging Bull, which is clearly one of the best decisions of all time in the category, and Best Supporting Actress was Mary Steenburgen for Melvin and Howard (talked about here), which — meh.
So that’s 1980. Fortunately, this category makes up for the rest of the stuff. I know some people would have went another way, but historically, I think this was a terrific decision.
BEST ACTRESS – 1980
And the nominees were…
Ellen Burstyn, Resurrection
Goldie Hawn, Private Benjamin
Mary Tyler Moore, Ordinary People
Gena Rowlands, Gloria
Sissy Spacek, Coal Miner’s Daughter (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Director – 1946
No sense in wasting time for 1946. The Best Years of Our Lives, a film about the aftereffects of war on the average American soldier and his family, was going to win Best Picture no matter what. No matter how much we all love It’s a Wonderful Life, it wasn’t going to win. Not in 1946, right after the war. Not gonna happen.
The Best Years of Our Lives wins Best Picture, Best Actor for Frederic March (talked about here), Best Supporting Actor for Harold Russell (talked about here), and this category. And no matter how much we may not like any of those decisions, they were gonna happen anyway. Best Actress was Olivia de Havilland for To Each His Own (talked about here), which was a fantastic decision, and she was about seven years overdue for one of these. And Best Supporting Actress was Anne Baxter for The Razor’s Edge, which was another terrific decision.
Then there was this category. Wyler’s second of three. (All for Best Picture winners, too. When this man wins, he really wins. Kind of like Clint Eastwood.) I feel less bad about this one because Capra already had three. (And Lean would win two.) It makes perfect sense. The only thing complicated about this is who the hell I’m gonna vote for.
BEST DIRECTOR – 1946
And the nominees were…
Clarence Brown, The Yearling
Frank Capra, It’s a Wonderful Life
David Lean, Brief Encounter
Robert Siodmak, The Killers
William Wyler, The Best Years of Our Lives (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actor – 1960
I love 1960. Mostly because The Apartment, one of my favorite films of all time (top five, even), wins Best Picture and Best Director for Billy Wilder (talked about here). I love both decisions, even though Hitchcock probably should have won Best Director for Psycho.
Best Actor this year was Burt Lancaster for Elmer Gantry (talked about here), which was a gerat decision (and was so well-deserved). Shirley Jones also won Best Supporting Actress for the film (talked about here), which was a good decision, even though I’d have gone another way. Best Actress was Elizabeth Taylor for BUtterfield 8 (talked about here), which we all recognize as a bad decision, but it’s not a terrible one, just because they did think Taylor might die and because Shirley MacLaine eventually did win an Oscar. In all, we have a strong year, with all decisions making sense, even if they weren’t necessarily the best decisions.
And then we have this category, which — there was no way any other decision was gonna happen.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – 1960
And the nominees were…
Peter Falk, Murder, Inc.
Jack Kruschen, The Apartment
Sal Mineo, Exodus
Peter Ustinov, Spartacus
Chill Wills, The Alamo (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1942
1942. It’s pretty cut and dry and understandable all the way through. I like that.
Mrs. Miniver wins Best Picture, Best Director for William Wyler (talked about here), this category, and Best Supporting Actress for Teresa Wright (talked about here). Picture had to happen, because it’s a war film made during the peak war years, promoting family and strength and togetherness, and — it just had to win. It wasn’t going to not win. Director was going the way of Picture, so that’s that Teresa Wright — she was also nominated for Best Actress this year, and was up-and-coming. There was no way she wasn’t winning something. And this category I’ll tell you about in just a second.
The other categories this year were Best Actor, which went to James Cagney for Yankee Doodle Dandy (talked about here), which was a terrific decision (especially since Gary Cooper won the year before this), and Best Supporting Actor, which went to Van Heflin for Johnny Eager, which was a bad decision in a terrible category. So whatever.
And this category — had to happen. She was really overdue by this point, and the only reason she didn’t have won already was because she lost to a makeup Oscar. So now she gets her makeup Oscar, and everything works out just fine.
BEST ACTRESS – 1942
And the nominees are…
Bette Davis, Now, Voyager
Greer Garson, Mrs. Miniver
Katharine Hepburn, Woman of the Year
Rosalind Russell, My Sister Eileen
Teresa Wright, Pride of the Yankees (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actress – 1967
1967. The landmark year. Hollywood breaks from classical tradition. But not so you’d really notice it, the Oscars seemingly try to mask that change by picking the most watered down version of it. Of the five Best Picture choices, here’s the order in which they’d have been good choices for the year that was 1967: Bonnie and Clyde, The Graduate, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, In the Heat of the Night, Doctor Dolittle. Dolittle of course would have been a complete rejection of the situation, and that wasn’t gonna happen. And some people might put In the Heat of the Night third (but I don’t). But still — it was not an ideal choice.
I think that’s evident in the fact that Mike Nichols won Best Director for The Graduate (talked about here). Even bad Best Picture choices also won Best Director (King’s Speech, anyone?). Though they did do a good job of spreading the wealth. Best Actor was Rod Steiger for In the Heat of the Night. I wouldn’t have voted for it, but it’s an acceptable decision, since he’d earned one of these from ’65 for The Pawnbroker. Best Actress was Katharine Hepburn for Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (talked about here), which, while I wouldn’t have voted for it, isn’t that bad, since all the other potential winners had, or later won, Oscars. Best Supporting Actor was George Kennedy for Cool Hand Luke (talked about here), which I love dearly.
Then there’s this category. Holy shit, was this a great decision. This is also one of the strongest Best Supporting Actress categories of all time.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – 1967
And the nominees were…
Carol Channing, Thoroughly Modern Millie
Mildred Natwick, Barefoot in the Park
Estelle Parsons, Bonnie and Clyde
Beah Richards, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner
Katharine Ross, The Graudate (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actor – 1945
1945. Very strong year, in context. The Lost Weekend wins Best Picture, Best Director for Billy Wilder, and Best Actor for Ray Milland (talked about here). All fantastic decisions.
Best Actress this year was Joan Crawford for Mildred Pierce, and since I haven’t written the category up yet, I haven’t decided who I’m voting for, but regardless, it was a good decision. And Best Supporting Actress this year was Anne Revere for National Velvet, which is another perfect decision (talked about here).
So that leaves us with this category. And actually, along with Best Supporting Actress, this is my favorite category of the year. Rare for a Supporting Actor category to be tops.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – 1945
And the nominees were…
Michael Chekhov, Spellbound
John Dall, The Corn is Green
James Dunn, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Robert Mitchum, The Story of G.I. Joe
J. Carrol Naish, A Medal for Benny (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actor – 1947
1947 is so boring. There’s nothing interesting about it. The nominees were just so weak. Sure, Gentleman’s Agreement was a solid Best Picture choice, but the field was so weak. Elia Kazan won Best Director for the film (talked about here) and Celeste Holm won Best Supporting Actress for it (talked about here), both of which were great decisions.
Best Actress this year was Loretta Young for The Farmer’s Daughter (talked about here), which is one of the worst Best Actress decisions of all time. Rosalind Russell was so horribly snubbed here it’s ridiculous. Awful, awful decision. And Best Supporting Actor was Edmund Gwenn for Miracle on 34th Street (talked about here), which — he played Santa Claus. End of story.
And then we have this category, which is career achievement Oscar, and one that actually works out, because the category wasn’t that strong, and the performance reads very well (as one that would win an Oscar) even though the actual performance is a bit overdone. So it’s actually not that bad.
BEST ACTOR – 1947
And the nominees were…
Ronald Colman, A Double Life
John Garfield, Body and Soul
Gregory Peck, Gentleman’s Agreement
William Powell, Life with Father
Michael Redgrave, Mourning Becomes Electra (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actress – 1969
Love 1969. Because, as I always say, it’s the year 1967 took effect. Finally, we get a down and dirty film winning Best Picture. Midnight Cowboy is that film. And although I’d have gone with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid for Best Picture (it’s a favorite), Midnight Cowboy was a great choice. John Schlesinger also won a well-deserved Best Director statue for the film (talked about here).
Best Actor this year was John Wayne for True Grit (talked about here). I can sum this up by saying: It’s John Wayne. Best Actress was Maggie Smith for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. This is complicated for me, so you can just read my thoughts on it here. And Best Supporting Actor was Gig Young for They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (talked about here), which was a good decision.
So, strong year, and we get this category, which — have I got a performance here I can’t wait for you to see.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – 1969
And the nominees were…
Catherine Burns, Last Summer
Dyan Cannon, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
Goldie Hawn, Cactus Flower
Sylvia Miles, Midnight Cowboy
Susannah York, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actor – 1995
I like 1995. Because it’s overall solid. It’s one where I don’t disagree with the choices. I’d just simply, have gone another way. You know. It’s like passing away as opposed to dying. One just feels better. Then again, one also doesn’t involve going down in a hail of gunfire at the Vatican. So there are pros and cons.
Braveheart wins Best Picture. I like Braveheart. I just like Apollo 13 more. Mel Gibson wins Best Director for the film (talked about here), which works, since Ron Howard wasn’t nominated. So Mel dominated that category. Best Actor was Nicolas Cage for Leaving Las Vegas (talked about here). Perfect choice, despite the stacked category. Best Actress was Susan Sarandon for Dead Man Walking (talked about here), which had been coming to her for a long time. I personally would have gone with Elisabeth Shue, but the decision was still good. And Best Supporting Actress was Mira Sorvino for Mighty Aprhodite (talked about here), which I love very much.
So there’s no real decision this year where I’m vehemently against it. I like that. And then there’s this category, and, aside from some questions about legitimacy (it’s kind of a lead performance), no one can really argue with this one. It’s pretty awesome, in fact.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR – 1995
And the nominees were…
James Cromwell, Babe
Ed Harris, Apollo 13
Brad Pitt, Twelve Monkeys
Tim Roth, Rob Roy
Kevin Spacey, The Usual Suspects (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actor – 1988
Love me some 1988. Love Rain Man. Not the best Best Picture choice in the world, but based on the nominees, it would have been my choice too. Barry Levinson also won Best Director for the film (talked about here), which makes sense.
Best Actress this year was Jodie Foster for The Accused (talked about here), which is a terrific decision. Possibly a top ten decision of all time. Best Supporting Actor was Kevin Kline for A Fish Called Wanda (talked about here), a decision so good it masks how shitty that category is. And Best Supporting Actress was Geena Davis for The Accidental Tourist (talked about here), which, while I wouldn’t have voted for it, is okay.
And then here — pretty self-explanatory. You can’t really argue with it. Dustin Hoffman. Rain Man. “Oh, yeah, right.” Of course he won.
BEST ACTOR – 1988
And the nominees were…
Gene Hackman, Mississippi Burning
Tom Hanks, Big
Dustin Hoffman, Rain Man
Edward James Olmos, Stand and Deliver
Max von Sydow, Pelle the Conqueror (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1991
1991 is actually one of the strongest Best Picture years of all time. Not everyone would think of that off the top of their head. But between The Silence of the Lambs, JFK, Beauty and the Beast and Bugsy (not The Prince of Tides), this is a top five Best Picture category of all time.
The Silence of the Lambs wins Best Picture, Best Director for Jonathan Demme (talked about here), Best Actor for Anthony Hopkins (talked about here), this category, and also Best Screenplay. Always need to mention when a film wins the Big Five. Best Supporting Actress for this year was Jack Palance for City Slickers. My thoughts on that can be found here. And Best Supporting Actress was Mercedes Ruehl for The Fisher King (talked about here), which was a good decision in what was one of the weakest Best Supporting Actress categories of all time.
And then there’s this — Clarice Starling. Boom. Done.
BEST ACTRESS – 1991
And the nominees were…
Geena Davis, Thelma and Louise
Laura Dern, Rambling Rose
Jodie Foster, The Silence of the Lambs
Bette Midler, For the Boys
Susan Sarandon, Thelma and Louise (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actress – 1948
Outside of Best Picture, which I consider to be the single worst Best Picture choice of all time, 1948 is a great where with nary a bad decision to be fount. But since a year is judged by its Best Picture winner, 1948 seems worse than it is.
Hamlet wins Best Picture, which we all know I hate. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Red Shoes, Johnny Belinda and The Snake Pit were better choices there. All of them. Laurence Olivier won Best Actor for the film, and, as I said here, he actually deserved it, and it was a great decision (because Bogart wasn’t nominated). Best Actress was Jane Wyman for Johnny Belinda (talked about here), which I consider a top five decision, all time. Then John Huston, and his father, Walter Huston, won Best Director (talked about here), and Best Supporting Actor (talked about here), respectively, for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Both were terrific decisions.
And then we have this category. The only non-Best Picture decision I don’t like this year. It’s not so much because I don’t like Claire Trevor, her performance, or even Key Largo as a film. I just think Agnes Moorehead really deserved an Oscar, and I thought she was strong enough to win (as she always is). So I don’t see why she isn’t the vote here.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – 1948
And the nominees were…
Barbara Bel Geddes, I Remember Mama
Ellen Corby, I Remember Mama
Agnes Moorehead, Johnny Belinda
Jean Simmons, Hamlet
Claire Trevor, Key Largo (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actor – 1942
1942 is a year that — kind of like a lesser 1946, no one could really do anything about. World War II was in full swing, and the Academy was obviously gonna go with a film that pushed forward the war effort. That, mixed with the fact that it was a relatively weak set of Best Picture nominees — it makes sense.
Mrs. Miniver wins Best Picture, Best Actress for Greer Garson, Best Supporting Actress for Teresa Wright (talked about here), and Best Director for William Wyler (talked about here). All were actually great decisions.
The non-Miniver decisions for the year were Van Heflin as Best Supporting Actor for Johnny Eager, which might have been the weakest Best Supporting Actor category of all time, and this category.
This category is actually a great one, because it was a perfect opportunity to award James Cagney. If Gary Cooper didn’t win this category the year before this, chances are Cagney wouldn’t have won here. But Cooper did win, so Cagney was able to get his well-deserved Oscar. And that’s good.
BEST ACTOR – 1942
And the nominees were…
James Cagney, Yankee Doodle Dandy
Gary Cooper, The Pride of the Yankees
Ronald Colman, Random Harvest
Walter Pidgeon, Mrs. Miniver
Monty Woolley, The Pied Piper (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actress – 1982
1982 is very ho-hum for me. Such good potential — such an obvious result. This is one of those years where you’re like, “Come on, Academy! Take a chance!” Gandhi wins Best Picture, which, is an easy decision. Because you also have Tootsie, The Verdict and E.T. nominated. See what I mean by easy?
Richard Attenborough wins Best Director for the film, which, I can’t really complain about too much, because I love Richard Attenborough, but, as I said here, there was a much better effort in that category that should have won instead. Ben Kingsley wins Best Actor for the film (which I talked about here), which is acceptable, because, one, it’s Gandhi, and two, it’s Ben Kingsley. Even though Paul Newman delivered yet another iconic performance in The Verdict, I understand that it’s Gandhi. Though, Peter O’Toole and Dustin Hoffman also delivered iconic performances here, but, it’s Gandhi, what are you gonna do? Best Actress this year was Meryl Streep for Sophie’s Choice (which I talked about here). ‘Nuff said. And Best Supporting Actor was Lou Gossett Jr. for An Officer and a Gentleman, which is just weird to me. I talked about it here.
As for this category — tough call. Could fall one of two ways, depending on your opinion. Either way, tough.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – 1982
And the nominees were…
Glen Close, The World According to Garp
Teri Garr, Tootsie
Jessica Lange, Tootsie
Kim Stanley, Frances
Lesley Ann Warren, Victor Victoria (more…)
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…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actor – 1958
I don’t love 1958 as a year, but some of its categories (like this one) are really strong. The reason the year isn’t that strong is because the set of Best Picture nominees is pretty weak.
Gigi wins Best Picture. Not a bad film, but a bad Best Picture choice. Vincente Minnelli won Best Director for the film (talked about here), which actually needed to happen. That man was crazy overdue by this point. Best Actress was Susan Hayward for I Want to Live!, which, as I said here, was a long time coming, and was a good decision, even if I think she should have won three years earlier and someone else should have won here. Best Supporting Actor was Burl Ives for The Big Country, which was a great decision, since he was great in both that and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof this year. And Best Supporting Actress was Wendy Hiller for Separate Tables, which she had coming to her for a while before this.
And then we have this category. This is really tough for me. It’s the only time Tony Curtis was nominated, this was Sidney Poitier’s best nominated performance, Paul Newman was amazing, and David Niven is David Niven. What do you do here?
BEST ACTOR – 1958
And the nominees were…
Tony Curtis, The Defiant Ones
Paul Newman, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
David Niven, Separate Tables
Sidney Poitier, The Defiant Ones
Spencer Tracy, The Old Man and the Sea (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1965
Oh, 1965. This year is a rock to me. It’s just — there. You don’t question a rock, it just, is. The Sound of Music wins Best Picture, and instinctively we all just understand that. It also won Best Director for Robert Wise, which, comes with the territory.
Then, Best Actor was Lee Marvin for Cat Ballou. Rather than explain, you can read my opinions on that here. Best Supporting Actor was Martin Balsam for A Thousand Clowns, which I guess works. I don’t really like the category, so whatever. And Best Supporting Actress was Shelley Winters for A Patch of Blue, which, as I said here, was a great decision.
So that’s 1965. And this category — whoa man, this is a top ten decision of all time. Julie Christie is incredible here. And also, despite that, this category is stacked. There are four legit winners here. Four!
BEST ACTRESS – 1965
And the nominees are…
Julie Andrews, The Sound of Music
Julie Christie, Darling
Samantha Eggar, The Collector
Elizabeth Hartman, A Patch of Blue
Simone Signoret, Ship of Fools (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1954
This is the Oscar category. The quintessential category. The one everyone argues over. Grace Kelly or Judy Garland? Before we get into that, let’s recap 1954.
On the Waterfront wins Best Picture, Best Actor for Marlon Brando, Best Supporting Actress for Eva Marie Saint (talked about here), and Best Director for Elia Kazan (talked about here). All of them were perfect decisions. Then Edmond O’Brien wins Best Supporting Actor for The Barefoot Contessa (talked about here), which is historically a good decision, even though he didn’t give the best performance in the category.
Okay, back to the good part. This category may be the single strongest Best Actress category of all time. Most people look at Garland and Kelly, but look at the other three nominees — Dandridge, Hepburn, Wyman — there’s really great stuff there, too. But we all know this category comes down to Judy and Grace. So I’ll kill the suspense now and tell you flat out — Grace deserved this. Nothing against Judy, but when you weigh the two performances against one another, and then factor in the year Grace had on top of it — she’s actually an easy winner here. I know Groucho Marx called this “the biggest robbery since Brinks,” but it really wasn’t. Not when you factor in everything.
BEST ACTRESS – 1954
And the nominees were…
Dorothy Dandridge, Carmen Jones
Judy Garland, A Star is Born
Audrey Hepburn, Sabrina
Grace Kelly, The Country Girl
Jane Wyman, Magnificent Obsession (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actress – 1939
1939 is the best year for American movies. The Golden Year, as they call it. And it really was. And the best thing about a year that’s this strong is when it has a definitive Best Picture winner, like this one does.
Gone With the Wind wins Best Picture, Best Director for Victor Fleming (talked about here) and Best Supporting Actress for Hattie McDaniel (talked about here). Best Actor this year 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 realized it so much that they gave him an Oscar the year after this for an unworthy performance. And Best Supporting Actor was Thomas Mitchell for Stagecoach, which, as I said here, is a brilliant decision (with my deepest condolences to Claude Rains).
And then there’s this category, which — it’s Gone With the Wind. It’s Scarlett O’Hara. Come on now.
BEST ACTRESS – 1939
And the nominees were…
Bette Davis, Dark Victory
Irene Dunne, Love Affair
Greta Garbo, Ninotchka
Greer Garson, Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Vivien Leigh, Gone With the Wind (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Actor – 1946
Love me some 1946. I’m always a fan of years that have definitive winners, yet other nominees that are strong enough to make people vehemently argue that those films should have won instead, and yet not be wrong to argue for them. 1939 is one. 1957. 1997, 1994, 1991 — there are lots of them. Here, The Best Years of Our Lives wins Best Picture, as it should have (historically this is a big film for Hollywood), and It’s a Wonderful Life is the film everyone argues for. And no one is wrong. I love that.
The Best Years of Our Lives also won Best Director for William Wyler, which was gonna happen, and Best Supporting Actor for Harold Russell, which, as I said here, I actually really, really hate. Best Actress was Olivia de Havilland for To Each His Own, which, as I said here, I love and support fully. And Best Supporting Actress was Anne Baxter for The Razor’s Edge, which I liked very much, actually.
So, in all, 1946 is a strong, strong year, with only one slip up that’s actually understandable (though still bad). And this category — looking at it objectively — as much as we all love Jimmy Stewart — this was a good decision.
BEST ACTOR – 1946
And the nominees were…
Frederic March, The Best Years of Our Lives
Laurence Olivier, Henry V
Larry Parks, The Jolson Story
Gregory Peck, The Yearling
James Stewart, It’s A Wonderful Life (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actress – 1957
Love 1957. 4 out of 6 really strong decisions. The Bridge on the River Kwai wins half the major awards (rightfully so), winning Best Picture, Best Director for David Lean (talked about here) and Best Actor for Alec Guinness. All perfect decisions. And Best Actress was Joanne Woodward for The Three Faces of Eve (talked about here), which was also a perfect decision.
Okay, that takes care of almost everything. Now we’re at the two Supporting categories. First was Red Buttons, winning Best Supporting Actor for Sayonara, which, as I said here, I hate very much as a decision. And the second was here, which I also hate very strongly and consider one of the worst decisions ever made in the history of the Best Supporting Actress category.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – 1957
And the nominees were..
Carolyn Jones, The Bachelor Party
Elsa Lanchester, Witness for the Prosecution
Hope Lange, Peyton Place
Miyoshi Umeki, Sayonara
Diane Varsi, Peyton Place (more…)
The Oscar Quest: Best Supporting Actor – 1979
1979 is a year I can say a lot about. I’ll try not to here. At least, not at once. The main thing here is that Kramer vs. Kramer wins Best Picture, beating out Apocalypse Now and All That Jazz. It also beat Norma Rae and Breaking Away, but the first two are the real important ones. It’s not a question of whether or not it’s a good film, it’s just — is it really better to have won over those two? Did history really hold up on that one? I consider this one of those — the Academy being the Academy. And the Academy being wrong — decisions.
Also this year, Robert Benton wins Best Director for Kramer vs. Kramer (talked about here), because, I guess, Francis Ford Coppola and Bob Fosse didn’t produce the two best individual efforts of their careers. Dustin Hoffman won Best Actor for the film as well (talked about here), and this I agree with. He was amazing here, and due. Meryl Streep also won Best Supporting Actress for the film (talked about here). She was also amazing, and totally deserved it. And Best Actress this year was Sally Field for Norma Rae (talked about here), which is also a good decision. So, this year, on the whole, had some great decisions in it. Three, in fact. The problem here is the other three. Especially this one.
This category is the worst Best Supporting Actor decision of all time. If there ever was a year where “veteran Oscar” was what happened, this is it. I’m not even going to hide my opinion here or mask who I’m voting for. Robert Duvall delivered one of the most iconic performances of all time. Even if you haven’t seen Apocalypse Now, I bet you can quote that napalm speech. This is a character so strong, it’s possible you remember him even more than Marlon Brando in this movie. Or Dennis Hopper. That’s how fucking strong he is. Literally, the first half of this movie is his. That’s how good he is. And Melvyn Douglas wins because he’s old and dying. That’s just terrible. (more…)
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