40 Years Ago ~ Best Supporting Actresses

The supporting actress field this year for the 80th Annual Academy Awards is full of talent and great performances, much like the Oscars were 40 years ago.  In 1967, films such as Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and the Graduate were making waves throughout the country for their “controversial” material.  Movie goers were trying to forget about their troubles and looming conflict over the Vietnam War with the Musical hit, Thoroughly Modern Millie and the Romantic Comedy Barefoot in the Park.  At the same time they were making heroes out of gangsters in Bonnie and Clyde.

In each of those now classic films, outstanding performances were given by some outstanding supporting actresses.  Carol Channing had already made a name for herself on Broadway by 1967, and had won awards for her roles.  Thoroughly Modern Millie would be one of very few films she would make, and it won her an Academy Award nomination.  However, her song and dance did not gain her the Oscar.

Beah Richards, a prolific actress, poet, and playwright, her first authored play was All’s Well that Ends that delved into the issues of racial segregation. Always ahead of her time, she defined herself as “Black” when the term “Negro” was the preferred ethnic/racial label of Black Americans. Richards would bring her salutary satisfaction with being “Black” and her immense acting talents to the role of the peacemaking mother in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967), a role for which she was nominated for an Oscar. Beah went on to star in numerous films and TV roles, and won an Emmy in 2000 just weeks prior to her death, but the Oscar never came home to her.

Katherine Ross was a new name in Hollywood in 1967, but a name that would continue to be heard about for the next 40 years.  As Dustin Hoffman’s girlfriend in The Graduate, who’s mother seduces him, Katherine gave a shockingly real performance, but it was her only nomination, thus far and not a win in 1967.

Mildren Natwick a gifted character player of the American stage and screen. She began appearing in amateur productions in Baltimore directly out of college and made her professional debut on Broadway in 1932. Even as a youngster she was assigned character roles, usually playing women older than herself, and before long she became established as one of the most reliable supporting players of the stage and screen. She appeared in films off and on starting in 1940, at her best with eccentric characterizations. She was nominated in 1967 playing Jane Fonda’s mother in Barefoot in the Park.  She was the seasoned veteran that year that was a favorite to walk away with the gold, however it was not to be.

The winner of the best Supporting Actress Oscar for 1967 was another fairly newcomer to film, Estelle Parsons, A childhood friend of Jack Lemmon and a former TV writer and producer she began appearing on stage in the late 1950s and established herself as a leading character actress. In the 1960’s she took Hollywood by storm by winning her first nominated role as Blanche Barrow,  as Gene Hackman’s Buck Barrow’s wife in Bonnie and Clyde, and then was nominated again the following year for another outstanding performance as a lesbian in Rachel, Rachel.

So many performances worthy, so many gifted actresses that are deserving. 1967 was a year for newcomers, what about 2007?

Best Picture Predix

(updated Feb. 10, 2007)

I am bouncing back and forth and all around this year with the Best Picture nominees.  There are some outstanding films this year, and I am not sure which one is going to win.  It’s not like years in the recent past when one seemed to stand out, and unlike 2005 when Brokeback Mountain lost to Crash, I see any one of these films winning the golden man.

Right now I am bouncing between, There Will Be Blood-No Country for Old Men and Atonement.  There Will be Blood, will surely become a classic, and the cinematography was phenomenal. No Country for Old Men is volatile and explosive, and Atonement has all the right plots, mystery and love to be an Academy favorite, but for now i am going to go with…

No Country for Old Men

First Prediction 2008

 2008 is full of great nominations, and even greater performances. Some of the best performances in this decade have come to film this year, and the women that have been nominated are no exception.  From Cate Blanchett with her 4th and 5th nominations, to the young Ellen Page, who is just starting what looks like to become an illustrious career.

However, this year I think we are going to see a comeback, and the Oscar will be given to Julie Christie this year for Best Actress.  Her portrayal of a woman with Alzheimer’s is phenomenal.  Look for her to walk away with the gold this year.

She has already won the Golden Globe and the Screen Actor Guild award, along with several others. Julie has been around for years, but recently has made a big comeback, last year her role in Running With Scissors should have been a nomination. Julie Christie won an Oscar for her portrayal in 1965 of a bored, amoral fashion model in the film Darling, and was nominated in 1971 in McCabe and Mrs. Miller and again in 1997 for her role in Afterglow.

If Julie does not get the Oscar this year, I for one will be surprised, but that is not to say the other actresses are not good enough.  This year is tough, and the women up for the award would be tough to beat.  Laura Linney has been one of my favorites since Tales of the City, and she is one of the most under-rated actresses of our age.  Of course Cate Blanchett is being touted as the next Katherine Hepburn ( a role she won her Oscar for)  She is powerful on screen no matter what she plays, even a guy, as she was also nominated as a supporting actress this year as one of the Bob Dylans in I’m Not There.

Some say if anyone has a chance to beat Julie this year though it will be Marion Cotillard in the tragic story true of Edith Piaf.  but she did not sing the songs, her voice was dubbed by Jil Aigrot, and the Academy may not like that as well.

Young Ellen Page is faced with an unplanned pregnancy in the indie film JUNO and plays an offbeat young woman who makes an unusual decision regarding her unborn child – she decides to have it and find the perfect family to raise it. Where else to find them but in the Penny Saver? Page navigates the pitfalls of quirkiness and cuteness and delivers a textured performance.

Who will win? Who knows, but my guess and $$ are on Julie Christie.

80 Years of Best Pictures

2007 Oscar Nods

Lets see how I did with my predictions this year for nominations.  The films nominated for an Academy Award are:

“Atonement,” “Juno,” “Michael Clayton,” “No Country for Old Men,” “There Will Be Blood.” I had three out of five, left out were Sweeny Todd and Into the Wild.

Nominees for Best Actor are:

 George Clooney, “Michael Clayton”; Daniel Day-Lewis, “There Will Be Blood”; Johnny Depp, “Sweeney Todd the Demon Barber of Fleet Street”; Tommy Lee Jones, “In the Valley of Elah”; Viggo Mortensen, “Eastern Promises.” I chose James McAvoy over Tommy Lee Jones. So four out of five there, not too bad.

For Actress the nominees for this year are:

 Cate Blanchett, “Elizabeth: The Golden Age”; Julie Christie, “Away From Her”; Marion Cotillard, “La Vie en Rose”; Laura Linney, “The Savages”; Ellen Page, “Juno.” I only chose Julie Christie and Marion Cotillard, so two out five in this category…

Supporting Actor nods went to: Casey Affleck, “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford”; Javier Bardem, “No Country for Old Men”; Hal Holbrook, “Into the Wild”; Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Charlie Wilson’s War”; Tom Wilkinson, “Michael Clayton.” Good Job!  I got five out of five!! But Supporting Actress, only one out of five, Tilda Swinton, the other nominess:  Cate Blanchett, “I’m Not There”; Ruby Dee, “American Gangster”; Saoirse Ronan, “Atonement”; Amy Ryan, “Gone Baby Gone”; Tilda Swinton, “Michael Clayton.”

As for Best Director: Julian Schnabel, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”; Jason Reitman, “Juno”; Tony Gilroy, “Michael Clayton”; Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, “No Country for Old Men”; Paul Thomas Anderson, “There Will Be Blood.” I got three out of that five.

So now onto the predictions for the winners!  I will post predictions this week.

40 Years Ago ~ Best Supporting Actors

With the 80th Academy Award nominations being announced tomorrow, I thought we could take a look back to 40 years earlier and see what the Academy thought was the best of 1967, and who won the gold.  Maybe it can give an indication of which way the Academy will go this year.

The Supporting Actor nominees for 1967 were a mixture of some of the best actors of our time; John Cassavetes in THE DIRTY DOZEN; Gene Hackman in BONNIE AND CLYDE; Cecil Kellaway in GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER; George Kennedy in COOL HAND LUKE and  Michael J. Pollard in BONNIE AND CLYDE.  Let’s take a closer look at the actors and their nominated role.

John Cassavetes was “Victor Franko” one of the biggest “bad-asses” ever on film. John was a former acting teacher, and trained with stars like Marlon Brando.  His role in The Dirty Dozen as an impudent, insubordinate condemned soldier.  he later went on to be an outstanding director. Perhaps better known to the general public as an actor, John Cassavetes’ true artistic legacy derives from his work behind the camera; arguably, he was America’s first truly independent filmmaker, an iconoclastic maverick whose movies challenged the assumptions of the cinematic form. However this role, albeit iconic, did not win him the award.

Gene Hackman, as “Buck Barrow”, Clyde Barrow’s slow minded brother in Bonnie & Clyde is one of the best performances of Hackman’s career.  It catapulted him into the forefront of up and coming actors, and he had only been acting for three years prior to the nomination.  Gene would go on to win for best actor in French Connection and best supporting actor in Unforgiven.  But not for Buck.

Twice nominated for an Academy Award, Cecil Kelleway was a charming character actor was mostly identified as an Irishman though he was born in Capetown, South Africa on August 22, 1893 and lived in Australia where he started on the stage and moved to films becoming an actor, author and director. After 17 years with the Aussie film industry he came to America in the 1930s and did some bit parts in gangster films with which he became discouraged and returned to Australia. William Wyler wanted him for a role in “Wuthering Heights” and coaxed him back to the U.S. where he finally launched a successful film career in Hollywood. It would be hard to imagine him playing a villain because of his warm cherubic smile and twinkling eyes. Among his better films were: “Luck of the Irish” (1948) in which he played Horace a Leprechaun and “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” (1967) as Monsignor Ryan. He was nominated for an Oscar for both of these. One of the greatest character actors, Cecil would not win one of the “boys”.

Michael J. Pollard, played the character C. W. Moss in the film Bonnie and Clyde, for which he received Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor and won a British Academy Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles. However he came up short for the Oscar.

The winner of the 40th Annual Academy Awards, Best Supporting Actor Award went to, in my opinion the greatest character actor of the 60’s and 70’s, George Kennedy. Kennedy began his film career in 1961 in The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come. He then appeared in several successful films, including 1964’s Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte, opposite Bette Davis, and 1965’s In Harm’s Way,opposite John Wayne. And the came Cool Hand Luke and his Oscar, then a career that spans 40 years with over 200 film and TV performances.  But his role as Dragline, in Cool Hand Luke will be forever remembered.

So with these roles as a guide, what does it mean for this year and the possible nominees? Well my guess is for the bad-ass, we will see Javier Bardem; Casey Affleck as the sidekick gone creepy; Hal Holbrook as the good guy; Tom Wilkinson as the guilt ridden character and Phillip Seymour Hoffman as big as life.  We’ll see tomorrow!

There Will Be Blood Nomination Predix

At the turn of the 20th century, Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a poor prospector who finally strikes it rich when he finds oil. Based on the Upton Sinclair novel “OIL” the cinematography and score in this film is spectacular. Daniel Day-Lewis is also spectacular and once again amazing, as the poor prospector who makes it rich, but finds out money does not make your troubles disapear. He brings to the screen a simple yet voilatle persona that will surely garner him accolades and awards. The film however, I felt was slow at times and even though the storyline was based mostly on the relationship between Plainview and his “adopted” son, it failed to show a complete story of their relationship. There were several brutal scenes that kept you wanting to watch, but overall I felt the film lacked completeness. I left feeling I only knew half the story. B-

2007 Best Actor Nomination Predix

Daniel Day Lewis and Johnny Depp are the two “locks” in this category after Johnny and Daniel winning the Golden Globe award for best actors in Drama and Comedy/Musical. Daniel Day Lewis is mesmerizing and a powerful presence on screen. Some say this is his finest role to date and has been compared to the classic male stars of the 30’s and 40’s.  Depp is fantastic, as usual, however he sings too as the treacherous butcher in Sweeney Todd.  James McAvoy exploded on screen last year in his role as the doctor and confidant to Forest Whitaker’s winning characterization last year in the Last King of Scotland, and this year is no exception in his role in Atonement, winner of best Dramatic Film at the Globes. Some say he is our generations Gary Cooper, that has yet to be determined. Viggo Mortensen stars as the “driver” in the psychodrama, Eastern Promises, in a brutal and powerful gut wrenching fight scene, Viggo bares it all.  But is that TOO much for the Academy?  Then we have the Academy’s golden boy of the ”aughts”, George Clooney.  Again he commands the screen and the role in the political thriller, Michael Clayton. The Academy certainly loves him, but he did just win a couple of years ago, and personally…I think he is over-rated.  I know he is a hometown boy, but that’s my opinion.

But let us not count out Denzel, Emile Hirsch and last years surprise nod, Ryan Gosling. These actors all gave stirring and believable performances this year, and their films are getting a lot of press.  Thankfully this year is not like the past two years when we knew Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Forest Whitaker had it wrapped up by November.  Just 41 days away and we will see which man takes home The Golden Man.

Nomination Predix 2007

Film Predictions:

*There Will Be Blood

 

Sweeney Todd

No Country for Old Men

Atonement

Into the Wild