African-American Leading Ladies at the Oscars

[AwardsConnect Joined: Jan 16th, 2016 Topics: 17 Posts: 3626 View Predictions]

#216466

Over the 88 years since the Academy Awards were first established, 20 African-American leading men, 17 supporting men and and 18 supporting women have garnered Oscar nominations for their work. These are paltry numbers to be sure, particularly as you consider more than 400 performances have thus far been nominated in each of these categories.

The numbers are especially anemic, however, in the Lead Actress category – a mere 10 African-American women have garnered Best Actress nominations. Claudia McNeil in “A Raisin in the Sun” and Pam Grier in “Jackie Brown” are two names that instantly come to mind as Lead Actress performances that would’ve been supremely worthy of nominations.

That being said, which is your favorite of the 10 African-American Best Actress performances recognized by the Academy?

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[SupaDupa Fly Joined: Oct 12th, 2014 Topics: 4 Posts: 734 View Predictions]

#216468

Whoopi Goldberg.

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[thatfilmgirl Joined: Dec 9th, 2015 Topics: 1 Posts: 127 View Predictions]

#216469

I’m still bitter Viola Davis didn’t win the Oscar. Meryl really should’ve won for Julia Childs a few years earlier instead of the Iron Lady. Will always be bitter. I’m hoping Davis can land a fantastic role in the next few years that could get her that win. 

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[Jw79bull Joined: May 24th, 2011 Topics: 28 Posts: 466 View Predictions]

#216470

Angela

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[Joined: Jan 1st, 1970 Topics: 37 Posts: 1619 View Predictions]

#216471

This post was found to be inappropriate by the moderators and has been removed.

[babypook Joined: Nov 4th, 2010 Topics: 143 Posts: 17022 View Predictions]

#216472

Impossible choice. Some absolutely terrific perfs up there….and countless others who were overlooked.

It’s dart time.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Philip K Dick Blade Runner

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[Joined: Jan 1st, 1970 Topics: 116 Posts: 4745 View Predictions]

#216473

This post was found to be inappropriate by the moderators and has been removed.

[babypook Joined: Nov 4th, 2010 Topics: 143 Posts: 17022 View Predictions]

#216474

I went with Dorothy Dandridge, a courageous pioneer. Were it not for her, there might not have been a Q Wallis.

Btw, Angela gave my favorite perf of these.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Philip K Dick Blade Runner

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[Milk Money Joined: Oct 2nd, 2013 Topics: 0 Posts: 724 View Predictions]

#216475

Diana Ross of the nominees. Had her film came out the following year instead she would have easily won. Whoopi and Pam Grier would have made worthy historic winners, too. It’s almost laughable that Halle’s performance is the first and only to win.

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[Joined: Jan 1st, 1970 Topics: 26 Posts: 2378 View Predictions]

#216477

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[FilmGuy619 Joined: Jan 13th, 2013 Topics: 119 Posts: 1019 View Predictions]

#216478

Whoopi Goldberg in The Color Purple. 

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[JayDF Joined: Sep 18th, 2011 Topics: 36 Posts: 19687 View Predictions]

#216479

Tyson, Goldberg & Sidibe…  OK If only to choose 1 it would be Tyson.

The choice is so hard I did it on the basis of me not liking much about the rest of THE COLOR PURPLE (I think Spielberg did a terrible job, sorry).  Then between Tyson & Sidibe, I choose Tyson because I’ve been able to see her give incredible performances elsewhere and I feel Sidibe lucked out with a character that is beyond rich in terms of acting… like Elizabeth Taylor in Virginia Woolf.

PS.  Both McNeil and Poitier’s omission from the 1961 ballot for their work in A RAISIN IN THE SUN is hardcore sad!!!  The best actress race was great that year, but they could have left Piper Laurie out IMO 🙂 

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[nkb325 Joined: Feb 6th, 2012 Topics: 22 Posts: 1707 View Predictions]

#216480

Im embarassed to admit but I’ve only seen Davis and Wallis… but either way, they were both my personal winners their respective years, so even out of those two it’s an extremely difficult decision. I’ll go with Wallis purely just because I know I’ll probably be one of the few to vote for her.

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[Rooney Moore Joined: Aug 2nd, 2014 Topics: 10 Posts: 1399 View Predictions]

#216481

I would have considered voting for Sidibe had not seen her post Oscar career.

Went with Bassett.

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[Joined: Jan 1st, 1970 Topics: 27 Posts: 3064 View Predictions]

#216482

This post was found to be inappropriate by the moderators and has been removed.