I phrased that quote wrong. I shouldn’t have said Close “clearly” deserved to win. I agree Foster and Hunter (and others) had their supporters.

My point was that Close has 7 nominations and for 4 of them some people would say she deserved to win. That is why I say she’s overdue.

(Compared to Adams who really never was touted as a possible…[Read more]

What makes Woodard’s Cross Creek nomination even more surprising is that she had competition from that film from Dana Hill who was also in contention for a Supporting Actress nomination. ‘

It seems like Hill would have had an advantage since she was considered to have just missed a nomination the year before for Shoot the Moon but I guess Alfre…[Read more]

Judy Davis losing was odd. She was the favorite going in. People later thought that all the Woody Allen controversy hurt her BUT two years later Diane Wiest and then Mira Sorvino would win for Woody Allen films so they clearly weren’t boycotting him.

I never got the appeal of Colman. To me that was a case of rewarding the most acting and not the best. Close was subtle and builds to a palpable climax in The Wife.

To me Colman grimaced and did too much shtick. Sort of like what Al Pacino gets accused of in Scent of a Woman.

Close is probably the only person working nowadays I’d say is…[Read more]

What were the other things Cliff Robertson had in his corner and how did Dina Merrill help?

Robertson was a real ham according to John Lithgow’s bio. Lithgow details how Robertson taught him all these tricks (which Lithgow didn’t use or approve of) on Brian De Palma’s Obsession. It was all stuff about how to pull focus and upstage your…[Read more]

Tomei was mentioned as a possible nominee but not seen as likely to happen. If Gold Derby charts had been around then she probably would have been like 8th or so on it.

I can remember Rob Reiner (a nominee for Best Picture with A Few Good Men) joking on the red carpet that he had as much chance as Marisa Tomei. (kind of insulting thing to…[Read more]

I remember being surprised Redgrave got in. People love that performance but it never really did much for me. I didn’t think others would vote for her.

Was Clift considered a possibility to win for Judgement at Nuremberg? I saw it a long time ago and don’t really remember if he was deserving.

I’ve heard George Chikaris’ win mocked as undeserving.

It is hard to figure out what happened with Passion Fish. She was high up on the list of prospective nominees. The Academy saw the film since Mary McDonnell got in.

Woodard did show up as a runner up at the LA Film critics award in lead so maybe that confused voters where she should be placed. Although just the year before LA gave Mercedes Ruehl…[Read more]

Her guest appearances on L.A. Law (which won her an Emmy) are just astounding acting.

Yes I’d have liked to see that. Plus she looked a bit like Kate Winslet. (the big eyes and stuff) I never really bought the idea that Gloria Stuart was Kate as an old woman and Gloria Stuart was never really that famous. It wasn’t a star cameo like it would have been with Olivia.

I doubt it. It was just from a local news show. There was gridlock and the reporter was just trying to get somebody to roll down the window and say how long they had been stuck there. Olivia obliged. Introduced herself and then answered his questions such as how she liked the show, winners etc. The reporter stumbled into a good interview when…[Read more]

Diana Rigg won an Emmy for a TV version. Anyone ever see it? I can’t imagine anyone coming close to Judith Anderson.

(and nobody could direct the fire scene like Hitchcock)

Rigg was the only nominee for the series so I guess it wasn’t that great.

She was rumored to by James Cameron’s first choice for old Rose in Titanic but was offended by him wanting to audition her or maybe just interview her to see if she was up for the task. Not sure which.

Gloria Stuart was fine but it would have been a nice piece of film history to have her end her career in a huge film like Titanic (and maybe win…[Read more]

Estellte Getty for The Golden Girls. She was in it as much as the other three. I think initially it was done since she was the only one not famous when the show started and they probably thought four nominations in lead was too much to hope for.

I think Durning was very funny and charming in Best Little…He was the bright spot of the film and it was such change of pace role for him. He wasn’t known as a singer/dancer. (plus he also did good work in Tootsie that year.)

The next year he got another nomination for To Be or Not To Be which I don’t think he deserved.

It was pretty common in the seventies

Barbara Harris, Who is Harry Kellerman….
Lee Grant, The Landlord
Margaret Leighton, The Go-Between
Brenda Vacarro, Once is Not Enough

those are just a few that come to mind off the top of my head. (more amazing was this was before screeners so people actually had to go out and see the films.)

Screeners…[Read more]

I’m guessing because she has never done professional theater and Broadway can be pretty tough on newcomer movie stars who appear there. Julia Roberts and Julianne Moore both were criticized as being movie stars not stage actors. (Although Nicole Kidman did pretty well in her stage roles considering she had never even been in a school play I…[Read more]