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In honor of the Oscar race, I'm listing 13 actresses whose performances were among the best of my lifetime. They were all most deservedly nominated for Best Actress, and all of them lost. 1) Diane Keaton, Something's Got to Give. 2003. Beautiful, understated, tender and mature. (In complete contrast to Nicholson's scenery chewing.) Lost to Charlize Theron in Monster. 2) Laura Linney, You Can Count on Me. 2000. A good girl who consistently does the wrong thing for the right reasons. Linney made Sammy's responsibility admirable and her screw-ups completely noble. Lost to Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich. 3) Bette Midler, For the Boys. 1991. It's not hard to be good in a good movie. But Bette was terrific in a sea of flotsam and jetsam. She danced, she sang, she laughed, she loved. It's a 1940s MGM performance of the highest order. Lost to Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs. 4) Meryl Streep, Postcards from the Edge. 1990. No accent. No sturm ung drang histrionics. But damn, she's funny. And wait till you hear her sing at the end! Lost to Kathy Bates in Misery. 5) Holly Hunter, Broadcast News. 1987. Her indelible performance. Was she ever this good again? Lost to Cher in Moonstruck. 6) Mary Tyler Moore, Ordinary People. 1980. With her performance as the outwardly perfect suburban wife and mom, she showed us the heavy price a good girl has to pay to "turn the world on with her smile." Lost to Sissy Spacek in Coal Miner's Daughter. 7) Sissy Spacek, Carrie. 1976. A compassionate performance made this a gory horror movie without a villain. Spacek's Carrie was Everygirl, but with extraordinary powers. No one could begrudge her that bloody vengeance. Lost to Faye Dunaway in Network. 8) Barbra Streisand, The Way We Were. 1973. Who can forget the moment when Katie whispers, "It's Katie. You did know it was Katie ..."? For a performer who can be a bulldozer at times, Babs is also able to tug at our heartstrings as few others can. Lost to Glenda Jackson in A Touch of Class. 9) Diana Ross, Lady Sings the Blues. 1972. The original Dreamgirl in the role of a lifetime. Her musical performance -- singing not like Miss Ross but like Lady Day -- is as impressive as her acting. Lost to Liza Minnelli in Cabaret. 10) Faye Dunaway, Bonnie & Clyde. 1968. Sure, she robbed banks. And yes, she was not above shooting people. But all Bonnie wanted was The American Dream (love, wealth, acceptance) and she didn't have a lot of option in The Depression, now did she? Dunaway's longing and apetite almost burst from the screen. Lost to Katharine Hepburn in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. 11) Julie Andrews, The Sound of Music. 1965. Except for Dame Julie, this drek is almost unwatchable. Yet when she's on the screen, her confidence and sincerity elevates it and makes you forgive just about everything else. Lost to Julie Christie in Darling. 12) Bette Davis, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. 1962. Creepy, ugly, evil, over the top … and pretty damn funny. A completely vanity-free performance from a great star, clearly having the time of her life. Lost to Anne Bancroft in The Miracle Worker. 13) Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's. 1961. Played by any other actress, Holly Golightly would be easy to dismiss as a whore. But played by Audrey, you feel icky even thinking it! My favorite moment is her with her guitar and bandanna, singing "Moon River." Lost to Sophia Loren in Two Women. Links to other Thursday Thirteens! 1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!) |
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Wow, I'm ashamed to admit that The Sound of Music is the only one on that list that I've watched all the way through. But all of them are great movies I really should (read: want to) watch!
ReplyDeleteOh, and I'm here via Sparky Duck.