Best Supporting Actress 1998

[Mister Tee]

Another, minor TV connection: Lee Grant was starring in a short-lived TV series called Fay between the release of Shampoo and her Oscar win. What's notable about this is, the show was cancelled after only a few episodes (routine today, but pretty shocking back then), and Grant went on The Tonight Show loudly venting about the program director of (I believe) NBC. Grant might well have won that year, anyway, on career points, but some felt the sympathy she generated over this incident helped in her Oscar quest.

Why was it such a shock for a show to be cancelled after only a few episodes?

And, yes, Damien, Grant was nominated for an Emmy for "Fay" in '76.

Because life was much slower then. Shows were routinely given time to prove themselves -- a half or full season; sometimes even more (The Dick van Dyke Show, a decade earlier, had been a ratings dud most of its first season, but gradually caught on, and stuck around long enough to become a top ten show). The quick shiv has of course become standard issue today, but was newsworthily rare in 1975.

[flipp525]

Another, minor TV connection: Lee Grant was starring in a short-lived TV series called Fay between the release of Shampoo and her Oscar win. What's notable about this is, the show was cancelled after only a few episodes (routine today, but pretty shocking back then), and Grant went on The Tonight Show loudly venting about the program director of (I believe) NBC. Grant might well have won that year, anyway, on career points, but some felt the sympathy she generated over this incident helped in her Oscar quest.

Why was it such a shock for a show to be cancelled after only a few episodes?

And, yes, Damien, Grant was nominated for an Emmy for "Fay" in '76.

[Damien]

Another, minor TV connection: Lee Grant was starring in a short-lived TV series called Fay between the release of Shampoo and her Oscar win. What's notable about this is, the show was cancelled after only a few episodes (routine today, but pretty shocking back then), and Grant went on The Tonight Show loudly venting about the program director of (I believe) NBC. Grant might well have won that year, anyway, on career points, but some felt the sympathy she generated over this incident helped in her Oscar quest.

If memory serves, Grant received an Emmy nomination for "Fay."

[Big Magilla]

I hate to go O/T but speaking of Kudrow and Hunt, I was thinking who are other actors who got Oscar nominations for their film work while starring in a TV series on the air at the time.

I can only think of two others: Judd Hirsch and Felicity Huffman. Well, Alan Alda also but I don't know if he was regular in The West Wing at the time of his nomination. Any others?

Wasn't John Travolta still on Welcome Back, Kotter when he was nominated for Saturday Night Fever?

And Agnes Moorehead was playing Endora on Bewitched when nominated for Huish Hush, Sweet Charlotte

Again, I don't know that Kudrow was snubbed because voters looked down their noses at TV stars or if they simply admired the five nominated performances more, but TV stars have traditionally not been taken seriously as film stars.

I think Feicity Huffman was the first performer known almost exclusively for their TV work to be nominated while still starring in a hit TV series. Of course it helped that she was married to a much admired character actor and former Oscar nominee.

Hunt had been a child actress in films. Judd Hirsch had made an impression on screen in King of the Gypsies two years before Ordinary People. Alan Alda had a long history in films. Agnes Moroehead, and fellow 1964 supporting actress nominee Gladys Cooper, were then currently in hit TV shows, but both had decade long film careers and Oscar nominations going back more than twenty years.

John Travolta's performance in Saturday Night Fever was a cultural phenomenon, too important to be ignored. He also had sympathy on his side. He had been in a headline making romance with Diana Hyland, the much older actress who played his mother in The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, who died of cancer earlier in the year.

[Mister Tee]

Another, minor TV connection: Lee Grant was starring in a short-lived TV series called Fay between the release of Shampoo and her Oscar win. What's notable about this is, the show was cancelled after only a few episodes (routine today, but pretty shocking back then), and Grant went on The Tonight Show loudly venting about the program director of (I believe) NBC. Grant might well have won that year, anyway, on career points, but some felt the sympathy she generated over this incident helped in her Oscar quest.

[Mister Tee]

I fear everything I say here will just be an echo of what many have already articulated...though my final vote differs from the so-far plurality.

Lisa Kudrow is the clear omission -- a performance that completely transcended her Mad About You/Friends persona. It may have been the TV connection, in the wake of Helen Hunt, or it may simply have been that Harvey Weinstein knew better how to stroke voters' erogenous zones than Kudrow's backers.

I sort of expected Joan Allen to be nominated, but, in truth, I thought there was beginning to be a bit of sameness about her performances at this point. Her snub didn't annoy me at the level of Kudrow's.

Glad to see such unanimity about the Blethyn atrocity. A waste of a slot on a nails-on-chalkboard performance.

I wish I could swoon for Lynn Redgrave the way so many here are. There are few performers in my lifetime with whom I've formed such a devoted bond as I did back in '66 with Redgrave over Georgy Girl. Georgy Girl was an introduction to whole new movie world for me -- the slightly foreign, modern, sexually frank world that was taking over cinema at the time -- and my excitement over all that discovery was manifest in intense affection for Redgrave's character and performance. I was crushed when she lost to Elizabeth Taylor (though, today, I'd vote for Taylor); everyone in my class came up to me the next day and expressed condolences.

As we know, Redgrave's career didn't exactly sparkle in the years after Georgy Girl. Before long, she was appearing on Hollywood Squares, and headlining tripe like The Happy Hooker. But my devotion remained. So, I was delighted when she re-emerged as a notable in Shine, and then, two years later, as Oscar nominee in Gods and Monsters.

The problem is...I don't love this performance. I like the movie alot, esp. the McKellen performance. But, with Redgrave, I mostly see shtik or a stunt. It's a fun stunt, enjoyable, but not, for me, on a par with some of the other nominees here. So, I was/am forced into the difficult position of rooting against a long-time favorite.

Getting back to the race: Judi Dench was unquestionably commanding in her brief role, but it was, dammit, brief, and matched against nominees with far more expansive roles, she falls back in the pack. And, since I'd not remotely though she was "robbed" the year previous, I had no extra-credit reason for wanting her to win.

I think Hillary and Jackie is one of those movies only limited by its subject matter. There's alot of invention in script and direction, and two very strong performances at the center. The only problem is, the central idea, however well-developed, isn't very fresh or interesting. But, as to those performances...I actually voted for Emily Watson for best actress when we covered this race last year, and come very close to voting Griffiths as well, for making a non-flashy character so interesting.

But, in the end, it's Kathy Bates for me. I actually like Primary Colors quite a bit. It's a vast improvement on Joe Klein's disdainful novel -- it looks at the political process with clear eyes, sees the muck, but doesn't affect the superior attitude toward it Klein and most DC pundits do. It recognizes the sleaze in much of what Stanton/Clinton does, but still honors his achievements and connection to voters (typified by that late-night scene at the pie house). It may be the most realistic yet not cynical political film I've ever seen.

As for Bates, she comes on like a house afire (as real-life model Betsey Wright did), grabs every scene of which she's a part, and then, unexpectedly, offers the most heartfelt moment of the film. SAG voters got this one right: Kathy Bates for the win.



Edited By Mister Tee on 1289935966

[flipp525]

flipp, you're almost certainly thinking about the first of Dench's three scenes. The on-stage "bit with a dog" sends her on an almost devilish laughing fit which reveals her horrible, decaying teeth (this after she's been coughing and stuffing her face with sweets).

Yes!!! Thanks for clearing that up.

[Aceisgreat]

flipp, you're almost certainly thinking about the first of Dench's three scenes. The on-stage "bit with a dog" sends her on an almost devilish laughing fit which reveals her horrible, decaying teeth (this after she's been coughing and stuffing her face with sweets).

[Damien]

I hate to go O/T but speaking of Kudrow and Hunt, I was thinking who are other actors who got Oscar nominations for their film work while starring in a TV series on the air at the time.

I can only think of two others: Judd Hirsch and Felicity Huffman. Well, Alan Alda also but I don't know if he was regular in The West Wing at the time of his nomination. Any others?

Wasn't John Travolta still on Welcome Back, Kotter when he was nominated for Saturday Night Fever?

And Agnes Moorehead was playing Endora on Bewitched when nominated for Huish Hush, Sweet Charlotte

[anonymous1980]

I hate to go O/T but speaking of Kudrow and Hunt, I was thinking who are other actors who got Oscar nominations for their film work while starring in a TV series on the air at the time.

I can only think of two others: Judd Hirsch and Felicity Huffman. Well, Alan Alda also but I don't know if he was regular in The West Wing at the time of his nomination. Any others?

[flipp525]

I also loved how she wasn't afraid to make her Elizabeth I disgusting and crude at one point in the film (isn't she cleaning her teeth or doing something equally uncouth at one point?)

I'm fairly sure that was done by Gwyneth Paltrow's character.

Oh, I know that Gwyneth is cleaning her teeth at one point -- that's not what I was thinking of. I just seem to remember one scene in which Dench allowed her Elizabeth I to look a bit grotesque. I'm blanking on the specifics though.

[Greg]

I also loved how she wasn't afraid to make her Elizabeth I disgusting and crude at one point in the film (isn't she cleaning her teeth or doing something equally uncouth at one point?)

I'm fairly sure that was done by Gwyneth Paltrow's character.

[OscarGuy]

I'll second the love for Kudrow and Allen, both far superior to at least Judi Dench, one of the more undeserving selections...damn that Helen Hunt.

Anyway, I have not seen Little Voice, so I can't comment on Blethyn, but the rest I can say a little about.

I cast my vote initially for Redgrave but, as I think about it more, I regret having done so. While she's definitely better than two of the remaining three, I can't in good conscience ignore the better of them.

Redgrave was affecting and engaging, but she's not the most memorable character in the film. She plays her feisty housekeeper role more as homage at times than as performance. She is second of these five.

Dench I think is utterly wasted and while a great deal of fun, I've never found her work impressive as I've liked so many others of her performances. It would be like recognizing Helen Mirren for RED for being good, but not being brilliant.

Rachel Griffiths is wonderful in Hilary and Jackie, a film that I fear many would never have seen were it not for the Oscar nominations. It's a sweet and touching little film and the performances are what make it work so well.

But Kathy Bates' presence in Primary Colors keeps large portions of the film from feeling like caricature. After all, I still don't buy John Travolta as Bill Clinton or Emma Thompson as Hilary Clinton, but Bates' performance as Libby Holden anchors the film in reality. You can't stop watching the film when she's on screen. Her force, charisma and passion pull you in. Her final scenes are engaging and heartbreaking and when she leaves the film for good, you can't help but miss her. And the film just isn't the same after that point, her specter haunting and influencing the rest of the film.

[The Original BJ]

There are two genuinely disappointing omissions for me this year, both of whom others have repeatedly cited. The first is Joan Allen for her superb riff on the '50's TV housewife in Pleasantville, a performance that is both beautiful in its humanity and terrifically funny as well (the wonderfully played "What's sex?" being her most memorable laugh.) The other is Lisa Kudrow's delicious role in The Opposite of Sex, proving that her skills as a comedian went a lot further (and a lot deeper) than Phoebe on Friends.

These snubs make Brenda Blethyn's nomination even more hideous than it would have been in a weaker year. I think she's just terrible -- shrill, annoying, not remotely amusing as was obviously intended. I praised her work in Secret & Lies, but I find this nomination to be one of the worst in this category during the '90's.

The others all gave good performances, though there's no reason why Hilary & Jackie should have been separated by category any more than Thelma & Louise should have been. I thought Griffiths quite strong in the film -- she doesn't have as showy a role as Watson, but her more subtle performance was still very moving. There's a sense of regret to Hilary's life in her sister's shadow, yet also a contentment with this existence outside the spotlight, and Griffiths's work is thus complicated without being ostentatious. I wouldn't have found much to object about had she been nominated for Best Actress, but of course, her role is far too large for the supporting category. (Irrelevant fact: Rachel Griffiths once nearly ran me over on her bicycle while riding around the Disney lot.)

On the other end of the spectrum...Judi Dench clearly won as a way for voters to make up for her loss the year prior, as well as for them to honor the wonderful supporting cast of Shakespeare in Love. And I did like Dench a lot in the film -- she was only in the film for a few moments, but she took command of the screen in all of her scenes, and had some great lines that she delivered with plenty of panache. ("She's been plucked recently...and not by you.") But a performance this small would have to be a Beatrice Straight-like life force for me to seriously consider voting for her, and though I thought she was a lot of fun, I don't think she was as strong as some of her competition.

I thought Kathy Bates was terrific in Primary Colors. She barrels into the movie with loads of energy, and knocks her early comic bits out of the park. ("I am a gay, lesbian woman! I do not mythologize the male sexual organ!") And then, just when you thought you'd seen enough of her scene-stealing, she gets a great dramatic scene near the end of the film that serves as a powerful reminder of the real cost the political arena can take on anyone's integrity. She would have been a perfectly acceptable choice for me.

But I voted for Lynn Redgrave, who was outstanding as James Whale's housekeeper in Gods and Monsters. Redgrave was a little bit funny, a little bit grotesque, and very, very moving in her portrait of a woman who has devoted her life to caring for a man she barely understands, who has amounted to so much more in the world than she has. It's a performance that's full of sadness and worldly wisdom, but also full of life and energy -- it's a joy to watch Redgrave in this role despite the fact that Hanna can be, at times, somewhat pathetic. It's so sad that Redgrave has already left us, but I am happy to take the opportunity to honor this very talented actress by voting for her here.

[flipp525]

I suspect Kudrow suffered from the stigma of being thought of as a TV actress rather than a serious film star.

That didn't prevent Helen Hunt from not only getting nominated but WINNING the year before.

True, but she was a rare exception and there was already backlash to her win, so it could well be the reason, but I don't really know, just speculating on this one.

Well, the Helen Hunt thing effectively gave birth to the Judi Dench win for this year, so chew on that.

Gods and Monsters is kind of an untouchable jewel on this board so, of course, Lynn Redgrave is getting a lot of attention. It's a good performance, not without a lot of tics and affectations. If it weren't so obviously a send-up to another era (given her ersatz O'Connor, did anyone guess for a second that Magilla wasn't gonna throw his bone here?), rather than a truer, more organic creation, I might've voted for her here. Truth is, her cameo in Condon's Kinsey six years later effectively blows this performance out of the water in every possible way.

Bates is the moral center of Primary Colors and certainly one of the best things about it. A solid performance and it was great that she got another nomination.

Rachel Griffiths has parlayed this nomination into some of the most unforgettable creations on television (her Brenda Chenowith on "Six Feet Under" is sublime), so good for her. I don't remember too much about her performance in Hilary and Jackie, but it's nice that such a great actress has been recognized.

Brenda Blethyn's shrill, unbelievable creation in Little Voice is only made more horrid by the great performances that were precluded from this category because of her. I do, however, think she's mildly funny in her Oscar clip scene where she's calling herself. (And talking about an actress who needs to be reigned in...Jane Harrocks, much?)

Dench is pretty great in Shakespeare in Love, effectively stealing the handful of scenes she's in. I also loved how she wasn't afraid to make her Elizabeth I disgusting and crude at one point in the film (isn't she cleaning her teeth or doing something equally uncouth at one point?) A make-up Oscar that was deserving. She gets my vote.

This is the year where I thought the best supporting performance was unfortunately not nominated. I'd love to delve into the story of how or why Joan Allen was not recognized for her fantastic turn as Betty in Pleasantville, the crowning acheivement of her put-upon wives series (Nixon, The Crucible, The Ice Storm). This would've also been kind of the moment to recognize her, if they were ever going to. It so clearly rises above this pack. Lisa Kudrow (The Opposite of Sex), Kimberly Elise (Beloved) would also have been worthy candidates.



Edited By flipp525 on 1289920704