Best Actress 1967

[bizarre]

Outside of Evans, who I wrote about several years ago, I've seen the Hepburns and Dunaway.

I like Audrey Hepburn, but this role (in a poor film, too) makes her seem like a far worse actress than she is. There's no reason she should have been cited for this especially over what seems to be a much better performance.

Katharine is a warm presence in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, but this role is not special in the slightest. Even Tracy gets that ridiculously pompous circular pan during his big speech. She's better than him, at least.

Dunaway I would like a lot in her later films but, while the charisma is there, the character-builidng is unformed and the readings stilted. But I'm not as sold on the film as others are, either.

My picks:

1. Edith Evans, The Whisperers
2. Yōko Tsukasa, Scattered Clouds
3. Catherine Deneuve, Belle de Jour
4. Keiko Sakurai, Japanese Summer: Double Suicide
5. Julie Andrews, Thoroughly Modern Millie

[bizarre]

I just saw Evans' film and I can get behind her in this 'iconic' but, truthfully, pretty underwhelming lineup. Bryan Forbes was an excellent actors' director (love the grimy window into small-minded, petty evil provided by Avis Bunnage in support) but the narrative here is totally inert, all gloom and doom with no arc, no tension and no shading. Evans' reputation precedes her here and she doesn't quite meet it, but she's very strong, very 'brave' and both touching and deeply unlikeable, no mean feat.

[mayukh]

Wait Until Dark is absolutely pointless – I couldn't even get through it – and though Hepburn could be a smart and graceful actress, grace is not exactly what one needs to enliven this incredibly tedious plot. She lacked a certain dynamism (yes, I understand that her character was mostly meant to be reticent) that could invest me her character's plight. Hepburn plays this character in such a way that you are frustrated by her passivity (even if it is obviously a product of her handicap).

I actually think that the other Hepburn is at times quite funny in GWCTD, and she is admittedly very touching in her final scene. That said, it's true that the absolutely condescending, dishonest film she's in gives her very little to work with. It's absurd that she won an Oscar for this.

Though Edith Evans absolutely nails the self-hatred and shame that infiltrates this lonely old woman's life, the narrative is one I unfortunately have little patience for. (Bryan Forbes could be very good with his actresses, though, and this is a very fine showcase for his skills.)

The character of Mrs. Robinson is iconic because of the quiet, sad wonder Bancroft brings to the part. It's perfect work, and I only wish that the role had a bit more substance.

I feel like Dunaway is too easily dismissed for her work in Bonnie and Clyde. She moves beautifully, and her style of acting (and it would never be like this later in her career, which could be good and bad) was so fresh that she captured the many sides of her sexy, selfish, vulnerable character almost effortlessly. This is really an example of great, explosive acting. Both characters do not fully understand that what they are doing is inherently wrong, and Dunaway manages to make this aspect of Bonnie's delusion seem romantic, even intoxicating.

[Bruce_Lavigne]

So I realize that Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann would have been eligible for Persona this year and they haven't been mentioned here yet. Did everyone forget or do you all really not consider them shouldabeens?

Bumping Hepburn & Hepburn (Katharine terrible in a terrible film; Audrey solid but even better in another film, and even then not up to the level of the Persona ladies) for them is a no-brainer to me, personally.

But I notice there seems to be a lack of consensus on this board about how to treat foreign-language performances in terms of one's "shouldabeens."

[Big Magilla]

So I realize that Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann would have been eligible for Persona this year and they haven't been mentioned here yet. Did everyone forget or do you all really not consider them shouldabeens?

If they'd been eligible the year before certainly as it was a weak year, but the 1967 nominees were all stellar. The only thing I would change is Audrey Hepburn's nomination from Wait Until Dark to Two for te Road.

[ksrymy]

So I realize that Bibi Andersson and Liv Ullmann would have been eligible for Persona this year and they haven't been mentioned here yet. Did everyone forget or do you all really not consider them shouldabeens?

[FilmFan720]

My wife is a teacher of visually impaired students, and has always demanded that Hepburn is the best performance of a person who is blind she has seen. She gets the mannerisms and physicality down better than anyone else. I think we would both agree she is better in Two for the Road, but that doesn't make this nomination any lesser of a feat.

What was your impression of Elizabeth Hartman's performance in A Patch of Blue? Btw, I'm in the Hepburn-is-fantastic camp of her Wait Until Dark performance as well.

I love Hartmann in the film, but my wife actually hasn't seen it. Thanks for bringing that up...I thought she had, and now I will put it near the top of the Netflix queue to watch again.

[Eric]

what a dopey play!

I think I'd have to agree, and add a ditto-in-spades on Dial "M" for Murder. In both cases, the movie versions transcend/ennoble the material.



Edited By Eric on 1253392833

[Big Magilla]

Deneuve, in any case, wouldn't have been eligible - Belle de Jour was a 1968 release in the U.S.

[ITALIANO]

Italiano who would you have voted for in the Best Actress category for 1967? Curious to know your choice in place of Hepburn.

You mean this year? As I said, I havent seen all the nominees. Of those I have seen, Bancroft is probably the best but I voted for the unjustly underrated Audrey Hepburn (and after reading FilmFan's post, I am even more sure I've done the right thing).

No what I meant was who would you replace as a nominee in place of Kate Hepburn for 1967?

I would also go for a French actress, but not Deneuve. Annie Girardot in Live for Life.



Edited By ITALIANO on 1253401824

[Mister Tee]

back at the '67 awards, Bancroft was never seriously considered to be in the running

This is true, but it was significantly due to the fact that she'd won a mere five years earlier. In those days, winning another Oscar so soon required something like best-of-career monumental (a la Taylor the year prior).

This is why Hepburn winning in '68 came as such a shock to me. (Not to mention Jackson in '73)

[Reza]

I know, it's a secret vote, etc, but I would REALLY love to know the name of that pure soul who voted for her. Needless to say, he will never confess.

Italiano who would you have voted for in the Best Actress category for 1967? Curious to know your choice in place of Hepburn.

You mean this year? As I said, I havent seen all the nominees. Of those I have seen, Bancroft is probably the best but I voted for the unjustly underrated Audrey Hepburn (and after reading FilmFan's post, I am even more sure I've done the right thing).

No what I meant was who would you replace as a nominee in place of Kate Hepburn for 1967?

[ITALIANO]

Nice to see the OTHER Hepburn ending up for once with zero votes!

I know, it's a secret vote, etc, but I would REALLY love to know the name of that pure soul who voted for her. Needless to say, he will never confess.

Italiano who would you have voted for in the Best Actress category for 1967? Curious to know your choice in place of Hepburn.

You mean this year? As I said, I havent seen all the nominees. Of those I have seen, Bancroft is probably the best but I voted for the unjustly underrated Audrey Hepburn (and after reading FilmFan's post, I am even more sure I've done the right thing).

[Damien]

I think Hepburn is excellent in the role, and if anyone has seen a lesser production of the stage version, knows that it is not an easy role to pull off.

I saw Marisa Tomei do the role in a Broadway revival about 10 years ago, with Quentin Tarentino, no less, in the Alan Arkin role. It was an (unintentional) hoot -- they were both dreadful, and what a dopey play! Absolutely hilarious.

(Lee Remick starred in the original version, with Robert Duvall as Alan Arkin.)

[flipp525]

My wife is a teacher of visually impaired students, and has always demanded that Hepburn is the best performance of a person who is blind she has seen. She gets the mannerisms and physicality down better than anyone else. I think we would both agree she is better in Two for the Road, but that doesn't make this nomination any lesser of a feat.

What was your impression of Elizabeth Hartman's performance in A Patch of Blue? Btw, I'm in the Hepburn-is-fantastic camp of her Wait Until Dark performance as well.