Best Supporting Actress 1952
Terry Moore was the right age and had the right looks (both qualities she had in common with countless other young American actresses). Her role was an important one, but more for the effect on the other characters' lives than per se; it's one of the less interesting Oscar-nominated performances ever.
As I already said, Gloria Grahame gave many unconventional performances, but unfortunately her turn in The Bad and the Beautiful (a very conventional unfaithful wife) isnt one of them. They had obviously loved the movie - which won almost all the Oscars it was nominated for and was the big winner of its year, though it hadnt even been nominated for Best Picture - and I guess they (rightly) admired Grahame, which may explain why she got it, but this doesnt mean she deserved to. (The movie is still good, though less impressive today that it mus have been back then).
By now, Thelma Ritter was nominated for anything - and while she was never bad, and she's actually good even in With a Song in My Heart, it's the kind of performance she could have done in her sleep.
So, yes, not a great year. But the other two are very good.
Colette Marchand may be the most mysterious Oscar nominee ever. Before, she had been a (successful) dancer with Roland Petit - Moulin Rouge was her first screen role; afterwards, she made two or three other obscure movies and literally vanished from sight. As far as I know, nobody has ever heard from her again; she should be still alive, but I have no idea if she lives in the US or in France or where, and the reasons why she retired so early. It's a pity though - her performance in Moulin Rouge is fascinating to watch. She wasnt a trained actress, and it shows; but she could provide something probably more important to the role than technique, which is truth. John Huston had a brilliant idea when he chose her for the part of the prostitute Toulouse Lautrec falls in love with; in a cast mostly composed of foreigners, not only she was really French, but she also had the face of a "blanchisseuse", that typical subject of so many French paintings of the XVIII and XIX centuries (I dont know the English translation, maybe washer-woman, but did they exist in the US?). You could see her washing clothes in the Seine, and of course you could see her living in the infamous streets of Montmartre - no American actress could have been so right and so real. The sado-masochistic relationship between her and Jose Ferrer is quite subtly portrayed; it's even more effective because Marchand, while certainly not ugly, wasnt exactly "pretty" either - her face was tough, sharp, which makes the painter's adoration of her even more intriguing. The scenes between her and the much more expert Ferrer are quite powerful; her final moment, when she humiliates him, is showy, and painful to watch.
I'd be tempted to be the only one to vote for Marchand in this poll (let's face it, how many here have really seen Moulin Rouge? - the Huston one I mean). But I am European so I have to be rational and admit that, though it's a very predictable choice, Jean Hagen was outstanding in Singin' in the Rain - so she gets my vote, too.
Edited By ITALIANO on 1275385683
As I already said, Gloria Grahame gave many unconventional performances, but unfortunately her turn in The Bad and the Beautiful (a very conventional unfaithful wife) isnt one of them. They had obviously loved the movie - which won almost all the Oscars it was nominated for and was the big winner of its year, though it hadnt even been nominated for Best Picture - and I guess they (rightly) admired Grahame, which may explain why she got it, but this doesnt mean she deserved to. (The movie is still good, though less impressive today that it mus have been back then).
By now, Thelma Ritter was nominated for anything - and while she was never bad, and she's actually good even in With a Song in My Heart, it's the kind of performance she could have done in her sleep.
So, yes, not a great year. But the other two are very good.
Colette Marchand may be the most mysterious Oscar nominee ever. Before, she had been a (successful) dancer with Roland Petit - Moulin Rouge was her first screen role; afterwards, she made two or three other obscure movies and literally vanished from sight. As far as I know, nobody has ever heard from her again; she should be still alive, but I have no idea if she lives in the US or in France or where, and the reasons why she retired so early. It's a pity though - her performance in Moulin Rouge is fascinating to watch. She wasnt a trained actress, and it shows; but she could provide something probably more important to the role than technique, which is truth. John Huston had a brilliant idea when he chose her for the part of the prostitute Toulouse Lautrec falls in love with; in a cast mostly composed of foreigners, not only she was really French, but she also had the face of a "blanchisseuse", that typical subject of so many French paintings of the XVIII and XIX centuries (I dont know the English translation, maybe washer-woman, but did they exist in the US?). You could see her washing clothes in the Seine, and of course you could see her living in the infamous streets of Montmartre - no American actress could have been so right and so real. The sado-masochistic relationship between her and Jose Ferrer is quite subtly portrayed; it's even more effective because Marchand, while certainly not ugly, wasnt exactly "pretty" either - her face was tough, sharp, which makes the painter's adoration of her even more intriguing. The scenes between her and the much more expert Ferrer are quite powerful; her final moment, when she humiliates him, is showy, and painful to watch.
I'd be tempted to be the only one to vote for Marchand in this poll (let's face it, how many here have really seen Moulin Rouge? - the Huston one I mean). But I am European so I have to be rational and admit that, though it's a very predictable choice, Jean Hagen was outstanding in Singin' in the Rain - so she gets my vote, too.
Edited By ITALIANO on 1275385683
I've always liked Gloria Grahame whom I've found to be an interesting actress. In hindsight I'm glad she won an Oscar even if it was for the wrong film. Never understood how she won it for this, otherwise, brilliant film.
I, too, have never been able to guess which one of the females in Moulin Rouge was Colette Marchand.
Terry Moore got in because she was the flavorful starlet of that year.........or was it because she was involved with Howard Hughes and he somehow pushed for her?
There was nothing new about Ritter's pewrformance here. Been there, done that kinda role.
Hagen was funny in a shrill sort of way and the best of this particular bunch. Voted for her.
Still have to watch The Member of the Wedding for Ethel Waters' performance.
My top 5:
Edith Evans, The Importance of Being Earnest
Lana Turner, The Bad and the Beautiful
Jean Hagen, Singin' in the Rain
Mildred Natwick, The Quiet Man
Katy Jurado, High Noon
Edited By Reza on 1275393934
I, too, have never been able to guess which one of the females in Moulin Rouge was Colette Marchand.
Terry Moore got in because she was the flavorful starlet of that year.........or was it because she was involved with Howard Hughes and he somehow pushed for her?
There was nothing new about Ritter's pewrformance here. Been there, done that kinda role.
Hagen was funny in a shrill sort of way and the best of this particular bunch. Voted for her.
Still have to watch The Member of the Wedding for Ethel Waters' performance.
My top 5:
Edith Evans, The Importance of Being Earnest
Lana Turner, The Bad and the Beautiful
Jean Hagen, Singin' in the Rain
Mildred Natwick, The Quiet Man
Katy Jurado, High Noon
Edited By Reza on 1275393934
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Best Supporting Actress 1952
A dismal year if there ever was one.
Jean Hagen as the uproarious silent screen star Lina Lamont making a disastrous transition to talkies in Singin' in the Rain should have won this one hands down.
Winner Gloria Grahame's role in The Bad and the Beautiful was little more than a cameo and her other major roles this year in The Greatest Show on earth and Sudden Fear weren't all that special either.
For years, decades really before IMDB, I thought the negligible Colette Marchand played the role the more interesting Suzanne Flon played in Moulin Rouge.
Terry Moore was a nonentity in Come Back, Little Sheba and Thelma Ritter was Thelma ritter and hardly Thelma Ritter at her best in With a Song in My Heart.
Far more memorable, certainly than Grahame, Marchand and Moore, were Edith Evans and Margaret Rutherford in The Importance of Being earnest; Mildred Natwick in The Quiet Man; Joan Greenwood in The Man in the White Suit; Danielle Darrieux in Five fingers; Ethel Waters in The Member of the Wedding and Katy Jurado in High Noon.
Jean Hagen as the uproarious silent screen star Lina Lamont making a disastrous transition to talkies in Singin' in the Rain should have won this one hands down.
Winner Gloria Grahame's role in The Bad and the Beautiful was little more than a cameo and her other major roles this year in The Greatest Show on earth and Sudden Fear weren't all that special either.
For years, decades really before IMDB, I thought the negligible Colette Marchand played the role the more interesting Suzanne Flon played in Moulin Rouge.
Terry Moore was a nonentity in Come Back, Little Sheba and Thelma Ritter was Thelma ritter and hardly Thelma Ritter at her best in With a Song in My Heart.
Far more memorable, certainly than Grahame, Marchand and Moore, were Edith Evans and Margaret Rutherford in The Importance of Being earnest; Mildred Natwick in The Quiet Man; Joan Greenwood in The Man in the White Suit; Danielle Darrieux in Five fingers; Ethel Waters in The Member of the Wedding and Katy Jurado in High Noon.