Best Supporting Actress 1958

1927/28 through 1997
Post Reply

Best Supporting Actress 1958

Peggy Cass - Auntie Mame
2
9%
Wendy Hiller - Separate Tables
15
65%
Martha Hyer - Some Came Running
5
22%
Maureen Stapleton - Lonelyhearts
1
4%
Cara Williams - The Defiant Ones
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 23

bizarre
Assistant
Posts: 566
Joined: Sat Sep 03, 2011 9:35 am

Re: Best Supporting Actress 1958

Post by bizarre »

I haven't seen any of these nominees, but these are my picks for the year:

1. Ingrid Thulin, Brink of Life
2. Misako Watanabe, Endless Desire
3. Eva Dahlbeck, Brink of Life
4. Mezei Mária, Sweet Anna
5. Naima Wifstrand, The Magician
Mister Tee
Tenured Laureate
Posts: 8637
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 2:57 pm
Location: NYC
Contact:

Post by Mister Tee »

I'm almost tempted to echo Damien's "abstain" stance, partly because I don't have fully clear memories of Cara Williams' work (though I recall Poitier from the film perfectly well), and partly because the whole field is a bit underwhelming.

Almost, but not quite.

Maureen Stapleton is probably the best thing about Miss Lonelyhearts, but I find the whole film so misguided it's hard to give honor to anything connected with it. Dore Schary didn't have the slightest inkling of West's sensibility -- it's as if Akiva Goldsman was tackling Roberto Bolano and creating a feel-good movie.

Martha Hyer has a fairly forgettable role in Some Came Running. I wonder: if MacLaine had been placed in support --a semi-justifiable move, given the role's size and her relative lack of fame at the time -- might she have had her Oscar a quarter century earlier?

When I was a kid, I loved Peggy Cass from her many charming TV appearances, and, seeing that she'd received this nomination, I presumed Gooch was the film's primary supporting role. But, as everyone has already pointed out, in fact Vera Charles has dominated each version I've ever seen. Browne would have been a strong nominee; Cass, not so much.

Though, as I say, my memory of Williams isn't that strong, I do recall her as a package of smoldering sensuality, which was a major change of pace for those of us who knew her as the lead on a '60s sitcom called Pete and Gladys. She made some impression in Defiant Ones, and maybe deserves consideration.

When I first saw Separate Tables, at the age of 15, I thought Niven and Kerr were great, and Hiller background music. When I saw it again 30 years later, I'd totally flipped -- Niven and Kerr seemed to be doing fairly obvious audience-grabbing, but Hiller was the rock of the cast. (For me, she's far stronger than the old ladies) I agree this isn't as great a performance as Hiller was to give two years later in Sons and Lovers, but, in this lackluster group, she's easily the best by me.
ITALIANO
Emeritus
Posts: 4076
Joined: Mon Jan 06, 2003 1:58 pm
Location: MILAN

Post by ITALIANO »

Damien wrote:(and I can already see Marco rolling his eyes)

:)

I actually didn't, because it's true that Coral Browne gives one of the great comic performances of the 50s in this movie - she's better than Rosalind Russell, and far better than Peggy Cass (I don't even remember the other two you mentioned).

Cass's nomination is really puzzling, though I have the feeling that she - and the role she played - must have been very popular back then. Seen today, her part of the movie is definitely the least funny and the most forced - but times, and even sense of humor, change. Not nomination-worthy, anyway.

Martha Hyer WAS a bland actress. But for once I think her blandness was quite expertly used by Vincente Minnelli. She was, after all, a poor man's Grace Kelly, and that's what she's supposed to be in the movie - this blonde cold beauty who probably seems even more beautiful than she is in the small-town context she lives in. I'm not saying that it's a very good performance, but if Martha Hyer had to be nominated once, this was the right time.

There is a basic honesty in Cara Williams's turn in Defiant Ones. I can't say if she was a great actress or not because I've never seen her in any other movie. Probably not, but she's right for the part she plays here, which is a strong part and very important from the narrative point of view; I'd say that her nomination wasn't undeserved.

After years of great roles on the stage Maureen Stapleton was finally given the chance of showing her skills in a movie, too. The movie, Lonelyhearts, is ambitious, interesting, but not really successful. Not many have seen it, but it has at least a very good cast, and Stapleton is the standout. She plays this little woman, married to a handicapped man, who falls in love with the character played by Montgomery Clift. It's not exactly love though: Stapleton makes clear in her performance that what this lonely, pathetic woman really lacks (and wants, desperately wants) is sex, the physical comfort of sex - and I think she does it beautifully. It's a small role, but very effective, and if at times she could be accused of (good) overacting, well, let's face it, it's not like Herminone Gingold, Gladys Cooper or even Coral Browne are examples of Isabelle Huppert-like sublety.

We will vote for Stapleton later though - some might even vote for her twice, in fact. But the one I'd pick in this group is Wendy Hiller, for her subdued, realistic playing of that thankless role she had in Separate Tables. It's true - nobody can believe in her and Burt Lancaster as a couple, but then quickly Lancaster turns his attention to Rita Hayworth. The point is that Hiller makes her character believable and very human in anything else (and it's not always easy when you play an example of emotional balance), and with hardly a scene which is really focused on her. In a movie full of caricatures - some well acted (Cooper), some not much (Kerr) - her reserved, discreet acting style shines, and the Oscar was rightly hers.




Edited By ITALIANO on 1277198098
Damien
Laureate
Posts: 6331
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 8:43 pm
Location: New York, New York
Contact:

Post by Damien »

It's been close to 45 years since I've seen The Defiant Ones and over 35 since I've sat through Lonelyhearts or Separate Tables, so I'm going to abstain.

I will say, however, that 3 of the spots (and I can already see Marco rolling his eyes) should belong to women from Auntie Mame -- and not the one who was actually nominated: Coral Browne, Lee Patrick and Joanna Barnes. And I'd give the other two nominations to Barbara Bel Geddes in Vertigo and either Haermione Gingold in Gigi or Leora Dana in Some Came Running.
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
Reza
Laureate Emeritus
Posts: 10031
Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 11:14 am
Location: Islamabad, Pakistan

Post by Reza »

I think Wendy Hiller gave a great, understated performance which does not appear to stand out probably because the actor she plays against, Burt Lancaster, is miscast. I've always felt that Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh (who were offered the parts on stage but could not commit due to scheduling conflicts) should have been cast in the parts played by Lancaster and Rita Hayworth in this film version. The latter two were cast because Lancaster's Company made the film and the film's other producer, James Hill, was married to Hayworth at the time. There are moments in the film where Hayworth really shines but Leigh could have brought so much more poignancy to the part. I urge everyone to seek out John Schlesinger's television adaptation of the play filmed in 1983 in which Alan Bates, Julie Christie, Claire Bloom and Irene Worth are superb. This was filmed and played as in the original (as two one act plays) where both leads play both parts......the shy Army Officer courting a repressed spinster and the disgraced Labour politician and his glamorous ex-wife. For the record the parts on stage in London and Broadway were created by Eric Portman and Margaret Leighton.

Cooper is wonderfully brittle as Deborah Kerr's nagging mother. I've never understood how Cass could be nominated for Auntie Mame against the magnificent Coral Browne. Stapleton is quite over-the-top while Cara Williams has a couple of good moments as the white trash widow.

Anyway, I agree that many other great performances that year were overlooked.

Voted for Hiller here.

My top 5:

Coral Browne, Auntie Mame
Wendy Hiller, Separate Tables
Gladys Cooper, Separate Tables
Hermione Gingold, Gigi
Marlene Dietrich, Touch of Evil




Edited By Reza on 1277185656
Big Magilla
Site Admin
Posts: 19318
Joined: Wed Jan 01, 2003 3:22 pm
Location: Jersey Shore

Post by Big Magilla »

Such an odd year - the four best performances in this category were all shockingly ignored.

Gladys Cooper's bitchy, trouble-making old biddy dominates Separate Tables, outacting everyone in sight including Oscar winners David Niven and Wendy Hiller and nominee Deborah Kerr. Two of the characters in the film actually have her name - Cathleen Nesbitt's character is named "Gladys" and Hiller's is named "Miss Cooper". It's a complete headscratcher to me how the fake Miss Cooepr won over the real deal.

Coral Browne was a revelation as Vera Charles in Auntie Mame, easily stealing every scene she was in. Peggy Cass, however, quite possibly due to her many appearances on The Jack Paar Show, got her slot for the almost, but not quite as good Agnes Gooch in the same film.

Hermione Gingold was marvelous as Grandmama, winning a Golden Globe for her performance in Gigi. She made as many guest appearances on The Jack Paar Show as Cass but her fellow actors weren't buying. They went for Martha Hyer in a rather bland role in Vincente Minnelli's other film, Some Came Running instead.

The marvelous Kay Walsh won the National Board of Review Award for her third film opposite Alec Guinness, Ronald Neame's The Horse's Mouth but apparently wasn't on Oscar's radar. David Lean's ex-wife was overlooked in favor of John Drew Barrymore's soon to be ex-wife.

Cara Williams had been in bit parts in films since the early 40s. She the role of her career as the white trash widow in The Defiant Ones.

Maureen Stapleton in her film debut nabbed the fifth slot for her over-the-top portrayal of a mentally unbalanced housewife in Lonelyhearts.

Hiller and Cass were decent nominees, but without Cooper, Browne, Gingold and Walsh in the race I'm almost tempted to sit this one out. I reluctantly cast my vote for Hiller who should really have won two years later for Sons and Lovers, for which she wasn't nominated.
Post Reply

Return to “The Damien Bona Memorial Oscar History Thread”