Best Supporting Actress 1995

[mojoe92]

So last night I finally got around to watching Apollo 13, I saw it about 12 years ago but only remember it briefly, so now I can finally vote on this

My vote goes to Kathleen Quinlan, which I am surprised with the amount of hate for her role here. Yes she is very subtle but she does something that none of the other nominees were able to achieve and that was creating emotion and empathy without saying anything and that is a true testament to acting. I am just saddened that her career went nowhere after this

Joan Allen was okay, nothing popped out from her role for me and also I'm not a Joan Allen fan so that didn't help either. I also would refuse to vote for her being the lead actress in a supporting category so that right there cancels out any chance that I would vote for her ( I'm a big stickler for performances being put in the correct categories)

Kate Winslet was good in a very boring film. I found myself dozing many times during this and the only reason I kept popping awake was when Kate was on screen but alas her performance is my 3rd choice

Mare Winningham easily gets my runner up vote. Her role as the sister on the verge of a breakdown with her druggy sister is not only Oscar gold but a truth lesson in dealing with addiction with someone who is close to you

Mira Sorvino....no

[bizarre]

Shocking to see the hate for Georgia here, one of the best-written, best-acted and just plain best American films of the 1990s.

[OscarGuy]

I wonder what would have happened in the 1962 contest had we more people participating. Angela Lansbury had a commanding lead for The Manchurian Candidate, but because only 20 participated, she has a 65% vote lead.

[Big Magilla]

So, Joan Allen, with this vote, joins a very select group: women who didn't win the Oscar, but won our poll by a landslide (my definition: 2/3 of the vote or better). Valentina Cortese is, to date, the most dominant of such "the Academy was really wrong" choices -- over 80% of the vote -- but Allen runs second, with Judy Davis a bit behind. (Agnes Moorhead '42 just misses qualifiying, at between 65 and 66%)

And the actual Oscar winner did not receive a single vote here. Wonder if that's a first.

It is for supporting actresses, but for lead actresses there were five: Mary Pickford, Helen Hayes, Ginger Rogers, Judy Holliday and Helen Hunt.

Amazingly, the first winner, Janet Gaynor, who was cited for three separate films, pulled votes for all three among our voters.

[Damien]

So, Joan Allen, with this vote, joins a very select group: women who didn't win the Oscar, but won our poll by a landslide (my definition: 2/3 of the vote or better). Valentina Cortese is, to date, the most dominant of such "the Academy was really wrong" choices -- over 80% of the vote -- but Allen runs second, with Judy Davis a bit behind. (Agnes Moorhead '42 just misses qualifiying, at between 65 and 66%)

And the actual Oscar winner did not receive a single vote here. Wonder if that's a first.

[Mister Tee]

So, Joan Allen, with this vote, joins a very select group: women who didn't win the Oscar, but won our poll by a landslide (my definition: 2/3 of the vote or better). Valentina Cortese is, to date, the most dominant of such "the Academy was really wrong" choices -- over 80% of the vote -- but Allen runs second, with Judy Davis a bit behind. (Agnes Moorhead '42 just misses qualifiying, at between 65 and 66%)

[Sabin]

1995 was the first year I paid attention to the Academy Awards. I hadn't seen close to all the films but I was very much paying attention to who was nominated for what.

The Screen Actor's Guild nominated Susan Sarandon, Elisabeth Shue, Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson, and Joan Allen for Nixon for Best Leading Actress. That essentially locked in Sarandon, Shue, Streep, and Thompson in, leaving one spot open for Annette Bening, Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Sharon Stone. It's not unusual to see a preponderance of great female performance, but it is to see so many in contention for Academy consideration. I remember finding it rather baffling that The American President found it so difficult to cross-over with audiences. It's such a crowd-pleaser! It's not just that in another year it would have been a sure thing, but, rather when you look at the movies that were in consideration, in 1995 it really kinda should have been. Bening was out. So was Leigh, probably. Miramax was busy with other projects besides Georgia, and there were other, more well-received portraits of drug addiction and self-destruction that year. I remember thinking that it was possible that both Kidman AND Stone would be shut out, but because voters were likely to think that Kidman wasn't acting, Stone's work in Casino was the surer bet.

If early on, Sharon Stone was pushed for Best Supporting Actress for Casino, I think she would have handily beaten Mira Sorvino at the Golden Globes. This is the same organization that has nominated this woman four times! She would have wined and dined them into a win for sure. That would have opened up a Leading Dramatic Actress slot for Jennifer Jason Leigh (maybe, if not Kathy Bates), and Stone would have knocked out Sedgwick for Something to Talk About or (more likely) Huston for The Crossing Guard. Ultimately, she would have been nominated alongside Joan Allen, Kathleen Quinlan, Mira Sorvino, and Kate Winslet. Her chances of winning the SAG award have to be seen as limited considering that Joan Allen knocked her out of the running for Best Leading Actress. I think Kate Winslet would have still won the SAG award. Both Joan Allen AND Mira Sorvino split the critic's trophies fairly evenly (or unfairly, if you take into consideration the fact that, I guess, Joan Allen actually tied Mira Sorvino for the New York Film Critic's Circle awards).

So, now you have a race with two actresses in two three hour flops (Stone and Allen), two actresses in two Best Picture nominees (Quinlan and Winslet), two critic's darlings (Allen and Sorvino), two young, sexy ingenues (Sorvino and Winslet), two older, sexy women (Allen and Stone), two prostitutes (Sorvino and Stone), two supportive wives (Allen and Quinlan), two comedic turns (Sorvino and Winslet), two intensely dramatic turns (Allen and Stone)...I know we all hate to talk about vote-splitting but look at this! With a weaker field, Sharon Stone somehow campaigns even more for the win, but it goes to Mira Sorvino.

[Kova]

What's more interesting, Kova, is that if they were so fascinated with Paul Sorvino, then his dead-on impersonation of Henry Kissinger should have been considered and given an Oscar nomination for Nixon...but wasn't. So, it's a bit baffling altogether. Maybe it was a make up for not nominating him?

Paul Sorvino is certainy a better actor than his daughter will ever be. The prominence this relatively little-known character actor played in the narrative leading up to her win was definitely a curiosity, though.

Sharon Stone was a big star at the time (despite having few box office hits outside of Basic Instinct), but she was considered a joke as an actress. Casino was her big attempt to be taken seriously. She campaigned hard before and after the nominations came out, but still had no chance of winning in the lead category. Sorvino was a pretty big favorite in the supporting category (despite a surprising SAG loss to Winslet), and--judging by her film's undeserved screenplay nomination--Mighty Aphrodite seemed to have more credibility with voters than Casino. My sense is that she would've beaten Stone handily.

[Precious Doll]

Mister Tee has already mentioned Judy Parfitt in Dolores Claiborne who gets to deliver one of the best lines of 1995.

"Sometimes you have to be a high-riding bitch, Dolores. Sometimes being a bitch is all a woman has to hold onto." I hope that's the line to which you're referring, Precious. That, or "An accident, Dolores, can be an unhappy woman's best friend." Basically, Judy Parfitt mops the floor with all five of these nominees and not only should've been nominated in any of their places, but should've won.

I'll throw my vote to the always-a-bridesmaid-never-a-bride Joan Allen for her brittly human turn as Pat Nixon. She gets additional points for having to act against the monstrous ham that Anthony Hopkins was throwing all over the place. This vote is also in recognition for her un-nominated work three years later in Pleasantville.

It was the accident line to Kathy Bates "They (referring to husbands) die and leave their wives their money. I should know shouldn't I. Sometimes they're driving home from their mistresses apartment and their brakes suddenly fail. An accident Dolores, can be an unhappy woman's best friend."



Edited By Precious Doll on 1289031677

[Reza]

As I recall, Casino was a major disappointment even with Scorsese's most ardent fans and Sharon Stone's Golden Globe was rumored to be the result of her writing nice thank you notes to the members for nominating her.

I thought she was the best thing about the film but too over-the-top to merit serious consideration as Best Actress. If anything, her scene stealing lent itself more to the supporting category, where she should have been nominated, if at all.

In fact the whole film was over the top and her performance complimented the scenario her character was placed in. I loved her reaction when she won the Globe. Yes she should have been placed in the supporting category.

[Uri]

If an actor gives the performance of his life in the middle of the forest and nobody hears him, would there be any Oscar buzz? Once Jason Leigh was picked by the NY critics, the otherwise non existing Georgia - as far as most Academy members were concerned, that is – became a must see film. And especially for older ones, for whom for decades this award was the only real significant guide light, or at least reference point for the Oscar race. So for all these distinguished ladies and gentlemen, who picked this particular screener, and who were, maybe, somehow not that impressed with the cacophonic nature of the performance they were looking for, Winningham's solid, restrained, dependable acting appeared to be rather classic in comparison. And actually they got it right. Anyway, it all a matter of visibility, so we should thank Jason Leigh for this.

I guess everything else I might have said was already mentioned here. Quinlen was merely serviceable (although she was benefited from being the most visible female in a predominantly male oriented film – ask Kim Basinger). Sorvino's shtick was entertaining in a quite limited way. Winslet's performance was the best of her nominated ones and would be a worthy winner had it not be for Allen's superb work which gets my vote too. So what else is new?

[Hustler]

I remember watching Winslet portrayal of Marianne Dashwood and I recall it as outstanding. My vote goes to her.

[Big Magilla]

As I recall, Casino was a major disappointment even with Scorsese's most ardent fans and Sharon Stone's Golden Globe was rumored to be the result of her writing nice thank you notes to the members for nominating her.

I thought she was the best thing about the film but too over-the-top to merit serious consideration as Best Actress. If anything, her scene stealing lent itself more to the supporting category, where she should have been nominated, if at all.

[The Original BJ]

had Sharon Stone been nominated for supporting actress, do you guys think she would have won the oscar?

I wasn't around at the time...so this should come with a grain of salt...but I don't get the feeling Casino was too well-liked, as evidenced by its sole nomination. I'd have imagined, even in support, that Globe-winning Stone would have suffered the same way Globe-winning Winona Ryder did several years prior -- by appearing in an Oscar-hyped Scorsese movie that ultimately left a lot of voters cold.

Plus, it's worth noting that this category in the early '90's was dominated by wins for actresses in broad comic roles -- Sorvino, Wiest, Tomei, Ruehl, Goldberg. (Not lumping all of those performances together quality-wise, just noticing a trend that encompassed this string of winners, save Paquin.) So, timing was certainly on Sorvino's side, as it is for so many Oscar winners, and I'd have to imagine Winslet's relatively popular vehicle would have made her a stronger candidate than Stone as well.

But, you never know, and, as I said, someone else probably has a better understanding of the overall vibe of that field that year.

[dws1982]

I think Mira Sorvino's performance is one of the five or ten worst the category has ever seen. As an actress, I like Kathleen Quinlan pretty well, but she doesn't have a great deal to do in Apollo 13 except sit around and act worried. She was never quite able to make much of her nomination in terms of film work (probably because of the limited number of roles for actresses of a certain age), but I like the idea of a character actress like Quinlan getting a nomination.

I like Kate Winslet and she's good, but to me, everything about the 1995 Sense and Sensibility comes up short in comparison to the 2008 BBC adaptation. Mare Winningham, like Quinlan, is the kind of character actress who the category needs to recognize more often, and she would be a worthy winner in another year.

But Joan Allen towers above the others in my opinion. Stone gives her several big "Oscar scenes" (the scenes after Nixon loses in 60 and 62, the scene where he tells her he's running again, the one BJ mentioned, and others), but it's a complete performance, a fully-formed character, instead of just a bunch of Oscar scenes strung together. And I feel just as strongly about several of the performances in Nixon: I don't think that Hopkins has ever been better; I don't think that Waterston (who has one long scene--and one short one--that was deleted from the theatrical version, but restored for DVD) has ever been better on film; James Woods isn't a ham for once, JT Walsh is excellent, and so on. I think it's a great film, and Oliver Stone's best. (Although I do have a lot of affection for JFK.)

My picks for the year:
1- Joan Allen, Nixon
2- Anjelica Huston, The Crossing Guard
3- Katrin Cartlidge, Before the Rain
4- Diane Venora, Heat
5- Mare Winningham, Georgia



Edited By dws1982 on 1289017989