Best Supporting Actress 1985

[OscarGoesTwo]

i'm sorry? what?

[ksrymy]

My vote has always been and forever will be Meg Tilly, just like her sister Jennifer in 94 Tilly was ripped off hard. I honestly feel she should of been in the Lead category as the film was about her and she was the title character after all.

Margaret Avery comes in second in my book, In fact I think as much as I love Meg that she would of won if she didn't screw herself with her campaign

Oprah Winfery is my 3rd place winner. Just fabulous

Amy Madigan is 4th and then Anjelica in last place. Never liked her, never will

Oh God not you again.

[OscarGoesTwo]

My vote has always been and forever will be Meg Tilly, just like her sister Jennifer in 94 Tilly was ripped off hard. I honestly feel she should of been in the Lead category as the film was about her and she was the title character after all.

Margaret Avery comes in second in my book, In fact I think as much as I love Meg that she would of won if she didn't screw herself with her campaign

Oprah Winfery is my 3rd place winner. Just fabulous

Amy Madigan is 4th and then Anjelica in last place. Never liked her, never will

[Mister Tee]

Meg Tilly is absolutely ridiculous in Agnes of God, and that's a good thing in my book – she takes a bunch of odd, silly risks as a performer that I, at least, find admirable for such a young actress. And it works – she's the only moderately effective thing about her movie. So she gets my vote for doing something different.

A pity that Amy Madigan, such an unusual performer, has her sole nomination for this "safe" performance.

Has anyone here see Amanda Plummer's Tony winning performance on Broadway? Was her interpretation of Agnes different to that of Meg Tilly's?

Yeah, I saw it. It had her usual space-cadet quality, but it was quite touching. She was really well-cast.

[Reza]

Meg Tilly is absolutely ridiculous in Agnes of God, and that's a good thing in my book – she takes a bunch of odd, silly risks as a performer that I, at least, find admirable for such a young actress. And it works – she's the only moderately effective thing about her movie. So she gets my vote for doing something different.

A pity that Amy Madigan, such an unusual performer, has her sole nomination for this "safe" performance.

Has anyone here see Amanda Plummer's Tony winning performance on Broadway? Was her interpretation of Agnes different to that of Meg Tilly's?

[mayukh]

Meg Tilly is absolutely ridiculous in Agnes of God, and that's a good thing in my book – she takes a bunch of odd, silly risks as a performer that I, at least, find admirable for such a young actress. And it works – she's the only moderately effective thing about her movie. So she gets my vote for doing something different.

A pity that Amy Madigan, such an unusual performer, has her sole nomination for this "safe" performance.

[Damien]

Was there a strong buzz for Meiko Harada in the Best Supporting Actress race that year or was she considered a longshot at best?

My recollection is that she was mentioned in passing as an outside possibility at most.

[Big Magilla]

Was there a strong buzz for Meiko Harada in the Best Supporting Actress race that year or was she considered a longshot at best?

I don't think she had any shot. She may have been runner-up in all the critics' voting, but not in the Oscar race in which Jessica Tandy (Cocoon) and Golden Globe nominees Kelly McGillis (Witness) and Sonia Braga (Kiss of the Spider Woman) were more likely nominees.



Edited By Big Magilla on 1285396653

[anonymous1980]

Was there a strong buzz for Meiko Harada in the Best Supporting Actress race that year or was she considered a longshot at best?



Edited By anonymous on 1285386741

[Bruce_Lavigne]

Prizzi's Honor has always struck me as kind of a weird movie; it's always played for me less as a true comedy and more as a drama with a strong undercurrent of none-more-black humor, like the comedic moments on The Sopranos. It "works" for me, but I'm not sure I "get it" on the level I'm meant to.

One thing I have no issue with about the movie is its Oscar-nominated performances. William Hickey is terrific in what I consider the film's only out-and-out comic performance, Nicholson does some of his best work, and of course, there's Huston, delivering one of her finest performances and -- for the third year in a row -- one of the best winners in the history of this category. If Meiko Harada had been nominated for Ran, she would've been a better alternative. But she wasn't, so the best performance won.

[Okri]

Haven't seen Twice in a Lifetime, but I voted anyway (for Tilly). I hate this line-up, though.

[flipp525]

I was seven years old when Agnes of God came out and I thought it was a horror film for years, only remembering the scene of Meg Tilly smearing blood on the walls. A later review of it didn't drastically alter my opinion. Only Anne Bancroft comes out of the whole thing somewhat resembling a human being. Tilly's role won her this nomination, not her ghoulish, affected performance.

Amy Madigan is the best thing about the turgid Twice in a Lifetime (bonus points for tracking that one down back in the day). The little drama is very movie-of-the-week-ish. You could just imagine the thing appearing on Lifetime Television today. Ellen Burstyn gives it her best and Ann-Margret just looks bored. Madigan has always been a dependable actress (we'll just leave her work in Pollock out of the conversation) and she does some great things in the role of Gene Hackman's angry daughter. It seems like rather weak work to be nominated for an Oscar, but, well, there it is. Not an actress I mind having a nod somewhere on her resume even if it's for this.

Anjelica Huston's performance in Prizzi's Honor has always left me kind of cold. It seems technically superior to the other nominees, but there is something missing. Interestingly, rudeboy, I feel like Jack Nicholson was the one who was miscast, not Kathleen Turner whose performance I thoroughly enjoyed.

Margaret Avery looks the part and nails down Shug Avery's preening omnisexuality rather well. But her now-legendary Oscar campaigning is such a turn-off (perhaps rivaled only by Chill Wills?) that I can't, in all good faith, vote for her. One can only imagine what Tina Turner might've done with the role.

This board loves to dump on Oprah, so no surprise that she's getting lashings here. I find her the best part of the lopsided The Color Purple. Her transformation in the film feels wholly organic and her scenes with Goldberg especially shine. She fought and sweated for the role of Sofia and it shows. She gets my vote.

Big Magilla, I'm not surprised that you're pretty much lock-in-step with the Academy's choices this year. You don't really deviate much from their nominees.



Edited By flipp525 on 1285348825

[Hustler]

I´m going with Anjelica

[mlrg]

Anjelica Huston - Prizzi's Honor

[ITALIANO]

The best of these five is, by far, Anjelica Huston, and I voted for her, though I am not sure that it's her best performance ever (or even her best nominated performance), and it's true that for example Harada was more memorable in Ran. But if we must only think in terms of English-language movies, Huston is definitely the stand-out (Kelly McGillis in Witness?!). A few years ago I had the privilege of meeting Huston (for work) and of having a long talk with her, which included of course her memories of the night she won. I've met many famous people in my life, but Anjelica Huston is certainy one of the few I will never forget.

What can I say about the others? Nobody from The Color Purple should have even remotely been in this - or any - Oscar race, but if I had a gun pointed at my head and had to choose one, it'd be Winfrey over Avery - and I had even forgotten about that dreadful scene in the church! Winfrey may be grotesque but at least makes some kind of impression (and she's more believable here than when she's on American tv saying obvious things); Avery doesn't have a very strong presence and, except in the very first scene she has in the movie, she quickly vanishes into the background.

Twice in a Lifetime seemed to me, even back then, nothing more than a tv movie, good for a boring sunday afternoon at home because of its cast, but definitely not Oscar-worthy (I remember that at the time Gene Hackman was talked about as a possible Best Actor nominee). In the end, they picked the best performance though - nothing that would change the Art of Acting, but Amy Madigan had the most interesting role and she was, of course, an interesting young actress.

Meg Tilly was considered to be Huston's main obstacle to the Oscar. Easy to see why - she also was an interesting young actress, and the role was a potentially powerful one. Agnes of God is based on what is probably a terrible play - if it's more watchable than other movies based on terrible (but successful) plays it's because it's quite expertly made - the cinematography, the music - and it's generally rather well-acted. The role of Agnes is an impossible one, except maybe on stage, at a distance, so the fact that Tilly at least is never ridiculous in it can be the proof of some kind of talent. Had she won, it would have been unfair and absurd - but her nomination is something I can live with.