I am abstaining from voting this year because I haven't seen Cathy Burns's performance.
I was 14 at the time, and couldn't get into the X-Rated Last Summer, despite the homemade identification card I made clearly stating I was 18. And I haven't come across the movie in the years since.
(Sometimes I'll vote while having seen only 4 nominees, because the unseen individual seems highly unlikely to garner my vote, either because of other work of hers I've seen, or the nature of the current vehicle for which she's been nominated. But the reputation of Burns's performance is so strong that I can't participate without having seen it.)
Of the other 4, Susannah York's riveting work as a would-be Harlow is the strongest. Dyan Cannon is absolutely delightful in Bob and Carol.
Sylvia Miles is negligible in Midnight Cowboy. Within a few years, with The Sugarland Express and Shampoo, Goldie Hawn would develop into a first-rate actress, but she was far from that in Cactus Flower. Her comic timing is off, she puts the emphasizes on the pathetic side of her character -- a disastrous choice -- and she's no fun at all, one of the most unappealing Dumb Blonde performances ever. Her win isn't as egregious as Helen Hayes's the following year, but it is still a pretty bad outcome.
1969 was the year I got sent off to boarding school, and, imprisoned on campus with only occasional access to movie theatres, this period was my low point in movie attendance. There are many major releases from 1969-71 I still haven't seen. (1971-73, my junior and senior years I had much more freedom to come and go as I pleased so I'm much more caught up at that point.)
My Own Top 5:
1. Susannah York in They Shoot Horses, Don't They
2. Janet Margolin in Take The Money And Run
3. Marie Windsor in The Good Guys And The Bad Guys
4. Dyan Cannon in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
5. Anne Francis in The Love God?
Best Supporting Actress 1969
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Big Magilla
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This was an unusually strong year for supporting performances in both categories. There were at least three times as many contenders for the five available supporting actress slots as those that made the cut.
Among the also-rans: Celia Johnson, Pamela Franklin and Jane Carr in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie; Brenda Vaccaro and Ruth White in Midnight Cowboy; Verna Bloom in Medium Cool; Pat Quinn in Alice's Restaurant; Sian Phillips in Goodbye, Mr. Chips; Maggie Smith in Oh! What a Lovely War; Bonnie Bedelia in They Shoot Horses, Don't They?; Ingrid Thulin in The Damned; Irene Papas in Anne of the Thousand Days; Melina Mercouri in Gaily, Gaily; Anna Magnani in The Secret of Santa Vittoria and Nan Martin Goodbye, Columbus.
Of the actual nominees, three were major stars of the day and two were virtual unknowns.
Susannah York became an instant star with her first film, Greengage Summer AKA Loss of Innocence and cemented her reputation with the Oscar winning Tom Jones. Her breakdown scene in They Shoot Horses, Don;t They? is one of that film's acting high points.
Goldie Hawn shot to stardom on TV's Laugh-In and she's good as the ditz who has a thing for dentist Walter Matthau in Cactus Flower, but it's beyond anyone's grasp as to what she and nurse Ingrid Bergman see in the basset hound faced curmudgeon.
Dyan Cannon had been acting on TV and in the occasional movie for a decade or more but was primarily known as one of Cary Grant's wives, the only won to bear him a child. Her film, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice may have shocked the blue haired old ladies as they used to be called, but its flirtation with wife swapping is just that, a flirtation - silly story, but engagingly played by second leads Cannon and Elliott Gould, both of whom became overnight stars.
Sylvia Miles had been around even longer than Cannon, but was a complete unknown except on the NYC party circuit. Her portrayal of the hooker in Midnight Cowboy was so saw raw that many, including Babara Stanwyck, actually thought she was a real life prostitute.
Cathy Burns came out of nowhere to give a riveting performance as the lonely fat girl in Last Summer and should probably have won this one on the basis of performance, but since when has performance been the sole criteria for winning an Oscar?
My choice overall: Celia Johnson
Among the nominees: Catherine Burns
Edited By Big Magilla on 1280464812
Among the also-rans: Celia Johnson, Pamela Franklin and Jane Carr in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie; Brenda Vaccaro and Ruth White in Midnight Cowboy; Verna Bloom in Medium Cool; Pat Quinn in Alice's Restaurant; Sian Phillips in Goodbye, Mr. Chips; Maggie Smith in Oh! What a Lovely War; Bonnie Bedelia in They Shoot Horses, Don't They?; Ingrid Thulin in The Damned; Irene Papas in Anne of the Thousand Days; Melina Mercouri in Gaily, Gaily; Anna Magnani in The Secret of Santa Vittoria and Nan Martin Goodbye, Columbus.
Of the actual nominees, three were major stars of the day and two were virtual unknowns.
Susannah York became an instant star with her first film, Greengage Summer AKA Loss of Innocence and cemented her reputation with the Oscar winning Tom Jones. Her breakdown scene in They Shoot Horses, Don;t They? is one of that film's acting high points.
Goldie Hawn shot to stardom on TV's Laugh-In and she's good as the ditz who has a thing for dentist Walter Matthau in Cactus Flower, but it's beyond anyone's grasp as to what she and nurse Ingrid Bergman see in the basset hound faced curmudgeon.
Dyan Cannon had been acting on TV and in the occasional movie for a decade or more but was primarily known as one of Cary Grant's wives, the only won to bear him a child. Her film, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice may have shocked the blue haired old ladies as they used to be called, but its flirtation with wife swapping is just that, a flirtation - silly story, but engagingly played by second leads Cannon and Elliott Gould, both of whom became overnight stars.
Sylvia Miles had been around even longer than Cannon, but was a complete unknown except on the NYC party circuit. Her portrayal of the hooker in Midnight Cowboy was so saw raw that many, including Babara Stanwyck, actually thought she was a real life prostitute.
Cathy Burns came out of nowhere to give a riveting performance as the lonely fat girl in Last Summer and should probably have won this one on the basis of performance, but since when has performance been the sole criteria for winning an Oscar?
My choice overall: Celia Johnson
Among the nominees: Catherine Burns
Edited By Big Magilla on 1280464812