Best Supporting Actress 1984

[anonymous1980]

I haven't actually seen any of the nominees this year but I did work on a featurette of The Natural where they interviewed Glenn Close. Interestingly enough, she attributes her Oscar nomination for that role to the fact that she was fabulously lit in a pivotal scene when they had the light shine through her hat like a halo on an angel. Nothing to do with her performance per se. She basically said that Academy members mistook great cinematography for a great performance.



Edited By anonymous on 1285074307

[Eric]

Even I have to vote for the old biddy this year. I just wish the biddy in question could've been Polly Holliday.

[Reza]

Ashcroft herself may have been a bit of an eccentric in real life but she was also part of the British establishment. She's buried at Westminster Abbey.

Dame Peggy perfectly captures the Mrs Moore of Forster's novel in A Passage to India.

In real life she was hardly an eccentric at all. She was certainly part of the British establishment, considered an equal on stage to Olivier, Gielgud, Richardson and Guinness (and lover of Paul Robeson when she played Desdemona to his Othello on stage). She was commemorated with a memorial plaque in Poet's Corner, Westminster Abbey (just above the grave of fellow Central School of Speech and Drama pupil and friend Laurence Olivier and 18th Century actor David Garrick).

Edith Evans and Margaret Rutherford were the eccentrics.

[Big Magilla]

I have Helen Mirren down as one of my lead actresses, but I suppose she could have gone supporting. Maybe category confusion is what kept her out of the race. But, yeah, Mirren and Kinski would have been ideal competition, enough to keep if from being the lopsided race it was. Those two plus Ashcroft, Azema and Bisset would have made for one of the classiest line-ups ever.

Funny you should mention Gladys Cooper, Broadway's Mrs. Moore, who was nominated for a Tony in the lead category for A Passage to India in 1962.

The character is not an eccentric, she is a humanist, a very wise woman or "old soul" as the Hindus think of her. She is eccentric only to the bigoted members of the Raj. Her character hovers over the film long after she departs and there is, of course, the very strong feeling that she will be reincarnated as the child of...well I won't give away the ending to anyone who hasn't read the book or seen the film.

Ashcroft herself may have been a bit of an eccentric in real life but she was also part of the British establishment. She's buried at Westminster Abbey.



Edited By Big Magilla on 1285064905

[Uri]

Oh look, another eccentric old British lady.

Ah? It's 1984. The last time "eccentric old British" actress was even nominated was back in '63-4, when indeed we had an outburst of affinity for this kind of freak creatures (Evans twice, Rutherford and Cooper). Contrary to the common perception here, Magilla is not the academy. You may not like Ashcroft and it's your prerogative, but rewriting history to suit your claim is so unlike your usual self, isn't it?

Ashcroft is so glorious in presenting her Mrs. Moore as compassionate, open minded and vivid she defines whatever concept one might have about "eccentric old British" ladies. Actually, the fact that she is conceived as eccentric by most members of the Raj is and indication of their limits, not her. It's one of the finest performances ever to win this category and she gets my vote.

I'll add Helen Mirren in Cal as another alternative, if she's eligible. (And yes, it is supporting).

[Precious Doll]

Peggy Ashcroft is streets ahead of all the other nominees, none of whom don't even warrant so much as a nomination.

My choices:

1. Peggy Ashcroft for A Passage to India
2. Amy Madigan for Streets of Fire
3. Melanie Griffith for Body Double
4. Karin Rasenack for Heimat
5. Gertrud Bredel for Heimat

Other very worthy performances include: Annie Potts for Crimes of Passion, Jacqueline Bisset for Under the Volcano (who were my 4th & 5th choices before I saw Heimat), Rae Dawn Chong for Choose Me, Laine Kazan for Lust in the Dust & Nastassja Kinski for Paris, Texas.



Edited By Precious Doll on 1285050199

[Damien]

Another cornucopia of mediocrities -- and worse.

Oh look, another eccentric old British lady. And David Mamet's bland wife being perfectly bland, when Amy Madigan would have been a less silly Places In The Heart nominee. It's the mid-80s, so of course Glenn has to be included, never mind that she does next to nothing in The Natural. Christine Lahti might have been something if Swing Shift hadn't been chopped up so badly. And Geraldine Page outdoes even her own unparalleled standard for pointless tics and mannerisms.

The correct choice is None Of The Above but if I had to vote for one, then give it to Lindsay Crouse for her nomination epitomizes the dreariness of the Oscars during this period.

My Own Top 5:
1. Annie Potts in Crimes Of Passion
2. Frances Lee McCain in Gremlins
3. Rebecca Pearle in Tightrope
4. Melanie Griffith in Body Double
5. Linda Hunt in The Bostonians



Edited By Damien on 1285049338

[rudeboy]

Have yet to see Lahti and Page so I'm not voting here. Of the other three Close and Crouse barely register, for me, in their films - sign of a weak year indeed. So I'm sure this will be a landslide for the wonderful Dame Peggy, who is moving and magnificent as Mrs Moore.

I have to shout-out to Nastassja Kinski, who should have been nominated (and been a major challenge to Ashcroft) for her heartbreaking performance in Paris, Texas. It's a toss-up, for me, which of the two is best of the year.



Edited By rudeboy on 1285047871

[Reza]

Ashcroft's is clearly a supporting performance.....don't know why she was even considered as lead by some of the critics groups. And she is the best by far....a much deserved win. Voted for her.

I like Lindsay Crouse's performance. She brings something fresh to the cliched role of the wronged wife.

Lahti is ok but I never understood why she got critical acclaim. The nods for Page and Close were absurd and the Academy could have used more imagination by nominating any of the others which Magilla lists below.

My top 5 of 1984:

Peggy Ashcroft, A Passage to India
Lily Tomlin, All of Me
Jacqueline Bisset, Under the Volcano
Mia Farrow, Broadway Danny Rose
Lindsay Crouse, Places in the Heart

[Big Magilla]

Peggy Ashcroft was so superb in the pivotal role of Mrs. Moore in David Lean's film of E.M. Forster's A Passage to India that the only question was whether she would win an Oscar for lead or supporting actress. Had original choice Katharine Hepburn played the part she would no doubt have been placed in the lead category, assuming of course that her interpretation was anywhere near as good as Dame Peggy's.

The National Board of Review and the New York Film Critics decided she was lead, the L.A. Film Critics and the Golden Globes decided she was supporting. Oscar followed suit.

All the other nominees this year were fill-ins including New York Film Critics winner Christine Lahti who played Goldie Hawn's friend in Swing Shift, a laborious flop comedy.

Glenn Close, Lindsay Crouse and Geraldine Page all entered the Oscar race with no prior recognition this year, even by the Globes. Close didn't have much to do in The Natural but at least the little she did do was more than the little Kim Basinger did to garner her Golden Globe nod for the same film.

Among those who might have been considered: NBR winner Sabine Azema in A Sunday in the Country; LAFC winner Melanie Griffith in Body Double; Golden Globe nominees Jacqueline Bisset in Under the Volcano and Lesley Ann Warren in Songwriter, as well as Tuesday Weld in Once Upon a Time in America.

There is nothing like a dame - I vote for Dame Peggy.



Edited By Big Magilla on 1285044369