Best Actor 1972

[Okri]

AMPAS apologizes to Sacheen Lightfeather

[Reza]

his character was gay which would have been a big ask for the Academy back then.

Actually, the year before Peter Finch was nominated for playing a gay character in Sunday, Bloody Sunday.

In comparison Fosse was rather coy in portraying York's bisexual character in Cabaret.

[Uri]

his character was gay which would have been a big ask for the Academy back then.

Actually, the year before Peter Finch was nominated for playing a gay character in Sunday, Bloody Sunday.

[Precious Doll]

Thanks for the comments.

Bland is probably the reason. To be honest my first viewing of Cabaret back in the 1980s on the big screen it was pretty much on Liza Minnelli who really made an impression on me. York only really registered on the second viewing and on my third viewing I now see them as equals.

I always thought Michael York had a most distinguished career but looking at his filmography - bland is very appropriate. The only other film where I found his outstanding was Something for Everyone, but that late 1970's period in films like Conduct Unbecoming, Seven Nights in Japan were probably the beginning of the end of a promising career. Jerzy Skolimowski's Success is the Best Revenge (1984) in which York played the lead role was an utterly insufferable piece of work - a low point for both the director & star.

York was part of a sub-set of 'bland' British actors around during the 1970's including the late Simon Ward & then a little later Dominic Ward who appears to have stopped working around the year 2000. One might even through Robert Powell in that group as well.

[Reza]

York wasn't so much snubbed as his character was generally perceived as bland compared to the other characters in Cabaret.

No one has ever been nominated for playing the part in any production of the musical, or for that matter in the original play, I Am a Camera as far as I can find.

York was not only playing a bland character in Cabaret but was pretty bland in almost everything he did.

He was not a bad actor but he came off looking very bland in most of his films. And he did many popular films once upon a time and not once has he ever been cited for an award for any of his film performances.

[Big Magilla]

York wasn't so much snubbed as his character was generally perceived as bland compared to the other characters in Cabaret.

No one has ever been nominated for playing the part in any production of the musical, or for that matter in the original play, I Am a Camera as far as I can find.

[Precious Doll]

Does anyone have any theories on why Michael York was snubbed, primarily by the Globes for Cabaret.

I've just finishing watching the film for the third time and have always felt he was equally as great as Liza Minnelli is in the film, though I suppose being the co-lead in a musical and playing a role that doesn't require the character to sing might have gone against him.

For my money his better than any of the Oscar nominated actors for 1972 but I can appreciate why he missed out on a nomination - his age probably being the primary reason, in a film that whilst he is co-lead can arguably be said that it centres around his leading lay plus his character was gay which would have been a big ask for the Academy back then.

However, the competition at the Globes in the Comedy/Musical Best Actor category from the very impressive Edward Albert in Butterflies Are Free to the 'generally good' (Charles Grodin in The Heartbreak Kid, Jack Lemmon in Avanti!, Walter Matthau in Pete'n'Tillie and Peter O'Toole in Man of La Mancha) don't hold a candle to Michael York and that the Globes nominated Marisa Berenson who is fine in Cabaret in that she did what why required of her which really wasn't that much.

He couldn't even score with the BAFTA's which up until recently have been very British biased and didn't care that much of predicting or influencing the Oscar race (if I recall correctly they were at some point held after the Oscars).

Anyway, I find it very odd and only being a child at the time have zero knowledge of why Michael York was snubbed across the board. Any observations would be most welcome.

[Mike Kelly]

National Society of Film Critics Best Actor Award tally for 1972-3. I'll post the supporting actor results when we get to that category.

Al Pacino - The Godfather - 28 Points - Winner (Also received 3 Points for Best Supporting Actor)

Marlon Brando - The Godfather - 21 Points (Also received 6 Points for Best Supporting Actor)

Peter O'Toole - The Ruling Class - 13 Points

Alec McCowen - Travels with My Aunt - 9 Points (Also 7 Points for Supporting Actor for this film and Frenzy)

Stacy Keach - Fat City - 6 Points
James Mason - Child's Play - 6 Points
Paul Winfield - Sounder - 6 Points (Also received 3 Points for Supporting Actor)

Burt Lancaster - Ulzana's Raid - 4 Points
Robert Duvall - Tomorrow - 4 Points

John McEnery - Bartleby - 3 Points
Yves Montand - Cesar and Rosalie - 3 Points
Albert Sordi - Why - 3 Points
Laurence Olivier - Sleuth - 3 Points

Max von Sydow - The Emigrants - 2 Points
James Coburn - Carey Treatment - 2 Points

Jack Nicholson - The King of Marvin Gardens - 1 Point
Harry Belafonte - Buck and the Preacher - 1 Point
Albert Finney - Gumshoe - 1 Point

[ksrymy]

Marlon Brando gets ruled out of this because, clearly, his Oscar was a sentimental win (Oscar was soooo sentimental in the '70s and '80s) as a sort of welcome back award. This brings us to Paul Winfield. He brought a powerful performance but Caine, Olivier, and O'Toole far outshine him. This brings us to Caine. I would feel comfortable voting for him if Olivier didn't totally blow him out of the water. Now it's between Olivier and O'Toole. O'Toole was fantastic in his role, as he always is, but I'm giving this to Laurence Olivier. Watch the first and last fifteen minutes of 'Sleuth' and tell me he doesn't deserve the Oscar. Olivier commands attention all throughout the film and keeps his performance at a level of class never before seen. The fear he shows in the last fifteen minutes of 'Sleuth' is electric.

[The Original BJ]

It's also interesting to me that we have seen some generational splits in a number of the races in these years, with those who were Oscar-watching in real time voting differently than those who saw these films decades later. (This is a marked contrast to the many years of consensus during the period when no one here was Oscar-watching in real time.)

[Mister Tee]

1956 is comparable, in terms of the three-way split.

The totals on some recent years are still relatively low, making me wonder if they'll change significantly if people drift slowly back to the board (or if they're only checking in once a week, given how discussion has been on the sluggish side).

[Sabin]

Is this the closest race we've had?

[Snick's Guy]

O'Toole - one of his best performances

[mlrg]

Marlon Brando - The Godfather

[Reza]

Brando's win was clearly a ''welcome back'' trophy as has already been mentioned below. In any case I never understood why it had to be in the lead category. Pacino and he should have switched categories with Pacino winning the Oscar while a supporting nod for Brando would have sufficed. It is Pacino's best performance ever.

Olivier, Caine and O'Toole give ''fun'' performances and I have no problem with them getting on the list. Winfield's nod in the lead category is surprising given that it is such a small part.

Olivier gets my vote by default here.

My picks for 1972:

Al Pacino, The Godfather
Laurence Olivier, Sleuth
Peter O'Toole, The Ruling Class
Jack Lemmon, Avanti
Michael Caine, Sleuth

The 6th Spot: Max Von Sydow, The Emigrants