Sunday, May 28, 2006

1942: War Brides, Spinsters, Evil Moms

And now... just what you've *all* been waiting for --And by "all" I mean those individual readers as Oscar-obsessed as I, which is, I'll readily admit, something of a condition --another OSCAR NOMINEE CLIP REEL !!! This one takes us back some sixty-four years (whew). The nominees were:


Gladys Cooper is Bette Davis tyrannical mother in the excellent Now, Voyager, the first of three career nominations. Like her competitor Whitty, she was also a "Dame".
Agnes Moorehead is 'Crazy Aunt Fannie' in The Magnificent Ambersons, her second film with Orson Welles. 'Fannie' brought her the first of four nods (followed by six Emmy noms for "Endora" on Bewitched.)
Susan Peters. She's hot for her uncle (no, really) in Random Harvest. A rising star at 21 but this was her only nomination. She suffered a tragic paralyzing accident three years after this breakthrough.
Dame May Whitty played the town titan 'Lady Beldon' in Mrs. Miniver and received the second of two career nominations.
Teresa Wright also from Miniver playing a headstrong young war bride. This is one of three noms. She was also in the Best Actress shortlist this same year for Pride of the Yankees.



After watching --head on over to Stinky Lulu for the "Supporting Actress Smackdown" Four Oscar enthusiasts (including yours truly) are debating the individual and collective merits of this particular grouping.

Find out which performances we liked best...

tags: Academy Awards, Oscars, movies, film, entertainment

6 comments:

Pedro said...

Of the clips, I really liked Agnes Moorehead. Maybe a little over the top, but it appears very foreceful; I imagine the movie is better because she is in it. Regarding Mrs. Miniver, I enjoyed more Greer Garson's acting than any of the two supporting roles. Funny, isn't it?

I need to re-check my Netflix queu.

NATHANIEL R said...

Garson is a total beaut. It's a great performance. Easy to see why it won.

she's delightful throughout.

Glenn Dunks said...

I've only seen Moorehead of those but holy freakin' cow she was EXCELLENT. My favourite perf from that (supremely brilliant) movie.

NATHANIEL R said...

that's one of my favorite performances of that entire decade.

Vertigo's Psycho said...

Moorehead really isn't over the top, she's pitch-perfect in Ambersons; as the bitter, unloved Fanny, the actress is so emotionally true to Fanny's sad lot in life the cumulative effect of her work is overpowering, especially to viewers used to more "polite" emotions being displayed onscreen.

Glenn Dunks said...

Well yeah, Agnes' perf is one of my favourite of all time if you want me to less general.

I totally didn't even realise she was Endora until i IMDb-ed it later on.