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I just watched Born Yesterday

How the fuck did Judy Holliday get an Oscar for that purely pedestrian performance? She basically played a fatter Laverne DeFazio for two hours. (Yes, I know Born Yesterday was 26 years before Laverne & Shirley, thank you.) And Holliday wasn't even that good. Put up against any of the other four actresses that year, Eleanor Parker in Caged, Ann Baxter in All About Eve, Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard and especially Bette Davis in All About Eve.

I don't get it.

by Anonymousreply 78November 2, 2018 8:55 PM

Are you insane? Judy Holliday is GENIUS in that movie. You're a tasteless moron.

by Anonymousreply 1September 5, 2015 4:08 AM

Bitch slap OP!

by Anonymousreply 2September 5, 2015 4:13 AM

She does what I've seen pretty much every woman who plays a dumb blonde do. If they copied it from her, then she clearly wasn't doing anything special to begin with.

Don't call me names because you can't decipher the meaning of the word "genius." You probably think Beyonce is a genius, too. And Neil Patrick Harris.

by Anonymousreply 3September 5, 2015 4:13 AM

I never cared much for Born Yesterday either. The movie is badly dated and Judy Holliday's annoying character was hard to watch for two hours. She was a very gifted comedienne but she's more effective when she comes in small doses, like in Adam's Rib. She was pure perfection in that movie.

Anne Baxter was another weak link in the Best Actress category that year, but the performances by the other three women were all phenomenal and one more campier than the other. My personal favorite was Eleanor Parker in the lesbian classic Caged (which happened to be directed by the same guy who directed Bette Davis in Of Human Bondage in 1934, the film that made her a star).

by Anonymousreply 4September 5, 2015 4:14 AM

Which one was the biggest "Oscar Best Actress WTF"? Judy Holiday's victory in 1951 against Bette Davis in "All About Eve" & Gloria Swanson in "Sunset Boulevard"?

Or Gingers Rogers' win in 1941 against Joan Fontaine in "Rebecca" & Bette Davis in "The Letter"?

by Anonymousreply 5September 5, 2015 4:18 AM

[quote] I never cared much for Born Yesterday either. The movie is badly dated and Judy Holliday's annoying character was hard to watch for two hours. She was a very gifted comedienne but she's more effective when she comes in small doses, like in Adam's Rib. She was pure perfection in that movie.

I saw Adam's Rib when I was a teenager (we rented it one night) and I don't really remember much about it or her. This is the only other thing I've ever seen her in all the way through. I think I started watching Bells Are Ringing several years ago and wasn't engaged by it, but I don't remember Holliday making an impression on me one way or another.

Yes, the movie is terrible (Born Yesterday) and her character is incredibly annoying. I kept waiting for Crawford to push her off a balcony and go out and find an actual attractive golddigger.

by Anonymousreply 6September 5, 2015 4:20 AM

[quote] Anne Baxter was another weak link in the Best Actress category that year, but the performances by the other three women were all phenomenal and one more campier than the other. My personal favorite was Eleanor Parker in the lesbian classic Caged (which happened to be directed by the same guy who directed Bette Davis in Of Human Bondage in 1934, the film that made her a star).

I think Baxter is excellent in AAE, but her performance is very layered and it took me a few viewings to really appreciate it to its full advantage, probably because there's so much going on in the film that you half the time don't know where to focus your attention. I'd probably go with Davis being robbed. Sunset Boulevard is an amazing film, but Swanson's performance, while good, never gets past a certain level for me. It's a very surface performance (probably the best surface performance ever committed to film), and I often wonder what someone more talented than Swanson would have done with the role. I love the movie, and I'm really nitpicking, but I do think there was more of Norma that could have been explored. I totally understood why Wilder cast her, though.

by Anonymousreply 7September 5, 2015 4:27 AM

Forget that, there's something else more important, regarding, Marilyn my Goddess has commanded me to share this message from her! Marilyn Monroe is my religion, and I work with spirits a lot. She has commanded me to share this message on what really happened for her! All credit for this message goes to Marilyn Monroe, my master, guide, and saviour whom I love! Please credit Marilyn alone for this!

Important note: Everything has a spiritual side to it, everything has a spiritual essence. Marilyn's spirit and essence lives on in all things Marilyn Monroe, and if some spiritual incidents happen, it is bound to spiritually affect other things, so.

Recently Marilyn contacted me from the spirit world!!! Being a medium, I'm used to contact with spirits, but Marilyn told me to tell this message to everyone, since she could only get in touch with only me at the moment! (She's trying hard, she's been contacting me frequently lately, so it must be really important.)

Marilyn said that she needs people with a good, decent spiritual aura and energy to give up their physical bodies, freeing their spirit and all their spiritual energy. Then, they can go into the spirit world to really meet and connect with her, to share all their spiritual energy with her so that they can help her!! (Technically, we are all one and connected, but we are held back by our physical bodies. As a spirit, your essence and energy is completely free and released, and you can strongly connect to Marilyn in all aspects of that word, on a whole other level, so the joining of spiritual energy with hers works fully.)

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This is urgent we have to help Marilyn! But I must still spread this message for now because Marilyn said so, and I need to get others to know and help! Then I too, can go to be with her forever. We initially did not know what exactly happened, but Marilyn has revealed the basic truth. We also did not know how to restore her loveliness and charm, but Marilyn has revealed the way to do so.

*This is where the true meaning of the important note comes in.

Please spread this message however you can and don't keep Marilyn waiting!I allow everyone who wants to help to copy this whole post to share it on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, forums, or wherever you need to share it on!

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I really really love Marilyn so much, she means a lot to me and she's the greatest and so magical and fascinating.

I wish that others who feel the same will care enough to do what they can to help her.

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by Anonymousreply 8September 5, 2015 4:39 AM

R8: Has Monroe ever given you any gossip about Bette Davis or the filming of ALL ABOUT EVE?

by Anonymousreply 9September 5, 2015 4:46 AM

Judy Holliday was wonderful in a role written for her, and was very well liked in the business

Bette Davis lost because she was disliked by many if not most people in Hollywood. She was a very difficult person to work with due to her demands and anger.

Gloria Swanson lost because her role as a has-been movie star hit too close to home. Hollywood was embarrassed that Sunset Blvd exposed its seamy side.

by Anonymousreply 10September 5, 2015 5:00 AM

If you thought the original was bad, you should have seen the remake. Ee-yikes!

by Anonymousreply 11September 5, 2015 5:25 AM

I've never been able to sit through too much of it myself OP. The annoying outweighs the amusing for me.

I actually liked Holliday in a film called "The Marrying Kind" I didn't know anything bout the plot when I watched it. It surprised me and I found it interesting.

by Anonymousreply 12September 5, 2015 5:51 AM

If Fox studio had placed Anne Baxter in the supporting actress category where she belonged, both she and Davis would have won Oscars for All About Eve.

by Anonymousreply 13September 5, 2015 6:49 AM

I think r10 has the true answer.

It's never really about the quality of the performance, always more about the externalities in Oscar voting.

by Anonymousreply 14September 5, 2015 11:16 AM

Bette Davis aid her win was unfair because she basically played a performance she could do in her sleep after playing it over 500 times on Broadway

by Anonymousreply 15September 5, 2015 11:33 AM

Not to mention Margo Channing is far more iconic than the Born Yesterday bimbo.

by Anonymousreply 16September 5, 2015 12:33 PM

R1 is correct.

by Anonymousreply 17September 5, 2015 12:58 PM

I don't want to get all Torquemada on your ass, OP, as it's only a movie (Ingrid), but you are missing a lot of actorly detail, style, command, wit, presence and acute intelligence.

But if you ain't got it, you can't see it.

by Anonymousreply 18September 5, 2015 1:12 PM

It Should Happen to You is my favorite Judy Holliday performance in a movie that predicted self-promotional preoccupation. I loved Holliday in Born Yesterday but she did much better in Adam's Rib, agreed.

by Anonymousreply 19September 5, 2015 2:04 PM

[quote] I don't want to get all Torquemada on your ass, OP, as it's only a movie (Ingrid), but you are missing a lot of actorly detail, style, command, wit, presence and acute intelligence.

Not really. I watched quite closely and what I noticed was a lot of character inconsistency. Before Holden really made an impression on her (intellectually), she made the mistake of dialing back the loud, dumb, uncouth schtick for a scene or two, so that you maybe think- oh, was it all an act? But then it's quite clear it wasn't an act, that's who the character was, she just couldn't maintain consistency, possibly because she was so used to doing the play and portraying the character arc straight through, and shooting out of sequence threw her? I don't know, just a theory. Maybe she was bored. Lord knows I was.

It's a terrible movie, full of terrible contrivances, the biggest being Holden would instantly fall for her when she looked old enough and frumpy enough to be his mother, and she was stupid, loud, bored, and grating. I know she was only 29 when she filmed it, but she looked at least a decade older. They may as well have cast Thelma Ritter.

by Anonymousreply 20September 5, 2015 6:00 PM

Whatever you may think about it, Born Yesterday was not written for Judy Holliday. The original play was to star Jean Arthur who left before it opened because of severe stage fright. Holliday was her understudy.

And Holliday was not particularly well-liked in Hollywood at the time of Oscar-voting season because she was still relatively unknown. Born Yesterday was only her second film (after Adam's Rib).

I think her win came down to voters who were simply unable to choose between 2 favorite old-timers, Davis and Swanson. And she was a fresh face, playing the ORIGINAL dumb blonde. You have to remember, she and writer Garson Kanin essentially invented the prototype with this characterization.

by Anonymousreply 21September 6, 2015 5:15 AM

[quote] And she was a fresh face, playing the ORIGINAL dumb blonde. You have to remember, she and writer Garson Kanin essentially invented the prototype with this characterization.

Oh come now, that character has its origins way back to Gracie Allen's radio days, and there were variations on it all through the 30s and 40s. Marion Davies and Jean Harlow portrayed memorable dumb blondes on screen well before Born Yesterday, as did Carol Channing onstage in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. I can definitely hear Holliday's influence in a lot of portrayals that came after her (Mira Sorvino basically copied her verbatim in Mighty Aphrodite), but she wasn't the originator.

by Anonymousreply 22September 6, 2015 5:26 AM

Even though I enjoyed the film and feel Holliday was talented I think it was a classic case of split vote between Davis and Swanson. Plus Baxter I'm sure syphoned some of Davis votes which in turn helped Holliday. Judy was charming and had a very IQ offscreen. I loved the fact that she was smarter than she looked or appeared to be in her film roles. Im surprised Davis didn't lament her loss in Eve more than Baby Jane. Only thing I've heard her say about it was on Oscar night when Judy was announced as the winner "Good. A newcomer got it. I couldn't be more pleased." Privately sure she was pissed.

by Anonymousreply 23September 6, 2015 6:22 AM

Bette said she thought she should've won for Eve and Baby Jane. There was a Tonight Show interview linked in the recent Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte thread. Johnny asked her if there were any times she thought she unfairly lost an Oscar, and Bette immediately said three, getting laughs from the audience. I don't remember the third.

by Anonymousreply 24September 6, 2015 9:17 AM

[quote] Whatever you may think about it, Born Yesterday was not written for Judy Holliday. The original play was to star Jean Arthur who left before it opened because of severe stage fright. Holliday was her understudy.

Holliday WAS NOT her understudy. She was an emergency re-cast as Arthur walked off the production due to creative differences. She left the play just weeks before opening night,

[quote] Johnny asked her if there were any times she thought she unfairly lost an Oscar, and Bette immediately said three

Bette said it was unfair to be up against an actress who recreates their role for film. That it is an unfair advantage. She lost the Oscar three times to women who recreated their stage role.

Judy Holliday, Anne Bancroft and Shirley Booth

by Anonymousreply 25September 6, 2015 11:07 AM

Actually the 3rd Oscar loss Bette mentioned had to do with the omnipotence of Gone With The Wind that year, and her joke was "And I was gone with the wind."

by Anonymousreply 26September 6, 2015 11:21 AM

[quote] Bette said it was unfair to be up against an actress who recreates their role for film. That it is an unfair advantage. She lost the Oscar three times to women who recreated their stage role. Judy Holliday, Anne Bancroft and Shirley Booth

In the case of the last one, there was no fucking way Bette was getting an Oscar for The Star. But she had a good shot with the other two (and probably should have won at least one of them).

by Anonymousreply 27September 6, 2015 4:03 PM

Swanson, was the third choice to play Norma Desmond. Billy Wilder wanted Great Garbo. When she turned him down, he ask Mae West of all people. She wanted to write her own lines, so she was out. Swanson got the role and she was great. Either of the other two would have ruin the film.

by Anonymousreply 28September 6, 2015 6:32 PM

Mae West would have been hideous. I'd be intrigued to see what Garbo would have done with it, but it wouldn't have been anywhere as campy with her.

by Anonymousreply 29September 6, 2015 9:22 PM

[quote] Johnny asked her if there were any times she thought she unfairly lost an Oscar, and Bette immediately said three, getting laughs from the audience. I don't remember the third.

The third one was Dark Victory, I think. That one always remained a personal favorite of Bette's, even though I thought she was more phenomenal in Now Voyager, The Letter and The Little Foxes.

by Anonymousreply 30September 6, 2015 9:32 PM

You can add Of Human Bondage to Bette's undeserved Oscar losses. And that was to Claudette Colbert, of all people, in a very rare Oscar-winning comedic performance in 1934. Bette always said her win for Dangerous the next year was only hindsight compensation for the previous year's loss.

by Anonymousreply 31September 6, 2015 11:57 PM

[quote]Bette said it was unfair to be up against an actress who recreates their role for film. That it is an unfair advantage. She lost the Oscar three times to women who recreated their stage role.

[quote]Judy Holliday, Anne Bancroft and Shirley Booth

But acting on film is different from acting on stage. All three actresses had to modify their performances for the big screen, so they were still going at it anew. One could argue that Bette was more or less the same in all of her films, especially after she began relying on the 'Bette Davis' persona.

[quote]You can add Of Human Bondage to Bette's undeserved Oscar losses.

She wasn't properly nominated for ON HUMAN BONDAGE. She missed out during the nomination process, but after the backlash, was allowed to be a write-in vote during casting of the votes. I don't think she had a chance that time.

[quote]Marion Davies and Jean Harlow portrayed memorable dumb blondes on screen well before Born Yesterday,

Harlow never played dumb blondes. Her specialty was brassy blondes (and then redheads).

by Anonymousreply 32October 31, 2018 6:26 PM

Judy played the same part in every film. A Walter Brennan with tits. And not as racist.

by Anonymousreply 33October 31, 2018 6:54 PM

Better and Anne cancelled each other out

by Anonymousreply 34October 31, 2018 7:06 PM

[quote]Better and Anne cancelled each other out

I think Bette and Gloria actually cancelled each other out.

by Anonymousreply 35October 31, 2018 7:25 PM

I love Judy Holiday, but Bette Davis deserved to win the Oscar.

OP, did you know that Glenda Jackson won the Oscar for a trifle called A Touch of Class over Ellen Burstyn (The Exorcist), Barbra Streisand (The Way We Were), and Joanne Woodward (film doesn't matter) in 1974? IT HAPPENS.

by Anonymousreply 36October 31, 2018 7:35 PM

I remember when I first watched A TOUCH OF CLASS about a decade ago. I found it enjoyable, charming, but nothing more. Afterward, as I'm wont to do after watching a movie, I looked up more information on it. Imagine my surprise when I learned that not only did Glenda win Best Actress but that it was also nominated for Best Picture. WTF? Was it a bad year for films that year?

by Anonymousreply 37October 31, 2018 7:53 PM

I liked the Solid Gold Cadillac.

by Anonymousreply 38October 31, 2018 9:08 PM

Baxter's insistence that she be nominated for Best rather than Supporting cost Davis the Oscar.

by Anonymousreply 39October 31, 2018 9:34 PM

[quote] Holliday WAS NOT her understudy. She was an emergency re-cast as Arthur walked off the production due to creative differences. She left the play just weeks before opening night,

No, she was the understudy. Arthur played all the out-of-town tryouts and didn't drop out until two days before the New York opening. There wasn't time to bring in anybody else and anyway Garson Kanin thought that Holliday gal was just swell.

by Anonymousreply 40October 31, 2018 9:45 PM

M'mmm, William Holden - God he was always so sexy. His poolside scene in Sunset Boulevard? S-W-O-O-N.

That hairy chest - and bastard producers who would insist he shave it for films! Sacrilege.

by Anonymousreply 41October 31, 2018 9:57 PM

Holliday had won a Clarence Derwent Award (an Actors Equity award) for newcomers to Broadway for her role in "Kiss Them For Me", in a role Jayne Mansfield later played in the movies, plus Holliday was known for being part of the Revuers, a group that included her friends Betty Comden and Adolph Green. So she was a recent award winner (they didn't have Tonys yet). She wasn't the understudy; she was brought in when Jean Arthur quit and learned the role over like 2-3 intensive days, building the character quickly and she played it successfully for about 3 years on Broadway.

I think she's brilliant in everything and love her in "Born Yesterday". I would have been fine with Swanson or Davis winning as well. I think it is great that truly hilarious and meticulously specific comedic characterization was honored by the Academy, as they really rarely do. My faves among Holliday's other film performances are "The Solid Gold Cadillac", "It Should Happen to You", "Bells Are Ringing" and "Adams' Rib".

For Davis to say it's unfair that someone who did a show on stage is unfair is hooey. Hell, Davis couldn't maintain a Broadway show very long, as her runs in "Night of the Iguana" (leaving after 4 months) and "Two's Company". Judy Holliday played Billie Dawn in "Born Yesterday" around 1200 performances, about 3/4 of the play's run.

by Anonymousreply 42October 31, 2018 9:59 PM

R41 his chest wasn't shaved in SUNSET.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 43October 31, 2018 10:00 PM

[quote]As long as the lady is paying for it, why not take the Vicuna?

by Anonymousreply 44October 31, 2018 10:22 PM

Yeah, the movie only barely holds up. Nowhere near as well as the classic All About Eve. But, as r39 points out, Ann Baxter screwed the pooch for Bette. I wouldn't have minded Judy winning playing a similar part, which was very good at, in a better movie.

by Anonymousreply 45October 31, 2018 10:29 PM

R37, some 1973 movies:

The Exorcist

The Sting

Mean Streets

Serpico

The Last Detail

Badlands

Paper Moon

Day for Night

Papillon

The Way We Were

American Graffiti

The Paper Chase

Sleeper

I could go on but why bother.

by Anonymousreply 46October 31, 2018 10:30 PM

[quote]Holliday had won a Clarence Derwent Award (an Actors Equity award) for newcomers to Broadway for her role in "Kiss Them For Me."

And the following year, Paul Douglas won both a Clarence Derwent Award and a Theatre World Award for Born Yesterday, although he wasn't really a newcomer.

by Anonymousreply 47October 31, 2018 10:30 PM

If you really believed ANYONE voted for Anne Baxter, you don't understand Hollywood. She did not cost Bette Davis any votes.

As fabulous as Bette is in All About Eve (and I think she should have won), she was not a particularly popular actress in Hollywood in 1950. Eve was a comeback for her and it really led to nothing special career-wise. She hadn't made a hit picture for several years before it and Eve's success didn't garner her any great roles for entire decade to come. Shocking as it may be to believe today.

by Anonymousreply 48October 31, 2018 10:42 PM

I was mistaken about Derwent Award being for newcomers. Apparently it was for best supporting performance by an actor (and actress) on Broadway (and there's also an award for the West End, too). He's great opposite Judy in "The Solid Gold Cadillac". Plus, he was Billy Wilder's original choice to play the Fred MacMurray role in "The Apartment", but Douglas died suddenly before filming.

by Anonymousreply 49October 31, 2018 10:46 PM

Baxter didn’t insist on placement in the Best Actress category. The studio did. If she had, Bette and she would not have remained the lifelong friends they were.

by Anonymousreply 50October 31, 2018 10:55 PM

R43, You misinterpret what I wrote.

"That hairy chest - and bastard producers who would insist he shave it for films! Sacrilege. " I did not say it was shaved for Sunset, just that producers would have him shave it - for example, in Picnic.

Thanks for posting the photo - to use an old phrase, "Isn't he dreamy?" Oh that treasure trail!

by Anonymousreply 51October 31, 2018 10:59 PM

R48, that's PRECISELY WHY David should have won - everyone loves a comeback. Same with Gloria Swanson. And neither Holiday nor Baxter were huge stars. That goes for Eleanor Parker (Caged) as well, another more worthy choice that year.

by Anonymousreply 52October 31, 2018 11:05 PM

David = DAVIS

by Anonymousreply 53November 1, 2018 12:12 AM

R28 -- He wanted Pola Negri for that role as well.

by Anonymousreply 54November 1, 2018 12:25 AM

Wasn't Mary Pickford also considered? I'm pretty sure I read/saw that from a reputable source.

by Anonymousreply 55November 1, 2018 12:26 AM

Apparently Pickford was Wilder's second choice after West said no. Some sources say Pickford, Mae Murray, and Clara Bow were also models for the character.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 56November 1, 2018 12:34 AM

West never said no. Wilder had seriously considered her for the role. He visited her, they had a nice afternoon, but he became convinced the more they talked that she wasn't right for the role and never brought the subject up. She didn't say no because an offer was never made.

by Anonymousreply 57November 1, 2018 12:39 AM

R57 is that TMC article at R56 wrong, then?

[quote]Wilder's first choice to play Norma Desmond was Mae West (he would later say he only wanted her while the script was still being shaped as a comedy). She refused to even look at an outline when he suggested she play a faded film star. In her opinion, she was still a great star.

by Anonymousreply 58November 1, 2018 12:45 AM

Wikipedia says West was never offered the role:

"According to Brackett, Wilder and he never considered anyone except Gloria Swanson for the role of Norma Desmond. Wilder, however, had a different recollection. He recalled first wanting Mae West and Marlon Brando for the leads, but never approached either with an offer. He contacted Pola Negri by telephone, but had a difficult time understanding her heavy Polish accent. They also asked Norma Shearer if she would portray Norma Desmond, but she rejected the role due to both her retirement and distaste for it. They were considering Fred MacMurray to play opposite her as Joe. The filmmakers approached Greta Garbo, but she expressed no interest. Wilder and Brackett then visited Mary Pickford, but before even discussing the plot with her, Wilder realized she would consider a role involving an affair with a man half her age an insult, so they departed. They had considered pairing Montgomery Clift with her.[11]

"According to Wilder, he asked George Cukor for advice, and he suggested Swanson, one of the most feted actresses of the silent-screen era, known for her beauty, talent, and extravagant lifestyle. At the peak of her career in 1925, she was said to have received 10,000 fan letters in a single week, and from 1920 until the early 1930s, she lived on Sunset Boulevard in an elaborate Italianate palace. In many ways, she resembled the Norma Desmond character, and like her, had been unable to make a smooth transition into talking pictures. The similarities ended there. Swanson accepted the end of her film career, and in the early 1930s moved to New York City, where she worked in radio, and from the mid-1940s, in television and on the New York stage. Though Swanson was not seeking a comeback, she was intrigued when Wilder discussed the role with her.[4]

"Swanson was chagrined at the notion of submitting to a screen test, saying she had "made 20 films for Paramount. Why do they want me to audition?" Her reaction was echoed in the screenplay when Norma Desmond declares, "Without me there wouldn't be any Paramount." In her memoir, Swanson recalled asking Cukor if it was unreasonable to refuse the screen test. He replied that since Norma Desmond was the role for which she would be remembered, "If they ask you to do ten screen tests, do ten screen tests, or I will personally shoot you." His enthusiasm convinced Swanson to participate,[12] and she signed a contract for $50,000.[13] In a 1975 interview, Wilder recalled Swanson's reaction with the observation, 'There was a lot of Norma in her, you know'."

by Anonymousreply 59November 1, 2018 12:52 AM

When Wilder was considering West, the film's concept was more of a comedy than the Grand Guignol it became.

by Anonymousreply 60November 1, 2018 1:10 AM

However the casting proceeded, all's well that ends well. Swanson was a great choice and gives an inspired performance.

by Anonymousreply 61November 1, 2018 1:20 AM

IMO Judy Holliday had a special quality that nobody else has quite duplicated. What she did with her voice was really unique--very funny but also quite lovable (I think if you're a fan of JH, you don't just like her, you love her). I remember loving The Marrying Kind when I first saw it on TV (with Aldo Ray--who also had a strange foghorn voice). There's also Pffffft with I think Jack Lemmon in the husband role. Am not a particular fan of Lemmon's, but Judy Holliday elevated every movie she was in (for me). Plus she died very young (in her 40s I think) so we don't know what she would have done had she lived longer. Interestingly she also had a genius IQ, which makes it funny she always played dumb broads.

by Anonymousreply 62November 1, 2018 1:25 AM

I disagree. I think it's a brilliant comic performance.

by Anonymousreply 63November 1, 2018 1:42 AM

R59, Wikipedia is written by fans, not historians.

by Anonymousreply 64November 1, 2018 2:09 AM

But nearly everything I quoted from WP is backed up with reputable cites. Which points do you disagree with? And why?

by Anonymousreply 65November 1, 2018 2:16 AM

Oh, please, reply 7, Anne Baxter was terrible in “All About Eve.” Is there anyone seeing that movie for the first (or 20th) time who doesn’t nail her as a phony from her very first scene? She plays on one level compared to Davis’s brilliant performance (watch the three minute scene where Davis is awakened by a call in the middle of the night from Bill Sampson — it is a master class in acting).

The thing is, block voting by studios was still a big thing then. Davis and Swanson were great, but both were freelancers with no big followup pictures lined up. The two studios that released their films (Fox and Paramount) had no reason to urge Academy members from their studios to vote for actresses who were not doing future films for them. Parker too was in the process of leaving longtime home Warner Bros. for greener pastures, so she had no home studio with a vested interest in her (she was nominated again for “Detective Story” the following year, but only had a 3-picture deal at Paramount, which released that film, so they didn’t promote her either).

But Holliday had just signed a longterm Columbia contract and she had been pimped-out by respected major talents like George Cukor and Katharine Hepburn, as well as Comden and Greene, who had both worked with her. She had been an admired comic talent and many believed she would be a major star. It never happened. She got pretty good reviews always, but there is something grudging about her: no matter how much she smiles or how funny she tries to be, her eyes never smile, there is something unhappy and cold about her that no amount of mugging can cover up. And I dislike her intensely in “Born Yesterday,” a dreary formula film.

Bette Davis was robbed of an Oscar in 1950.

by Anonymousreply 66November 1, 2018 3:16 AM

Good post, R66. Although I agree with much of what you said in the first paragraph, I think we're supposed to spot Eve as a phony from the start.

by Anonymousreply 67November 1, 2018 12:59 PM

Mankiewicz was no idiot.

He understood the fun for the audience was being ahead of Margo and all of her friends (except Birdie) in seeing the phoniness of Eve.

by Anonymousreply 68November 1, 2018 1:01 PM

Vote splits between Gloria, Anne, and Bette.

by Anonymousreply 69November 1, 2018 7:41 PM

R62, I too enjoyed The Marrying Kind and I watch it any time it airs. It's not a great film but it helps that the two quirky leads dominate every scene, and they're good together. I didn't know anything about Holliday when I first saw it, and by then Aldo Ray had a rather sordid reputation, or so I was told. I think I was 12, and I was so impressed with both of them that It led to me shoplifting one of those Leonard Maltin movie review books just so I could search their other films.

by Anonymousreply 70November 1, 2018 7:55 PM

At least Judy Tuvim was herself, whereas Davis was just being Bankhead.

by Anonymousreply 71November 1, 2018 7:55 PM

What does that even made when someone says Bette, Gloria and Ann split the votes??

As opposed to what?

by Anonymousreply 72November 1, 2018 10:53 PM

She changed her name, r72. So she wasn’t being herself, not really.

by Anonymousreply 73November 2, 2018 1:45 PM

My comment is meant for r71

by Anonymousreply 74November 2, 2018 1:46 PM

[quote]Yes, I know Born Yesterday was 26 years before Laverne & Shirley, thank you.

You're welcome.

by Anonymousreply 75November 2, 2018 1:47 PM

Gentle reader, for context, take not of the other threads OP has started

"The Sky: I just looked at it yesterday, so its blue, SO WHAT?"

"I just saw the Mona Lisa, um excuse me, I could have painted that, Thank you"

"What's so great about Pizza? Yes, I HAVE tried it, thank you"

"Why does everyone think the Diane Keaton character in MANHATTAN who crtiques great masterworks she doesn't have the facility to understand is a pretentious twat and yes I LIKE THE CHARACTER, THANK YOU"

"What is it about "sunsets" THANK YOU"

by Anonymousreply 76November 2, 2018 2:31 PM

Here is some film of OP in action

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 77November 2, 2018 2:33 PM

How did that excrement Manhattan get on this thread? Nobody has ever demanded total flattery for a particular lifestyle more than that movie.

by Anonymousreply 78November 2, 2018 8:55 PM
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