Worst Oscar Winners in the Acting Category

NO ONE involved with "Shakespeare in Love" deserved to win that year.

Eddie 'Ratface' Redmayne should be on the list!

I dont like Paltrow or Roberts, but either one is a much better actress than Cuba Gooding Jr.

Paltrow. Blanchett should have won for Elizabeth. And John Wayne. He was the same in every single movie. John Wayne being John Wayne.

I love AS GOOD AS IT GETS and I do like Helen Hunt. It was a good performance, but I don't understand what's Oscar-worthy about it.

John Wayne has an Oscar?!

R6 Yes, for True Grit.

Nicole Kidman was undeserving for "The Hours". It was a sympathy vote for just having endured an ugly public divorce from Tom Cruise.

R8 Who should have won that year? Moore for Far From Heaven? Zellweger for Chicago? I think Kidman also got it because she lost for Moulin Rouge.

Grace Kelly for "The Country Girls". I actually laughed out loud at her big dramatic climax!

And Liz Taylor for "Butterfield 8". Totally ordinary performance in a dreadful campy mess of a movie.

And, Elizabeth Taylor would agree with you. She apparently enjoyed having an Oscar (duh) but she hated that role and movie and fully realized she only won due to sympathy over her ill health.

1940 - Ginger Rogers and James Stewart should have returned their Oscars before the croaked-they didn't deserve their wins. I agree ☝️ about John Wayne and even Liz Taylor would have told you that she only won that year because she almost died. Halle Berry too. Alan Arkin. Helen Hunt. Geraldine Page didn't deserve to win over Whooping as Miss Celine. Cher should give her Oscar to Glenn Close; so should Jodie Foster. Terrible wooden actress Jodie is.

Patty Duke

That Bancroft bitch.

Viola Davis was robbed by Meryl Whatshername...

Natalie Portman. Actually, Natalie Portman entire career, with the possible exception of V for Vendetta, which I only watched because I thought it was Kiera Knightley.

Oh, and:

Roberto Benigni Tom Hanks (the Forrest Gump one) Sandra Bullock Halle Berry Christoph Waltz does not need two Oscars Heath Ledger (he was fine but...it's a pity Oscar) Jennifer Hudson (No...just. No.) Renée Zellweger Whoopi Goldberg...the fact that Whoopi Goldberg has the "EGOT" is proof there is no God...only Anarchy rules in a world where an untalented twat like Whoopi Goldberg is awarded for mugging her way through performances.

Natalie Portman is probably getting a second soon as well, how bizarre. Hilary Swank- they could've given her second to literally anybody else in that category and it would've been a fine choice. Paltrow over Blanchett was ridiculous. John Wayne, as has been said. I also wonder how Sorvino got hers when that was a great year for Supporting Actress.

Winslet should have won Swank's second Oscar.

“I’ve been here for seventeen years, and I was never asked to play such a horrible role as Gloria Wandrous. She’s a sick nymphomaniac. I won’t do it for anything” (Spoto 167) Elizabeth Taylor who was complaining and worried about Butterfield 8.

I take the minority opinion. Butterfield 8 is terribly efficient, even grisly movie that is riveting and fun. The director Daniel Mann was a great director of acting, and won Tonys and 7 Oscars - 7! - for many stars - Shirley Booth, Signey Blackmer, Anna Magnani. In the 50's this guy could direct every kind of movie, and broadway play. A pro. Rather of the Douglas Sirk but without Sirk's distance and irony.

Maybe Taylor got it for Butterfield 8 after a string of good performances in other movies. I HATE Suddenly Last Summer and really like Butterfield 8.

So there. John O'Hara's pulp novel that inspired it is good, too. Good sleaze.

I would've given both Sorvino's and Swank's second to Winslet, R19, and then we can give her one for The Reader to Kristin Scott Thomas, who wasn't even nominated.

John Wayne's Oscar was one of those "career" awards, and he played more of a "character role" as Rooster Cogburn in TRUE GRIT. But if you watch the film now, his performance is embarrassingly hammy. In fact, not one of the three leads (Wayne, Kim Darby, and God help us, Glen Campbell) are any good. The recent remake with Jeff Bridges as Cogburn is much better.

Both Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight were up for Best Actor in MIDNIGHT COWBOY that year and while it's possible they cancelled each other out, I doubt it would've mattered as Wayne had the Oscar in the bag. Honestly, Hoffman's role could easily be in the Supporting category, but I'm sure his raging ego at the time would have raised holy hell at the very suggestion.

Kim Basinger in LA Confidential. What the hell was that all about?

Lee Grant in "Shampoo." I mean, it was an okay performance, but not Oscar worthy. I think it was a "we're sorry you were blacklisted by McCarthy" award from the Academy. I liked her better as the boozy shrew in "Airport 1977 - the Concorde."

Jessica Lange in "Tootsie." She herself said it was a consolation prize for not winning the Oscar for "Frances."

R24 - Correction: It was just "Airport 1977." The Concorde was 1979. My apologies.

Jennifer Lawrence's totally undeserved win for "Silver Linings Playbook."

R23 I think Basinger pulled it off because LA Confidential was the critically respected film to counter the special effects heavy Titanic and her Oscar was a vote for the cast ensemble. Plus she had a lot of sympathy from the actors branch on being sued over the Boxing Helena film. Grant should've won for The Landlord but Helen Hayes won. Absolutely hated Hayes in Airport. THE perfect example of career Oscar for an older actor. Despised Bullock in the horrible Blind Side. She only won because she is well liked.

R28 There were so many great performance in LA Confidential. Virtually any actor in that movie BESIDES Basinger should have won. I've watched that film several times and have yet to see anything in her performance that's Oscar-worthy.

I hate Marisa Tomei coming up in discussions like this. She gave a wonderful comedic performance that year and I think her Oscar is completely deserved. She just had the supposed misfortune of being the only American nominated up against four non-Americans. Judy Davis would've been equally worthy for her hilarious turn in Husbands & Wives (a role originally intended for Jane Fonda, I believe). But I think Tomei's two supporting nominations since this win.

Natalie Portman. The only thing amazing about that performance was the dancing and most of that was done by her double.

Don Ameche. Just like Portman he won because of his big dance scene and of course that wasn't even him. I don't even remember him having any noteworthy lines in Cocoon.

Louise Fletcher. Nurse Ratched is one of the most overrated movie characters ever. And it was a supporting, not a leading role.

Anna Paquin. I love The Piano and Anna was cute in it, but what the fuck were they thinking by giving her the Oscar?!

Meryl Streep #3. The Iron Lady was like a 90 minute long SNL sketch, only without the humor.

George Chakiris. Unlike Portman and Ameche at least he did his own dancing, but unfortunately his non-dancing scenes were horribly acted. I can't believe he stole Monty Clift's Oscar that year.

Ingrid Bergman #3. At least she was honest enough to admit in her speech that she stole Valentina Cortese's Oscar.

Jessica Lange #1. Pretty much the entire supporting cast of Tootsie acted circles around Lange (Bill Murray, Teri Garr, Charles Durning...) She won because of her looks and because they couldn't give her the leading actress award for Frances that year.

R 29 I totally agree with you. Basinger won the globe, SAG and Oscar and I kept asking myself what everyone was seeing in her performance that I'm not. The only way to explain it is what I wrote already. Cuba Gooding Jr I agree was quite bad too. The only time a catch phrase carried someone to an Oscar win plus he mugged his way through the entire film. Even the starfucking Hollywood Foreign Press voted for Edward Norton over Gooding.

Holly Hunter in The Piano. I love Holly; I think she's a great actress, but this wasn't an Oscar performance. The Academy awarded her for doing a whole movie without ever talking. Kind of like they did for Jane Wyman in Johnny Belinda.

Denzel in Training Day. Spacey in American Beauty. Jennifer Connelly in A Beatiful Mind. Pacino in Scent of a Woman. But for the all-time stinkeroo you have to go way back to the beginning and watch Mary Pickford's painfully godawful "acting" in Coquette.

Maggie Smith in "California Suite."

R35 Smith was perfect and hilarious in CA Suite. Well deserved win!

Maggie was brilliant in California Suite.

Maggie Smith really is brilliant in "California Suite" ("Why do they have these things so early? I mean, no woman can look good at 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Except, possibly Tatum O'Neal.")

R35 should have his or her DataLounge privileges revoked immediately.

You've got the wrong Fonda on your list, OP. I've never seen a performance by Jane Fonda that I felt was Oscar-worthy.

R39, you've apparently never seen "Klute" or "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" (or even "The China Syndrome").

"Lee Grant in "Shampoo." I mean, it was an okay performance, but not Oscar worthy."

Grant won because the Academy decided to snub NASHVILLE as much as possible, so the more worthy performances of Ronee Blakely and particularly Lily Tomlin were overlooked.

These types of threads annoy me. Saying someone doesn't deserve the award is denying the winners their dues, whether they deserved it or not. Hey, guess what? Nobody cares because you aren't the ones qualified to vote.

Helen Hayes "Airport"

Al Pacino "Scent of a Woman"

Roberto Benigni "Life is Beautiful"

R41, why were they so intent on snubbing NASHVILLE that year? Ronee Blakely and Lily Tomlin are absolutely unforgettable in that film. I'll never forget Tomlin in her famous scene, listening to Keith Carradine sing "I'm Easy."

Jennifer Connelly was quite good in that role. Plus she got snubbed for a great performance in Requiem.

Al Pacino's win for that awful performance in that awful movie is a thread winner. Out of all the great performances he gave to win for this was a shame.

THE worst Oscar winning performance has got to be Hugh Griffith in the otherwise astounding Ben-Hur. Even Chuck Heston was actually good in this.

Stereotypical. Smarmy. Overwrought. The makeup was horrendous. And very annoying. Exactly why either Arthur O'Connell or Ed Wynn didn't win is still a mystery to me.

Runner-up: Ginger Rogers in Kitty Foyle. Yes actually worse than Princess Grace. And Trumbo wrote the screenplay! Let's face it: While a great dancer, she was NOT an actress.

Ginger was great in Stage Door.

Goldie Hawn for "Cactus Flower."

If you want to see Ginger Rogers' worst screen performance, check out "Black Widow".

Susannah York should've beaten Goldie Hawn that year, R48. She won because of her popularity on "Laugh-In" and for that ridiculous botched suicide scene in the beginning of the film.

Of all the movies they could have given Julie Andrews an Oscar for, why did they give it to her for the one they gave it to? It's awful. It's smarmy, saccharine, manipulative, derivative, ideologically problematic, poorly written junk that shows Walt Disney was losing it in his later years, and giving it Oscars just cheapens the whole point of the awards. And if she was such a great singer why did she fuck up her voice as spectacularly as she did? And if she was so great in this, even though she gave a much better performance in another film for M-G-M that same year, why are Disney films almost always ignored for acting nominations? I've seen better performances than that in Disney movies you've never even heard of! I'm not calling you stupid or evil for liking it, but you really do have a blind spot if you cannot see how your enjoyment of it has negative effects on others.

Audrey Hepburn should have been nominated for [italic]My Fair Lady[/italic] and should have won. The arguments against her don't hold up; Rita Moreno won an Oscar for a dubbed performance in [italic]West Side Story[/italic], and Sophia Loren, who gave the best performance out of those who were actually nominated, had already won an Oscar just as Audrey had. Just watch the end of "I Could Have Danced All Night." Sure, Marni Nixon's the one singing the song, but the emotions are 100% Audrey, and if you can't buy her as a woman in love, what will you believe?

[quote] the fact that Whoopi Goldberg has the "EGOT" is proof there is no God...only Anarchy rules in a world where an untalented twat like Whoopi Goldberg is awarded for mugging her way through performances.

Mary!

I love you r51. Audrey was pretty amazing in My Fair Lady and for a non singer she sold those performances brilliantly. She was captivating to watch. Unfortunately the movie is a little too long.

I suspect Warner let George Cukor have his way in post-production this time after taking [italic]A Star is Born[/italic] away from him and ignoring his suggestions on how to cut it. But every time someone suggests cutting, they always take out more than necessary. This is what happened after the Big Three musicals of 1964-1965 launched a bonanza of like-minded films. Too bad a lot of the potential audience for these films was getting drafted and sent to Vietnam.

How is Marisa Tomei only at 5%? She's the most annoying human being ever to be recorded on film, tape, digital, whatever.

Susan Sarandon's oscar for Dead Man Walking should have gone to Elisabeth Shue for Leaving Las Vegas.

I didn't read EVERY word so far but how did we get to 56 replies and no mentions of Jennifer Hudson, Halle Berry??

Kid gloves cause black.

I will cut a bitch who says a bad word about my performance. And unlike most of these posers, I was there. My life was research for that fucking part.

Kid gloves cause black WHAT, r58?

I mean, if you're gonna be a racist idjit, at least sac up and be less ambiguous about it.

"Kid gloves, 'cause...black"

You're welcome.

If the culluds want to win Oscars they can earn 'em the old-fashioned way, like I did.

....

"why were they so intent on snubbing NASHVILLE that year?"

Establishment Hollywood never liked Altman much. He went and did his own thing for a long time, and never tried to be a truly commercial director. The fact that NASHVILLE was more of a critical than a boxoffice success didn't help.

Altman managed to stretch his M*A*S*H success for a long time, aided by the strong critical reception he got during the 70's, despite the fact that hardly any of those films were commercially successful. That said, I don't think his films were that expensive to produce either. In the 70's, it was easier to be a maverick in the film business over a longer period. But after NASHVILLE, he had a string of flops - many of which were not well-reviewed - which culminated in POPEYE and then sent him to small-budget Siberia until THE PLAYER.

"Al Pacino's win for that awful performance in that awful movie is a thread winner."

Pacino had been passed over so many times before that the Academy must have felt he was "due" at that stage.

Plus, there are Academy members who seem to love ham acting. How else can you explain Renee Zellwegger's win for COLD MOUNTAIN with her overbaked imitation of Betty Hutton in ANNIE GET YOUR GUN? Her performance is much worse IMO than many of the others mentioned here.

"Audrey Hepburn should have been nominated for My Fair Lady and should have won." That's absurd. She's not remotely convincing as the guttersnipe Eliza - she's obviously "acting". The truly worthy nominees that year were Anne Bancroft for THE PUMPKIN EATER, Kim Stanley for SEANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON, and perhaps Sophia Loren for MARRIAGE ITALIAN STYLE. But not many people saw either of the first two films, and Loren (and Bancroft) had won recently. Debbie Reynolds' performance in MOLLY BROWN doesn't hold up well - it's almost as bad as Zellwegger's in COLD MOUNTAIN.

As for Andrews, I'll admit there's nothing extraordinary about her in MARY POPPINS - that Oscar is the second big sympathy award after Elizabeth Taylor in BUTTERFIELD 8. To be honest I can't think of any of her performances that were Oscar-worthy. Even VICTOR/VICTORIA requires a major suspension of disbelief, but the film is good-natured enough that you don't really care much.

[QUOTE]Kim Stanley for SEANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON

One of the best nominations of this category ever. Hell of a performance.

Bancroft is pretty amazing in PUMPKIN EATER as well. In some ways I think she's even better there than in MIRACLE WORKER.

Audrey Hepburn is good in "My Fair Lady", but is very much undercut by the film's staginess. Everything is shot from a distance, the other actors project from the diaphragm rather than like real people, they engage in various bits of stagey humor like Harrison putting a teacup on his head, the costumes are so fanciful they further undercut any realism, etc. I could see Hepburn winning in a weak field, because she did as much as she could under the circumstances, but her Eliza totally lacks the intimacy with the viewer that you see in her dramatic best roles ("Nun's Story", "Breakfast at Tiffany's", "Two for the Road", etc.). If she'd won, we'd still be grousing about it.

As for Halle Berry, I think we give her Oscar-winning performance a pass because we haven't seen that stupid little movie she was in.

Both Fair Lady and Poppins suffered from staginess. Both look like a Broadway play. Lady is so long they should have had a nice long intermission to rest. If it was the Pygmalion which it's based on an excellent film BTW, it would've been bearable.

If you go way back to the 30s, both of Luise Rainer's performances are laughable, (not to mention lacist).

Another vote for Roberto Benigni, who also gets worst acceptance speech in my opinion.

Luise Rainer's infamous Oscar for talking to her ex-husband on the telephone.

Another vote for Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side. Every other nominee that year deserved it except for Bullock.

They should have given Streep her 3rd that year for Julie and Julia rather than Iron Lady later on. (just meaning it would have been a better choice over Bullock).

Even Bullock herself was embarrassed if you remember her speech.

Worst Actor (Chronologically):

Bing Crosby in Going My Way

Charlton Heston in Ben-Hur

Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman

Roberto Benigni in Life is Beautiful

Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant

I'm going to nominate Tom Hanks in this category. I wasn't impressed by his work in either PHILADELPHIA or FORREST GUMP. And twenty years later, his "I am Mr. All-American" routine is starting to wear painfully thin.

Worst Actress (Chronologically):

Ginger Rogers in Kitty Foyle

Elizabeth Taylor in BUtterfield 8

Helen Hunt in As Good as it Gets

Hillary Swank in Million Dollar Baby

Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady

What about Worst winner in the sense of great actors winning for the wrong movie:

Russell Crowe for Gladiator? He should have won for A Beautiful Mind or The Insider

Leo Dicaprio supporting for Gilbert Grape instead of The Revenant

Al Pacino for almost anything instead of Stink of a Woman. (I'd give it to him for Godfather II or Dog Day Afternoon)

[QUOTE]Hillary Swank in Million Dollar Baby

You've got to be kidding. She was great in this. Both of her Oscars were deserved. her lack of good work outside of those two nominations is what leads people to think she's not a good actress or something. But she slays in both MDB and Boys Don't Cry.

I think the thing with Al Pacino that year was that they really didn't particularly like any of the other nominees so it was pretty easy to use that year as a "makeup" year for him. Notice he hasn't been nominated once since winning.

Worst Supporting Actor (Chronologically):

Walter Brennan in Kentucky

Dean Jagger in Twelve O'Clock High

Red Buttons in Sayonara

Cuba Gooding, Jr. in Jerry Maguire

Benicio Del Toro in Traffic

Natalie Portman doesn't deserve to win any acting-related awards

Renee Zellwegger should be forced to give back her Oscar for Cold Mountain.

No, r75. Her second Oscar proved that she had no range whatsoever and that she truly is a bland, uninteresting performer. Personally, I don't think she deserved her first one, either; for 1999, I would've given it to Julianne Moore (The End of the Affair) and for 2004 I would've given it to Kate Winslet (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which means she wouldn't have had to campaign for the less enthralling The Reader).

Worst Supporting Actress (Chronologically):

Celeste Holm in Gentleman's Agreement

Miyoshi Umecki in Sayonara

Mira Sorvino in Mighty Aphrodite

Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls

Anne Hathaway in Les Miserables

r78, I thought she was so hammy in that....I didn't understand the acclaim for her performance at all (and I say this as someone who liked Zellweger in other things)

I think Kate Winslet should've won for Revolutionary Road that year instead of The Reader.

The original casting of Nicole Kidman for Hannah in The Reader would've been much better.

[QUOTE]Celeste Holm in Gentleman's Agreement

This one has always been a head-scratcher for me. What exactly did Holm DO in that film to warrant a nomination, let alone a win. I think June Havoc (referring to herself in the film as a "little kike" is a more worthy supporting performance in Gentlemen's Agreement).

Halle Berry was good...for TELEVISION. Her Dorothy Dandridge was better than her Letitia in MONSTERS BALL. But the competition for Best Actress that year was so fucking weak.

Sissy Spacek should have won the year Halle did.

Marlee Matlin. PC Oscar.

[quote] Halle Berry was good...for TELEVISION. Her Dorothy Dandridge was better than her Letitia in MONSTERS BALL. But the competition for Best Actress that year was so fucking weak.

it wasn't at all weak that year. Spacek should have easily won her 2nd Oscar for In the Bedroom. But it was decided that 2001 would be the year of black performer. They were already giving Sidney Pitier an honorary oscar 9which is ridiculous, as he already had a legitimate one that was marginally deserved) so Hollywood thought- wouldn't it be amazing to make history by having the first black woman to win best Actress ever and the first black man to win Best Actor since Poitier himself be so amazing??? So they gave three undeserved awards that year. Funny Jada and Spike forget about that when they bitch about Oscar being so white.

But who would you have given it to that year instead, R85? Kathleen Turner?

[quote] But who would you have given it to that year instead, [R85]? Kathleen Turner?

Yes.

"But it was decided that 2001 would be the year of black performer. They were already giving Sidney Pitier an honorary oscar 9which is ridiculous, as he already had a legitimate one that was marginally deserved) so Hollywood thought- wouldn't it be amazing to make history by having the first black woman to win best Actress ever and the first black man to win Best Actor since Poitier himself be so amazing??? So they gave three undeserved awards that year"

Man, Republicans are hilarious. The Oscar voters number in the thousands and are spread out across the globe.....they don't all conspire together to decide who to vote for. And Berry received critical acclaim and other acting awards, so it wasn't like her win came from out of nowhere.

R86 = Shailene Woodley

[quote] Man, Republicans are hilarious. The Oscar voters number in the thousands and are spread out across the globe.....they don't all conspire together to decide who to vote for. And Berry received critical acclaim and other acting awards, so it wasn't like her win came from out of nowhere.

Man, ostriches are hilarious.

Anyone who two functioning brain cells and an even barely there memory remembers how much Hollywood PR was talking up how historical it would be in both Denzel and Halle won with Poitier already being honored that year. it was a PR campaign plain and simple, the same way Bullock was able to win, the same way Winslet came in and whined and moaned about how overdue she was... Clearly you have no idea how the awards game works, but please continue to just call people Republicans when they say something you don't agree with. Asshole.

"Clearly you have no idea how the awards game works, but please continue to just call people Republicans when they say something you don't agree with. Asshole."

Continue to claim a conspiracy when a black person wins something. Racist asshole. And "PR" campaigns don't necessarily lead to votes.....you can't force someone to vote for you.

Sally Field

R93 I was waiting for that. What took you so long? lol

Sally Field won each of hers in weak years.

I mean, remember the "Year of the Farm Wives"?

A couple tidbits about 2001. Both Washington and Berry had help from last-minute occurrences.

Denzel Washington: Russell Crowe was heavily favored to win his second for A Beautiful Mind, but the week the voting ballots went out, he had that well-publicized tantrum when he got drunk and threw a phone at a defenseless bellhop. Crowe came off looking like such an asshole that a lot of Academy Members stated publicly that there was no way they would vote for him now, so Denzel Washington benefitted. (Denzel was great, but the movie was only so-so).

Roger Ebert, then considered the most-renowned of all film critics, strongly urged voters to give a second look to Berry, his favorite, knowing that Spacek was favored to win. And if anyone remembers the telecast, Spacek was drunk long before the category. It was pretty funny.

The year Sally won for Norma Rae was an incredibly strong year. With her and Midler it was the strongest argument for a tie since Hepburn and Streisand.

Won Field won for Places, however, that was a pretty week year. Kathleen Turner had gotten most of the critics' awards for her one-two punch of Romancing the Stone and Crimes of Passion. But, apparently, the movies must have canceled each other out as she was denied a heavily-expected nomination.

When, I mean

[QUOTE]The year Sally won for Norma Rae was an incredibly strong year. With her and Midler it was the strongest argument for a tie since Hepburn and Streisand.

Really? Have you ever actually SEEN "Starting Over"?

I did see it again a few years ago. It was very dated but still entertaining. I think it was Burt Reynolds' most charming performance. Clayburgh was good but the weakest in that category, (that's what you meant, isn't it?)

Yes, R100.

Oddly, I thought Candace Bergen was hilarious and better than Clayburgh. It really is a very, very dated movie though.

I agree, but they were in different categories. I think Bergen got nominated also because it was the first really decent performance she had ever given. Nobody knew she could do comedy, (deliberately, anyway). It's what led to Murphy Brown.

[QUOTE]I agree, but they were in different categories.

Oh, I know. I just thought she totally stole the movie from Clayburgh who was doing a very annoying woe-is-me shtick in that movie that was not working for me.

Gwyneth, Julia Roberts, Cuba Gooding and Marisa Tomei are all great actors and actresses OP. Bullock is pretty terrible imho.

I know I'm going to get flak for this:

Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs. I remember thinking how great she was when the movie first came out. I was watching it on cable recently. Foster was so mannered and studied, it drove me crazy. I thought she was awful. I had to shut it off.

I feel the need to come to Bullock's defense. I think she's a fine actress, with an incredible ability for comedy (with its bias for drama, critics and the Academy tend to overlook this; I think she was worthy of Oscar consideration for While You Were Sleeping and Miss Congeniality), but she does give a fine performance in The Blind Side. If you look past the treacly, condescending plot, you'll see her giving a terrific performance, accurately inhabiting an upper middle-class Southern Republican woman -- I've lived in the South my whole life and she absolutely nailed it. It may not have been an acting master class, but in 100, when people want to know what that type of person was like, Bullock's performance will be the one to look at.

I am also confused why everyone shits all over Swank for MDB. I saw the movie twice in theaters, both times a packed house, and you could just FEEL how the entire room was moved by her performance. It was incredibly non-showy and deeply felt. I think both her Oscars were deserved.

r107, please die a painful, hideous death in a grease fire at the bottom of an outhouse pit.

[quote] Continue to claim a conspiracy when a black person wins something. Racist asshole. And "PR" campaigns don't necessarily lead to votes.....you can't force someone to vote for you.

Sure, because the overwhelming consensus on here and everywhere else is that Berry and Washington really deserved those Oscars. But I'm the one perpetrating a conspiracy when you're the one screaming racist, which is usually what one does when they are in this situation and have no actual rebuttal.

You really are a dumb fucking asshole and no longer worth of anyone's time. It would benefit us all if you quietly killed yourself.

R106 I think a lot of people might agree that Bullock's performance was good enough to merit a nomination. But the movie was so made-for-cable, and the other performances against her were so much stronger, she did not deserve the win. And what should have been the greatest week of her life might have ended up being the worst. Days later, the story came out about her serial-cheating husband and it was all over the tabloids for weeks.

R108 The iron is.... if R107 is a woman and that would actually happen, Hilary Swank would be perfect casting in the movie version. Aside from that, you suck. You and R109, we're discussing art here. There's no need for your hatred.

irony damn spellcheck

[quote]Whooping as Miss Celine

How did I ever miss THAT?

Jody Foster is terribly overrated as an actress, she just can't disappear into a character.

Not from me r105; I find Jodie to be a wooden and inexpressive actress. Both of her Oscars were gifts.

I'm another who thought Swank was fine in MDB. And she definitely deserved the award for BOY'S DON'T CRY. But those are the only two movies Swank has done where I thought she did exceptional work. At least she never tried to do another costume film after that awful movie about the necklace.

"Sissy Spacek should have won the year Halle did."

Maybe. Her role wasn't really a lead since the film was really about the husband played by Tom Wilkinson. And Berry had a more showy role (and you know how much the Academy LOVES showy acting).

Sometimes I think there should be 2 sets of Oscars, one for "showy, look what I can do whiz-bang" like what Blanchett, Streep, Day-Lewis all commonly do, which is quite riveting and fun to watch, I must admit, and one for performances that only grow with repeated viewing, that have a quiet power and artistry to them, like the work Spacek did in In the Bedroom or Charlotte Rampling did in 45 years, or Agata Trzebuchowska did in Ida. All three were so worthy of the Oscar, but this type of acting seems to get overshadowed so often.

Kathy Bates should have won the supporting Oscar for Primary Colors but Dench stole it that year, the year of The Great Shakespeare in Love Robbery. Gwynnie, Judi, and Harvey should have been wearing ski masks that night.

I cannot stand Judi Dench.

[quote] Denzel Washington: Russell Crowe was heavily favored to win his second for A Beautiful Mind, but the week the voting ballots went out, he had that well-publicized tantrum when he got drunk and threw a phone at a defenseless bellhop. Crowe came off looking like such an asshole that a lot of Academy Members stated publicly that there was no way they would vote for him now, so Denzel Washington benefitted. (Denzel was great, but the movie was only so-so).

I believe you have gotten your Crowe story confused.

Crowe got in trouble that year for arguing with some official at the BAFTAs for cutting his (Crowe's) speech which contained a poem by an Irish poet he read in tribute to Richard Harris. Media reported it was Crowe's poem, but that was not true.

It did, of course, cost Crowe that 2nd Oscar.

And Denzel knew it.

Anyone who cares to can watch the clip as Denzel walks up to accept that Oscar and the first thing he says is wisecrack about how and who is getting the awards that night. I remember quite clearly.

[quote] If you go way back to the 30s, both of Luise Rainer's performances are laughable, (not to mention lacist).

You should go back even further, because nothing can beat Norma Shearer and Mary Pickford's Oscars. Even Luise Rainer was brilliant if you compare her with those two. And I actually think she gave a pretty good performace in The Good Earth (if you manage to forget the ridiculous fact she's not Asian).

I know I'm obviously in the minority, but I think Shakespeare in Love is a magnificent film, fully deserving of the Best Picture win over Saving Private Ryan (which is riveting in the beginning and the end, but dullsville in the middle section). That said, I agree that Paltrow and Dench didn't deserve their wins (Paltrow is fine, but not award-worthy; Dench's win was silly compensation for losing the previous year); the film's best performance -- Joseph Fiennes as Shakespeare -- wasn't even nominated.

Since Coal Miner's Daughter, Mary Elizabeth has played variations of the same country bumpkin character. There is no range. None. What she had with Badlands and Carrie just didn't work after the seventies. Missing, The River, Crimes of the Heart, Marie, JFK you name it. Where's the Sophie's Choice? Fatal Attraction? The Silence of the Lambs? Monster? It's like she gave up and most of her movies have great stories and characters.

I STILL to this day think she stole the Oscar from MTM. And I'm sticking with that story!

Clearly no one here has ever seen Jennifer Jones in The Song of Bernadette.

Was Joan Fontaine's win for Suspicion a consolation prize for Rebecca?

Right you are, Mrs. Selznick at R125!

That Oscar should have been mine.

Oh, I dated David , too.

r126, possibly, but Fontaine is still terrific in Suspicion, whereas many other consolation Oscars aren't as good as the one they lost previously for.

r125, I re-watched The Song of Bernadette a few months ago; Jones didn't deserve the Oscar (yes, Jean Arthur shoulda won), but it's not a terrible embarrassment like so many others mentioned here.

R121 "I believe you have gotten your Crowe story confused"

I remember that, but I believe Crowe was on a spiral, and both events happened within weeks of each other.

An obvious one I don't think has been mentioned yet: Katharine Hepburn in On Golden Piss Pond. Over Streep in French Lieutenant, Diane Keaton in Reds, and Susan Sarandon in Atlantic City. I seem to recall there being a collective groan when her name was announced. She'd already won 3 so you can't even say it was a career award.

Oh, you're just an old poop, R130!

You know, the whole reason the Academy Awards was created was for film promotion, and Oscar-winning movies have raked in billions of dollars because of it. It was a brilliant scheme!

So that being said, why did they keep giving Awards to an actress (Kate Hepburn) who couldn't even be bothered to show up and accept?

They shouldn't have won Oscars:

Whoopi Goldberg

Halle Berry

Cher

Tatum O'Neal

Gwyneth Paltrow

Helen Hunt

Roberto Benigni

Mira Sorvino

Penelope Cruz

Marisa Tomei

Renee Zellweger

Cuba Gooding Jr.

Mel Gibson

Kevin Costner

Anne Hathaway

Jennifer Lawrence

Angelina Jolie

Julia Roberts

Nicole Kidman

Grace Kelly

Reese Witherspoon

Hilary Swank

Jennifer Hudson

Kim Basinger

Catherine Zeta-Jones

Sandra Bullock

Anna Paquin

Mercedes Ruehl

Marlee Matlin

Michael Douglas

Goldie Hawn

George Chakiris

Juliette Binoche

Kevin Costner hasn't won in the acting category.

Directing, yes, for "Dances With Wolves".

Oh, and neither has Mel Gibson...

R133 Uh.... why do you even follow the Oscars? You must be extremely frustrated every year.

OTOH can we all agree that Vivien Leigh's win for GWTW was one of the only undisputed Oscars ever?

Are there any other unanimous undisputed wins that come to mind?

R133 I disagree on Tatum O'Neal. She was wonderful in Paper Moon. It's hard to believe that was her first movie.

I second R138.

R139 Madeline Kahn was also up for Best Supporting Actress for Paper Moon. She was fantastic, too, but it was really Tatum who carried the movie. Tatum really should have been nominated in the Best Actress category - she was in virtually every scene.

Maybe it works like amusement park rides, R140.

You must be a certain height to be nominated in the Leading Role category.

Madeline deserved the Oscar.

R142 That scene was definitely Oscar gold. In another year, she may have won.

R141 LOL! You may be right!

R142 If Tatum had been rightfully placed in the Best Actress category that year, Madeline would have likely won for Best Supporting Actress.

Jackie Cooper was 9 when he was nominated for Best Actor in Skippy (1931) and Quebooboo Wallis was also 9 when she was nominated for Best Actress in Beasts of the Southern Piece of Shit (2012).

At the time Jackie Cooper was nominated there was no distinction between lead and support - there was one category per each gender. Since 1936, when they introduced the supporting categories, until 2003, child and teen actors in leading roles were not nominated as lead. First they were given special, miniature awards and later they were relegated to support (O'Neal, Timothy Hutton, River Phoenix). Keisha Castle-Hughes was the first "under age" performer to be nominated as a lead.

Was Patty Duke the first child actress to win an Oscar in competition?

The Academy really shouldn't have stopped giving out those mini-Oscars to deserving child actors. It's always been unfair to have them competing with adults. ALL of those children proved when they grew up that their early "talent" was really all about their precociousness.

In MY opinion, when a small child with no training gives an amazing performance in the film... The AMPAS should give the Oscar to the person who directed the child, not the child itself. Because that's who conceived, created, and worked out the details of the performance.

I've heard this is particularly true of Tatum in "Paper Moon", that her remarkable acting was "created in the editing room".

"Uh.... why do you even follow the Oscars? You must be extremely frustrated every year."

I don't follow the Oscars. But there's no way to avoid publicity about them unless you cut yourself off from all forms of media. The fucking "Oscar buzz" starts months before the actual event. Occasionally I will have seen films and performances that have been nominated. Sometimes a worthy performance or film will win. But mostly the Oscars are a popularity contest. The awards are supposed to be given to the "best" in the category but that rarely happens. So the Oscars are really just a big crock.

"I disagree on Tatum O'Neal. She was wonderful in Paper Moon. It's hard to believe that was her first movie."

Her "performance" was a fluke. She had never acted before. Her performance had to be pulled out of her; Peter Bogdanovich said she had to be bribed to learn her lines. I think the Academy just thought it would be cute to give the Oscar to a little girl that year. Madeline Kahn deserved to win SO much more than Tatum O'Neal.

Yes Patty Duke performance was definitely helped by Arthur Penn, but it was Patty's raw talent that gave her the win. She deserved that award no question about that.

Tatum's role was a lead - Kahn deserved the supporting Oscar

R151 I don't necessarily disagree, but the name of the award is "Best Performance by an Actress" so what is supposed to be judged is strictly what winds up on the screen. Previous knowledge or editing of the performance is inconsequential. With so many wins, it really is the Director or the Editor who should be receiving the prize.

They need to stop giving children Oscars or even nominating them. None of them, Paquin, Tatum...grow up to be good adult actors. I mean, what is Tatum doing? Paquin is having to do Canadian TV, which I think is a direct result of lack of acting chops despite coming off a hit HBO show. The Beast of the Southern Wild was last seen in that dreadful Annie remake.

I also think they should stop nominating child actors. Most of the young actors aren't emotionally prepared for it, and it's kind of unfair to the adult actors having to compete against them. They could institute some kind of new, special award honoring anywhere from 1 to 5 actors under 16 without them having to compete against each other. It could be the very first award so the tykes could then be put to bed.

I'll stick up for "Mary Poppins." It's a Disney film designed to appeal to children, and, secondarily, to adults, with a witty script, much of which goes over the heads of children. I happen to think it's a masterwork of the Disney genre. However I don't think Julie Andrews' performance was particularly Oscar-worthy. Her performance in "The Americanization of Emily" the same year shows her acting talent.

R157 I'm guessing Anthony Hopkins for The Silence of the Lambs.

That is for R137, sorry.

Sandra Bullock's win takes the cake. The year was weak, but not that weak. I didn't get it then and still don't. I think even Sandra is embarrassed about it,

Jane Fonda

Marissa Tomei absolutely deserved it. That's exactly the kind of performance that should be awarded in the Best Supporting category.

R160 The movie is almost completely forgotten now too. Wasn't it also nominated for Best Picture?

Yes, it was

Mary Pickford set the bar high for awfulness with her Oscar win for "Coquette".

I like Marisa Tomei but she was not better than Vanessa Redgrave, sorry.

R166 I disagree. Redgrave didn't really do much. And she died too early in the film. Helena Bonham-Carter deserved it more than her. Personally, I would've nominated Alfre Woodard for PASSION FISH. She is just so wonderful, and the movie wouldn't have worked without her performance to complement Best Actress nominee Mary McDonnell. That's one of my major snubs.

Re Halle/Denzel: I recall that Oscar season very well and it's true that the Academy wanted to make history that night. That season, Jesse Jackson et al. were complaining about the lack of black winners. At the time, only six (Poitier, Hattie McDaniel, Louis Gosset, Jr., Denzel, Whoopi, Cuba) had won in the Oscars 75 years of existence. Besides Crowe fucking up (btw, he actually *attacked* the BAFTA producer who dared to cut his acceptance speech short), Denzel also had Julia Fucking Roberts (who was still bigger than big) campaigning for him, even saying that she "couldn't imagine living in a world where Denzel didn't have a lead Oscar." As for Berry, she had Roger Fucking Ebert on her corner. Also, as has been pointed out, Sidney Poitier was receiving an Honorary Oscar and Denzel became the first black actor since Poitier to win for Best Actor. Also that night, Best Documentary went to MURDER ON A SUNDAY MORNING about a teenage black boy who was wrongfully accused of murder just two years earlier. The Academy was clearly making a statement. The next day, I remember THE VIEW ladies discussing the accusations that Halle and Denzel were only given awards to make history.

[quote]I love AS GOOD AS IT GETS and I do like Helen Hunt. It was a good performance, but I don't understand what's Oscar-worthy about it.

R5 I'll tell you. I'm one that thinks Hunt deserved it over Dench, because Hunt had the tougher role creating a character convincingly from scratch. What's more, the character was just a single-mom waitress. On the other hand, Dench was playing a larger-than-life historical figure and beloved queen, with hundreds of books and references to choose from. In short, it was easier for Dench to shine as a legendary British queen in a biopic (always catnip to Oscar voters) than it was for Hunt to play an ordinary woman and make an impression in a comedy, no less (a genre not often appreciated by the Academy).

A few disagreements with prior remarks:

Ginger Rogers was a very good actress. Watch her go toe-to-toe with Hepburn in "Stage Door".

Marissa Tomei pretty much stole every scene she was in in "My Cousin Vinny" ...not easy to do opposite Joe Pesci.

Everyone wanted to see John Wayne get his Oscar. Sometimes sentiment has it's place. I have to disagree with the poster who said the 3 leads in True Grit were bad. Wayne was Wayne, Glen Campbell was no Olivier, but Kim Darby was wonderful. Her scene opposite Strother Martin was gold. She should have gotten a Supporting Actress nod (even though it really was a lead role).

Renée Z. should have had Oscar for the first Bridget, not for Cold Mountain.

Jodie Foster deserved her child nomination for Taxi Driver. There was thought and effort to that performance. Tatum was wonderful in Paper Moon but I don't think she knew what she was doing. She just had marvelous reactions as a child.

My Fair Lady is as long as the stage musical and nobody had a problem with its length when it opened and was the biggest Broadway sensation of all time. There is the problem as someone said with the shots. Not enough reactions or closeups. Also most of the bits are very good though not the teacup bit and wasn't that taken from the stage version? I think there's a production still with Harrison doing it on stage. I wish they had cut it.

Hepburn is charming as the guttersnipe and at times laugh out loud funny. She deserved the Oscar for the 'small talk' Ascot scene alone. One of the best bits of comic acting I've ever seen in a movie. And she does it in one of the most outrageous ridiculous beautiful costumes ever put on a woman in a film not allowing that hat to take focus from her. Andrews could have never worn it. Look at her boring Ascot costume from the original stage production.

I would have given Audrey the Oscar that year and Andrews the following. I don't know of anybody who has a problem with Harrison's Oscar. Anyone out there? I would have given them as well to Cooper and Holloway.

A big thumbs down for the film of Pygmalion for the Freddy alone.

If Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady was one of the best comedy performances you've ever seen then HOLY SHIT you need to start watching more comedies.

R13 and R14 LOL

Also everyone must get the most recent blu ray. The Robert Harris 50th Anniversary restoration.

One of the most beautiful lush color films you will ever see. We are talking Lawrence and 2001 level here.

I said it's one of the best bits of comic acting I've ever seen and it is. Her affected timing and inflections of somebody trying to speak beautifully in practically a foreign language just learned are uncanny.

Eliza is not a comic role so it's not a comic performance.

Great comic performances never win Oscars anyway.

Roberto Benigni in Life is Beautiful. Hands down!!

DiCaprio for The Revenant

The bear was so much better

Maybe not the worst but Gary Oldman’s recent rubber face turn as Churchill in the Darkest Hour was no more than average. And I don’t get the Day Lewis fan club, I find him hammy and it’s ridiculous that he has ?three Oscars.

R179 they're Brits. The Academy has a hard-on for them, even if they're just mediocre. It's mystifying to the many of us who aren't Anglophiles.