Patty Duke (Miracle Worker) or Angela Lansbury (Manchurian Candidate)

Duke was a lead, like Tatum O'Neal and Timothy Hutton. Categorical category FRAUD...

Lansbury was at her very best.

Patty Duke, like Helen Keller, never existed.

Identical cousins? Give me a break!

R1 I don't know why people consider Helen Keller lead in THE MIRACLE WORKER. Annie Sullivan is the main focus; the story is told from her POV. Through helping Helen, Annie is able to finally come to terms with her past and the death of her younger brother. Not to mention, she is also the title character. We don't get any Helen perspective, understandably, and in the play/film she only exists to *support* Annie in her quest. Clearly a supporting role. I think some people consider her lead because she was the main focus in her real life, with Annie being in her shadow.

Matthew Stewart is a film buff who has analyzed all of the Oscar nominated performances to determine whether they were catagorized correctly. He feels that Duke should've been in Lead, not Supporting. Link is from his Twitter thread on all of the Oscar races from 1936 (when the Supporting category was instituted) to the present.

Category fraud aside, here's how I would rank the nominated performances:

1. Lansbury

2. Duke

3. Badham

4. Ritter

5. Knight

The first three are iconic performances; while Duke and Badham are excellent, Lansbury is otherworldly in an astonishing performance.

It should have gone to Badham. I mean she actually played a ham!

We could have these conversations forever, but Patty Duke deserved that supporting Oscar actress award. And yes she was in the right category, because the name of the movie is THE MIRACLE WORKER, the role that Anne Bancroft played. Drop the mic LOL