Why was Sally Kirkland so nervous when she lost the Oscar to Cher?

I believe she had won the Golden Globe (Drama) for “Anna.” She’s quite good in the film and deserved the Oscar nomination.

My favorite loser reaction is still Talia Shire

Perhaps she thought that if she won, it would catapult her into A List status, so she had a lot at stake with this award.

Talia Shire was dumb to insist on being campaigned for best actress, had she gone supporting she would’ve been a lock for the win.

Sally had to finance her Oscar campaign as the company that made Anna told her they didn’t have the money to put one together. The movie came and went, but started getting attention after Kirkland won the LA film critics award, the golden globe and independent spirit award. She had been in Hollywood for years mostly doing small roles and tv guest shots. I appreciated that she didn’t hide that she wanted to win.

I’m guessing she finished third behind Cher and holly hunter. She’s a solid character actress and I wish she hadn’t messed herself up with surgery.

I helped Sally prepare for a role in 1995 and spent many hours together, mostly at her West Hollywood apartment. She complained that Cher was a singer, not an actress and her win was a fluke. Kirkland was bat shit crazy. Sweet and kind one minute, then a screeching banshee the next if you crossed her in the smallest way.

Sally's GG...

Sally's globes.

R5 Classic Borderline Personalty Disorder…aka “actress.”

As Mrs. Bates on Criminal Minds...

R7 Sally had a crazy Lana Wood vibe…Lana was another who liked baring her big floppy titties.

Bitch tried to steal my unstable act, but never MY Oscar.

I had forgotten Cher was up against all of those women. It has to make that Oscar mean even more to her.

R4 I still think Straight would’ve won over Shire in the supporting actress category. The love for Network was strong that year, winning three of the four acting categories (only Streetcar Named Desire has managed to do this as well). Rocky struck out completely in the acting categories. Stallone had the best chance. He may have very well placed second behind Finch. Holden and DeNiro a possibility here too for second.

As for Kirkland, she deserved the nomination for Anna, but she was up against some major competition. Plus she didn’t have the name recognition you needed then to win. Cher was everywhere that year. Close on her 5th nomination was in a true zeitgeist film that people couldn’t stop talking about. Plus Hunter was the critics darling in a performance that was a revelation. Kirklands reaction is kind of like Kathleen Turner the year before when she was on the verge of tears when the names were read. I believe Kirkland is a friend of Chers too. It was one of those years where having the globe and the LA film critics lead actress wasn’t enough to overcome the strength of the other nominees.

According to Sally, she was told after the ceremony that she came in second place.

Sally worked her ass off for the nomination, hosting dinners, attending numerous parties. Shelley Winters helped her out a lot in terms of courting the older crowd to vote for her.

^I also told her G came in last

DON'T go for second best, Sally!

[QUOTE] According to Sally, she was told after the ceremony that she came in second place.

How would this information have even come to her though? It’s strictly close held by the accounting firm and never revealed publicly.

I’ve heard this in the past and think it might be a rumor.

"According to Sally, she was told after the ceremony that she came in second place"

She was probably told by.....HERSELF ...... while looking in the mirror so she could finish out the evening.

I suspect she might have came in second or third that year. As good as Glenn Close was in fatal attraction, the Academy was much more conservative during that time. I could picture the risque sex scene as well as the attempted suicide scene turning a lot of older voters off. Plus, Glenn's character really has no redeeming value. As even she admits, you grow to despise her as the movie goes on. Very rarely did female actresses win for that type of role.

Cher

Holly Hunter and Sally Kirkland switch second or third

Glenn Close

Meryl Streep

R5 What role? I met her in the early 90s. She was campaigning for an Emmy nom for some Fox MOW about a haunted house. Batshit crazy, yeah. I'd confirm that.

Jesus Christ, she couldn't even get a mainstream film after the Oscar nomination? Her follow-up was Skinemax and more nude roles?

Maybe Talia Shire hated Faye Dunaway? I mean, a lot of people do!

R22 I would go with that assumption. She’s really angry it’s Faye Dunaway who has won not that she has lost.

I love SALLY!

Shire looks pissed throughout the entire presentation

I love Talia Shire getting terrorized by Elizabeth Ashley (as a predatory dyke) in WINDOWS. The “first movie of the 1980s.”

I forgot Cher was up against Meryl and Glenn. All great actresses. Cher remarked that Meryl told her the secret to good acting was the way you acted when you weren’t the central actress in a scene and when you weren’t the one saying the line.

Sally was nervous because she knew it was her last hurrah. It was now or never.

Talia should have known better going up against Faye. Supporting, yes. But the lead--even if she were--was futile.

She deluded herself into thinking she'd win.

It got worse as years went by. She started saying she almost tied Cher. (as if anyone knows the vote totals.)

Sally is basically Angelyne: a whackjob LA novelty who hasn't changed her hair in 40 years

How many voters actually saw Anna compared to the other high profile nominees? More voters im sure even saw Ironweed more than they did Anna. She could’ve easily come in third or fourth. I got around to seeing it on VHS in the 90s. Sally was excellent, but she was a one great performance actor. Her career post Oscar nomination speaks for itself. She slid into B movie crap.

Anna

[quote]How many voters actually saw Anna compared to the other high profile nominees?

Very few voters actually sit and watch all the nominated performances. They vote on buzz and name recognition. Sally didn't have much of a mainstream acting career but she was well connected within in the industry due to working with Lee Strasburg. She was friends with a lot of heavy hitters of that time, and coached Barbra on her performance in Yentl.

Winning the LA film critics award and then the Golden Globe put her in good standing, and her determination in getting a nomination generated a lot of publicity.

Well...she tried.

Sally’s audition scene in “Anna” Was worth the nomination alone.

I thought for a minute that Talia was going to rush up on stage and viciously slap Miss Dunaway.

This one, R20.

[quote]She was friends with a lot of heavy hitters of that time, and coached Barbra on her performance in Yentl.

Barbra: "And at this point I chase after him and shout 'Avigdor, slow down and let me catch up with you!' "

Sally frowns. "It's not authentic. And it's too wordy. Why not just tell him to wait?"

Barbra: "Okay, how's this: Avigdor, wait!"

Sally: "That's it!!"

She was just awful in her guest role as David's mother in Roseanne. Her acting in this scene was simultaneously wooden and over-the-top, which is a difficult thing to achieve, so I suppose I give her props for that.

I never realized the resemblance between Kirkland and Kristen Wiig.

[quote] According to Sally, she was told after the ceremony that she came in second place.

I'm sure she says that, but that's complete bullshit. Price Waterhouse makes it clear they NEVER tell anyone that.

SHIRE! BAGGINS!!!!!

WOW, Louise Fletcher was naturally very pretty. I never remember her looking like anyone but old Nurse Ratchet until I watched the Oscar clip.

[quote]I assume she's wealthy from her Costco products

Aw! I think it’s really sweet that you think she’s some kind of Costco millionaire.

No.

She’s actually *sold* at Costco. They keep the Sally Kirklands in the back of the store by the rotisserie chickens. It’s a business model called “loss leader pricing” where they actually lose money on the chickens and the Sallys to get people to the back of the store where they see all the other stuff that’s priced higher and generates more revenue. It’s good for sales, but not for Oscar marketing.

R43 I watched Cuckoo’s Nest recently and didn’t realize how pretty she was-even as Nurse Ratchet. Beautiful eyes.

Cher can't act..

Ouch comparing her to Angelyne. She eccentric for sure, but she actually has talent, unlike Angelyne. In fact, she considered a good actress among many of her peers.

Some of the worst acting ever captured on film was Sally Kirkland on "Roseanne". She had a couple scenes as David and Mark's mother, and my god she was horrible. I still remember it almost 30 years later.

[quote]How many voters actually saw Anna compared to the other high profile nominees?

Kirkland said Gena Rowlands told her, "I voted for you, Sally, but I have to confess something, I never saw the film, but I wanted you to win so much because of that campaign."

And she went on to nothing good. if anything in the long run people consider Glenn to have the iconic performance along with Cher. No one talks about Sally as some great lost treasure.

It's strange she didn't manage to get a half-decent role after an Oscar nomination if she's so well-conected.

Anna was never going to be as remembered as Moonstruck or Fatal Attraction because it wasn't made for a broader audience like they were.

R47 you're joking right? No one hires her these days for her talent.

They hire her so they can put the fact that they have an Oscar Nominee in their press release. She's basically Eric Roberts, except he can occasionally get a decent role.

Back when it first aired, R39 and R48, I would have agreed with you. But, she's quite compelling in the posted clip, even if it's a bit one-note. She seems to be playing it like her character is deranged alcoholic on the emotional spectrum, so it kind of works (for me, now). I do recall Roseanne's acting being extremely wooden to the point of non-existent when the show first started, but, props to her for stepping it up rather quickly. I think she really earned that Emmy (for the fourth season or so).

That show (even before the resurrection and the mess that followed) was a bit of an oddity to me, though. I still think it's one of the greatest TV shows (around Seasons 3 - 5-ish, especially), but the casting was sometimes weird. Whilst I understand the show wanting the likes of Oscar winners like Shelley Winters and Estelle Parsons, I'll never understand them as mother and daughter. Part of it was the seven years between Winters and Parsons, but then I don't see either of them (or maybe just Parsons?) as respective grandmother and mother of Roseanne and Laurie Metcalf. And there were the additional convoluted family relations as well as the series wore on.

I just finished going through the entire Nip/Tuck series and I can kind of see an influence of Roseanne's strange casting, multiple babies/marriages within a small group, etc on that show. Anyway, sorry about the tangent.

Eric Roberts was actually a very talented actor. Whatever happened to him was pretty steep. Because you would think after your sister becomes the most famous person in the world someone would hire you. But no one ever did. There's something there.

The showrunners wanted Roseanne surrounded with lots of talent- especially at the beginning of the show, when Roseanne was green.

And it continued on. That show had so many wonderful characters like Sandra and Bonnie. Too bad Roseanne went nuts.

At 0:25 Shelley appears to be no fan of Jill clayburgh. I guess sally hit too late. By the time of Anna she was past the good age in Hollywood. She worked with tony scott after the Oscar nom and it was a small but pivotal role in revenge and also oliver stone in jfk where she had a small role. So she did try to work with some big name directors. She was in a film with Michael Caine and roger moore in 1990 called Bullseye! perhaps that was her make or break part after Anna.

R53 I'm not kidding. Many people that worked with her over the years have commented about finding her talented. She was respected as a NY stage actress in the 60s and accepted into the Actors Studio at that time. I think if she were more conventionally attractive, she would've had a better career. She didn't have the nose and boob job until she was relatively old for an actress.

She went a little far trying to play a sexpot in her 40s and 50s. That probably didn't help her in getting better parts, along with her age and not being a big name.

She was a whore, darlin'

She was nervous because she has bet a lot of money in Vegas that she would win the Oscar. 😆

She coached Barbra on Yentl?

Then she took Barbra's spot in the nominees this year. (or I guess Miss Dunaway could have got it too.)

People keep pointing out her Golden Globe but Cher won too that year---in the comedy category.

I like Sally Kirkland's products at Costco.

The actress' efforts were almost militant in their unabashed fervor, starting a grassroots campaign for the Oscar. First, she wrote letters to everyone she knew who was an Academy member, enlisting the help of friends in the promotion of her work. Some even say she wrote to every single member of AMPAS.

Furthermore, Kirkland would talk to any journalist that was willing to shine the spotlight on her, doing more for her little movie than many big-shot promoters ever did for studio blockbusters. She hired two press agents and paid for ads out of her own pocket in a similar fashion to Melissa Leo in 2010, called in favors from Andy Warhol and Joan Rivers, and attended every event she was invited to. Hell, she might have even appeared in some she wasn't invited to. Dale Olson, an experienced publicist, threw a dinner party for Sally Kirkland which was so successful and talked about, he later made sure to remark that it wasn't his chicken cordon bleu that won Kirkland her accolades. It probably helped, though.

They nominated Streep for one of her lower end performances. She often gets that fifth slot these days. She definitely knocked out Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks) in 2013 for August: Osage County. There's an argument to be made that she could have been fifth in 2017 behind McDormand, Hawkins, Robbie, and Ronan. Negga was probably the one who kept Amy Adams out in 2016, but she couldn't have been that far behind Streep. She was fourth or fifth in 1999.

The AMPAS accepting Dunaway back after Mommie Dearest would have been interesting (but I can't see it). Babs getting in for Nuts seems more likely, but difficult to envision as well considering the poor reviews for the movie. Diane Keaton was a delight in Baby Boom, but my money would have been on Babs I guess as the likeliest to drop-kick Streep out of a nomination. Perhaps she would have had she promoted the film more (according to Wikipedia, she thought the initial audience screenings suggested the movie would sell itself). It probably would have made more money too. The AMPAS nominated her after her Oscar win for acting, so it's not like she couldn't get in again for such a baity performance. I watched it as a kid, but don't remember it. That might make a good revisit (or not).

Meryl was not even the real lead of August Osage County. Roberts should've been up for Lead and not supporting. Category fraud.

I still remember that clip from r39. Sally was terrible in it. Roseanne was good in that scene as was Galecki. Kirkland was way too hammy here.

Dunaway definitely deserved a nomination for Barfly. Can you imagine her AND Sally in the same category??

R58 I've worked with people who have worked with her this century. She's booked because she's an Oscar nominee and her day rate is dirty cheap.

R55 Eric was a mess for awhile, but now he's ok. He'll work on ANY film that will pay his day rate. Some are decent, some are garbage.

If I had a low budget producer asking me who they should spend their budget on, I'd say Eric.

there was a big fight about that r65

Julia's people leaked that she'd be lead and Meryl supporting. Meryl was hurt by this so Julia went supporting to mend fences.

I think Amy Adams knocked Emma Thompson out for Saving Mr. Banks. She was the one who hadn't hit the precursors. M and Emma both had.

In the Roseanne clip Sally is 'playing to the back row' but she is effectively repulsive.

But to be fair, how could anyone give a good performance on that set with Roseanne at war with everyone? It must have been a toxic, depressing environment.

Julia bought a house for Eric Roberts' ex-wife and daughter Emma when Eric was too messed up to support them.

I wonder if Julia and Eric talk at all nowadays.

Just cause it was Meryl Streep because I don't see Julia Roberts every agreeing to play second fiddle to anyone.

She took a supporting role in The Normal Heart r72.

R71 they don't speak

[quote]She was in a film with Michael Caine and roger moore in 1990 called Bullseye! perhaps that was her make or break part after Anna.

I came here to mention this. Bullseye! is one of the worst films I have ever seen, and I've seen several thousand films, including some absolute crap that could barely be called a movie.

However, she was in a ton of stuff between Anna and Bullseye! including a music video, so I think her career had gone a bit south before she was even cast in Bullseye!

She was in a really good bad B-movie called Best of the Best just two years after Anna. Eric Roberts and James Earl Jones are also in it. If you like that late-80s era of low-budget martial arts movies, give it a try.

Everyone knows she's not a very nice person.

R65, I agree that Roberts was category frauded into supporting. She should have also been up for lead. But, the Academy hasn't made room for two leads of the same sex since 1991 (Thelma & Louise). I don't even know if there will ever be another instance going forward.

Stellar work by Roberts, though. She would have missed had they both been campaigned in lead, as Streep (as hammy as she is, had the baitier role and is able to use her name more to elbow herself into nominations sometimes). I don't see Violet Weston as supporting, though, not even in the movie.

R69, thanks for the info. I remember that "controversy." I think it was early August 2013 right before the award festival circuit started.

American Hustle, though, began to catch steam at just the right time (it won NYFCC best film and nominations rained down on it for Oscars), as August was taking blows for the bad reviews. Adams missed a SAG nod in part because she wasn't in line to perhaps win (like Lawrence was) and the film was one of the last if not the last to be screened for 2013. Once it got seen, the movie and performances built a fanbase. She also went on to win the Globe, so there was definitely growing love for her. I guess we'll never know. But, I got a sense that Streep's campaign was growing desperate to get in. But, maybe I was projecting.

[quote]They nominated Streep for one of her lower end performances. She often gets that fifth slot these days. She definitely knocked out Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks) in 2013 for August: Osage County.

Saving Mr. Banks was dull and it was obvious Oscar bait, I don't think Thompson ever had a real chance for a nomination. It got a courtesy nomination for Original Score and that was all it was ever going to get.

Shame, too, because it was such a good concept, but they killed it by turning it into a star-studded cast headed by America's Sweetheart Tom Hanks.

And yes, I just called Tom Hanks "America's Sweetheart." It's accurate and it rolls of the tongue more easily than America's Favorite Bland Inoffensive Whitebread Actor Dude.

I think at first most people thought that both Julia and Meryl would both be up for lead. And both get nominated. I didn't like American Hustle other than Lawrence so I didn't think it would be an issue.

* "OFF the tongue" at r78

Hmmn. Maybe Thompson didn't have a chance. I thought anyone who gets nominations for SAG/BAFTA/Globe/BFCA has a chance. It doesn't always work out (Lady Gaga for House of Gucci being a recent example). But, if August: Osage County didn't exist, they would have nominated somebody. I think they would have went with Thompson before that young French actress (Adele Ex---------) for the 3-hour lesbian soft-porn film or Kate Winslet for that turkey Labour Day, R78.

R79, Whilst people who knew the play would have expected both actresses playing Violet and Barbara to be campaigned in lead, people who knew Harvey Weinstein's tricks would have expected them to be split based on his history. Streep's performance was divisive (some of her reviews were scathing) and the Globes picked Adams, so, if Roberts went lead, it's likely she would have missed, which is why Weinstein had the foresight to split the actresses up and maximise nominations.

Roberts had better reviews than Streep for AOC

Roberts was definitely better than Streep in AOC.

When the movie was announced I remember the headline being.. The world's most famous actress and the world's best actress finally come together.

I don't dispute that. I prefer Roberts over Streep in that film.

But, Streep had the baitier role (it won the Tony as well), she was Streep, and had some support for her performance. That would have trumped Robert's "welcome back" nomination after 13 years.

Adams was singled out almost as much as Lawrence in the Hustle reviews. She was on a nomination streak (had four nods under her belt for the last eight years), , Adams went on to win the Globe, and the AMPAS showered Hustle with nominations. Adams wouldn't have missed to Roberts.

Streep has never forgiven Julia for mopping the floor with her. Similar to when Winona Ryder absolutely stole Mermaids away from Cher and was almost Oscar nominated. In a flighty movie I felt Ryder's performance amazing

[quote]Streep has never forgiven Julia for mopping the floor with her.

LOL yeah I’m sure that’s what happened. Meryl had a career before, during, and after Julia. I’m sure Meryl was okay.

Another one of my fave reaction clips. Burstyn looks flabbergasted after hearing Glenda’s name.

Also, poor Susan…

Diane Ladd's reaction is notable here as well. It probably did not make her feel better with how nonchalant Bergman was about winning and then spends her speech talking about one of the other nominees.

It would be tough to have to put on a smiling face when you get a big disappointment. That was one of Susan Lucci's skills

Talia Shire was in this clip as well. She seemed to have a few big years and then largely disappeared.

[quote] Why was Sally Kirkland so nervous when she lost the Oscar to Cher?

Cocaine.

Talia never wins and never will.

R91 I would have nominated her for Worst Supporting on Godfather III in her role of cannoli-poisoning Connie of course she would be a loser again to Sofia Coppola.

Talia should’ve had a better career after two nominations, but she kept falling back on doing Adrian in too many Rocky films, which I think typecast her. She was even willing to do another one, but she found out they were killing off Adrian, and she has said it’s almost a relief she was done with the character.

I saw a license plate once that said “YO ADRIAN” and always laugh thinking about it.

Years ago I worked at an online casting website in LA. This was in the early days of online casting and actors weren’t yet able to upload their own photos to the site so they would come into our office and we would scan their photos and upload them.

Sally Kirkland came in and I helped her and she was a bit of a loon but just the nicest person! She and I had a nice visit while I worked and I told her about my mom who was very I’ll at the time and sally said she’d include my mother in her prayer circle. She was just very sweet.

She came back a month or two later and asked how my mom was doing. So wonderful!

Everybody is nervous at the Oscars especially when their category comes up.

Wasn't she clinically insane for much of her adult life?

R96 yeah but not everybody shows it as much as Kirkland. Her entire mouth was quivering. Even Cher looked kind of grim when her name was read, compared to Holly, Meryl and Glenn that mastered the whatever happens happens look.

For those interested, Sally Kirklands "Anna" is streaming for free on Tubi. I haven't seen it in ages...going to watch it now

^Sally Kirkland

Is it too late to make a Costco joke?

Talia Shire should win an award for best award loss face

Also: Talia Shire was great in Godfather III!

She was its only saving grace.

I also loved Talia in The Godfather Part III. Quiet, but a bad-ass.

Sally had a drinking problem, at rhe very least.

Yes, r101.

I was always shocked by how bad her performances were on Roseanne in the few episodes that featured her.

She ran out of barbecue sauce.

In the picture at OP, the other 4 seem so amused and Sally looks so earnest.

It’s kind of sad.

Sally’s greatest performance.

Meryl took the spot that could have gone to either Faye or Diane Keaton.

I think Meryl really earned the nomination in the “He’s Me Pal” scene in IRONWEED. It’s absolutely heartbreaking. She was likely fifth place but it’s not one of her (many) “filler nods.”

I don’t care what anyone says I loved Cher in Moonstruck. I think she absolutely deserved the Oscar. It’s one of my favorite movies of all time.

Sally Kirkland is going to speak out against the vaccination mandate for SAG members. She says about the shot:

[quote]“I’m against the vaccination mandate because when I took the second shot last year, I became chronically ill for seven-and-a-half months. I ended up in the hospital and thought I was dying three times.”

So if you were worried that Sally found sanity in her later years, don't worry: she's still nuts.

She had been kicking around for years and finally got her big break and gave an outstanding performance for Anna. Cher was cute but I would have voted for Sally.

[quote]“I’m against the vaccination mandate because when I took the second shot last year, I became chronically ill for seven-and-a-half months. I ended up in the hospital and thought I was dying three times.”

Someone's overly dramatic.

I know someone who hired Sally last year. The "work all the time she's getting"...nothing to brag about, honey.

I remember reading either in a book or magazine article about the Oscar’s, army archerd was interviewing her in the red carpet and she said “HELLO TO ALL THE SALLY KIRKLAND FANS OUT THERE” and the writer wrote “yeah all three of you….”

My friend grew up in LA. He tells the story of being a teenager and standing outside that restaurant that used to have the big after party.

Sally went up and down the hands of everyone watching and telling them to see her film "Anna".

oops make that up and down the line shaking hands of everyone....

"Sally went up and down the hands of everyone watching and telling them to see her film "Anna". "

Pretty much a fucking genius.

Reality show pitch: Sally and Brenda Dickson rent a house together in Hollywood and vie for roles for “women of a certain age”.

OP - she wasn't nervous, she was desperate! Nobody ever wanted that Oscar more!!

Did she get her titties out?

Did Glenn think she was going to win?

This would have been Glenn’s fourth nomination in like six years.

At the time, Glenn had no chance. She probably finished a distant fourth. If given now, she could win.

R125 I doubt--the film and role were too controversial. Plus she knew that this was Oscar's chance to mirror a Cinderella story told on film for an actress who had also become Cinderella at the ball. I love Cher, and think she is a great, instinctive actress, but this was not a demanding role.

I love Cher’s character’s “glow up” in Moonstruck. She looks gorgeous during the big date night.

Cher was heavily favored to win. It is why she looks so terrified as they read the nominees.

She had had a great couple of years and been overlooked for Mask when she was expected to be nominated so it was her time. No one else stood a chance.

Close as said was in too controversial a film. Bitchy Shirley MacLaine read the nominees and then said to the press she was unhappy Fatal Attraction got so many nominations since she "doesn't like movies about stabbing people."

What a nasty old witch Shirley was to say with R130, no wonder the Academy never nominated her again after Tearm Of Endearment!

Really, she deserved ;nominations for Madame Sousatzka, Steel Magnolias or Postcards From The Edge, but after she had won they were done with her.

Fatal Attraction did score a best pic nomination also. It was THAT popular and part of the zeitgeist. We know Meryl came in last. Glenn won none of the precursors and she might’ve placed higher than fourth place, considering it was her 4th nomination and she was respected. More voters saw FA than Anna, but was that enough to give her more votes than Kirkland? Hunter most likely came in second place.

[quote]Fatal Attraction did score a best pic nomination also. It was THAT popular and part of the zeitgeist.

It was a surprise Best Picture nomination.

The only category I think the movie stood a chance in winning was Anne Archer in supporting.

R133 A nomination for that type film is almost unheard of, so I think it was significant. Plus Lyne got into the directing nominations, so clearly there was love for the film. Michael Douglas won I think for both FA and Wall Street. A big year for him just like Cher. Archer had no chance up against Dukakis, nor did the other nominees in BSA.

Anne Archer had no chance for BSA, she was not memorable or iconic. She didn't even show her tits!

[QUOTE] A big year for him just like Cher. Archer had no chance up against Dukakis, nor did the other nominees in BSA.

I really like the Best Supporting Actress line-up for this year: The year of the “Anne’s.”

Norma Aleandro gives a beautifully humane performance in “Gaby: A True Story.” and was nominated also to make up for the Academy snubbing her for The Official Story. I would bet that Rachel Levin was in the top ten for lead contenders that year.

Ann Sothern was the standout in “The Whales of August,” a Bette Davis / Lillian Gish vehicle, and this was a nice career nomination for her.

Anne Ramsey is hysterical in “Throw Momma from the Train” and I love that she (and the far-from-Academy-friendly film) were recognized.

Anne Archer is very believable in “Fatal Attraction” and comes out as the ultimate protectress of her family as she’s the one to take Glenn out at the end. But she was just along for the ride and represented the over-performance of ”Fatal Attraction” on nomination morning.

I don’t think Olympia Dukakis was every going to lose this. It seemed, even at the time, to be one of the most locked wins of the night for “Moonstruck.” Her Oscar clip opposite Danny Aiello (“Thank you! Thank you for answering my question!”) is so memorable.

A much-deserved win and a real interesting array of actresses and performances for this year.

A real shame Our Faye didn't make the top 5 this year, it may have boosted her confidence

R136 I always crack up when she’s woken up at the beginning of the film and she says Who died? Olympia really made the most of every scene. It was probably a blow out victory for her.

[quote] Ann Sothern was the standout in “The Whales of August,” a Bette Davis / Lillian Gish vehicle

Did Ann ever comment/take sides on the “feud” between Gish and Davis?

Lillian Gish

Smelled Like Fish

In Her Filthy Knickers!

R139 There was no real feud. Bette Davis was just being her old cantankerous bitchy cunt self while Lillian Gish wore ear-plugs while pretending not to notice, which only infuriated Bette more.

I thought it was so odd Gish didn't get a nomination. She should have taken Streep's.

Oh please. Gish was everybit as hateful, making fun of Davis' post stroke face. They both came off as awful.

Many critics at the time praised Ann Sothern's nomination, because they felt she was the one out of all them who truly deserved it.

Faye Dunaway should have taken Streep's nomination. She is amazing in Barfly, and it's one of her finest hours.

R142 it’s been years since I’ve seen Barfly, but wasn’t it more of a supporting performance? Not that it makes a difference to the voters sometimes. Rachel Levin would’ve gotten it before Dunaway and Streisand if no Streep that year anyway. There was no Oscar nomination love for Streisand in the 80s, especially for a role that was laughable for her in Nuts, and Faye was in her humorless twat phase (still is 35 years later) and her name didn’t mean much in the industry at that point.

Is the Streisand the one where she cast herself as a high-end call girl? That really is NUTS!

Debra Winger would have been better in NUTS. I think she was originally cast.

Streep was nominated so she could jump for joy when her old pal Cher won. I loved that moment!

Meryl was very effective in Ironweed. Even Nicholson jettisoned his usual trite persona and was quite good.

In one interview, Sally Kirkland said she didn't know what a misogynist was until she worked with Michael Winner. He was up there with Joel Silver as one of the misogynists in the business.

Fatal Attraction (#2) and Moonstruck (#5) were the only Best Picture nominees among the year's Top 10 grossers, so that helped out both Glenn an Cher tremendously.

However, Cher had a banner year: Witches of Eastwick was the 10th highest-grossing film of 1987. That certainly gave her the edge -- like when Sandra Bullock had the smash hits The Proposal and The Blind Side in 2009 and was nominated/won for the latter.

[quote]Rachel Levin would’ve gotten it before Dunaway and Streisand if no Streep that year anyway.

Totally agree! Two years later, Daniel Day-Lewis won all of the accolades, including the Oscar, for pretty much the same performance in My Left Foot, except in male form. If he and Brenda Fricker were seen as a package and thus both were nominated/won, then the same should have happened with Gaby: a True Story. Norma Aleando's exquisite performance was a reflection of Levin's, who was nominated for the Golden Globe.

Incidentally, after I watched Gaby for the first time a decade ago, I wanted to learn more about the lead actress.. That is how moved I was by her performance. Imagine my shock and surprise when I learned that she now goes by Rachel Chagall and was 'Val Toriello' on THE NANNY?!?! It made me appreciate her performance in Gaby all the more.

R148 Michael Winner was a rich, dilettante who knew very little a out films but had the connections and privilege to work on many.

He also riled Helen Mirren up back when she was a starlet and he treated her like meat

Siskel and Ebert were pushing hard for a Dunaway nomination. They had a lot of influence then. I'd guess Dunaway was close.

Norma Alejandro's nomination was seen as a make-up for being passed over for The Official Story 2 years prior. (She had tied with Cher at Cannes yet both were Oscar snubbed.)

It worked out well for her in the end when she started her eponymous brand at Costco.