1986 Best Supporting Actor: Who Should Have Won?

I don't have strong opinions about this category/year, other than: "How the fuck did Eric Roberts get nominated?!"

He is one of the most overrated, insufferable actors ever. I never gave him a second thought (I liked him well enough) until seeing him on Nancy McKeon's "Biography" (on A&E or Biography Channel or whatever it was called) back in the early aughts. Obviously, he was very complimentary of her (that's why he was there)...but to listen to pontificate about "ACTING!" (think Lovitz on SNL) and what a great actor HE is, and "She's just as good an actor as I am!".....PUNCHABLE! So full of himself & unlikeable.

I think Arnold Schmenkrish was ROBBED of the Best Gaffer Oscar in ‘86!

A travesty! Tell me who gaffed better than Schmenkrish???

I saw Jagged Edge recently and Loggia did a good job in a decent thriller. Why he was singled with an Oscar nom is beyond me.

Am I missing something?

From his 80s output I only remember him coked to the gills in Pope of Greenwich Village r2.

Two bad performances (Hickey and Roberts) and two unexceptional ones (Ameche and Loggia). Brandauer not only should have won; he should have been the only one of these nominated.

Malik Bowens in Out of Africa would have been a good nominee, too.

Ameche would have been a deserved nominee way back in 1943–for Lubitsch’s Heaven Can Wait.

Brandauer was enigmatic in Out of Africa.

Who stayed long enough to find out R6

Didn't KMB play twin brothers?

Fred Astaire for The Towering Inferno

Why not Christopher Lloyd in Back to the Future?

Or Raul Julia for Kiss of the Spiderwoman?

Raul Julia definitely should have been a nominee—in Best Actor, along with Hurt and instead of Jon Voight.

But would Raul and William have divided voters and cancel each other out? Who would have won instead? Jack for Prizzi's Honor?

I didn’t see any of those. Or I don’t remember them.n

Only Brandauer and Roberts were nominated at the Globes

Klaus Maria Brandauer Bror von Blixen-Finecke Out of Africa [6] Joel Grey Chiun Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins John Lone Joey Tai Year of the Dragon Eric Roberts Buck Runaway Train Eric Stoltz Rocky Dennis Mask

I always thought Roberts' nomination was a makeup for not being nominated for Star 80 which he was pretty great in.

R13 No, I don’t think they would have cancelled each other out. Hurt’s performance was the more acclaimed and had won by itself at Cannes, which has often given split acting prizes, sometimes to one film, like both of Dean Stockwell’s—Compulsion (along with Bradford Dillman and Orson Welles) and Long Day’s Journey Into Night (with his three co-stars).

The idea that two actors in the same category will necessarily split the vote is an Oscar myth. Maximilian Schell, Helen Hayes, Ben Johnson, Cloris Leachman, Tatum O’Neal, Peter Finch, Jason Robards (Julia), Meryl Streep (Kramer vs. Kramer), Timothy Hutton, Jessica Lange (Tootsie), F. Murray Abraham all won over co-stars and I’m sure there are others. Both Shirley MacLaine and Jack Nicholson won over co-stars for Terms of Endearment. Robert de Niro won over two co-stars for Godfather Ii.

One time I legitimately think a split vote prevented either from winning, especially given the supporting actress result, was Gene Hackman and Michael J. Pollard in Bonnie and Clyde, both more memorable than George Kennedy in Cool Hand Luke. Who could choose between Pollard’s introduction at the gas station and his quiet scene in the car with Estelle Parsons just before all hell breaks loose—or Hackman’s introduction (ending with “So, what we going to do?”) and his death scene? Both simply great performances, but there was a strong anti-Bonnie and Clyde contingent strong enough to keep one of two from winning but not one alone (Parsons). By the way, hard to believe, but Pollard was the better-known actor at the time.

The idea that two actors in the same category will necessarily split the vote is an Oscar myth.

Really?

Ameche was outright category fraud.

Danny Glover should have been nominated for The Color Purple.

R18 Yes, Bette, because I simply don’t believe many people voting for All About Eve in the actress category voted for Anne Baxter.

R19 I am the first to object to category fraud, but Cocoon really was an ensemble film, without a real lead role.

More winners over co-stars—Hattie McDaniel, Teresa Wright, Celeste Holm, Dianne Wiest (Bullets Over Broadway), Melissa Leo, Octavia Spencer, Sam Rockwell, Daniel Kaluuya, Jamie Lee Curtis! Anyone else?

Eric Stoltz should have been nominated for Mask. Cher as well.

I think Cher's public fights with Peter Bogdanovich soured Academy members to her performance.

I remember this being a weird group of nominees when it was announced. Don Ameche was nominated solely because of a breakdancing number that his body double did. Danny Glover likely wasn't nominated because his character was just so damn mean. Only Hickey and Brandauer deserve to be included here.

Anyone but Eric Roberts!

I actually remember Eric Roberts being pretty great in Runaway Train. I think most of you haven’t actually seen it and are basing your comments on his career on a whole.

He also probably had some goodwill left over from his performance the year before in The Pope of Greenwich Village in which he was excellent as well as his work in Star 80 which should have yielded his first nomination.

I would never let Julia forget that I was nominated first if I were him.

I am one of those unimpressed with Roberts, above, and would not express an opinion without having seen the movie.

I went into Runaway Train expecting a lean, somewhat existential action movie and instead got a lot of actors—ACTING! as Jon Lovitz used to say—in Voight’s case, unconvincingly, in Roberts, his usual mush-mouthed self. See Ryan Gosling in Blade Runner 2049 for minimalist acting that still fully registers, the exact opposite of what they are both doing here.

Seemingly contradictory, I do agree that The Pope of Greenwich Village is well worth seeing—for Geraldine Page’s two scenes. Isn’t this ACTING? Yes, but in the kind of movie that can easily accommodate it. I don’t think Runaway Train is that kind of movie and it quickly becomes distracting.

The Best Supporting Actor nominees should have been:

Klaus Maria Brandauer for Out of Africa

Danny Glover for The Color Purple

Raul Julia for Kiss of the Spider Woman

Christopher Lloyd for Back to the Future

Daniel Day Lewis for My Beautiful Launderette

Any one would have been a great winner.

Wasn't DDL the lead in Laundrette?

Eric Stoltz should have gotten in for Mask

As well as Joel Grey for Remo Williams. A lot of people were stunned when they saw the film and realized it was him. And he gave a great performance to boot.

Out of Africa was such an overrated bore.

Runaway Train got nominations because it was run nonstop on cable during Oscar season if I remember. So a lot of potential voters saw it.

I went into Runaway Train expecting a lean, somewhat existential action movie and instead got a lot of actors—ACTING!

R26 - well if you have to compete with a runaway train you gotta supply some juice.

R28 no, technically Saeed Jaffrey and Roshan Seth are the main characters.

What about Ian Holm in Dance with a Stranger?

And Miranda Richardson too. I would have easily swapped her for Geraldine Page or Meryl.

Brandauer was the best part of the movie besides the scenery.

R34 and the score

R32 Holm and John Gielgud (Plenty) would have been excellent nominees.

Daniel Day Lewis, yes!, but My Beautiful Laundrette opened in the U.S. in 1986—and did get an Oscar nom for original screenplay a year later.

Raul Julia, yes!, but he was one of the two leads in Kiss of the Spider Woman—though just today it was announced that Diego Luna in the same part will compete in supporting actor for the musical version.

I like topics like this.

Klaus