1958-1967 Best Actress Winners

[CalWilliam]

Sophia Loren, Anne Bancroft, Julie Andrews, Julie Christie and Elizabeth Taylor's second would be great choices, but for me it was a tough call between Simone Signoret's sublime performance and Patricia Neal as Alma Brown, a magnificent creation that makes me forgive and forget the category fraud thing. She elevates the movie to another level, but Paul Newman should have won too. She gets my vote, for being probably the lest affected acting turn that ever won this category.

[Reza]

Except for Liz Taylor's first Oscar win I like all the winning performances this decade.

Voted for Signoret. Followed by Loren & Liz Taylor.

[Big Magilla]

This was a decade of fine performances and wins for the most part.

Rosalind Russell in Auntie Mame was my choice of Best Actress for 1958, but the equally overdue Susan Hayward winning for I Want to Live! was a terrific choice as well.

Simone Signoret was compelling in Room at the Top but she'd beeen better in other films and would be better again. Audrey Hepburn should have won that one for The Nun's Story.

Elizabeth Taylor's win for her tracheotomy was the worse win since Mary Pickford won for entertaining Academy board members at Pickfair 31 years earlier. The unnominated Jean Simmons in Elmer Gantry should have gotten her nomination and Deborah Kerr nominated for the last time for The Sundowners should have won.

Sophia Loren was unforgettable in Two Women but my choice for 1961 was Geraldine Page in Summer and Smoke.

Anne Bancroft in The Miracle Worker was unforgettable as well, but my choice for 1962 was Katharine Hepburn in Long Day's Journey into Night.

Patricia Neal was 1963's year's best actress in Hud but her basically supporting performance pales besides those of Loren and Bancroft the prior two years.

Julie Andrews was wonderful in Mary Poppins but she was even more wonderful in the following year's The Sound of Music for which she should have won a second Oscar.

Julie Christie in Darling was the darling of the moment but would become a better actress in the years ahead.

Elizabeth Taylor redeemed herself with her second win for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? but everything she did afterward was forgettable.

Katharine Hepburn finally won a second Oscar after a 34 year wait for a good performance but it wasn't one of her great ones. Edith Evans in The Whisperers and Anne Bancroft in The Graduate were the great ones this year.

I voted for Bancroft officially for The Miracle Worker but really for her body of work during the decade, especially in The Graduate.