1968-1977 Best Supporting Actress Winners

[gunnar]

I voted for Tatum O'Neal, even though she was a lead. My next choice was Ruth Gordon.

[Reza]

Voted for Ruth Gordon.

The rest in descending order:

Tatum O'Neal (though she is a lead), Vanessa Redgrave, Cloris Leachman, Beatrice Straight, Eileen Heckart, Ingrid Bergman, Helen Hayes, Lee Grant and Goldie Hawn.

[CalWilliam]

Tatum O'Neal is excluded because of obvious category reasons, as entertaining as she is. Goldie is not as blatant, but definitely a co-lead.

Helen Hayes is funny enough, but not for a win over Karen Black. Eileen Heckart was a compelling mother figure, but Susan Tyrrell should have won. Ingrid Bergman is uproarious but in her speech she knew it was not entirely earned and who should have won. I find Lee Grant fascinating to watch in Shampoo because it seems she's not doing anything. She conveys the frustration and sexual hunger like few would do. The problem is not her performance, but the limitations of her character. Beatrice Straight had the lines and the talent, but it was obviously very theatrical, affected and never justifiable for an Oscar, in my opinion.

It's clearly between Ruth Gordon, Cloris Leachman and Vanessa Redgrave. Just look at the way Gordon eats the cake or the utter void Cloris Leachman conveys with every look and delivery. Masterful supporting turns, but nobody towers Vanessa Redgrave's warmth, enthusiasm and subtle mystery in Julia. She gets my vote.

[Big Magilla]

This is the decade in which career recognition was at its strongest in both supporting categories.

Ruth Gordon's witch next door in Rosemary's Babywas such a delight it was a sure bet that the veteran Broadway star who had lost three nominations for her screenplays and one for acting would finally win on her fifth nomination.

Goldie Hawn was the comic it girl of the moment when she won for Cactus Flower. Catherine Burns in Last Summer and non-nominees Celia Johnson and Pamela Franklin in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie were stronger but they had no chance against Hawn and Dyna cannon in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice in a year when voters were looking for something funny to balance the heavily dramatic winners in the other acting categories.

First Lady of the American Theatre's Helen Hayes stole the audience pleasing Airport our from under an all-star cast, but the year's best performances were those of Karen Black and the non-nominated recent Tony winner, Lois Smith, still going strong at 90, for their work in Five Easy Pieces.

Two performers in the same film were again the year's best, but this time voters were able to chose one over the other when they gave the award to Cloris Leachman over Ellen Burstyn in The Last Picture Show.

Eileen Heckart, having lost her Broadway roles to Rosalind Russell in Picnic and Eve Arden in The Dark at the Top of the Stairs got to recreate one of her great stage triumphs for the first time since 1956's The Bad Seed with Butterflies Are Free to triumph over a predicted third win for Shelley Winters in The Poseidon Adventure.

Tatum O'Neal was quite the charmer in Paper Moon but there were two arguments against her win - one being that her performance was coaxed out of her by her director (Peter Bogdanovich) and the other that her nomination was category fraud in that she was in every frame of the film.

Ingrid Bergman underplayed a minor character in Sidney Lumet's version of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express to astonishing effect, giving another generation an opportunity to reward one of the world's greatest actresses.

Lee Grant in Shampoo benefitted by yet another split between two actresses in the same film, Lily Tomlin and Ronee Blakley in Nashville.

Beatrice Straight was not a movie star, but she was well-known in the acting community for her many Broadway and television appearances and was able to turn a small role in Network into paydirt over the Piper Laurie in Carrie and Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver.

Vanessa Redgrave may have angered some with her acceptance speech for Julia but few would argue that anyone else deserved to win in 1977.

I would really like to bestow a four-way tie between Gordon, Leachman, Heckart, and Bergman, all of whose wins pleased me greatly in real time, but I have to pick one so I'm going to go with Heckart who though repeating a well-worn stage role managed to deliver a performance so fresh that it remains fresh no matter how many times you've seen it.

[Big Magilla]

My thought are coming up. What are yours?