1974 Best Supporting Actress: My Choice

1974's Best Supporting Actress films have all been watched, and I gotta say, this was a strange year. All five performances seem to illicit the same response from me, namely: What was it about this particular performance that made it stand out? Several huge snubs were committed this year, for example Karen Black in The Great Gatsby and Beatrice Arthur in Mame (which was a critical and commercial bomb, but she earned some acclaim nonetheless), and for that matter, most people consider Valerie Perrine's role in Lenny to be Supporting, which in modern estimations is probably true, and it's not impossible she might have won if she'd been nominated here, but instead she was nominated for Best Actress.

This isn't to take anything away from any of the nominees, but it's funny that in nearly all cases, the roles could be thought of almost as cameos. Ingrid Bergman and Talia Shire probably only got about 20 minutes of "face time" each, while Madeline Kahn's role is mostly remembered for one scene, which is also true of Valentina Cortese. As for Diane Ladd, she doesn't appear until the latter half of her film, and while she chews up all the scenery in her scenes, she's still a very peripheral character.

1974's nominees, once again, are:

• Ingrid Bergman as Greta Ohlsson in Murder on the Orient Express
• Valentina Cortese as Séverine in Day for Night
• Madeline Kahn as Lili von Schtupp in Blazing Saddles
• Diane Ladd as Florence Jean "Flo" Castleberry in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
• Talia Shire as Constanzia "Connie" Corleone in The Godfather, Part II

The Academy's Choice: Ingrid Bergman in Murder on the Orient Express

Weighing the Performances:

I wish I didn't seem like I was damning all these fine actresses and perfectly respectable performances with faint praise. I thought they all did admirable jobs; I just didn't feel in any case like they were standouts, and felt that most of them didn't really have enough screentime or focus to do much with. Compare this to, say, 1995 (the first year I began predicting the Oscars) where the nominees included the long-suffering wife of a failing president, a grieving but determined wife of a stranded astronaut, a talkative hooker whose lack of intelligence is both hilarious and kinda touching, and two sister characters who could both be considered second leads in their films. Heck, the bubble-headed hooker is pretty much the female lead of her film, too, and in all cases the actresses had many scenes and a lot to work with.

For 1974, though, we have, in the order above, one legendary performer acting alongside a large number of other legendary performers, all given a handful of small scenes, hers no exception and not really a standout; an aging Italian actress in a French film playing an aging Italian actress who has to be kept happy or she'll melt down; a comedienne playing a German lounge singer in a parody film who sings about being tired of going through men, a brassy, outspoken waitress and a gangster's daughter coping with the death of her husband by avoiding her parental responsibilities and running to drugs, booze and men.

We hear frequently about the year 1976, and how all but one of the performances nominated for Best Supporting Actress that year were essentially cameos, but I've never heard that said of this year, and I don't know why, because it's more or less true. None of these actresses receive much focus, the plots don't hinge on any of their characters' actions, and all of them seem to actually be featured in about 20% of their respective films, if not less. I know this is the supporting category, but even in this category most performances are still prominent.

Ingrid Bergman in Murder on the Orient Express

Let's start with Ingrid Bergman, who portrays Swedish missionary Greta Ohlsson in Murder on the Orient Express, who considers it her calling to work with "little brown babies in Africa".  As I said in the review of that film, Ms. Bergman does a fine job, and totally sells the plain, frumpy, mousy missionary to the point where we forget any glamorous roles we've seen Bergman in, and she does go through a span of emotions in a short scene, maintaining a quiet intensity and dignity that holds up even during a long, unbroken shot focused solely on her. As good as this is, I still wonder why she was considered the standout by the Academy, who didn't nominate Anthony Perkins, Wendy Hiller or Lauren Bacall for the same film, despite them being equally Award-worthy, if different from Ms. Bergman. For that matter, this is Bergman's third Oscar. What about this role made the Academy think that a woman who'd already won twice (which is usually once more than most actors can hope to win) deserved to win a third time? By the way, you know who else didn't think Bergman deserved to win? Bergman. As she said in her acceptance speech:

It's always very nice to get an Oscar. But in the past he has shown that he is very forgetful and also has the wrong timing. Because last year when "Day and Night" (sic) won for the best picture (actually Foreign Language film) I couldn't believe it that Valentina Cortese was not nominated, because she gave the most beautiful

Valentina Cortese in Day for Night

performance...that all we actresses recognized because, after all, we have all forgotten our lines and always open the wrong doors, and it was wonderful to see her do it so beautifully....but here I am and I'm her rival and I don't like it at all. Please forgive me, Valentina. I didn't mean to.

So, with that, let's move on to Valentina Cortese, who, in Day for Night, played an aging, fading actress who used to get the leading lady roles and now here is playing "the mother", and finding herself unable to remember her lines, continually opening the wrong door to exit a scene (both pointed out by Bergman above), having each take become more hysterical until she breaks down crying. This is very likely the scene that got her nominated, and I must say it is a memorable moment  (even if I felt like her character didn't really figure much into the behind-the-scenes drama of that film), and it's nice to be able to watch her scene and figure out what it was that made Academy voters stand up and take notice.

To answer Ms. Bergman's confusion above, back in that era it was common for foreign language films to compete for the Academy in the year of their initial release, but still be ineligible in other categories until it got an American release (in New York or Los Angeles), so Day for Night was not in competition in other categories than Foreign Language Film until this year, despite being released overseas the previous year.

Madeline Kahn in Blazing Saddles

Madeline Kahn was one of the funniest women in Hollywood during her day, a gifted comedienne who could be funny just being deadpan with a quirk in her eye. She was nominated this year for the Mel Brooks parody film Blazing Saddles, playing a Germanic lounge singer sent to seduce the hero into allowing himself to be controlled by the villain. Instead, his legendary black-man-loving skills convert her to his side. I loved Kahn in another Mel Brooks film,  Young Frankenstein as well as Clue, either of which could have or even should have been nominated performances for her (Young Frankenstein even came out the same year as this; her nod for Saddles is probably for both films), and she had been nominated the previous year for Paper Moon, a movie I have yet to see. Considering her nomination this year to be the Academy's way of honoring her for both Brooks movies is probably the only way to really understand what about Blazing Saddles got her nominated. Of the movies I've seen her in, this is probably the one where she left the least impression on me, with most, if not all, of her costars being funnier and more interesting than her essentially one-scene-wonder role (she has more scenes, but she's in about 15% of the movie, and it's unquestionably her lounge act scene that got her nominated).

In Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Diane Ladd, much like the other nominees this year, is in less

Diane Ladd in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore

than half the film but dominates all her scenes as Flo (her full name isn't given here, but the TV series establishes her middle and last name, which is why I listed it here), the waitress who doesn't mind catcalls and flirting, but won't hesitate to put you in your place if you push her too far. She starts off annoying Alice, but ends up her best friend and confident, almost a mother-type for her who provides Alice some much-needed emotional support. It's a fine role, and Ladd is very good in it, and she made me laugh out loud a few times, which oddly enough is more than I can say for Madeline Kahn, despite Kahn's role being considered iconic today. It still doesn't feel like there's enough substance to the role to win, but the nomination was deserved.

Talia Shire, younger sister to Francis Ford Coppola, repeats her role from The Godfather as Connie Corleone in The Godfather, Part II, the only female performance in that entire trilogy to earn a nomination. I talked in that film's review about how Ms. Shire effortlessly goes from a cringing, abused housewife to a boozy, irresponsible sponge, while never once making us feel like she's betraying her character. In fact, seeing what's become of her makes us feel a bit of antipathy toward

Talia Shire in The Godfather, Part II

Michael, knowing that before he killed her husband, making her a widow (something he'd said he wasn't willing to do) she might have been able to leave him and be a responsible mom and happier person. I don't know if that means she's a winner, but she deserved to be nominated.

In attempting to wrap this up, I will say that much like Bergman, I don't think Bergman deserved to win, especially not as this was Oscar #3 for her. If she'd never won, I'd consider this a viable make-up Oscar, but she'd won twice, including already winning one award more as a way of Hollywood welcoming her back after having a baby out of wedlock (almost no one feels like she really deserved that second Oscar for Anastasia, considered one of her worst performances). I also don't think much of Madeline Kahn, at least not in Blazing Saddles, and I know that will make people mad because this role has a ton of fans.

So, of the three actresses left, which one do I think did the most with what screen time she had? It was a tough choice, but I have to agree with Bergman on this one. Valentina Cortese's part had the most substance and was the most memorable.

My Choice: Valentina Cortese

Join me next time as we choose another year and category.