As long time readers know The Film Experience started out as a one-man show. That man being myself, Nathaniel R. (Remember in Ye Olden Times when posting two goodies a week made you a prolific must-read web star? I still remember David Poland's Hot Button which did just that!) Over the years the royal "We" has stopped being royal and become literal... both from necessity of content-need and desire of companionship - writing can be lonely! I still do the bulk of the posting but now there are a handful of regular columnists and a dozen more occasional voices. Seeking out perspectives other than one's own keeps you fresh and alert.
So I love these Team perspectives (and I love Amir for dreaming them up / hosting them!) even when they cause me pain. Of course, I get to vote too but, being a Benevolent Dictator, my vote only counts once. DAMNIT. Which is to say that though I loved reading the "Team Top Ten: Oscar's Greatest Losers Best Actress Edition" I was more than a little freaked out not to see a picture of unravelling Deanie in her bathtub staring back at me needily.
the best performance of 1961: Natalie Wood in Splendor in the Grass
Where is Natalie Wood in Splendor in the Grass?!?"
I bellowed internally.
Then I imagine this reaction was shared by many of you 'out there in the dark' albeit with a rotating snubbed actress /film causing the indignation. As it turns out Natalie Wood did make lists other than my own but not enough to secure her a top ten placement. Natalie and other divas who missed the list are after the jump...
OSCAR'S GREATEST LOSERS: BEST ACTRESS EDITION
My personal favorite Meryl Streep performanceTo qualify for the list, a performance had to have been nominated (and lost) the Best Actress. Wins for other performances did not affect your eligibility though perhaps it did subconsciously. I hesitated, for example, before including Meryl Streep in Silkwood on my list because she's already won three Oscars... which strikes me as just about right for that career even if the third statue wasn't for the right film. But then I remembered the challenge: the greatest performances that were nominated but didn't win (irregardless of how worthy that year's actual winner was) and on my list she went.
A quick refresher if you missed yesterday's top ten! Garland (A Star is Born) won the poll by a significant margin with Davis (All About Eve) as runner-up. Both appeared on multiple ballots. Winslet (Eternal Sunshine) was a decisive but distant third and one of only two new-millenium performances to make the top ten. Then came a trinity of truly troubled women who were virtually tied in the middle of the pack: Stanwyck (Double Indemnity), Watson (Breaking the Waves) and Rowlands (A Woman Under the Influence) none of whom have ever won competitive Oscars! The top ten ended withSwanson (Sunset Boulevard), Moore (Far From Heaven) and two very surprising romantic comedy inclusions in Katharine Hepburn (The Philadelphia Story) and Holly Hunter (Broadcast News). In the case of the latter, I figured that if an 80s performance made the list it would come from the cult of Glenn Close. I figured wrong. Was it Albert Nobbs and years of furious woman repetition on Damages that damaged the reputation of her back-to-back runner up nominations? "She's not going to be ignored" And yet, yikes, she (mostly) was.
So who just missed? Let's count them down!
11 Ellen Burstyn (Requiem for a Dream, 2000)
Highest Placement on a Ballot: #1
Behind the Scenes Confession: I was the last member of Team Experience to vote and she was on my ballot... but it still wasn't enough of a jumpstart to bump Hunter from 10th position. Burstyn has been nominated several times but her pill-popping lonely widoe was her only performance to receive votes.
12 Emmanuelle Riva (Amour, 2012)
Highest Placement on a Ballot: #1
Last year's presumed runner up scored suprisingly high. I purposely did not allow myself to vote for anyone with a performance younger than ten years because for this sort of list, I need perspective. But not all of the contributors feel the same. Whether Riva's loss continues to look like a travesty of justice I suspect totally depends on what the future of Jennifer Lawrence's career holds. If she's just warming up and becomes one of the greats (a possibility) people won't mind but if she's already peaked (also a possibility) people will be even angrier about this one in ten year's time.
13 Nicole Kidman (Moulin Rouge!, 2001)
Highest Placement on a Ballot: #2
Bright and Bubbly? Sparkling Diamond? Smoldering Temptress? Wilting Flower? However Ms Kidman plays it Team Experience loves her. (Note: she did not make my ballot but I'm not surprised by her high score.)
Is it a crime to look at Lange?
14 Jessica Lange (Frances, 1982)
Highest Placement on a Ballot: #1
A total of 80 performances received at least one vote from our 20 participants. After this top 25 that you're reading here there were many virtual ties and no true standouts. The ballots were weighted to preference higher placements, but appearing on multiple lists still got you further than one or two passionate fans. For instance, Jessica's take on Frances Farmer was only ever ranked at #1 on lists on which it appeared. But crazy Frances only appeared on two lists so Jessica had to settle for 14th place. Hey, that's better than a lobotomy!
15 Natalie Wood (Splendor in the Grass, 1961)
Highest Placement on a Ballot: #2
The highest ranked performance from the 1960s. And the actress that did more than anyone this side of Michelle Pfeiffer on a piano (curiously vote-less) to make wee Nathaniel the incurable actressexual he became.
16 Ingrid Bergman (Autumn Sonata )
Highest Placement on a Ballot: #4
[GULP. I have not seen this movie.]
17 Shirley Maclaine (The Apartment, 1960)
Highest Placement on a Ballot: #7
I'm pretty sure that had Maclaine won for the Apartment as many thought she should have she still would have won for Terms of Endearment despite the weird reputation that win has now as a "career" win despite coming from a certifiable blockbuster and despite it being a Hugely Entertaining Star Turn. Still I love playing 'what if' games with Oscar and I wonder in the absence of Terms in 83, would Meryl have been one of the rare back-to-back Oscar winners? Or did her trouble winning a third indicate that immediately after Sophie's Choice they thought two in the space of four years was plenty?
18 Bette Davis (Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, 1962)
Highest Placement on a Ballot: #5
Bette Davis wasn't the only actress to win multiple citations for different films (Hepburn, Kidman & Streep also did it) but she was the only actress to get two of them into the top 20. Interestingly in both of Bette's best-loved performances she played an actress! Or maybe that's not so unusual... 7 of the top 25 are actresses playing actresses. Hmmmm....
19 Sissy Spacek (Carrie, 1976)
Highest Placement on a Ballot: #2
I feel like we talk about this film a lot (too much?) and we need to give some other films some room here at TFE. But "Scary Carrie" is just so awesome. It's hard not to throw tampons love her way.
Page lost the Sweet Bird Oscar. Maybe they thought sleeping with Paul Newman onscreen was as much Golden God as any actress needed?
20 Geraldine Page (Sweet Bird of Youth, 1962)
Highest Placement on a Ballot: #1
I was thrilled that my vote for Page, who was also mentioned for Interiors, was not the only one. She's just perfect in both of those movies. If you haven't seen either get yourself a double feature immediately. Perhaps we need a Page retrospective sometime soon because people don't talk about her enough.
21 Anne Bancroft (The Graduate)
Highest Placement on a Ballot: #4
She seduced a couple of the members of the Team, but less than I was expecting actually.
22 The Lovely Laura Linney (You Can Count On Me, 2000)
Highest Placement on a Ballot: #1
While she's often eclipsed in conversation by Burstyn's Requiem, 2000 had three deserving winners of the Best Actress statue. So depends on the luck of release dates.
23 Marlene Dietrich (Morocco, 1930)
Highest Placement on a Ballot: #1
The highest ranked performance of the 1930s - the only decade other than the 1960s that didn't produce a top ten finisher. The 30s seems to be a weak spot for Team Experience... either that or Oscar made better choices in the early days.
24 Faye Dunaway (Bonnie & Clyde, 1967)
Highest Placement on a Ballot: #2
Still, isn't this a rare case of an actress that won for the right film. She's so A++ in Network. Not that her Bonnie Parker isn't a marvel as well.
25 Meryl Streep (Silkwood, 1983)
Highest Placement on a Ballot: #4
Meryl also received votes for The Bridges of Madison County, The French Lieutenant's Woman, and The Devil's Wears Prada but this was her only performance to show up on multiple ballots, three of them in total.
The loneliest passions
Anjelica Huston, The Grifters (1990) made it to #1 on Craig's ballot but appeared on no other lists.
Greta Garbo, Ninotchka (1939) made it to #2 on Kurt's ballot but appeared on no other lists.
Imelda Staunton, Vera Drake (2004) made it to #3 on Amir's ballot but appeared on no other lists.
Most ballots without making the top 25
Barbra Streisand's idealistic woman in love in The Way We Were (1973) made her presence known on three separate ballots (including mine - I think it's a perfect model of How To Act in a Romantic Drama While Still Playing a Three-Dimensional Character) but always finished towards the end of those ballots.
AND THAT'S A WRAP.
What did you think of this Actress Extravaganza and 25 women later who are you still miffed hasn't been mentioned?