15 is today's magic number. As far as I can tell -- though I am not Pope-infallible-- 15 women have been Oscar nominated over the years for playing nuns or nun apprentices... what are they called, novitiates? novices? problems-like-Maria?
Let's pray for them together after the jump. Which of these nominations do you most approve of and why is it so hard to win for playing a Sister or Mother Superior?
Gladys Cooper and Jennifer Jones in The Song of Bernadette (1943)
JONES WON THE OSCAR. Jones was once in the history books but that other Jennifer, Ms Lawrence, has recently robbed her of her impressive Oscar record. Gladys Cooper was of course, one of the great character actresses of Old Hollywood and a three time nominee. This was her second consecutive nomination after her mother/daughter war with Bette Davis in Now Voyager (1942). Her final nomination was that glorified cameo in My Fair Lady but you can also spot her in classics like That Hamilton Woman, Kitty Foyle, The Pirate, Mrs Parkington, and The Bishop's Wife among others
Ingrid Bergman in The Bells of St Mary's (1945)
This wasn't the first or last time Bergman incredible face, arguably the best proof that some sort of divine power exists, was spiritually exalted.
Loretta Young and Celeste Holm in Come to the Stable (1949)
I've never managed to see this one. Thoughts?
Deborah Kerr in Heaven Knows, Mr Allison (1957)
Not the only time she played a nun. Prim was kind of her specialty, no?
Audrey Hepburn in The Nun's Story (1959)
This film received 8 Oscar nods and lost all of them. It's not common to lose every Oscar you're nominated for once you get to 8 and above but here are the films that lost everything despite very generous nominations.
I maybe should save this until day 12 but here are the 12 biggest losers -- all with 8 or more nominations, no wins
- [TIE] The Color Purple & The Turning Point (11 nominations)
- [TIE] American Hustle, Gangs of New York, True Grit (10 nominations) -- curious that all of these are recent right? Not so curious that they're all December releases which can but doesn't always produce lots of instantaneous love that quickly evaporates.
- [TIE] Peyton Place, Little Foxes (9 nominations)
- [TIE] Remains of the Day, Ragtime, The Sand Pebbles, The Nun's Story, Quo Vadis (8 nominations)
Lilia Skala in Lilies of the Field (1963)
We'll be covering this year in the March Supporting Actress Smackdown
Peggy Wood and Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music (1965)
❤️
Anne Bancroft and Meg Tilly in Agnes of God (1985)
I haven't seen this film in a bajillion years. How does it hold up?
Susan Sarandon in Dead Man Walking (1995)
SARANDON WON on her fifth nomination in one of the best Best Actress years of all time.
Meryl Streep and Amy Adams in Doubt (2008)
The last nominated nuns... but Viola Davis stole this show anyway for her unholy moral compromises with parenting her underage son.
The list of non-nominated famous cinematic nuns is also long but includes such luminaries as the hilarious combo of Whoopi Goldberg and Kathy Najimi in Sister Act (1992), Debbie Reynolds in The Singing Nun (1966), Silvia Pinal in Viridiana (1966), hunchbacked genius Vanessa Redgrave in The Devils (1971) and Deborah Kerr (again) and Kathleen Byron's spectacular fascinating duet in Black Narcissus (1947). In fact, you could argue that the list of nun performance passed over for Oscar nominations is just as worthy as those nominated. The most recent return to the habit for Oscar was the Foreign Film win for Poland's Ida for 2014.