The Supporting Actress Smackdown series picks an Oscar vintage and explores...
THE NOMINEES 1965 was all about the Julies, Christie and Andrews, headlining the years biggest hits but both were located in the lead actress category. When some of the year's most lauded supporting actress turned up in films Oscar wasn't interested in they selected quite an odd list from which films they were looking at, still missing one very obvious great choice. Recent Oscar winner Shelley Winters (A Patch of Blue) and recent nominee Joyce Redman (Othello) were invited back and future Dame and Oscar darling Maggie Smith (Othello) was invited for the first time. TV regular Peggy Wood (The Sound of Music) and a longtime Hollywood screenwriter Ruth Gordon (Inside Daisy Clover), nabbing her first nomination in an acting category, were also chosen. The resulting shortlist of characters included a nun, a child abuser, two women doomed by hateful petty men, and an eccentric old Californian who wasn't quite in touch with reality... not unlike some Oscar voters!
THE PANEL Here to talk about the performances and films are, in alpha order, Oscar buff Baby Clyde (The Film Experience), freelance writer Kayleigh Donaldson (Pajiba, What to Watch, SyFy FanGrrls), character actor Spencer Garrett (Bombshell, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood), writer and podcaster Kevin Jacobsen (And the Runner Up Is...), writer, cosplayer, and director Terence Johnson (Le Noir Auteur, Vampyr Resistance Corps). And your host at The Film Experience, of course, Nathaniel R. Let's begin...
1965
SUPPORTING ACTRESS SMACKDOWN + PODCAST
The companion podcast can be downloaded at the bottom of this article or by visiting the iTunes page...
Ruth Gordon as "The Dealer - Mrs Clover" in Inside Daisy Clover
Synopsis: An not-all-there woman is placed in a mental institution to cover up her movie star daughter's past.
Stats: Then 69 yrs old, 6th film, 5th billed. Her fourth nomination (but first in an acting category). 11 minutes of screen time (or 9% of the running time)
Baby Clyde: Better known for her writing at this point it’s great to this well respected veteran getting some late in life career love. Unfortunately whilst she’s a delight on screen she’s not given much to do which is a shame as her character is far more interesting than that of her daughter. Nevermind, as we all know this was just the beginning of her resurgence and the best was yet to come. ♥♥♥
Kayleigh Donaldson: An undisputed legend and an endlessly striking on-screen presence, this nomination can’t help but feel more like a welcome back for Gordon than an appreciation of the work she does in the film. Inside Daisy Clover suffers from its hesitation over its own tone and intent and Gordon’s character is heavily indicative of that. She does what she can with a part that feels like a leftover from a much more giddily camp version of this, but there’s still real steel in her eyes, even as The Dealer seems ever more distant from her daughter’s reality. Fortunately, Rosemary’s Baby was just around the corner. ♥♥
Spencer Garrett: She's doing the Ruth Gordon thing. She's quirky, watchable, sweeet and off. She's always terrific to watch. She's the best thing about the entire film for me, which I otherwise had a lot of problems with. ♥♥♥
Kevin Jacobsen: Gordon made a successful Hollywood career out of playing these types of eccentric women of a certain age and she has a quirky charm that enlivens a dour, bizarro “Star Is Born” story filled with tonal inconsistencies. Maybe she’s a bit too old to play the mother of a teenager — though Natalie Wood is even more miscast as a teen — but she has a certain vitality that make her fun to watch in the first act. This dissipates after her character is committed to an institution and she is relegated to mostly reactive shots, but there is a haunted quality to her solemn glances that has stayed with me since watching. With only about 10 minutes of screen time in a 2+ hour film, most of which is at the very beginning, her performance could be forgotten in lesser hands but her energy is so compelling that it works for me. At least she has a sense of what kind of movie she’s in ♥♥♥♥
Terence Johnson: Ruth Gordon helped brighten the proceedings in the early going of Inside Daisy Clover and I’m still laughing at her reading of the line ”I only started to miss him this year.” However once the character's sent away to a care home, the movie isn't interested in giving her anything worthwhile to do. ♥
Nathaniel R: It's hard not to love Ruth Gordon. It must be the inimitable voice, endearing and aggravating in equal measure. It's admirable too the way she tricks you into loving her while also keying you into the fact that she's actually disturbed (she is not so good at mothering, you must admit, letting her daughter run wild for years and setting her own house on fire and the like). Her shift into a more catatonic mood is effective though disheartening as she recedes. Still, this is mere warm up for Rosemary's Baby in which all of her confidence and peculiarities as an actor are in full perfect service to an unforgettable character who deserves her. ♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "Really liked her for the first 25 minutes before she was inexplicably lobotomized and returned as a shell. This movie was a slog without her!" - Troy (Reader average: ♥♥½)
Actress earns 17½ ❤s
Joyce Redman as "Emilia" in Othello
Synopsis: A ladies maid, married to a deceitful ensign, unwittingly aids him in his treachery before he murders her.
Stats: Then 50 yrs old, 4th film, 3rd billed. Her second (and final) nomination. 29 minutes of screentime (or 17% of the running time)
Baby Clyde: The only bright spark in and otherwise interminably dreary production. Whilst everyone else is hamming it up and playing to the back of the theatre she’s the only actor who makes the scenes feel real and alive. Her last 20 minutes totally steal the show if you can manage to make it that far in. ♥♥♥♥
Kayleigh Donaldson: In the play, the role of Emilia is considered pretty minor. She is intended to provide a more cynical contrast to Desdemona, particularly on matters of men and romance. Still, Redman more than holds her own against the likes of Smith, even with less to do. She's suitably passionate and cynical with Iago and just withering enough (something we typically expect from Smith in her most iconic roles.) ♥♥♥
Spencer Garrett: It was fun to revisit Joyce Redman’s performance. I kept coming back to it. Of the Othello cast, she feels the most real and naturalistic. She blows me away with her simplicity. This is my favourite of the five performances we watched. ♥♥♥♥
Kevin Jacobsen: Redman is one of the more accessible elements of Othello, bringing a natural energy to Emilia. It is difficult to stand out in a stagy 165-minute film that features Laurence Olivier showboating in blackface and Frank Finlay’s plate-spinning manipulations as Iago, but Redman brings complexity to a devoted character who still has her own wants and needs. Her biggest showcase is in the film’s climactic final sequence as her horror at discovering the true extent of her husband’s villainy allows her to finally let loose. There isn’t much for her to work with before the ending, but she does what she can to modulate her performance in a way that makes her big explosion satisfying. ♥♥♥
Terence Johnson: Redman has to have the toughest job of any actor in Othello in that she gets her first significant moments about an hour in. I didn’t remember Emilia being such a capable character but Redman really is a force in this movie, brilliantly showing us the type of formidable woman who would marry a man like Iago (that scarf scene!), and then as the movie moves towards its tragic end, lets us into the character’s true heart. It did ramp up to a very loud performance but I appreciated her matching the energy of Olivier and Finlay. ♥♥♥♥
Nathaniel R: All throughout Othello, I kept begging for the (male) actors to stop shouting. 'You're on camera now -- you don't have to play to the back row.' The success of Redman's good if not quite nomination-ready performance, is in its barely visible simmer until you realize she's about to boil over; she, at least, fully earns her time with the megaphone. Bonus points: Condragulations on that unexpected (literal) death drop! ♥♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "A clear point of view that informs all of her scenes. Emilia is a schemer, and she loves what she does. Redman's Emilia lives for the drama, but knows where to draw the line. She's a Queen after our own heart." - Christopher (Reader average: ♥♥½)
Actress earns 23½ ❤s
Maggie Smith as "Desdemona" in Othello
Synopsis: The adoring naive wife of a Moorish general is falsely accused of adultery, setting off a murderous rage in her husband.
Stats: Then 31 yrs old, 6th film, 2nd billed. First nomination (of an eventual six). 56 minutes of screen time (or 34% of the running time).
Baby Clyde: Feels weird ranking legendary scene stealer Maggie Smith last, but this is such a thankless role even she can’t make an impression. She does deserve some credit for not laughing at Olivier’s ridiculous theatrics. ♥♥
Kayleigh Donaldson: Given how much Smith is nowadays defined for her grand dames and caustic wit, from Jean Brodie to Downtown Abbey, it's fascinating to see her play someone so tender and motivated by empathy. All that plummy stage acting pays off. She's so spirited and easy to love as Desdemona, and she brings real passion to her marriage with Othello. It's a performance I have to give even more credit, if only for the fact that she remains so gripping and believable even as Olivier descends into minstrelsy that's unbearable to sit through for 140 minutes. ♥♥♥♥
Spencer Garrett: There's no bigger Maggie Smith fan on the planet, than me. She’s so simple and sublte and at the same time you're aware that she knows she's in a movie. I loved all of the Othello performances. ♥♥♥♥
Kevin Jacobsen: Smith has a lovely innocence in “Othello” that suits Desdemona. While she has decidedly more screen time than her competitors here, she still feels like a supporting player and merely a pawn in Iago’s schemes. Smith plays her part well within that framework, especially towards the end of the film when she feels truly helpless to fix her situation and you see the desperation in her eyes. Her weary lament heading into the final act is evocative in a film that doesn’t exactly inspire much emotion elsewhere. Outside of that, I don’t know if she truly elevates the role beyond what’s on the page. ♥♥♥
Terence Johnson: Maggie deserves a lot of credit here for tapping into the steadfastness of Desdemona’s love for Othello. From the moment she enters, she sells us on D’s love and kind nature, and the rightful despondency at Othello’s accusations. But I think her being Maggie Smith is what made this more watchable than anything she did performance wise. In a movie where everyone seems to be in the rafters, Smith has her feet on the ground. ♥♥
Nathaniel R: This acting legend's first nomination was unfortunately for a movie that's best forgotten. But if there had been a saving grace to 1965's Othello (1965) -- alas, there's not -- Smith's performance as the doomed loving wife would be the contender for that dubious honor. It takes her too long to make a mark but she's inarguably riveting in her final few scenes when Othello's blood runs cold and she flails and fails to make sense of it. Watching her shrink inwardly, blaming herself despite her own innocence, you get a sense of how great the turn could have been within a better movie and with a more responsive scene partner. ♥♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "Somehow she sells her affection for Olivier’s truly horrendous version of Othello" - Greg (Reader average: ♥♥¾)
Actress earns 20¾ ❤s
Shelley Winters as "Rose-Ann D'Arcey" in A Patch of Blue
Synopsis: A trashy abusive mother woman is threatened by the arrival of a kind man in her blind daughter's life.
Stats: Then 45 yrs old, 43rd (credited) film, 2nd billed. Third nomination (of an eventual four). She had won on her previous nomination. 16 minutes of screentime (or 15% of the running time.)
Baby Clyde: The easy winner from this bunch. You expect a film of this is from 1965 to somewhat pull it’s punches but A Patch of Blue surprises at every turn. Prostitution, alcoholism, rape , squalor and abuse are all confronted head and Shelley is right there in the middle relishing every opportunity to make her character as unlikeable as possible. You’re waiting for some kind of redemption arc. Many actresses would have insisted on one but that wouldn’t have rung true. This is Shelley Winters at her best. She often has a tendency to go too broad or become whiny but here she gets it just right and has a well deserved Oscar to prove it. ♥♥♥♥♥
Kayleigh Donaldson: Winters’ performance is brash and loud and very much in the same vein as the classic “funny Hollywood bigot” supporting character that the Oscars have a soft spot for. It’s also an example of the “monster mother” (see Allison Janney in I, Tonya; Meryl Streep in August: Osage County.) This is something that Winters could do in her sleep. I was reminded of Lolita in that aspect. That’s not to say she isn’t giving it her all. There’s a real malice edge and truly pathetic quality to her performance. Winters was famously devoid of vanity and it works to great effect here. When she starts to lose control over Selina, we see that ferocity in full effect. The way she lashes out at Poitier in their only scene together is truly scary and feels way too prescient given how many cases we’ve seen white women pulling this shit in public with black men. I don’t think it’s as layered a performance as the one she gives in Lolita but it’s the kind of scrappy, watchable work that you eagerly seek out from figures like Winters. ♥♥♥
Spencer Garrett: It's a powerful performance but I kept waiting for a way in to find something to love about her — some small spark of humanity. That lack of any empathy and hammering that one note was a turn off for me. ♥♥
Kevin Jacobsen: A sheer force of nature. Winters tears into her part as the monstrous mother from hell, Rose-Ann, a character she admittedly hated just as much as the audience. From the very beginning she commands the screen as she physically and verbally abuses her blind daughter, Selina, allowing us little to no sympathy. One could argue she is a one-dimensional villain as written, but Winters very subtly hints at the tiny piece of humanity left underneath her vicious exterior, suggesting insecurities about her age, a troubled relationship with her father, and a general bitterness toward the world. Many of her scenes with Elizabeth Hartman’s Selina are deeply uncomfortable to watch but there is a sly amusement to her, like she’s enjoying how much she can get under people’s skin, that perversely draws you in. This is what Best Supporting Actress is all about, leaving an indelible mark on a film and enhancing your emotional investment in the lead’s journey. ♥♥♥♥♥
Terence Johnson: Throughout this film, I couldn’t help but thinking what a fascinating double feature this would make with Precious, given the character Shelley Winters plays. However, unlike the monster mother in that film, there doesn’t seem to be much modulation in Winters’ performance. She nails the loud parts and is very committed to being incredibly unlikable, but there’s something missing here for me. I loved the brief moment where you see the thin familial bonds Rose-Ann still has and it’s a credit to Winters’ skill that you become intensely hopeful things will be better, only to see those dreams dashed just as quickly. However, that was the only real highlight for me outside of her character getting her comeuppance. ♥♥
Nathaniel R: "Shelley's going hard," I said to my friend during her very first scene, wondering inwardly where she could possibly take this performance from that hatefully trashy introduction. She finds a way, not by softening her but by burrowing in even deeper to the twisted psychology of a soulless child abuser, filled with petty grievances. I was especially fond of one of her quiet scenes when she realizes her daughter is getting happier, and you can see a wicked smirk on her face before she maneuvers to stamp it out. This rich and dementedly charismatic star turn belongs in the (crowded) hall of fame of the monster moms of cinema. ♥♥♥♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "The script has Rose Ann do shocking things, but Winters finds specific things in her performance to make Rose Ann seem real. Winters portrays a woman who hates her family, but hates the world more. It is everyone vs her." - Tom (Reader average: ♥♥♥¼)
Actress earns 25¼ ❤s
Peggy Wood as "Mother Abbess" in The Sound of Music
Synopsis: A Mother Superior wonders how she can solve a problem like Maria, her novitiate who is clearly not an assett to the abbey!
Stats: Then 73 yrs old, 13th (and final) film, 4th billed ("with" Peggy Wood). First (and final) nomination. 16 minutes of screentime (or 9% of the running time.)
Baby Clyde: As the Mother Abbess Peggy Wood is fine, but the great, overdue Eleanor Parker was right there doing much better work. I just can’t with The Academy sometimes. ♥♥♥
Kayleigh Donaldson: Even when she's dubbed, Wood has such dignity and poise during the "Climb Ev-ry Mountain" scene. It's an appropriate showstopper. The warmth between her and Andrews is immensely endearing. Wood is perhaps one of the strongest examples of this “stern but loveable guardian” trope in musicals. Still, I can't help but wish that this nomination had gone to Eleanor Parker as Baroness Elsa von Schraeder, a performance and character that I have adored for many years now. ♥♥♥
Spencer Garrett: Peggy Wood was terrific in, well, a couple of moments, but was this a career achievement award? I don't get it. Eleanor Parker was robbed. ♥♥
Kevin Jacobsen: As Mother Abbess, Wood brings a warmth and compassion to an otherwise limited part. Despite brief screen time, the Reverend Mother is an important player at key steps in Maria’s journey and Wood’s lovely maternal presence is a source of comfort both for Maria and for us. Wood’s performance of “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” is a showstopper without being too over the top and thus breaking character. Unfortunately, her singing voice was dubbed but it’s a strong Lip Sync for Your Life nonetheless. She is not given much else to do besides deliver some exposition, but her tearful farewells to the Von Trapps at the end allow her to end on a strong note ♥♥♥
Terence Johnson: Peggy Wood is quite good as Mother Abbess, bringing the sternness and begrudging fondness for Maria. Climb E’vry Mountain is a sterling moment in the movie, but made all the more powerful her character’s sage advice prior to that song. The performance never really rises above the fray, especially when there is a much more interesting supporting performance happening in the same movie. ♥♥
Nathaniel R: There are far too many nominations in Oscar history for paragons of virtue, where the framing and the lighting and the reverence afforded the actor/character do all the work. Consider that in Mother Abbess' big penultimate scene ("Climb Every Mountain") you barely see her, as she's either shrouded in shadow or an unknowably holy figure bathed in light and it's not even Wood singing! The scene is really all about Maria Von Trapp absorbing the melodic sermon. That said, I adored Wood's casually bossy dismissive hand gestures and that she managed to sell the dichotomy of a woman who's both impatient and bemused with the nuns who are always trying her patience. ♥♥
Reader Write-Ins: "Definitely the wrong nominee from the movie, but movie nuns rock. And her breaking out into an operatic "Climb Every Mountain" is camp classic." - Drew (Reader average: ♥♥¼)
Actress earns 17¼ ❤s
Result: On Oscar night both Othello thespians were absent and Shelley Winters prevailed winning her second statue for A Patch of Blue. Though her performance was truly divisive among both our panel and participating readers (she tended to score 1 heart or 5!), she manages to win the Smackdown, too, albeit in a weak field of nominees.
THE FULL PODCAST CONVERSATION
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NEXT UP: The season finale is on Thursday, November 19th and we'll be discussing the 1987 film year. Please watch or rewatch Fatal Attraction, Throw Momma From the Train, The Whales of August, Gaby: A True Story, and Moonstruck before then. [All Previous Smackdowns]