Lunchtime Poll: What are the oddest Best Actress wins?
Friday, March 27, 2020 at 12:47PM Claudio recently celebrated Glenda Jackson's Oscar winning performance in Women in Love and we have to ask if you've ever seen Women in Love's trailer? We personally can't recall a time another time when critical pullquotes were wielded to shame people into praising something. Haha. Note that final blurb!
While most Oscar wins make sense given the context of their own years (for various reasons), they don't always make any sense in the grander scheme of Oscar history and taste. Women in Love stands as one of the strangest Oscars wins in its category given the nature of the role and the acting achievement. I'd argue that Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins is another odd duck, with no correlative elsewhere in Oscar taste. Who would you name as one of the strangest Oscar wins in Best Actress history (besides those two)? And why?
Reader Comments (60)
First, I like all of these performances.
1) Jane Fonda - Coming Home
She has no big dramatic scenes, and she'd already won before. I'm surprised there was enough passion for this performance to win. It's just a very quiet performance opposite two big, loud male performances.
2) Marion Cotillard - La Vie En Rose
I think it's a really strong performance, but she was a complete unknown and it was strange that THIS was the 2nd Best Actress winner for a foreign language performance. Especially considering there was a strong narrative for the alternate (Julie Christie). Also, it's not like the film itself was a big Oscar player. Last note: every time I watch Cotillard's win, I'm always struck by the lack of excitement at her win (except her & Blanchett). The audience doesn't seem to care that this was a huge win.
3) Olivia Colman - The Favourite
Again, I like this performance but it is comedic, weird & supporting. Oscars love royalty, but this Queen is profane and gross, not dignified and respectful. Yes, it was as Best Picture nominee but this really felt like they went out of their way NOT to vote for Glenn Close in what would be a more traditional winning performance.
I was going to list Jessica Lange in Blue Sky because it is just a nothing film that sat on a shelf for years, but the truth is that if you actually watch it, she has TONS to work with. Many big, emotional scenes. I think this is a case where the performance pushed her to the win, which feels real.
Nathaniel -- I guess you got your fever back after reading certain comments. I did.
Glenda Jackson in '73
Peggy Sue the menopause will pass!
@Charles,
Marion is a good one! That was the year that the Globes didn’t air because of the writers strike, and it’s easy to forget that she won the Globe for Musical or Comedy (in a dramatic performance with singing, a la Joaquin Phoenix winning for WALK THE LINE).
There is a great documentary on Amazon Prime called “And the Oscar Goes to...” and George Clooney says it’s the best performance of someone playing an older person that he had ever seen, as she conveys that she doesn’t WANT to be getting older. And actors love when actors play actors, no? Maybe she got a lot of votes from the actors’ branch.
Emma Stone for La La Land is always odd to me. No question it should have been Isabelle Huppert’s for Elle. I found and find Emma’s work there charming but no more than that (in a role that is not particularly anything much). Watching her superlative work in The Favourite really makes the La La Land win even more disappointing!
But yes Glenda in the charming Touch of Class is the strangest of all time hands down. I think personal dislike of Barbra Streisand explains a big piece of that, and the whole “Glenda Laughs” things another piece. I love her in it, i can imagine the excitement of seeing how charming she is delighting voters, but Oscar? Very bizarre in a strong year.
I think some people really had wrong ideas about the main topic subject. The question is about which Oscar win is odd, not which Oscar is underwhelming, or you personally like or not.
When I understand about odd is related about trends and actions about the AMPAS voters. Some did right (Kathy Bates, with some excellent reasons), but then people put Emma Stone, JLaw, GOOP (These were ingenieus/It girls in BP and BO hits. Not odd Oscars at all).
There are certainly other wins that stand out more to me but i suppose it is odd. Maybe they were hoping she'd turn up the second time. Also the surprise that she was doing a comedy is part of the story. She did pick up a few nominations in the 70s and the strong year could have caused a split.
I do think that Lange stands out because of the film and its history but given the context it probably isn't that strange.
Odd wins (but most come w o/due narrative tt override common sense)
K Hepburn: Morning Glory, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?
Liz Taylor: BUtterfield 8
Simone Signoret: Room at the Top (A supp part fr a French actress)
Ginger Rogers: Kitty Foyle (Look!! She can do dramatic role!!)
Loretta Young: The Farmer's Daughter (Look!! Loretta doin a charming Swedish accent!!)
Judy Holliday: Born Yesterday (Whhhaaattttt!! A delightful surprise among 2 iconic roles)
Sophia Loren: Two Women (Amazing tt the academy is willin to look past the foreign lang for an acting performance in early 60s!!)
Kathy Bates: Misery (A horror perf fr a character actress n a 1st nom, no less!!)
I dun tink Julie Andrews win for Mary Poppins is odd at all. She had many strong narratives: the snub for My Fair Lady; Mary Poppins well loved n recving 13 noms, n The Sound o Music opening in Mar 65 during the crucial voting period.
Such a fuss over Glenda Jackson in 1973. Only Jackson and Burstyn were in Best Picture nominees.
Academy voters were livid over Exorcist director William Friedkin’s bold face lie that Linda Blair did the work in her part. When Oscar winner Mercedes McCambridge revealed that she provided the voice of the devil, the editing tricks came forward as well. Burstyn’s chances were shot. AMPAS was fairly united in denying the film Oscars, though it won screenplay and sound.
Streisand was too vocal about the preview in San Francisco where between shows director Sidney Pollack used scissors to remove some footage that upped the audience score. Streisand complained the edit would cost her an Oscar. It did.
Glenda Jackson won for her no so subtle homage to Katharine Hepburn.