Showbiz History: Giant 1956, Best Actor 1972, and Quentin Tarantino's birthday
Saturday, March 27, 2021 at 8:18AM Today, March 27th, in Oscar history only...
Quinn, Malone, Brynner, and Grant (subbing in for absent Ingrid Bergman) at the 56 Oscars
1957 The 29th Academy Awards are held honoring the best of 1956. Very strange Oscar year in which the brilliant epic Giant loses Best Picture to the disposable travelogue Around the World in 80 Days. The King and I ties 80 days for most Oscars won with 5 that night. This year is also notable for making James Dean the only actor to have ever received two posthumous Oscar nominations. Though he died in 1955 before completing Giant the film was in post-production for a full year. We've discussed this year just for fun before.
1973 The 45th Academy Awards are held with their very historic face off between Cabaret (10 noms / 8 wins) and The Godfather (10 noms / 3 wins including Best Picture. We've discussed this race countless times as total freaks for Cabaret. But here's one aspect I don't think we've ever touched on: Best Actor of 1972...
- Marlon Brando, The Godfather
- Laurence Olivier AND Michael Caine, Sleuth
- Peter O'Toole, The Ruling Class
- Paul Winfield, Sounder
Where would your vote have gone? Or would you have preferred one of the men who were left out that year like...
- Edward Albert, Butterflies are Free (Globe nom)
- Woody Allen, Play it Again Sam
- Jeff Bridges, Fat City
- William Daniels, 1776
- Bruce Dern, Silent Running
- Divine, Pink Flamingos
- Charles Grodin, The Heartbreak Kid (Globe nom)
- Stacey Keach, Fat City
- Yaphett Kotto, Across 110th Street
- Jack Lemmon, Avanti (Globe nom)
- James Mason, Child's Play
- Walter Matthau, Pete 'n' Tillie (Globe nom)
- Jack Nicholson, The King of Marvin Gardens
- Steve McQueen, The Getaway
- Paul Newman, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean
- Ryan O'Neal, What's Up Doc?
- Peter O'Toole, Man of La Mancha (Globe nom)
- Al Pacino, The Godfather (in the correct category)
- Anthony Quinn, Across 110th Street
- Robert Redford, The Candidate
- Robert Redford, Jeremiah Johnson
- Burt Reynolds, Deliverance
- Robert Shaw, Young Winston (BAFTA nom)
- Jon Voight, Deliverance (Globe nom)
- Billy Dee Williams, Lady Sings the Blues
- Michael York, Cabaret
1995 The 67th Academy Awards are held with Forrest Gump triumphing with 13 nominations and 6 wins. We kinda hate that movie but what can you do. A notable thing about this Oscar year is that with the exception of Marin Landau's brilliant turn in Ed Wood (1994) all of the acting winners were collecting second Oscars (Lange, Hanks, Wiest)
Oscar approved birthdays today
Happy 58th birthday to two time Oscar winner Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained, Pulp Fiction) the only living Oscar nominee we're aware of that has this particular birthday! In addition to those two screenplay wins he received six additional nominations with a combo of honors from the Best Original Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture categories (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Inglourious Basterds, and Pulp Fiction). He also directed some fine actors to their sole Oscar nomination: Uma Thurman, Samuel L Jackson, Robert Forster, and Jennifer Jason Leigh as well as Brad Pitt and Christoph Waltz to wins. But if you really work through that filmography -- uneven sure but the highs are really majestic -- Oscar has been stingy with him, all told.
Late greats born on this day...
Today in 1943 Oscar winning visual effects artist Grant McCune was born in Los Angeles (Star Wars, Star Trek: The Motion Picture).
Today in 1929, Anne Ramsey was born in Omaha Nebraska. She received an Oscar nomination for her memorable work on Throw Momma From the Train (recently discussed) and died shortly after that Oscar ceremony.
Today in 1928, three time Oscar nominated Costume Designer Theadora Van Runkle (Bonnie & Clyde, The Godfather Part II, Peggy Sue Got Married) was born in Pittsburgh. Other memorable films include: The Reivers, Myra Breckenridge, Mame, New York New York, and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas so, yes, the Oscars were a bit stingy.
Today in 1914, Oscar winning screenwriter Budd Schulberg (On the Waterfront) was born in NYC. In addition to Waterfront his other major classic is the eerily prescient A Face in the Crowd (1957).
Today in 1902, Oscar winning cinematographer Charles Lang (A Farewell to Arms) was born in Bluff, Utah. Classics include but are not limited to: The Ghost and Mrs Muir (1947), Sudden Fear (1952), Sabrina (1954), Some Like it Hot (1959), and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969). On the same day in Duluth Minnesota screenwriter Sidney Buchman was born. He won the Oscar for Here Comes Mr Jordan (1941) and was also nominated for Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939), The Talk of the Town (1942), and Jolson Sings Again (1949).
Today in 1899, Gloria Swanson was born in Chicago Illinois. The silent film star would receive two Oscar nominations for her work around the seismic years when silent films were ending and sound beginning (The Trespasser and Sadie Thompson) but is best remembered for her late career comeback as an aging silent film star hoping for a comeback in Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Reader Comments (37)
Al Pacino, as brilliant as he was, should have won for The Godfather Part II, for the breakup scene with Keaton alone. And then he should win the following year for Dog Day Afternoon. He would be the most deserving two-time winner ever, with two of the most striking performances of all time winning back to back Oscars.
I wrote that because Brando's win is unimpeachable.
You missed James Mason in 72 for Child's Play I think he was runner up at NYFCC and Jack Nicholson for King of Marvin Grdens.
My Ballot
Brando
Mason
Nicholson
Keach
Olivier
I felt Robert Shaw was more supporting as that's were NYFCC put him as for Pacino I always go with Oscar placements whether I like it or not.
Shaw
Grey
Pacino
Caan
Albert
mark -- i dont know whether people should give themselves a blanket rule like "always go with oscar placements" because the oscars dont actually take a stand in these matters. If you're saying "i go with whatever the campaign is" then you are willing to accept that Keisha Castle Hughes (in a one-lead movie entirely focused on her) is the "supporting actress" of Whale Rider but if you mean "what oscar eventually decides" than how do you account for situations like Judas and the Black Messiah which Oscar decided had no leading roles despite two of them, even though the campaign said one lead one supporting.
My 72 actor ballot looks like this:
Robert Duvall (Tomorrow)
Stacey Keach
Ryan O’Neal
Al Pacino
Chishu Ryu (Tokyo Story, which according to IMDb was when the film premiered stateside)
I'm glad the academy made the right decision in awarding Grey over Pacino who is one of many awful category fraud examples. I tend to ignore placements as there is some bull that goes into campaigning someone in a category they can get nominated in.
Basically I'd nominate a single one of the actor nominees in lead because the two I'd nominate (Brando & Winfield) I think belonged in supporting actor.
People always (rightly) talk about how Pacino should have been nominated as a lead for The Godfather, but just out of curiosity, does anyone think he and Brando should even have swapped categories? Brando is only onscreen for about 20% of the movie, so while I don’t take issue with arguably supporting roles campaigning as leads like I do with the reverse situation, it would’ve been interesting to have Best Actor freed up with Brando in the supporting category. I genuinely don’t even know who would’ve won. (Of course, my biggest opposition to doing that would be that Joel Grey would have been denied his richly deserved Oscar since Brando clearly would have won in the supporting category as well).
Kind of wish Ryan O'Neal and William Daniels would've been included among the Best Actor nominees, but for the win - Peter O'Toole in The Ruling Class.
Really need to revisit Cabaret as I didn’t like it when I was a kid and watched it with my Aunt, but was probably way too young for it. I’ve re-listened to the soundtrack on many an occasion but have (very strangely) yet to go back and watch the film.
Will be interesting to see if I also find it superior to The Godfather. Always thought Coppola’s film was one of the few ‘undeniables’ - The rare BP winner that just about everyone agrees with like GWTW, Casablanca and On the Waterfront.
Also, the Academy’s lack of recognition for the Kill Bill films is unforgivable. Had Uma been nominated for her career-best work, we might not have lost her singular talent to obscurity.
I'd likely have given it to Peter O'Toole. Pacino would win, in my book, for GODFATHER PART II, and Brando would have picked up another Oscar the next year for LAST TANGO IN PARIS.
Glad you included Stacy Keach, Ryan O'Neal and Edward Albert , in your round-up of might have been nominees. All three were superb that year. I'd give the other two slots to Brando and Steve McQueen (for Sam Peckinpah's "Junior Bonner", in which he really shone). In the end, though, Keach would have been my winner.
1956:
Film: The King and I
Actor: Olivier
Actress: Bergman
S. Actor: Quinn
S. Actress: Malone
Director: Stevens
Screenplay: Umberto D/Baby Doll/La Strada
Foreign Film: La Strada
1972:
Film: The Emigrants
Actor: O'Toole
Actress: Ullmann
S. Actor: Duvall
S. Actress: Winters
Director: Troell
Screenplay: Murmur of the Heart/The Emigrants
Foreign Film: The New Land
My favorite non-nominees for Best Actor are Max Von Sydow for The Emigrants and Peter O'Toole for Man of La Mancha
1957 has one of the best wins in its category-Dorothy Malone for Written on the Wind and arguably the worst Best Picture winner ever. Since the rightful winner The Searchers wasn't even nominated!? Giant should have taken the prize in a walk.
My '73 Best Actor lineup would be:
Marlon Brando-The Godfather
Michael Caine-Sleuth
Steven McQueen-Junior Bonner
Laurence Olivier-Sleuth
Al Pacino-The Godfather
Al Pacino would get my vote to be the winner, but I've never seen Child's Play. I've always heard James Mason is extraordinary in it but I've never been able to track it down.
If you can find it I highly recommend Gloria Swanson's autobiography "Swanson on Swanson". She had her peculiarities but she was sharp as a tack and had a fascinating life.
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Just a small correction. Gloria Swanson's The Trespasser is a sound film.
1972 Best Actor ballot:
Marlon Brando, The Godfather
Peter O'Toole, The Ruling Class
Charles Grodin, The Heartbreak Kid
Chishu Ryu, Tokyo Story (American release was March 1972)
Stacy Keach, Fat City
Paul Winfield would make my ballot for 1978 to compensate for his snub.
Always liked that two women won their 2nds Oscars
on the same night. Both in their 40s to boot!
Also, I didn’t realize Tokyo Story wasn’t released in the U.S. until 1972. It would have been pretty interesting if it had been nominated for anything since that year’s Best Original Score winner was Limelight, also a film from the early ‘50s.
Crazy to think that in the days before streaming and home video, a lot of movies didn’t open in America until DECADES later. The most we’ve had to wait in recent years is, what, maybe two years?
Edwin -- i dont think it's quite that easy now though definitely better now. Hundreds of international ovies still never open in the US.. it all depends on if they strike a deal with a streamer or get a US region DVD or Bluray release or limited arthouse theatrical (the two latter options are increasingly less common). or sometimes they take 1-2 years on the regular. Xavier Dolan movies for instance cant seem to catch a break with US distribution despite being a "name" director until they're at least a year old.
Olivia Colman in The Father on Screentimecentral: 35:59 / 37.13%.
Do we still say lead like one of your writers did? Discuss.
in '72, The Godfather was such a massive cultural phenomenon and Brando's instantly iconic performance (despite its limited screen time) such a celebrated comeback, there was no chance he wasn't going to win Best Actor, even if Pacino (rightfully) was competing against him.
Caine and Olivier and O'Toole are all fine, but if anyone hasn't seen Sounder recently, I'd recommend you take a look. Cicely Tyson is, as widely acknowledged, stunning in the film, but Paul Winfield is her equal. Their reunion scene remains one of the most moving movie moments ever.
And that's a stacked Supporting Actor line-up (even Albert's great,) but if Pacino had gone lead, I'd slide in Richard Pryor, who's terrific in Lady Sings the Blues
Brando is like Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs. It's really a supporting performance but despite everyone else in the movie being on point, he takes a lot of the oxygen in the room and you can't help but wait for him to appear again.
1956 had such a bland supporting actress category that I would replace all the nominations.
Anne Baxter- Ten Commandments
Brenda De Blazies- The Man Who Knew Too Much
Helen Hayes- Anastasia
Eileen Heckhart- Somebody up there Likes Me
Terry Saunders- The King and I
Ryan (along with Babs and Madeline Kahn) definitely should have been recognized for What's Up, Doc? Add Burt, and it's bye bye Laurence and Michael.
And like Joe DiPietro, I also salute Richard Pryor's dramatic turn in Lady Sings the Blues; he and Miss Ross are the real dynamic duo in the film.
1972... that year Cabaret would have swept, if I was to choose... also, The Poseidon Adventure would have been nominated for Picture and Adapted Screenplay... it is a really underrated film, always fascinating, and a reflection on the true nature of religion at its core. Way deeper that just a mere "disaster" film.
@Tom G
Loved your shout-outs for Anne Baxter("The Ten Commandments) and Terry Saunders (The King and I) - two of my favorite performances from '56. Although I''d have positioned Baxter as a Best Actress candidate (rather than Supporting).
@Ken- I flipped back and forth between which category Anne Baxter should belong in. I clocked her screentime once and she has 47 minutes on screen in a 3+ hour movie. Her screentime seems to indicate that she should be supporting, but like Brando and Hopkins, the movie suffers when she isn't there and you wish you could see more of her. Her presence makes you believe she was more in the movie, even when she isn't.
I promise this is my last post on this thread. My favorite supporting actress of 1956 is Katie Johnson for The Ladykillers.
What a wonderful line up. And though you really can't doubt Brando's iconic turn. my vote goes to Peter O Toole for his masterful performance in Ruling Class
Brando is overrated in The Godfather
The best actor for 1972 is.... Klaus Kinski-Aguirre, the Wrath of God.
Marlon Brando for The Godfather was the right choice for the Oscars. Everyone and their grandfather has quoted that film.
Go William Daniels in 1776. Also with The Lion King was in another year, it deserved to be nominated for BP, but 94 had too many great popular movies that year.
I recently watched Giant and liked it a lot. They don’t make epic and sprawling movies like this anymore. It’s not perfect in its depiction of race, but for 1956 it’s pretty impressive. It also has strong feminist undertones as seen in Taylor’s character. The entire cast is aces. I think Dean would’ve won the Oscar had he been placed in the Best Supporting Actor category instead of being frauded in lead.
Get Burt Reynolds in there, along with Ryan, Barbra! and Madeline Kahn in her brilliant debut.
then and now - here's a random selection of actors who are now around the same age as gloria swanson was when she played norma desmond:
rachel weisz, regina king, uma thurman, melissa mccarthy, minnie driver, taraji p henson, jennifer connelly, octavia spencer, winona ryder
Best Actor ‘72 is a terrific lineup. I’d actually go with Olivier for the win. I still think it’s a shame that the ladies of What’s Up, Doc? didn’t make it in.
Par, what's your point?
Granted I'm a millennial and have not seen a lot of '72, but I would've liked Michael York nom'd in Best Actor. Marisa Berenson definitely should've slid into Supporting Actress (she had BAFTA and Globe nods and won NBR, so she was legitimately snubbed).
@Prompt re The Father. I think Olivia Colman deserves Best Supporting. Aside from her percentage of screen time, she's one of two women who appear as Ann(e). Even though she is the #2 character in terms of importance, it's really only Sir Anthony who deserves a lead nom. It's his movie from start to finish.