Smackdown '46: Duel in the Sun with the King of Siam

Welcome back to the Supporting Actress Smackdown. Each month we pick an Oscar vintage to explore through the lens of actressing at the edges. This episode goes back to the 19th Academy Awards honoring 1946. It isn't a particularly beloved Oscar vintage though the Best Picture winner, The Best Years of Our Lives, is sublime. Apart from the winner and the Christmas film It's a Wonderful Life, the Academy all but ignored the most enduring pictures of that post-war year (Notorious, Gilda, The Postman Always Rings Twice). But we're here to discuss Best Supporting Actress and these five women were having a moment...

THE NOMINEES For the 1946 Oscars the Academy invited back two previous winners (Gale Sondergaard & Ethel Barrymore), tossed a bouquet in the form of 'career' nomination to a legend (Lillian Gish), honored a character actress for stretching (Flora Robson) without realizing how poorly that kind of stretch would age, and invited a new starlet (Anne Baxter) into the club. That's a typical mix in some ways though the films were a fun mix of genres rather than five straightforward dramas. We've got a culture clash historical epic (Anna and the King of Siam), a thriller (The Spiral Staircase), a camp western (Duel in the Sun), a post-war spiritual journey (The Razor's Edge), and a restless genre-hopping whatsit (Saratoga Trunk).

THE PANELISTS Here to talk about the performances and films are (alpha order from left to right), playwright Peter Duchan, film critic Guy Lodge, Statueseque's Allen Nguyen, and Actor Tory Devon Smith. And, as ever, your host Nathaniel R. Let's begin...

 SUPPORTING ACTRESS SMACKDOWN + PODCAST  
The companion podcast can be downloaded at the bottom of this article or by visiting the iTunes page...  

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Best Supporting Actress 1946: Getting to know the nominees

by Cláudio Alves

The Supporting Actress Smackdown of 1946 is fast approaching, and with it comes one of the most head-scratching lineups in the category's history. To call this bunch of films, performances, and legacies problematic is to undersell just how much racial insensitivity plays into this particular Oscar race. Still, what complicates matters further is that the nominated actresses are all artists with considerable talent, superlative careers – most of whom started on stage – and undeniable historical importance. Unpacking all this mess is too great a task, but I'll try to introduce you, dear readers, to this impressive quintet of Old Hollywood thespians...

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25 Oldest Best Supporting Actress Nominees of all time

by Nathaniel R

Maggie Smith (Gosford Park), Ethel Barrymore (Spiral Staircase) and Rosemary Harris (Tom & Viv)... all just a bit TOO YOUNG for this list!

We recently published an "Oldest Best Actor Nominees of all time" list since TWO men this year (Gary Oldman and Sir Anthony Hopkins) landed in the mix. (Related lists "Youngest Best Actor" and "Youngest Best Actress"). Given that unusual two-for-one accomplishment we figured we needed to update the correlative Oldest Best Supporting Actress list where the exact same thing has happened. We first published this list only three months ago but then the focus was on the possibility that Ellen Burstyn would make history as the oldest nominee ever in that category. But Pieces of a Woman proved polarizing when it "opened" and was ignored outside of Vanessa Kirby's Best Actress bid. 

So an update to the list. Which elder women have been looked at fondly by Oscar in the Best Supporting Actress category? Supporting (for both men and women) skews older than Lead since Hollywood prefers midtwenties to mid fortysomethings for protagonists. Herewith the women who broke through the wall of ingenues, girlfriends, wives, and mothers, to score Oscar nominations in Best Supporting Actress category later in life... 

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The 25 Oldest Nominees of All Time in Best Supporting Actress

by Nathaniel R

Since Claudio was just discussing Ellen Burstyn's estimable Oscar history and the fact that she'd become the oldest acting nominee of all time (in any of the four categories) if the Academy picks her for Pieces of a Woman, we figured it was time for an Oscar list. (Cue talkback: when isn't it time for an Oscar list, Nathaniel?)

Which older women has Oscar gazed at fondly in the Supporting Actress category? Supporting (for both men and women) typically skews older than Lead since Hollywood prefers midtwenties to mid fortysomethings for protagonists. Herewith the women who broke through the wall of ingenues, girlfriends, wives, and mothers, to score Oscar nominations in Best Supporting Actress category later in life... 

25 OLDEST NOMINEES IN BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS 

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Smackdown '47: Anne, Ethel, Marge, Celeste Holm and noir goddess Gloria Grahame

IT'S HERE! Welcome to the Supporting Actress Smackdown, a summer festival in which we investigate Oscar shortlists from years past. 1947 was a fine cinematic vintage and Oscar made room for a ghostly judge's wife, a countrified mother of 15, a jaded dance hall girl, a single New York City fashion editor, and a righteous rock of a mother in the Supporting Actress race. What's most historically interesting about this particular set is that it's a who's-who of character actress superstars of the 1940s. Get this: all but one of them won this category and received multiple nominations within an eight year span from the mid 40s to the early 50s.

THIS MONTH'S PANELISTS
Here to talk about these five nominated turns and the movies and Oscars of 1947 are, in alphabetical order: critic Angelica Jade Bastién (Vulture), actress Dana Delany (China Beach, Desperate Housewives), lyricist and librettist Thomas Mizer (The Marvelous Mrs Maisel), and actor Patrick Vaill (Broadway's Tony-winning revival of Oklahoma), And, as ever, your host at The Film Experience, Nathaniel R. Let's begin...

1947
SUPPORTING ACTRESS SMACKDOWN + PODCAST  
The companion podcast can be downloaded at the bottom of this article or by visiting the iTunes page...

Click to read more ...