The Verdict -- Best Supporting Actress 1975

#5. Sylvia Miles in Farewell, My Lovely: Nothing about Miles' performance as Jessie Florian ever managed to really stand out to me in any truly positive or negative ways. You can visibly see Miles attempting to add some flair to this plot device of a character, but she doesn't succeed in any way that leads to anything close to Academy Award level acting. I simply just don't get this nomination, at all.

#4. Brenda Vaccaro in Jacqueline Susann's Once is Not Enough: The reason Vaccaro got an Oscar nomination amounts to nearly the exact opposite of that for Miles--she elevates an otherwise agonizingly dreary film whenever she appears onscreen. She's very funny in a somewhat cliched "desperate, sassy best friend" sidekick type of role, and gets us through some ridiculous scenes based on pure charisma. But as much as she works as something of a  soothing salve in this movie, she doesn't really dig deep enough or bring enough back story to this part. She's fun but inconsequential, which in this movie is more than enough. 

#3. Lee Grant in Shampoo: Grant is such a studied, busy actress that she can't help but bring so many diverse qualities to the character of Felicia Karpf, at the expense of fully finding the character. She's sexy, funny, bitter, pathetic, sympathetic, bitchy, and needy at various points over the course of Shampoo but these qualities never completely gel and are often at odds with one another. Still, she has so much fun with this character and does manage enough fleeting moments of passion and moving emotion to make her performance a fun ride nonetheless. I enjoyed her wildness.

#2. Lily Tomlin in Nashville: Any other year and Lily Tomlin would be an exemplary winner pick for her unique, guarded performance as Linnea. It's such an atypical choice for both the actress and the Academy, as everything great about Tomlin's performance is so subtle and unshowy. With beautiful simplicity and excellent instinctive acting she finds the emotional center of her character, a housewife yearning for something a little more in her life. Her greatest strength is her reserve, and what results is a supple and powerful performance that doesn't need histrionics or mannerisms to convey everything that this woman feels. It all feels all the more real and moving because of it.

#1. Ronee Blakley in Nashville: Over the course of what amounts of only a few brief scenes and five gorgeous musical numbers, Ronee Blakley gives an epic performance of a woman broken down by the music industry, so much so that just about all that is left is a blank, earnest sincerity. The raw amateurishness of her acting style imbues this ethereal, fleeting shell of a woman with directness and an open vulnerability. Her contributions as a songwriter cannot be overlooked--as without those gorgeous songs her character would merely be a tragic cipher, as they add so much rich context and history to her performance that comes with personal experience and passion. This is an utterly unique performance, mixing over the top breakdowns, glassy blankness, and deeply felt pathos with a musicality that somehow ends up working to beautiful effect.

The Year in Review: Despite a few lackluster nominees, the strength of the top two performances makes this an above average year for me, and the richness of Nashville as a whole places this year among my favorites I've covered. To me, the only explanation for the nominations for Miles and Vaccaro is a serious case of Nashville vote splitting, because in a just world the likes of Gwen Welles (maybe my pick), Geraldine Chaplin, and Barbara Harris at least would be among this field. Lee Grant's nomination is a little more understandable, as she is an Oscar favorite in a flashy, fun role. Her win has been decried as a makeup for her mistreatment during the anti-Communist era of Hollywood, but this performance has enough meat to it that I don't think it was that huge of a factor, especially considering a number of other things working in her favor. Now that I've officially graduated college and work are both slowing down a little, I'm hoping to get at least one or two years done in June but those are famous last words for me...

 Every Supporting Actress Nominee Ranked:

1. Patty Duke in "The Miracle Worker" (1962)
2. Dorothy Malone in "Written on the Wind" (1956)
3. Thelma Ritter in "Pickup on South Street" (1953)
4. Ronee Blakley in "Nashville" (1975)
5. Catherine Zeta-Jones in "Chicago" (2002)
6. Linda Hunt in "The Year of Living Dangerously" (1983)
7. Anna Paquin in "The Piano" (1993)
8. Meryl Streep in "Adaptation." (2002)
9. Lily Tomlin in "Nashville" (1975)
10. Cher in "Silkwood" (1983)
11. Eileen Heckart in "The Bad Seed" (1956)
12. Emma Thompson in "In the Name of the Father" (1993)
13. Julianne Moore in "Boogie Nights" (1997) 
14. Ellen Burstyn in "The Last Picture Show" (1971)
15. Oprah Winfrey in "The Color Purple" (1985)
16. May Whitty in "Mrs. Miniver" (1942)
17. Patty McCormack in "The Bad Seed" (1956)
18. Claire Trevor in "Dead End" (1937)
19. Sandy Dennis in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1966)
20. Agnes Moorehead in "The Magnificent Ambersons" (1942)
21. May Whitty in "Night Must Fall" (1937)
22. Margaret Avery in "The Color Purple" (1985)
23. Mildred Dunnock in "Baby Doll" (1956)
24. Julianne Moore in "The Hours" (2002)
25. Kathy Bates in "About Schmidt" (2002)
26. Wendy Hiller in "A Man for All Seasons" (1966)
27. Angela Lansbury in "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962)
28. Ethel Waters in "Pinky" (1949)
29. Amy Madigan in "Twice in a Lifetime" (1985)
30. Meg Tilly in "Agnes of God" (1985)
31. Teresa Wright in "Mrs. Miniver" (1942)
32. Gloria Stuart in "Titanic" (1997)
33. Alfre Woodard in "Cross Creek" (1983)
34. Barbara Harris in "Who is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?" (1971)
35. Geraldine Page in "Hondo" (1953)
36. Lee Grant in "Shampoo" (1975)
37. Anne Shirley in "Stella Dallas" (1937)
38. Amy Irving in "Yentl" (1983)
39. Kim Basinger in "L.A. Confidential" (1997)
40. Shirley Knight in "Sweet Bird of Youth" (1962)
41. Cloris Leachman in "The Last Picture Show" (1971)
42. Margaret Leighton in "The Go-Between" (1971)
43. Rosie Perez in "Fearless" (1993)
44. Mercedes McCambridge in "All the King's Men" (1949)
45. Joan Cusack in "In & Out" (1997)
46. Anjelica Huston in "Prizzi's Honor" (1985)
47. Ann-Margret in "Carnal Knowledge" (1971)
48. Gladys Cooper in "Now, Voyager" (1942)
49. Donna Reed in "From Here to Eternity" (1953)
50. Glenn Close in "The Big Chill" (1983)
51. Susan Peters in "Random Harvest" (1942)
52. Brenda Vaccaro in "Jacqueline Susann's Once is Not Enough" (1975)
53. Vivien Merchant in "Alfie" (1966)
54. Alice Brady in "In Old Chicago" (1937)
55. Mary Badham in "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962) 
56. Holly Hunter in "The Firm" (1993)
57. Queen Latifah in "Chicago" (2002)
58. Celeste Holm in "Come to the Stable" (1949)
59. Jocelyne LaGarde in "Hawaii" (1966)
60. Ethel Barrymore in "Pinky" (1949)
61. Sylvia Miles in "Farewell, My Lovely" (1975)
62. Minnie Driver in "Good Will Hunting" (1997)
63. Thelma Ritter in "Birdman of Alcatraz" (1962) 
64. Winona Ryder in "The Age of Innocence" (1993)
65. Grace Kelly in "Mogambo" (1953)
66. Mercedes McCambridge in "Giant" (1956)
67. Marjorie Rambeau in "Torch Song" (1953) 
68. Elsa Lanchester in "Come to the Stable" (1949)
69. Andrea Leeds in  "Stage Door" (1937)
70. Geraldine Page in "You're a Big Boy Now" (1966)

Ronee Blakley in Nashville

Ronee Blakley received her first and only Oscar nomination to date for her performance as Barbara Jean in Robert Altman's Nashville.

Among the kaleidoscope of players in Altman's crowded (in a good way) narrative, many argue that Blakley's Barbara Jean is the central figure of the film. Barbara Jean is the current sweetheart of country music (at least partially based on Loretta Lynn), who is returning to Nashville after suffering a "burn accident", hinted to be a cover for something a little more psychological in nature. The rest of the characters sort of orbits around her, with essentially everyone coming into contact with her at some point, even if just in passing. However, as central as Barbara Jean's presence is to the narrative, I wouldn't categorize this as a lead performance simply because Blakley has such a fleeting, ethereal presence even in her big moments, and the entire character feels like such an tragic chess piece in a larger game that is both Nashville (the film) and Nashville (the city/country music scene).

If there is a driving quality in Blakley's performance it's a transparent and vulnerable sincerity--everything about Barbara Jean is so thoroughly earnest no matter how much she tries otherwise. From the first moment she appears onscreen, wearing a flowy white dress and a pink ribbon in her hair, she wins over the crowds waiting to greet her with a simple sweetness and true star power. Barbara Jean is purposefully dressed as angelically as possible, and the innocence constantly on display is what makes the eventual trajectory of this performance so impossibly moving. We watch in horror as Blakley peels back the layers of Barbara Jean's innocence and unveils the unbelievable toll stardom takes on those graced with possessing it. There's a loss of self apparent in all of her non-singing scenes, where we watch as she struggles with consolidating the commercial enterprise her husband has morphed her into and the very real root of where she comes from. Everything about her life has been so thought out and orchestrated without her input, that it's reached the point of Barbara Jean barely even existing anymore as an individual entity.

Blakely conveys this all with a very raw, amateurish acting style that highlights just how far gone Barbara Jean is and how deeply she seems to be fighting to get that back, only to meet resistance and push back from her husband and those around her. Each and every time Barbara Jean is in public she puts on the mask of the country sweetheart, sincerely shaking hands and showing interest in all those around her expertly like a trained show horse. But the cracks inevitably begin to show and Blakley's demeanor becomes more cloudy and even childish, and we watch Barbara Jean experience a mental breakdown wherein she becomes scatterbrained and fragile. This happens only twice in the film, once in a hospital scene with her husband and once on stage. Still, these two moments cut deeply and put you on pins and needles for the rest of her performance waiting for the other shoe to drop. Blakely often goes big in these moments, but thankfully not so big as to lose the emotion of the moments. Once again the rawness of Blakely as an actress comes in handy in these moments, as her freshness as an actress and lack of trained artifice enhances the power of these scenes, where a more experienced actress might approach it with a well-honed style and mannerisms all their own.

All of Blakley's acting moments rang mostly true for me, but where the performance really elevates to greatness is in the moments in which Barbara Jean performs on stage. Her musical numbers are among the most moving and heartbreaking I've ever seen, and that's all due to the powerful voice and Blakely's acting ability during these performances. She has four separate songs, each sung beautifully with her deep husky tone and all but one written by Blakley herself. Two in particular stand out as important, powerhouse moments in this performance. The first is "Dues", a song in which Blakley sings about a broken marriage, which we can clearly link back to her shattered marriage to her controlling husband It's an absolutely heartbreaking song, performed with such authentic emotional both in her vocals and acting. The conflicted emotions on display are utterly bare for the world to see. The other important song is at the climax of the film, where she sings "My Idaho Home" all about her roots and family back home. We see the origins of Barbara Jean's musical talent before she became corrupted by stardom and the industry. This the primary effect all of her songs have--we see the real Barbara Jean come out most prominently in her songs, filled with emotion and history, only for her to disappear when they are over. The depth of emotion poured into each song is staggering, and undoubtedly it helps that Blakely wrote these songs herself--there's a tangible personal attachment to each.

Over the course of what amounts of only a few brief scenes and five gorgeous musical numbers, Ronee Blakley gives an epic performance of a woman broken down by the music industry, so much so that just about all that is left is a blank, earnest sincerity. The raw amateurishness of her acting style imbues this ethereal, fleeting shell of a woman with directness and an open vulnerability. Her contributions as a songwriter cannot be overlooked--as without those gorgeous songs her character would merely be a tragic cipher, as they add so much rich context and history to her performance that comes with personal experience and passion. This is an utterly unique performance, mixing over the top breakdowns, glassy blankness, and deeply felt pathos with a musicality that somehow ends up working to beautiful effect. 5/5 Thelmas.