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)

Lee Grant in Shampoo

Lee Grant won the Oscar on her third nomination for her performance as Felicia Karpf in Hal Ashby's Shampoo. This was my second go-round with Shampoo, a film I absolutely despised on the grounds of it all feeling like a Warren Beatty vanity project in which women embarrassingly throw themselves at him. Though I now feel that might be a little too harsh, the central problem of the film remains the same: Warren Beatty's vacuous leading performance. The plot centers on Beatty's George, a Beverly Hills hairdresser with a healthy flow of female clients who is attempting to open his own salon while also navigating the complex array of women he has fawning over him. See, George can get any woman in bed with him, often without even really trying because he is simply irresistible. The three main women in the film are all hopelessly in love with him: the sweet but needy Jill (Goldie Hawn), the glamorous and sophisticated Jackie (Julie Christie), and the lonely, desperate Felicia (Grant). Also in the mix is Felicia's husband Lester (an Oscar-nominated Jack Warden), a powerful businessman who offers to finance George's salon and is having an extra-marital affair with Jackie. Hijinx ensue, culminating in a final party with all five characters in attendance where a series of revelations and secrets are spilled. The problem is that, as played by Beatty, George is essentially a charmless idiot, despite being proclaimed some kind of irresistible lothario whom all these interesting, sophisticated women fawn over. He's got about as much personality as Frankenstein's Monster.

In the wrong hands, the role of Felicia Karpf could very easily fall into rote stereotypical trappings because Felicia isn't a particularly original creation: she's a bored, aging housewife carrying on an affair with a much younger man in order to recapture some sense of youthful vitality and alleviate the boredom of her life. However, with an actress as dynamic and calculated as Lee Grant we see an unusually complex portrayal of this particular stereotypical "bored housewife" role. Another actress might play up one particular aspect of this relatively small role, and lean heavily on either the sympathetic, unlikable, or pathetic nature of the character but Grant endeavors to do them all wrapped in one, crafting a busy portrayal that both thrives and struggles under that level of ambition.

The pure volume of tics and cadences that Grant heaps into her portrayal works well in the early scenes in which Felicia is constantly fighting to keep George's attention. She's simultaneously fussy and desperate while also jealous and domineering in the way in which Felicia plays mind games with George to grasp his attention. Grant so often contrasts what Felicia is saying with what she is feeling in an electric and interesting manner, often with a spiky look and a stilted line reading. There's a sharp contrast between her dialogue in the earlier scenes, which all feel painfully overdone and calculated with manufactured stutters and over-thought pauses, and the emotions that Grant expresses simply with her face and eyes in silence. There's so much depth and emotion in the simple way that Grant can convey longing and envy in her eyes that comes across much better than her over-rehearsed line-readings.

Her face continues to be her greatest weapon as the film goes on, as Felicia faces some competition for George's affections. Whereas the first half of the film has Felicia interacting merely with George, the second half has all the characters coming together during which she realizes how little George and her husband really care about her. During the film's big party scene she continues to reek of insecurity, embarrassingly dragging George into the bathroom and making out with him in the middle of a large group of people. However, the key moment for Felicia is when she meets Julie Christie's Jackie, the woman who both George and her husband are deeply in love with. There's a look of instant recognition that flashes across her face, followed by something of a predatory scowl and the eventual resignation that she can't compete with this glamorous young woman. It's a fascinating moment, ice cold between the two women, both of whom spend the rest of the party sending glares from across the room. Grant does the bitchy stares really well, but it also marks the end of Felicia's usefulness in the plot.

It's clear to all watching (and perhaps even Felicia herself) that neither man is going to choose her over Jackie in any way, and instead of going for sympathy or sadness Grant freezes Felicia up and removes all the previous electricity and fight she had. There is no big emotional moment or breakdown, only an icy coldness until she leaves the film and the men behind. The film kind of tosses her away after that, giving her only the middle finger moment that is funny but ultimately not a satisfying end to her story.

What we are left with is a role with a bizarre trajectory,  simultaneously a tool for Beatty, a desperate sad sack, a plot device, and ice cold bitch. A more focused (and less engaging) actress wouldn't layer so many facets in her portrayal, but that's simply not Grant's acting. By crafting such a busy, inconsistent characterization, Felicia feels like something of a erratic mess of a character who never quite makes coherent sense. It's a blessing and a curse, because by doing so much with her performance Grant has simultaneously injected energy and verve in her performance while also making it a somewhat incomprehensible and scattered. I appreciate the ambition displayed, even if the results are sketchy and mismatched.

There's a visceral watchability to this performance, which is bitter, pathetic, sympathetic, and bitchy, but is Felicia Karpf a discernible human being? Not really. But is she always fun to watch? Absolutely. 3.5/5 Thelmas.

Best Supporting Actress 1975

And the nominees were....

• Ronee Blakley as Barbara Jean in Nashville
• Lee Grant as Alicia Karpf in Shampoo (winner)
• Sylvia Miles as Jessie Halstead Florian in Farewelly, My Lovely
• Lily Tomlin as Linnea Reese in Nashville
• Brenda Vaccaro as Linda Riggs in Jacqueline Susann's Once is Not Enough

The Field: Alright, I'll admit something: this is not a year I'm particularly excited for. I'm not particularly sure why I'm not excited for it, but it's just not one that I was itching to cover. I've seen Shampoo and have not so fond memories of that film (though those are mostly thanks to Beatty, who has never impressed me). I'm a little wary of Nashville, having never warmed up to an Altman film the way the rest of the world has (from my limited sampling of his films), though I'm always interested in seeing such a widely acclaimed film. As for the other two, I've heard nothing that makes me particularly excited. My lack of excitement for this year, I should say, comes more from the films than the actresses, because this is a somewhat interesting and atypical group of ladies for the Academy. Not a wallflower among them, and I'm glad to see a lack of fawning mothers and delicate young girlfriends (maybe the last year scarred me a bit?). Well, here's hoping my expectations are subverted! Sylvia Miles will be up first in a few days time.