1941 – Mary Astor
The Great Lie
Mary Astor was one of those lifers. She acted in silent films, starting in 1921, and transitioned into sound films in 1929, and ended her film career in her final role in 1964. That’s forty-three years in front of the camera, and her experience really allowed her to show what she could do. Of course, the well-written script really worked in her favor, as well. And she was gorgeous, to boot. And this role had some meat on its bones for all the characters.
She played a world-class concert pianist at the peak of her career, named Sandra Kovak. She was also a free-spirited party girl who had fallen in love with a man, who she impulsively married. But she had jumped the gun, and an incomplete divorce prevented the marriage from being valid. But when her man returned to his ex-fiancée, she reveals that she is pregnant with his child, and deep drama ensues. Astor had just the right amount of arrogance and avarice to pull it off. And she was certainly a villainess. Upon learning that her conquest had married his ex, she straight-up tells the woman that she intended to steal him back. She owns her wickedness, and is utterly unapologetic. Honestly, I like that kind of a bad guy.
And Astor did something else that impressed me. Whenever someone plays an instrument in a film, it is usually pretty obvious whether they are actually playing or not. With Astor, I couldn’t tell. She made me believe she was really playing the piano beautifully. True, during some of the music’s more difficult passages, they strategically focused the camera on her face and not on her hands, but when they did show them, you could tell she was actually playing the piano. And my research tells me I was not wrong. The actress was really an accomplished pianist.
But more than that, Astor really dug into the emotional heart of Sandra Kovak. Her best scene was during her pregnancy when she loses her mind and tries to set the house on fire. She ends up screaming out of pure frustration and has to be slapped to bring her to her senses. Then she breaks down into sobbing tears. She was so good in that scene. She played such a well-defined character that I’m not surprised she took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.