Category: Best Supporting Actress

1944 – Ethel Barrymore

None but the Lonely Heart

Ethel Barrymore did a fine job as Ma Mott, the mother of Ernie, who was played by Cary Grant.  This has to be mentioned, because I think Grant was miss-cast for the role, but Barrymore did a good job anyway.  However, she had the same problem as he did, though I think she handled it better than he did.  In fact, she might have played the part the way she did in order to compliment her more famous co-star.  You see, Grant’s Cockney accent wasn’t very good.  He was simply American.  And while Barrymore’s accent was marginally better than his was, she was at least more consistent.  And she took home the Oscar for her efforts, so why not?

As Ernie’s mother, Ma Mott started out as a woman deeply disappointed in her son’s complete lack of responsibility.  In fact, she gives him a good slap on the face when he returns home and brags about being a homeless, jobless tramp.  But as he stays on and makes an effort to help her out around her antique store, her anger with him fades and she remembers that she still loves him.  And it was that motherly love that drove her to go into business with criminals, selling stolen goods in her store in order to make money for him. 

Barrymore played the part with a seriousness that made her performance authentic.  She created a multi-layered character who could be terse and even gruff in one scene, but sad and tired in the next, and then again sly and joking in the next.  She did it all with a kind of calm ease and confidence that was endearing.  She gave us a kindly old woman who loved her son, despite his general neglect of her over the years.  And in every scene, we see her as a tired and worn out woman, because oh yeah, Ma Mott was also dying of cancer.  That exhaustion showed through even when she was taking a playful jab at a jealous friend.

But I think it was her final scene that earned her the Oscar.  She has been arrested for selling the stolen goods, and when Ernie came to visit her in the jail hospital, her eyes were brimming with tears of shame.  Barrymore really sold the moment, and she stole the scene.  And her on-screen chemistry with Grant was perfect.  She did a fantastic job, and I really think she earned her award.

1944 – Angela Lansbury

Gaslight

We all know Angela Lansbury from her performances in the modern film era like the voice of Mrs. Potts in Beauty and the Beast, and the popular TV show Murder She Wrote.  And even now those can be considered older performances.  After all, Beauty and the Beast came out over 30 years ago.  But once upon a time, she was a young actress in old Hollywood.  And apparently, she was quite the looker!  She had the face of a cherub and the personality of a saucy lady.  With that combination, she was actually quite delightful to watch on the screen.  And to think, this was her very first film roll ever, is quite impressive

She played Nancy Oliver, the maid that was hired by the villainous Gregory Anton.  She is a pretty young cockney girl who, as it turns out, enjoys the company of men, and usually responds to them in terms of sexual attraction.  Even Gregory, Himself, despite the fact that he is a married man, has to fend off the amorous attentions of Nancy.  The role needed a certain kind of cheekiness that Lansbury really delivered.  I loved the scene where she interacted with her boyfriend, Constable Williams.  She plays coy with him, letting him know that she might not get together with him.  But then, as he is leaving her, he asks, “Same place as last time?”   She smiles slyly and agrees, “Same place as last time.”  Very saucy.

But then she also did a fine job of playing the dutiful and attentive made, when in Paula’s presence.  And there were more serious moments that she handled deftly, like when she was being questioned by the Master and Mistress of the house about the missing picture, or when she was discussing Paula’s apparent ill health with the cook.  And I was amused in the scene where she tells Gregory about how much she enjoys musicals.  I clearly saw her future performance of Mrs. Lovett from Sweeney Todd in that brief scene.

I don’t exactly want to say she nearly stole the screen whenever she was in a scene, but she almost did.  Of course, actually steeling the screen from Ingrid Bergman would have been a pretty tall order.  But I’d say she was easily a standout.  There was clearly talent there, and she used it well.

1943 – Paulette Goddard

So Proudly We Hail

Paulette Goddard was a knockout.  And she could act.  So why have I only rarely even heard of her?  I thought she did a fantastic job, and she really earned her Oscar nomination.  This was a much better movie than I was expecting, and the three top-billed actresses all turned in some really great performances.  Goddard played Joan O’Doul, a woman who served as a nurse during WWII.  She created a character that had a definite arch, and she played it perfectly, making it look easy.

Joan was the girl who couldn’t say no.  But when she was shipped to the Philippines to serve on the front lines of the war, she tried to remain aloof and un-entangled with romance.  Her priority was doing her duty as a Lieutenant in the military.  And she is successful… until she meets a handsome Marine who falls in love with her.  But despite slowly returning his affections, I loved that her duty always came first.

What I liked about Goddard’s performance was that there was an inner strength to Joan, and it didn’t soften her beauty in any way.  In fact, it enhanced it, making her even more beautiful.  There was a scene in which she had fainted from exhaustion, and even then, she tries to get up and continue her work.  And later on she has a little monologue that showed why she joined the medical corps, and how she was determined to do her job, no matter what, or how many men she had to help.  There was an honest earnestness in her eyes that I admired. 

And I also enjoyed her on-screen chemistry with her Marine, Kansas, played by Sonny Tufts.  There was a little running gag with Kansas.  Whenever he said he never did something, it always happened.  So when they are parting, and he tells her he never dies, the look of grief and dismay on her face was real and heart-wrenching.  But we are never shown or told of his death.  I’d like to think he survived.  Either way, Goddard did a fine job, making me like her character, despite some of the silliness written into the part.  Like when she put everyone’s lives in danger to retrieve a nightgown during a Japanese attack.  Everyone would have died if Veronica Lake hadn’t sacrificed herself to save everyone.  Badly played, Joan.  But that was the script, not the actress.

1943 – Gladys Cooper

The Song of Bernadette

Gladys Cooper had a small but powerful part in this wonderful movie.  She played Sister Marie Therese Vauzou.  She was a nun who believed that true salvation could only come through self-denial and suffering.  She doubted Bernadette’s miraculous visions, not because the girl was crazy or lying, but because she was innocent and knew nothing of true suffering.  She was actually incredulous that God would choose such a simple young girl as his vessel, rather than someone like herself who had spent a lifetime torturing herself to attain a state of spiritual worthiness.

At first, Cooper just played the woman as a strict and pitiless Catholic nun, a schoolteacher in the village of Lourdes, but later she goes on to be the Mistress of Novices for the Sisters of Charity of Nevers.  This was one of the films few departures from reality, as the real Sister Vauzou was never a schoolteacher in Lourdes.  But I suppose when you have an actress of Gladys Cooper’s caliber, you use her as much as you can.

I think she wasn’t so much a doubter of Bernadette’s visions, but she was jealous of them, and so denied them on principle.  Her most powerful scene was the one in which she finally confronts Bernadette.  Her powerful monologue was captivating, and Cooper was incredible.  “In all our sacred history, the chosen ones have always been those who have suffered.  Why then should God choose you? Why not me?  I know what it is to suffer.  Look at my eyes.  They burn like the very fires of Hell.  Why?  Because they need sleep.  They need rest which I will not give them.  My throat is parched from constant prayer.  My hands are gnarled from serving God in humiliation.  My body is pain-wracked from stone floors.  Yes, I have suffered because I know it is the only true road to Heaven.  And if I, who have tortured myself, cannot glimpse the Blessed Virgin, how can you, who have never felt pain, dare to say you’ve seen her?”

Cooper was so good, and also, the penitent prayer she utters in the next scene was great, too.  This is definitely a movie to watch, not just because of the incredible script, but because of the intense performances of actors like Gladys Cooper.

1943 – Anne Revere

The Song of Bernadette

I really liked Anne Revere’s performance in this movie.  She played Louise Casterot Soubirous, Bernadette’s mother.  She was a peasant woman who began her character arc as a doubter of her daughter’s miraculous visions.  And by the end, it never made any specific references to her being an actual believer, but through everything, she never stopped being the girl’s mother, despite all the ridicule and hardships she and the family had to endure.  Like when the police would stop the family in public to take Bernadette in for questioning, her righteous anger was real.

There was real sympathy when Bernadette was in distress and needed a mother’s love to turn to for comfort.  She played the parental care and unconditional love the part required perfectly.  She was not a beautiful woman, but that was entirely appropriate.  Indeed, she had a remarkably plain face, a feature that was intentionally enhanced with makeup and lighting.  After all, she was a poor peasant woman, not a glamorous socialite.  To her credit, she really looked the part.

She had several scenes that really stood out to me.  One was where she is called to the doctor’s because Bernadette has fainted.  But when she arrives, Bernadette seems to be just fine.  The anger and embarrassment she displayed were palpable.  What will the townspeople think of the mother of the girl who was faking illness to garner sympathy, lying about visions to get attention?  Revere’s acting was particularly good in that scene.  Another that stands out is the one where Bernadette can’t sleep because she is worrying about her visions of the Lady.  The sweet motherly care with which she comforts her daughter was touching.

And then there was the scene where Bernadette is leaving to join the Sisters of Charity of Nevers.  I loved the way Revere handled that scene.  Yes, there was sadness in her face, but also a hint of pride as well, seeing that her daughter was doing a noble thing, fulfilling the calling of one who had been touched by divinity.  It was a very tender scene and Revere handled it with grace and care.  I am totally behind her Oscar nomination, though looking at her competition, I can see why she didn’t win.  Katina Paxinou just had a more powerful performance.

1943 – Lucile Watson

Watch on the Rhine

Luclie Watson did a fantastic job in the role of Fanny Farrelly.  The first half of the movie, which was much more light-hearted than the second half, gave Watson the chance to show a bit of a comedic side. The second half was deeper and more dramatic. Fanny became a dramatic character and Watson was just as grave and serious as the rest of them, delivering her dialogue with gravitas and poise, making me like her character even more.

The character of Fanny was almost crabby, but was absolutely likeable, certainly self-centered, almost to the point of narcissism, but still fun to be around, and even a little clueless or oblivious to reality or even logical thinking.  But she was also a caring and loving mother who adored her family.  She played the kind of lady we’d all like to know.  Watson played that aspect of Fanny perfectly, lending a care-free feel to the first half of the story.  The way Watson played Fanny, she wouldn’t have been out of place in a screwball comedy.  Incidentally, What I loved about her character here was that she totally reminded me of Hyacinth Bucket in that British comedy series Keeping Up Appearances, a wonderfully funny character played by Patricia Routledge.  Watson was just as high-faluten’, uppity, and silly as that well-known character.

But the second half of the film turned much darker and focused on other characters.  She almost didn’t need to be there during the whole drama surrounding her daughter’s anti-fascist husband, Kurt.  And then in the last few minutes of the narrative, she became just as serious and conscious of the world around her, which included the wars that her daughter and her family were fighting.  She even selflessly gave a great deal of money to help them in their cause.  And I loved Watson in these scenes, too.  In fact, brief as they were, I thought that those were the scenes where Watson really got a chance to shine.  She knew that by letting her son-in-law, who had just murdered a man, go, there might be problems for the family, but she showed her metal and did the right thing without fear.  I was a great moment for the character and the film.  Watson gad a sense of dignity that was very appropriate.

I completely agree with her Best Supporting Actress nomination.  She took a role that could have been fairly unmemorable, and made it memorable in a very good way.  She easily held her own, playing opposite the popular Bette Davis, and the Best Actor Oscar winner Paul Lukas.  But she was up against Katina Paxinou in For Whom the Bell Tolls and Gladys Cooper in The Song of Bernadette.  Those would have been hard performances to beat.

1943 – Katina Paxinou

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Katina Paxinou took home the Oscar for her performance in this film.  But outside of this movie, I’ve never even heard her name.  She was very good and she deserved her award, but now I have to wonder what else she was in.  Well, she was only in fifteen films, and I’ve never heard of any of them.  She got her start doing stage work in Greece, and some of her movies were in Italian

She did a fantastic job here, playing Pilar, an unattractive and strong willed woman who wrests the leadership of a band of anti-fascist guerillas from her husband, Pablo, during the Spanish Civil War.  She is a powerful woman who is ultimately disappointed with her husband who used to be a strong leader and revolutionary, but who is now a drunkard and a coward.  She is quick to anger, quick to smile, and ready to hold a gun when it is necessary.  And I love the way Paxinou played it.  She cared for her men like a mother cares for her children.  Pilar was always ready with a sharp tongue or an open smile, whatever was required.  I loved the scene where she agrees to let her men execute her husband for betraying them

And it was a bit of a minor plot point that she was an unattractive woman, and she knew it.  In fact she even had a pretty hefty monologue about how she was ugly, but men loved her anyway, and she joked about stealing the American away from Maria.  It was the kind of scene that made you fall in love with her.  But looking at a glamour photo of the actress, I can see how they had to give her a thorough makeup job to make the attractive woman appear ugly.  But this was still the early days of Technicolor, and I think they were still trying to figure out color.  Both Pilar and Pablo had a lot of makeup on their faces to try to make them look ethnically Spanish, and they just ended up looking dark brown, or sometimes a weird gray.

And in the last few scenes of the film, Paxinou really pulled out all the stops.  She picked up a rifle and proved she was just as tough as any man, and I loved her even more for it.  She completely deserved the Oscar she won.  She was just that good.  It’s too bad she wasn’t in more American films.  I was thoroughly impressed.  Paxinou really knocked this one out of the park.

1942 – Agnes Moorhead

The Magnificent Ambersons

Most of what I know about Agnes Moorhead comes from the TV sitcom, Bewitched.  But this was long before that show from the 60s and 70s.  Here, in Orson Well’s second film, she was much younger, and was a more dramatic actress.  She played a fascinating character who started out just as unlikeable and spoiled as the rest of the wealthy Amberson family, and as they declined into poverty, she began to lose her hold on her sanity, displaying a bit of madness near the end.

Moorhead actually surprised me with her performance.  Her character, Fanny Amberson, the spinster aunt of the film’s lead, had an arch.  As she became more humbled, she gained maturity and gravitas.  And when she and her nephew, George, the last two remaining members of the family, found that they had less than a hundred dollars between them on which to survive for the rest of the year, she had a powerful sobbing breakdown.  Incidentally, I read that Wells had her film that climactic scene ten times, telling her to play it a different way every time.  On the eleventh take, she was told to just play the scene, and all the previous takes seemed to meld into what we got on the screen: the image of a tortured and broken woman losing control of herself in the face of utter destitution.  Moorhead really sold the scene and earned her Oscar nomination.

Throughout the movie, she played a mostly unlikeable character.  She played the part perfectly, and with the exception of her sister Isabel, she excelled at being just as mean as the rest of her family, fighting, sniping, and hurling hurtful words and insults.  But it was alright.  I wasn’t supposed to like Aunt Fanny much, and Moorhead seemed to understand that.  Still, there were a few scenes where she showed real affection for her nephew.  In the midst of being an agony-aunt, she showed that she actually did care for him, cared about what happened to him. 

And then there was her pining over the man who Isabel loved.  Moorhead played it as just one more way in which poor Aunt Fanny was ignored and cast aside, unloved, unwanted.  It was just another layer to her complicated character.  Yes, Moorhead surprised me in this film; surprised me in a good way. 

1942 – Teresa Wright

Mrs. Miniver

So here is an Oscar win that was absolutely deserved.  I am a huge fan of Teresa Wright.  She was beautiful and could act with amazing skill.  She had a brilliant smile and a charming presence on the screen.  She handled the youthful starry-eyed love scenes just as easily as the more difficult emotional scene in which she talks about the potential death of her new husband in the Second World War.  She played the part of Carol Beldon, the granddaughter of Lady Beldon, a snooty old aristocrat with a historical name and money. 

But Wright created a charming girl with none of the haughty superiority of her grandmother.  She was captivating to watch on the screen, which must not have been easy when playing opposite the likes of Greer Garson.  She made Carol Beldon, and later the young Mrs. Miniver when she married Vin, likeable and easy to watch.  There was a gentleness about her that was often in contrast with the threatening backdrop of the war behind her.  And yet, there was also a practical bravery about that was attractive and noble.

Spoiler Alert, Wright provided the most powerful emotional punch in the film.  As she and Mrs. Miniver are driving home after the flower festival is interrupted by a German air raid, their car is pelted with gunfire from a German airplane.  We are shown the holes in the roof of the automobile, and after a few seconds, we find that Carol has been hit.  Wright really sold this scene.  She is in shock but not in pain, though you can tell she is having difficulty breathing.  The scene was devastating and powerful because Wright did such a fantastic job making us fall in love with her throughout the whole movie.  Kay gets her back to the house, and she is lying on the floor, slowly bleeding to death. And when she gently expires, she delivers the movie’s gut-punch.  Wright was so good in this scene.

So she took home the Oscar for her wonderful performance, and I think she totally deserved it.  She was youthful and beautiful, sweet and kind, and perfect for the role.  Whenever I see her on a cast list, I know I’m in for a treat.  Unfortunately, this was the last time she was nominated for an Oscar, so I’m glad she won.

1942 – May Whitty

Mrs. Miniver

May Whitty was one of those character actresses who could really only play one kind of character, but darn if she didn’t play it so perfectly.  She was the crotchety, snooty, aristocratic woman who had a better-than-thou personality.  She was self-important, self-righteous, and self-aggrandizing.  But beneath all that, she actually had a good heart.  And Whitty did a perfect job of getting all that across, even the good natured and selfless parts of the character.

And that’s one of the reasons I ended up liking her by the end of the film.  Though she had a relatively small part in the overall narrative, she had a character arc that showed the quality of the script, and the quality of the actress.  Yes, she started out as the pompous woman who believed she was better than everyone else because her class in British society, but by the end, she was shown to be a changed woman.  It was a combination of her relationship with Mrs. Miniver and her son, Vin, and the devastation caused by the war.  And finally, it was the death of her beloved niece from enemy gunfire, and the death of Mr. Ballard, that allowed her to shed tears, cementing her character’s positive development.

I really liked her in the scene where she gave the prize for the most beautiful rose in the flower competition to the deserving Mr. Ballard.  After an entire movie of being haughty and superior, she spoke words of kindness and was likeable.  And that was all due to May’s genuine performance.  “This is the first time a rose other than the Beldon rose has won the cup since the shows began.  I won’t say I’m not disappointed.  We Beldons are not used to competitors.  In the old days we just lopped off their heads.  Can’t do that nowadays.  More’s the pity.  But if I had to lose, there’s no man I’d sooner lose to than James Ballard because he’s a man of spirit, and I like a man of spirit.”  It shows how she is a gracious woman after all, and Whitty delivered it beautifully, with poise and just a touch of humbleness.

It was a good and well-written part, and I like that Whitty was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, even though she lost the award to Teresa Wright who played her granddaughter, Carol Beldon, a decision I completely agree with.