Ranking the Best Actress Wins So Far

#1 katharine hepburn in 'the lion in winter'

#2 sophia loren in 'two women'

#3 glenda jackson in 'women in love'

#4 maggie smith in 'the prime of miss jean brodie'

#5 barbra streisand in 'funny girl'

#6 helen hunt in 'as good as it gets'

#7 julie andrews in 'mary poppins'

#8 marie dressler in 'min and bill'

#9 greer garson in 'mrs miniver'

#10 helen hayes in 'coquete'

#11 janet gaynor in 'seventh heaven'

#12 mary pickford in 'sins of madelon claudet'

#14 norma shearer in 'the divorcee'

#15 katharine hepburn in 'morning glory'

#16 elizabeth taylor in 'butterfield 8'

Oscarbation: A Look Back at 1964 for Best Actress

1964's nominees went from dull as dishwater to rousing. two actresses in '64 were left out of the running and neither of them was dull as dishwater.

#'s 4 and 5 were basically dull as dishwater

#5 ann bancroft in 'the pumpkin eater'

'the pumpkin eater' is a dud. ms bancroft's performances rises above the material but suffers from lousy dialogue and dreary direction. this should have been audrey hepburn's slot for 'my fair lady' but hollywood wanted revenge for her being cast in that film.

# 4 kim stanley in 'seance on a wet afternoon'

film officianados know how good ms stanley was. see her in 1958's 'the goddess' and see how brilliant she could be. her myra savage in this film was good. it's the material here that killed her chances for a win. boring! her stage career outranked her film career. her nom here was a win for her.

#'s 3, 2 and 1 were all rousing in their own way

#3 debbie reynolds in 'the unsinkable molly brown'

ms reynolds gives a roaring musical performance to say the least. actually despite the material she gives one of the best musical performances of all time here. another year another time she may have won. the film and it's plot are slight. her leading man a dullard. the musical's lyrics and music are not top notch. however, debbie rises above the material and saves the whole damn thing.

#2 julie andrews in 'mary poppins'

we all know why ms andrews won the oscar. jack warner is why. his 'fair lady' was not even

nominated although she, audrey hepburn, was divine in the role of eliza doolittle. after snubbing julie andrews for 'my fair lady' hollywood took revenge on jack warner in this category. although 'my fair lady' would win best picture ms hepburn was snubbed. so was the revenge really on audrey who was told ms andrews would not get the part no matter what as some other actress was waiting in the wings? therefore audrey has revealed she could not say 'no'.

i do not begrudge julie her oscar. as she said said in her acceptance speech 'americans are so generous but this is ridicolous''. well in this case she was right. it was generous and it was ridiculous. she just ranks as another winner who should not have won.

#1 sophia loren in 'marriage italian style'

sophia gives her second best performance ever as filumena in 'marriage italian style' right after cesira in 'two women'. it's amazing to me that her roles in hollywood films leave me cold. she is so so much better in her native tongue and on her home turf. her comedic range and dramatic turns in this film are a true example of a multi talented actress. a talent, gift, to behold. she would have won her second oscar putting the andrews/hepburn thing aside.

**************

so who got left out? both ava gardner and deborah kerr in 'the night of the iguana'. i can only guess they split the votes on the nomination ballot. ms gardner gave the best performance of her career here. ms kerr generally gave wonderful performances and this was no exception. they both deserved the nomination over ann bancroft and kim stanley.

and the aforementioned ms hepburn was regally snubbed

Oscarbation: A Look Back at 1961 for Best Actress

1969 gave us the following: one brilliant performance, one wonderful performance, one breakthrough performance and two fairly good performances.

the nominees were:

#5

piper laurie

piper laurie in 'the hustler' was completely overshadowed by lead actor paul newman. she gave an 'okay' performance that would not have ruled any other year either.

#4

geraldine page

geraldine page in 'summer and smoke' gave a mighty good performance but i always tended to embrace her more on the stage than on the screen. she would go on to win the oscar for a far better role in a far better film.

#3

natalie wood

natalie wood gave a breakout performance in 'splendor in the grass'. she crossed the barrier that most child stars are not able to cross with great success. although many will disagree i believe ms wood was nominated for the wrong film in 1961. she should have been nominated for 'west side story'. she would not have won but at the very least

would have been nominated for her most memorable performance. and she made a lovely maria who made you feel first her joyous innocence and then her tragedy. let me say: i love natalie wood. she lights up the screen always no matter how good or bad the material she had to work with.

#2

audrey hepburn

audrey hepburn was and will always be holly golightly. she charmed her way through 'breakfast at tiffany's' and left an indelible mark on cinematic history. she won the oscar for a lesser role and lost the oscar for a superior role both of which i will address in the days and months to come. had it not been for the actress who holds my #1 spot, as well as the oscar, audrey may have won in 1961. those who know me know my love for audrey. i miss her to this day.

#1

sophia loren

sophia loren in 'two women' gave one of cinemas best performances of all time. actually her performance is a masterpiece. the first actress to win the oscar in a non english speaking role that would not be achieved again until 2007. i cannot find enough words to satisfy her brilliant performance as a mother in world war 2 italy and the abuse, rape, of both herself and her daughter. interesting note on her casting: ms loren was first picked to play the daughter with anna magnani in the role sophia eventually essayed. ms magnani refused to play her mother. ms magnani felt sophia was too old to play her daugter. so on recast ms loren went on to win the oscar as cesira.

brava ms loren.