Thursday
Aug152013
Coming Soon... Supporting Actress 1952
Thursday, August 15, 2013 at 7:00AM On August 31st the Return of Stinkylulu's Supporting Actress Smackdown!
(in case you missed the announcement)
We'll be talking...
- Gloria Grahame, The Bad and the Beautiful (the film is our "Best Shot" subject on the 21st)
- Jean Hagen, Singin' in the Rain
- Collette Marchand, Moulin Rouge
- Terry Moore, Come Back Little Sheba
- Thelma Ritter, With a Song in My Heart
Have you seen all the films? If not, get on that! We'll also do a "reader's choice" as supplement so if you'd like to vote please send me your ranked ballot by Wednesday the 28th with "1952" in the subject line, your rank (of those you've seen), and a sentence or three if you'd like to explain.
Reader Comments (21)
*Squeal!*
Have not seen 'With a Song in My Heart' so need to get on that...if only I could find it. (Jean Hagen is tough to beat though.)
One of those is very possibly my Single Favourite Supporting Performance. Ever.
I doubt I have to point out which one, but here are two hints:
"Whaddya think I aam, dumb or somethin'?!!"
"I caahn't stannd him!" / "I caain't stan' 'im!"
Just thinking about those line deliveries puts me in a very happy place.
I feel the need to bathe after watching Gloria Grahame.
I haven't seen all the performances, but something tells me that Hagen will win this in a walk.
I've seen them all. This is my ranking:
1. Jean Hagen
2. Thelma Ritter
3. Gloria Grahame
4. Terry Moore
5. Collette Marchand
Hagen was so wonderful. You only need to hear "I can't stannnnnnnnn 'im." once and it sticks like a loop (with giggles to follow).
"People? I ain't people! I am a - a shimmering, glowing star in the cinema firma-mint. It says so. Right there."
"Why I make more money than... than Calvin Coolidge! Put ta-gither!"
Oh how I love that crazy blonde GENIUS!
I love me some Gloria Grahame but Jean Hagen, man. She also sang for Debbie Reynolds singing for her character. TALENT!
how does one look at past stinky lulus.
I. CANNOT.WAIT.
Seriouisly, the return of the Supporting Actress Smackdown-it's like Melissa Leo and Jacki Weaver showed up at my door with a Christmas present, and it was Thelma Ritter.
I find it very difficult to choose between Jean HAgen and Gloria Grahame ( Grahame won )
Thelma Ritter , favorite of mine ,was great in every role, but repeated the role over and over again... she should have received Oscar for Pickup on South Street or Rear Window
I think now I would vote for Jean Hagen because today I can remember almost every scene she was in and she nailed a difficult role ... Grahame played the same charavter quite often, too ... but damn , she was sexy...
@John T: You are immediately in pole position for Comment of the Year.
Gloria Grahame in The Bad and the Beautiful remains one of my favorite wins of all time in this category. I haven't seen every supporting actress winner, but Dorothy Malone, Mo'nique, Rita Moreno and Grahame are always duking it out in my head for the top spot.
I love Thelma Ritter, but this is actually not one of my favorites of hers. I think that her All About Eve or even Pillow Talk performances are better, personally.
I've actually seen all of these films. I am a HUGE fan of Gloria Grahame. She is in my personal pantheon of cinematic spirit sisters. I am glad she won although Jean Hagen is fucking amazing in SINGIN' IN THE RAIN. Woman was fire to me. Loved her in IN A LONELY PLACE.
And I agree with others, I love Thelma but she should have won for something else like PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET or ALL ABOUT EVE.
@Angelica Jade: I was of course thinking of you while watching The Bad and the Beautiful. Saving my thoughts about that one for later, but it got me to watch Grahame in 1952's Macao, too. I know she was miserable on that project, for reasons movie-specific and not, but I really liked it. Do you have thoughts about that one?
My top 5 would be
1. Edith Evans - The Importance of Being Earnest
2. Margaret Rutherford - The Importance of Being Earnest
3. Jean Hagen - Singin in the Rain
4. Ethel Waters - The Member of the Wedding
5. Gloria Graham - The Bad and the Beautiful
Jean Hagen gave one of the great comedy performances of all time and created an iconic character.
The link for the ranked ballot didn't work so I'll do mine here. I've seen all five.
1. Jean Hagen towers over them all and I say that as a devotee of both Thelma and Gloria, but in this contest with the qualifying performances Jean can't be beat.
The ranking for the rest would go:
2. Thelma Ritter-Love With a Song in My Heart and her work in it but it didn't really challenge her. She should have won for The Mating Season the previous year, even if that one really flirted with category fraud. Gene Tierney was top billed but Thelma was unquestionably the lead.
3. Gloria Grahame-Again love The Bad and The Beautiful and her fluffy little bit part but it's only a bit and not a taxing one. Also it probably cost her a nomination and win the next year for her truly deserving work in The Big Heat.
4. Terry Moore-Neither of the last two nominees impressed me at all but Sheba was the better of the two films so Moore goes here although I've never seen her give a performance of any distinction.
5. Colette Marchand-I have only the vaguest memory of her in this. Hardly an endorsement for a nominated performance.
I agree with the above posters: Hagen's portrayal of the dumb-but-cunning Lina is pure comic gold, and it's just shocking that the film garnered so little Oscar love (though I believe Donald O'Connor won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy). Then again, it is the Oscars, they have a loooooooong list of things for which to atone.
#2, I'd put Gloria Grahame--I like her, but I sometimes forget about her compared with Lana Turner and Kirk Douglas. Helluvva cast. (And some great lines, too: "Georgia, love is for the very young.")
#3, Ritter--though I agree, she probably should've taken it for "Rear Window." Grace Kelly should've gotten a nod for that, too.
Haven't seen the other two, will be haunting TCM watching for them.
"Seriouisly, the return of the Supporting Actress Smackdown-it's like Melissa Leo and Jacki Weaver showed up at my door with a Christmas present....."
I really hope both of them were in their costumes during their David O. Russell turns.
@NickDavis I love that you thought of me because of the Gloria Grahame connection. I really, really enjoyed watching her in Macao. I think with a lot of Grahame's greatest performances the set environment wasn't too her liking. Keep in mind where her relationship with Nicholas Ray was at the time. I haven't seen Macao in years but it was one of the first times I saw Grahame on screen and I always felt pulled toward her no matter the star wattage around her.