A Short Detour: Best Actress 1977 Anyone ?
Friday, January 9, 2015 at 9:31PM With Oscar ballots in and BAFTA nominations announced we'll shortly proceed to final predictions and finish the Film Bitch Categories that correlate with Oscar. In short, prepare for a busy week! But for tonight, before Golden Globes weekend, why not a brief detour from the right now?
The current Beauty vs Beast poll (ending Sunday night so get your votes in) on Annie Hall, has been prompting some unrelated Liza Minnelli comments regarding her Globe nominated / Oscar skipped work in New York New York. I also wish she'd been in the running that year since it's an amazing performance, much closer to her Cabaret brilliance than Oscar history would tell you. This threw me for an unexpected 1977 flashback. The average ticket price was $2.25. Hot damn. And it was a great year for Actress-led movies.
Unlike today when "women's pictures" are largely shunned by organizations (see the fates of Wild and so on each year), they were more common as competitors for the top prize back then. The 1977 Best Actress lineup had a 100% correlation with Best Picture after all -- 100%!!! -- And that was back when we only had five pictures nominated. Diane Keaton owned the year which was fine since she was statue worthy for either of her leading performances. Today her electric dramatic work in Looking for Mr Goodbar is underseen -- for reasons I can't comprehend it's never been on DVD despite having stars (Diane Keaton, Richard Gere, Tom Berenson, Tuesday Weld) and lurid retro marketing hooks.
So let's chat. Who do you love from 1977 and which of the 5 would have made your imaginary retro ballot?
Leading Actresses with US Releases in 1977
Disclaimer: BAFTA & César nomination years do not necessarily align due to different release dates in the UK & France but everything listed below is 1977 for Oscar correlative purposes / Key: Oscar nominees in red.
Anne Bancroft - The Turning Point (Globe, BAFTA & Oscar nominee. NBR Winner)
Catherine Deneuve - Le Sauvage (César nominee)
Diane Keaton - Looking for Mr Goodbar (Globe nominee)
Diane Keaton - Annie Hall (Globe, BAFTA, NYFCC, NSFC, KCFCC, NBR*, and Oscar winner)
Didi Conn - You Light Up My Life
Elizabeth Taylor - A Little Night Music
Ellen Burstyn - Providence
Gemma Craven - The Slipper and the Rose
Gena Rowlands - Opening Night (Globe nominee)
Irene Papas - Iphigenia
Isabelle Huppert - The Lacemaker (César nominee)
Jane Fonda - Julia (Globe, BAFTA, & Oscar nominee)
Jaqueline Bissett - The Deep
Kathleen Quinlan - I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (Globe nominee)
Lily Tomlin - The Late Show (Globe & BAFTA nominee, Berlinale winner)
Liza Minnelli - New York New York (Globe nominee)
Marie-France Pisier - The Other Side of Midnight
Marsha Mason - The Goodbye Girl (Globe winner, she tied with Keaton. Plus BAFTA & Oscar nominee)
Marsha Mason - Audrey Rose
Romy Schneider - That Most Important Thing: Love (César nominee)
Sally Field -Smokey & The Bandit (Globe nominee)
Shelley Duvall - 3 Women (Cannes & LAFCA winner. Plus BAFTA Nominee)
Shirley Maclaine - The Turning Point (Oscar nominee)
Sissy Spacek - 3 Women
Sophia Loren - A Special Day
Despite being a Jane Fonda nut overall, I'm quite cool on her Julia performance; she's easily overshadowed by her co-stars in just about every scene making her dominance (all major nominations!) quite strange unless you account for her superstardom and that Julia seemed very popular across the board -- how else to explain its Supporting Actor win for Jason Robards, one of the most perplexing Oscar acting prizes of all time. My list from the films I've seen -- admittedly not enough from this year by any stretch -- would be: Bancroft, Duvall, Keaton (and trust that if I could have her twice I would), Mason, and Minnelli but I regret to inform that I've never seen Opening Night and from everything I've heard Gena Rowlands would have to bump one of them. Perhaps 2015 will be the year I finally cave and get really schooled on Rowlands?
The performance I haven't seen that I'm the most curious about from this batch is Lily Tomlin's in The Late Show since it was obviously well regarded. I'm completely unfamiliar with this one.
*Hilariously Diane Keaton won the "supporting actress" award from the NBR for Annie Hall. Category Fraud has always been with us.
Reader Comments (57)
Julia is quite an anomaly,
Vanessa Redgrave won Oscar for best supporting actress in the titular role.
and that Maximillian Schell nomination is still baffling me!
but Diane Keaton as Annie Hall is one for the ages
I remember all the talk of how Keaton's best performance was Goodbar, but because of the subject matter, they wouldn't vote for it so they nom'ed her for Annie instead.
I'm pretty happy with Keaton winning that year regardless.
There is a wealth of talent in that list.
eradicate "The Turning Point" - a film that 1) has not aged well at all; 2) features pedestrian performances from two legends and throw in Shelley Duvall & Sissy Spacek for their brilliant work in "3 Women" and I'm happy with the rest of the line up.
Watch Opening Night.
Like, yesterday.
Sophia Loren in A Special Day is amazing. One of her best! Nathaniel you should do a tribute to her! She is the only living actress left on AFI'S 50 SCREEN LEGENDS!
Rowlands, Duvall, Keaton, Huppert, Schneider.
Imagine that.
"Vanessa Redgrave won Oscar for best supporting actress in the titular role."
Pedant Alert: Vanessa won for the eponymous role; Marsha Mason was nominated for her titular role.
I love detours! I think Fonda does a beautiful job in Julia specially in the scene where they reunite at the café. Very strong year. I personally prefer Gena in Opening Night than in the acclaimed Woman Under the Influence.
I think I would be fine just replacing Mason for the magnificent Liza Minnelli although I haven't seen 3 Women in ages. Tough year!
Remembering Goodbar---TB in a jock strap and Tuesday Weld doing her best Tuesday Weld.......
Daniel - OMG Loren is spectacular in Una giornata particolare! Probably her best work.
I keep forgetting to comment thus on the Beauty vs Beast post so I'll do it here - as "iconic" as Keaton's performance is in Annie Hall, which is how I praised it, if I had to choose I'd be Team Goodbar, easily. She's one of my favorite actresses and Goodbar's probably my favorite of all she's done, and it only gets richer every time I watch it (which like you said Nat isn't all that often since it's such a pain to watch properly which is SUCH a huge WTF.)
Maybe I should've done the Beauty vs Beats poll as Annie versus Goodbar's Theresa (it probably would've been closer than the blow-out happening anyway)
I've always meant to see that Tomlln performance too.
Is there a reason why you've been avoiding all these Rowlands performances, Nathaniel?
On one hand, it's cool that this is one of those rare years where Best Picture was more correlative with Actress than Actor, but it's also a shame because it meant they could be lazy and mostly go with perennial nominees over great work from Duvall and Rowlands. At least the performance that won is great and iconic.
Three memorable performances from '77- all under-celebrated in the years since: Simone Signoret in "Madame Rosa". Hollis McLaren ,"Outrageous" and Carroll Baker, "Andy Warhol's Bad". All three would have made worthy co-nominees for Keaton. I remember thinking at the time that Ann-Margret unexpectedly nailed her amorous British milady role in Tony Richardson's period comedy "Joseph Andrews". Haven't seen it since so maybe it doesn't hold up, but in '77, she'd probably have been my fifth nominee.I also have fond memories of Beryl Reid's supporting turn in that same film; her character's called Mrs. Slipslop.
Peggy Sue - I'm co-signing your substitution of Liza instead of Marsha Mason. Minnelli knocked it out of the park in New York New York.
I'm on board with Diane Keaton for her Annie Hall win - she was Jennifer Lawrence hot that year. And she created a whole style of dressing that has been copied ever since.
Hmmm - this is such an interesting post because this is a very good hard question, with so many worthy performances to consider. I'd definitely have Keaton and Duvall and Rowlands on my list, those 3 are stellar through and through (personally I'm most impressed by Duvall, but the other two are dynamite as well), but as to nominees 4 & 5, it's hard to say.
That scene towards the end of The Turning Point where MacLaine and Bancroft hit each other with their purses ... wow. It's super dated.
Shelley Duvall in 3 Women. Not a lot of people actresses have the guts to take on that kind of role (particularly today).
In an October thread here at TFE, I said Diane Keaton (Looking for Mr. Goodbar), Jane Fonda (Julia), Marsha Mason (The Goodbye Girl), Liza Minnelli (New York, New York) and Lily Tomlin (The Late Show). But now I would substitute Romy Schneider (That Most Important Thing: Love) for Fonda.
Nat, Schneider actually *won* the first ever César for Best Actress in 1976 for that performance, beating Isabelle Adjani (The Story of Adele H), Catherine Deneuve (Lovers Like Us) and Delphine Seyrig (India Song). The film was released in France in '75, in the US in '77.
It's so interesting that Keaton delivered both of her best performances ever in the same year. Annie Hall was a character like no other at that time. It was a new kind of woman being portrayed in the movies. Then you have Theresa in Looking for me. It is such a complex, vibrant, in-the-moment performance. I especially like her scenes as a teacher and I love watching how she slowly begins to find herself as a sexual being, how she builds up her confidence as an individual, how she yearns for freedom, for the right to be herself and not be molded by her family's idea of who she is.
That same year, my favorite Shelley Duvall performance in a movie I only finally watched last year. I had no idea and was blown away.
My five would be:
Keaton (Annie Hall)
Duvall
Rowlands (Her 2nd best performance - a tour-de-force)
MInnelli
Spacek
@ Henry: Not TB in a jock strap, but RG. We have TB in drag, though...
Mr. Goodbar: Thanks for the correction. I haven't seen the film since I saw it in the theater on release (I found a dvd on amazon for $195.00 but think I'll wait). So many scenes from that film are still stuck in my head. The pick up truck, Tuesday Weld with bed head (and bed fellows), the scar......LeVar Burton. But it's been so long, I'm not surprised I got the asses mixed up.
My ballot would be: Gena Rowlands, Liza Minnelli, Romy Schneider, Sophia Loren and Jane Fonda with Gena taking the prize.
As a side note: Joan Blondell deserved a supporting nom for her work in Opening Night as well.
Buy Opening Night DVD ASAP and see it. Oscar should have been between her and Minnelli (I really like Keaton in Annie Hall, just don't see why she breezed to the Oscar).
Of course Gena a would take the prize in a fair world. She would be the deserving winner in every single Oscar year, except for the one in which she gave us A Woman Under The Influence. She would tie with Judy Garland in A Star is Born. Yes, the performance is that incredible, but Gena would have 5 Oscars in my book, for A Woman Under The Influence, Opening Night, Gloria, Love Streams (the best movie ever made) and Another Woman.
The said, Diane Keaton was the best among the nominees. I have seen Goodbar and Keaton is a terrific dramatic actress, but you can't beat Annie Hall. Too lovable of a part and perfornance, the definition of a brilliant star turn.
That someone who identifies as an actresssexual hasn't seen 'Opening Night' (after all, a film about an actress) would be baffling even if the lead performance wasn't that stunning. In my books, what Gena Rowlands does here is the greatest work any actress has ever done on film. (I love my actresses overacting just a tiny bit, and she is overacting exactly the right amount here.)
That being said, my ranked ballot would look like this:
Gena Rowlands (runaway winner in this year or any other year)
Shelley Duvall
Sissy Spacek
Lily Tomlin
Diane Keaton
The Keaton nod would be for Annie Hall, as 'Goodbar' has escaped me yet.
Romy Schneider is amazing in The Most Important Thing: Love.
IMO Liza's New York-performance is better than her Cabaret-performance.
Love this. Can you start this "Best Actress detour" and do it for other years too?
Unless this is already a thing and I'm just behind the times...
The thing about Keaton in Annie Hall was that she was a revelation, especially when we meet her in her first scene with Alvy (Woody Allen). She was enchanting, and we all fell in love with her. (I was there, living in NYC in 1977.) Women dressed like Annie Hall, wearing men's hats and scarves, and her vocal mannerisms invaded our conversation. It seemed an entirely new way to be in the world. And the film, after all, is Woody's love letter to Keaton after their break-up.
The only equivalent that comes to mind is Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday, the same kind of revelatory, enchanting, star-making performance that also resulted in an Oscar.Sometimes the Oscar voters just fall in love.
Opening Night was not eligible for Oscars.
I think Loren for Special Day and Tomlin for Late Show were runners up.
it's a shame Looking for Mr. Goodbar was released the same year as Annie Hall as Keaton would have been nominated for that as well in another year.
Yup, Ulrich.
My own ballot:
1) Diane Keaton for "Annie Hall"
2) Gena Rowlands for "Opening Night"
3) Jane Fonda for "Julia"
4) Liza Minnelli for "New York, New York"
5) Anne Bancroft for "The Turning Point"
with Shirley MacLaine as a close sixth and honorable mentionts for Isabelle Huppert and the two ladies from Altman's "3 Women". Still have to see "The Goodbye Girl" (not so popular in Italy) and "The Late Show".
My own ballot:
1) Diane Keaton for "Annie Hall"
2) Gena Rowlands for "Opening Night"
3) Jane Fonda for "Julia"
4) Liza Minnelli for "New York, New York"
5) Anne Bancroft for "The Turning Point"
with Shirley MacLaine as a close sixth and honorable mentionts for Isabelle Huppert and the two ladies from Altman's "3 Women". Still have to see "The Goodbye Girl" (not so popular in Italy) and "The Late Show".
I haven't seen Looking for Mr. Goodbar yet, but I think Keaton's performance in Annie Hall is brilliant and her Oscar very well-deserved. It's one of those performances that I bet was a lot more difficult to give than it looks. Which, I suppose, is one definition of great acting. And I can well imagine the cultural impact it had when it first came out.
I wasn't massively impressed with The Goodbye Girl, but Mason is fine in it.
I've seen Opening Night: I remember being impressed with Rowlands, but I'm not sure I can quite see greatness in it. Still, it's worth a look for those who haven't seen it.
Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni in A Special Day are a great duo (as they so often are) and it's a bit of a shame that only he was nominated for it.
I need to rewatch New York, New York. I was lucky to get to see it for the first time in a cinema - not when it first came out (I'd have been two years old!) but a few years ago, here in London. All I remember is being terribly bored by it. I must give it another try. Liza, De Niro, Kander & Ebb...surely I'm going to see the goodness, yes?
Nathaniel: I'd also love to see more retro visits to Best Actress contests of yesteryear!
Diane Keaton in „ANNIE HALL“ (USA)
Gena Rowlands in „OPENING NIGHT“ (USA)
Shelley Duvall in „3 WOMEN“ (USA)
Diane Keaton in „LOOKING FOR MR. GOODBAR“ (USA)
Simone Signoret in „LA VIE DEVANT SOI“ (France)
Sophia Loren in „UNA GIORNATA PARTICOLARE“ (Italy)
Sissy Spacek in „3 WOMEN“ (USA)
Anne Bancroft in „THE TURNING POINT“ (USA)
Isabelle Huppert in „LA DENTELLIÈRE“ (France)
Irene Papas in „IPHIGENIA“ (Greece)
Lily Tomlin in „THE LATE SHOW“ (USA)
Hollis McLaren in „OUTRAGEOUS!“ (Canada)
Tatiana Papamoschou in „IPHIGENIA“ (Greece)
Liza Minnelli in „NEW YORK, NEW YORK“ (USA)
Shelley Winters in „UN BORGHESE PICCOLO PICCOLO“ (Italy)
Monique Mercure in „J.A. MARTIN, PHOTOGRAPHE“ (Canada)
Marsha Mason in „THE GOODBYE GIRL“ (USA)
Shirley MacLaine in „THE TURNING POINT“ (USA)
Ellen Burstyn in „PROVIDENCE“ (France)
Jane Fonda in „JULIA“ (USA)
Oh, it is ALL about Shelley Duvall for me this year. Such a psychologically colorful performance.
I'm tormenting myself choosing between Duvall and Rowlands. And loving TFE for being the kind of site to do this to me.
In the end, I'd vote Duvall, since my love for the movie is so strong. Throw Keaton, Minnelli, Spacek and Tomlin into the category and you get the greatest list of 70s offbeat actresses (6 of them, but whatever).
Also, how did I not know about a Liz Taylor Night Music. I think I need to see this pronto.
Sophia Loren in "A Special Day" is wonderful. A warm, moving and beautifully constructed performance. This is a good example of a role that takes advantage of the performer's most developed attributes and makes her explore richer places of emotional depth. She should have been nominated.
No, Mike in Canada, you don't need to see that.
Hmmm. my own website swallowed my comment. Trying this again
Daniel -- Anne Marie wrote up a Sophia Loren tribute here to coincide with AFI. I just saw her performance in Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow for the first time and loved it. Previously I haven't understood the big deal about her.
Jan - no reason to avoid them. It's just i'm always very busy with writing the blog and seeing new things and old things that match with series work we're doing. I will get to them eventually. I did see FACES finally for the Smackdown a year plus ago and i caught her latest movie "six dance lessons and six weeks" last month.
Ken -- i didn't include Signoret because MADAME ROSA had a '78 release in the States. I didn't include Ann-Margret because her only recognition for JOSEPH ANDREWS was a random supporting actress nomination. is it actualy a lead?
Gena Rowlands
Shelley Duvall
Sissy Spacek
Romy Schneider
Anne Bancroft
and the winner is… Shelley Duvall
For all the continual Oscar messups that infuriate us, this is the one time in this category they got it right. All the nominees were so deserving, and I'd rate Keaton, Mason and Bancroft's performances among the greatest ever. Liza would be my No. 6; that film is so underrated and Liza does her best work. This year was also only the second time there were two BA nominees in a film up for BP. While The Turning Point's artistry can be debated, that's still a cool stat.
Tomlin is the one I really would like to see from these suggestions. Rowlands is terrific in "Opening Night" and could easily replace Bancroft or MacClaine--I'm in agreement with the comments here about this film aging very badly. I rewatched Mason about a month ago on TMC and don't begrudge her nomination, but anyone who hasn't seen Duvall in "3 Women" is really missing out.
I love how many of you are cheering for Shelly Duvall. She is pure acting genius in Three Women, a wonderfully strange movie that gets more wonderful and strange with every viewing.
That said, Keaton in Annie Halll is one of my favorite Best Actress wins ever. Comedic performances rarely get their due. (Another reason I was so on board with Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook.) Annie Halls stands the test of time.
Keaton's performance in Goodbar is lost a bit in the dated, slut-shamingness of the movie, at least for me. I watched it recently and was laughing in the wrong places.
I don't think the Academy's nominees reflected how brilliant this year was for leading actresses. My ballot would have been:
Shelley Duvall, 3 Women (My favorite performance of all time)
Diane Keaton, Annie Hall
Gena Rowlands, Opening Night
Sissy Spacek, 3 Women
Liza Minnelli, New York, New York
Special mention:: Diane Keaton in 'Looking for Mr. Goodbar' (A film I tracked down on VHS in a NY library years ago)
Of Oscar's nominees, I love Diane Keaton's Annie and have a special fondness for Anne Bancroft's Emma in 'The Turning Point.'
Also, so strange that NBR gave Anne Bancroft their Best Actress prize and put Diane Keaton in supporting when Bancroft's role is borderline supporting and Keaton is clearly lead.
NYFCC gave Sissy Spacek their supporting actress award that year as well, so it's true that category fraud really isn't a new thing.
So glad to see the love for Romy Schneider in these comments! If you haven't seen L'important c'est d'aimer, it is a MUST for actressexuals. The first scene alone is just incredible. Great, great stuff. She would absolutely be among my nominees, probably along with Keaton, Mason, Minnelli and Duvall.
So glad to see the love for Romy Schneider in these comments! If you haven't seen L'important c'est d'aimer, it is a MUST for actressexuals. The first scene alone is just incredible. Great, great stuff. She would absolutely be among my nominees, probably along with Keaton, Mason, Minnelli and Duvall.
It would seem only fair to me that Keaton should have had two nominations for ba that year. Rules should change. Bottom line - she was not nominated for Goodbar. She should have been.
Peggy Sue....did you just sell a Grammy on Ebay? Random question, I know. Nathaniel have you seen Two Women?
daniel -- i have not i typed up a long thing about why but it didn't show up. is anyone else having COMMENTING problems?
Very interested to read it. She is one of my favorite actresses. I hope she gets the SAG Lifetime Achievement one year.