15 Days Until Oscar: The habit, get into it.
Saturday, February 11, 2017 at 12:20PM 15 is today's magic number. As far as I can tell -- though I am not Pope-infallible-- 15 women have been Oscar nominated over the years for playing nuns or nun apprentices... what are they called, novitiates? novices? problems-like-Maria?
Let's pray for them together after the jump. Which of these nominations do you most approve of and why is it so hard to win for playing a Sister or Mother Superior?
Gladys Cooper and Jennifer Jones in The Song of Bernadette (1943)
JONES WON THE OSCAR. Jones was once in the history books but that other Jennifer, Ms Lawrence, has recently robbed her of her impressive Oscar record. Gladys Cooper was of course, one of the great character actresses of Old Hollywood and a three time nominee. This was her second consecutive nomination after her mother/daughter war with Bette Davis in Now Voyager (1942). Her final nomination was that glorified cameo in My Fair Lady but you can also spot her in classics like That Hamilton Woman, Kitty Foyle, The Pirate, Mrs Parkington, and The Bishop's Wife among others
Ingrid Bergman in The Bells of St Mary's (1945)
This wasn't the first or last time Bergman incredible face, arguably the best proof that some sort of divine power exists, was spiritually exalted.
Loretta Young and Celeste Holm in Come to the Stable (1949)
I've never managed to see this one. Thoughts?
Deborah Kerr in Heaven Knows, Mr Allison (1957)
Not the only time she played a nun. Prim was kind of her specialty, no?
Audrey Hepburn in The Nun's Story (1959)
This film received 8 Oscar nods and lost all of them. It's not common to lose every Oscar you're nominated for once you get to 8 and above but here are the films that lost everything despite very generous nominations.
I maybe should save this until day 12 but here are the 12 biggest losers -- all with 8 or more nominations, no wins
- [TIE] The Color Purple & The Turning Point (11 nominations)
- [TIE] American Hustle, Gangs of New York, True Grit (10 nominations) -- curious that all of these are recent right? Not so curious that they're all December releases which can but doesn't always produce lots of instantaneous love that quickly evaporates.
- [TIE] Peyton Place, Little Foxes (9 nominations)
- [TIE] Remains of the Day, Ragtime, The Sand Pebbles, The Nun's Story, Quo Vadis (8 nominations)
Lilia Skala in Lilies of the Field (1963)
We'll be covering this year in the March Supporting Actress Smackdown
Peggy Wood and Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music (1965)
❤️
Anne Bancroft and Meg Tilly in Agnes of God (1985)
I haven't seen this film in a bajillion years. How does it hold up?
Susan Sarandon in Dead Man Walking (1995)
SARANDON WON on her fifth nomination in one of the best Best Actress years of all time.
Meryl Streep and Amy Adams in Doubt (2008)
The last nominated nuns... but Viola Davis stole this show anyway for her unholy moral compromises with parenting her underage son.
The list of non-nominated famous cinematic nuns is also long but includes such luminaries as the hilarious combo of Whoopi Goldberg and Kathy Najimi in Sister Act (1992), Debbie Reynolds in The Singing Nun (1966), Silvia Pinal in Viridiana (1966), hunchbacked genius Vanessa Redgrave in The Devils (1971) and Deborah Kerr (again) and Kathleen Byron's spectacular fascinating duet in Black Narcissus (1947). In fact, you could argue that the list of nun performance passed over for Oscar nominations is just as worthy as those nominated. The most recent return to the habit for Oscar was the Foreign Film win for Poland's Ida for 2014.
Reader Comments (25)
Doubt also is/was Meryl's 15th nomination. How fitting. *gg*
Agnes of God holds up,Tilly is fully committed,Fonda chain smokesfor her life and Bancroft takes it up to camp levels sometimes,it's areal 80's fave with a gorgeous poster.
Deborah Kerr absolutely deserved a nomination and probable win for Black Narcissus.
Jennifer Jones and Gladys Cooper were so great in Song of Bernadette. Although both are outwardly spiritual, only one has it right and the scene where Cooper finally understands what it means to be faithful and devoted is wonderful.
My 2 favs are Kerr and Hepburn,,, also think Kerr should have been nominated for Black Narcissus≥
Doubt was not Oscar worthy IMO ... neither Streep nor Adams really hit the mark.
Come to the Stable is a sugar fest of huge proportions. It's full of all sorts of warm and fuzzy manipulations that at Christmas time MIGHT come across as heartwarming but is completely undeserving of any of its nominations. Both Loretta Young and Celeste Holm get the job done but there is nothing special about their work. The thought that the two of them cost far superior work by Linda Darnell and Connie Gilchrist in A Letter to Three Wives, Joan Bennett in The Reckless Moment, Yvonne de Carlo in Criss Cross, Lucille Ball in Easy Living, Judy Holliday in Adam's Rib
Elizabeth Patterson in Intruder in the Dust or Margaret Wycherly in White Heat in both lead and supporting actress is sad.
From that list I'd say the most complex performance was by Audrey Hepburn in The Nun's Story.
I've always heard that The Nun's Story is one of Audrey Hepburn's strongest and most under-appreciated performances. Need to check that out.
My favorite out of all of these is Ingrid Bergman. It's not the deepest of films, but like you said Nathaniel, seeing her luminous face on screen just does it. I don't really speak of Susan Sarandon that much anymore, but I have to admit that her work in Dead Man Walking is thrilling and she certainly was a worthy winner that year.
I second all the Black Narcissus love. One of my favorite films of all time.
Black Narcissus was Kerr's best performance. Really.
I need to bump up The Song of Bernadette on my watch list.
My husband and I debated who gave the better nun performance in Doubt. I argued for Streep, and he backed Amy Adams. Then he said that PSH gave the best performance in the whole movie, and I said Viola did. And then we laughed.
Does Loretta Young use lipstick in Come to the Stable?
You really can't top the cast of Doubt. Everybody was great!
@brandz
By far, Streep is my all time favorite actress and I love her i anything, but I really found her somewhat hammy when I rewatched the movie, Doubt.
True, I saw Cherry Jones in the role on Broadway and I feel no one could top that performance.
The good news is... I loved the cast of August and thought Streep nailed Violet. Not many here seem to agree with that, though! Julia Roberts wasn't that bad . I hated how they ended the movie, however. It should have ended on the staircase with Streep and the caretaker. That is the way the play ends.
but Viola Davis stole this show anyway for her unholy moral compromises with parenting her underage son.
nah, the 1st thing that comes to mind when someone mentions this movie is Amy Adams
I love Deborah Kerr's work in "Black Narcissus", so It's tempting to say that she should been the 1947 winner. But -actually - given the intense competition that year, I don't think she'd have made my cut for the final five. Probably would have gone with:
Joan Bennett "The Macomber Affair"
Jane Greer "Out of the Past"
Dorothy McGuire "Gentleman's Agreement"
Gene Tierney "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir"
Alida Valli "The Paradine Case"
which still leaves out such thoroughly deserving candidates as:
Ida Lupino "The Man I Love"
Claire Trevor "Born to Kill"
and Jean Peters "Captain from Castile"
Of the ladies listed, only McGuire actually snagged a nomination
All of which just underlines what an actressexual paradise 40's films were.
interestingly enough, American Hustle really holds up well upon multiple viewings, I think Amy Adams deserves as much credit for it as O'Russell.She had the toughest jobin the entire movie, to make her character feel human and not outrageous and she did a wonderful job. Btw does anyone know if the Choppy british accent was intentional or otherwise.
@ Rizz- yes it was intentional.
@Yavor- I completely agree with you. Amy Adams is the MVP of that movie. She has the difficult role of playing a real person opposite the larger than life over the top-ness that Streep and Hoffman are giving out. Her character and her view of the world is shattered and I felt so deeply for her.
@Ken
1947 had so many great actress performances! So glad you mentioned Joan Bennett in The Macomber Affair, a great performance that is rarely discussed. Ida's performance in The Man I Love is my favorite of all her work and Claire Trevor is sensational in Born to Kill-one nasty piece of work covered in glitz. Gene Tierney is just lovely in Ghost and Mrs. Muir and of course you'd have to look far and wide to find a more venal pit viper than Jane Greer in Out of the Past.
I recently watched doubt for like 1000th time and still think that amy and philip did a really wonderful job.
Just wanted to chime that Vanessa Redgrave was at the height of her sublime acting powers when she did The Devils -- so compellingly macabre, darkly sexual and compulsively watchable after all these years. Her Sister Jeanne will always be the golden standard for nun performance for me -- knowing that this is a subjective assessment.
Speaking of Redgrave's performance in The Devils, I prefer her in roles that portray meanness and borderline madness -- she was equal parts all-business and flirtatious as Max in Mission Impossible, truly delightful as Peggy Ramsay in Prick Up Your Ears and as an old monarch bordering on dementia in Anonymous (not to mention her Eleanor Iselin-like turn as Volumnia in Coriolanus).
As for me -- this is an extremely minority opinion -- but Doubt was the worst acting Streep ever committed onscreen (yes, I prefer Streep in Defending Your Life, August: Osage County, Into the Woods and Mamma Mia!). I thought Amy Adams was miscast as Sister James. I like Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Viola Davis in this film, however so it wasn't altogether bad. I am sure it is just me because others have a very different experience watching the performances in Doubt. It's amazing how our film tastes converge and differ overall.
@aaron: yes! The Nun's Story is Hepburn's best dramatic role n my best actress choice o 1959. After years o playing the swewt young gamine opp much older men, she finally proved her critics wrong by delivering a complex solid n compassionate perf as Sister Luke!
She shld've won best actress tt yeae over Signoret. I believe it's a tight race n she n Liz Taylor were the runners up.
Yes, i agreed tt Kerr n Byron shld've both been nom for best actress n best supp back in 1947, respectively. Considering the eventually weak winner they picked tt year, Kerr might hav a good chance o winning!
Bergman wld ve won for The Bells o St. Mary's had she not won the previous year.
One word: VIRIDIANA!
It's my all time favorite movie and I think Silvia Pinal is great in it.
Watched Doubt again recently and the thing really PLAYS. Streep and Adams are particularly impressive on a second visit.
For me the best scenes in Doubt are the confrontations between Streep and PSH. I'm so glad they were able to work together. I also thought Amy Adams was perfectly cast in the film.
I love Heaven Knows Mr. Allison. Top 20 ever. For real.
Gotta go with Deborah Kerr. Black Narcissus is one of my all-time faves, and she's great in Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison too. (And Kathleen Byron in BN, wow... I'm surprised there was never a punk band called Crazy Sister Ruth!)
I recently rewatched The Nun's Story for the first time in decades. Eh, not as great as I remembered.
I totally adore Doubt, but I think Streep overplays somewhat and Adams underplays somewhat. And Viola Davis is such a One Scene Wonder that she nearly steals the picture.
Here's an unusual nun performance that hasn't been mentioned: Joan Collins in "Sea Wife" - though she hides her being a nun for nearly the entire film.
A postulant is the first level of joining. A novice or novitiate (both are accurate) is recommended for life in a convent after the postulant period. A nun is the full-fledged nun.
As for why the nominations but not the wins? A nun, by nature, is not going to be a particularly flashy character. You get sweet innocence, compassion, wisdom, or surliness. Broad strokes, of course, but nun characters are typically elevated beyond stock types by the actors rather than being great roles on paper with lots of meat for the actors to dig into.
I'm a big fan of Song of Bernadette, Dead Man Walking, and The Sound of Music. I don't know enough about those years to say whether or not the win was deserved. Sarandon has the most dynamic role, which explains how she got in for such a competitive year.
Agnes of God holds up pretty well. Meg Tilly swings wide but is pretty enjoyable, and Anne Bancroft is her standard fantastic, strong with whatever she holds. Jane Fonda could be replaced by any other actress, but the story holds together better than Les Innocentes.