Our summer series "Supporting Actress Smackdown" returns on Sunday April 28th with a deep dive into the 1972 Oscar lineup:
• Jeannie Berlin, The Heartbreak Kid
• Eileen Heckart, Butterflies Are Free
• Geraldine Page, Pete N' Tillie
• Susan Tyrrell, Fat City
• Shelley Winters, The Poseidon Adventure
That's just two weeks away! So make sure to get your votes in (1 to 5 hearts for each of those performances that you've seen) since readers are the final collective panelist.
Want to meet the other panelists? Yeah, you do!
PLEASE WELCOME...
DONNA LYNNE CHAMPLIN
Donna Lynne Champlin is an OBIE, Drama Desk and Gracie Award winning actress. Having worked extensively on stage, in television and film, she is most well-known for playing Carol Burnett in the autobiographical Hollywood Arms and “Pirelli” in the musician-actor revival of Sweeney Todd on Broadway and “Paula Proctor” on The CW’s Emmy award winning Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. You can follow here on Twitter and Instagram.
What does 1972 mean to you, Donna?
Well, before I watched these movies for the Smackdown I had a very nostalgic idea of 1972: The Wonderful World of Disney, Apollo 17, hippies and Bob Fosse’s heyday. But holy Christ, after watching these movies? Good God, the sexism. And the racism. I mean, maybe these movies were “woke” by trying to hit us in the face with things society was actively trying to change back then? But, damn.
KATHY DEITCH
Kathy Deitch is an actress and activist. Broadway: Urleen in Footloose, Shen Shen in Wicked, Hair at City Center Encores & European Tour (Crissy). LA: Rent at the Hollywood Bowl, Catherine/Senator Martin in Silence! The Musical (LA Weekly Award). TV: Better Things, American Horror Story: Freak Show (Young Ethel Darling), Raising Hope, The Thundermans, Hollywood Darlings. Film: Loft, opposite Modern Family's Eric Stonestreet; Magic Mike XXL. A proud Fat Activist, Kathy co-hosts PlusThis! Show, which showcases plus size and body-positive women in TV, film, media, fashion and around the world and is a member of FATCH, an all girl, fat sketch comedy group. She also teaches private voice & musical theatre audition technique to students young and old. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
What does 1972 mean to you, Kathy?
In 1972, a fourth anniversary party for the musical Hair was thrown at the Delacourte in Central Park in New York City which ended with 13 Black Panthers being arrested as well as the show's writer Jim Rado, who directed me in HAIR when I did the European Tour, right out of college. All this while the Watergate break-in was being botched in DC....
ARUN WELANDAWE-PREMATILLEK
Arun is a playwright, actor and director. His work touches on various forms including immersive performance, devised theatre and live art with a focus on the intersections of gender, sexuality, queerness and class in Sri Lanka. He currently resides in Colombo, flitting between his work in theatre, film production and obsessive list-making. All this and copious selfies can be seen on his instagram at @Arun.Indika
What does 1972 mean to you, Arun?
There's few albums that I treasured more as a teenager than David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. I can seldom listen to it anymore because its 11 tracks are so tied to a particular context and feeling for me. That album and Bowie, in general, really soundtrack those moments when I was first trying to carve out an identity for myself and found that music and film could be how I defined myself from (and to) my peers.
and you know us from right here at the The Film Experience...
ERIC BLUME
Eric is a TV writer and director. He has written and directed material for TBS, Lifetime, E!, truTV, Spike, Syfy, HGTV, Cartoon Network, Funny or Die, as well as some commercials and branded content. He worked forever at Comedy Central, where he interviewed and directed Hollywood talent for exclusive content. He's particularly proud of shooting Ryan Gosling against the Mediterranean Sea, coercing Seth Rogen and James Franco to make out, and getting lost in Alexander Skarsgard's bellybutton hairs during a sound snafu.
What does 1972 mean to you, Eric?
It's rare when I get to say I'm too young for something nowadays, but 1972 itself I was indeed to young to have a memory of. But when I think about the early 70s, I think about growing up in Pittsburgh when we used to get FEET of snow every winter. I hate winter and the cold, but I love snow, and I when I see photos of my siblings and me standing in holes of three-feet-deep snow, I get sad sometimes that we don't get that anymore. Big snowfalls were always a good excuse to hole up and watch movies when I was young, and that's always a good thing.
and your host
NATHANIEL R
Nathaniel is the creator and owner of The Film Experience. He is a member of the BFCA and GALECA (Broadcast Film Critics Association and the Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Journalists Association). He is the film columnist for Towleroad, a longtime Oscar pundit (Gurus of Gold), and his writing has appeared in both online publications (Vanity Fair, Show-Score, Slate, and Tribeca Film) and print magazines (Esquire and Winq). Nathaniel has served on international festival juries and appeared as an on-air Oscar pundit for CNNi. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.
What does 1972 mean to you, Nathaniel?
It will forever and always mean Cabaret to me. I was obsessed with this movie from before I even saw it because my mother, who loves musicals, didn't want us to watch it. Forbidden fruit, you know!
ABOUT THE SMACKDOWN
If you're just joining us, the Smackdowns is a retrospective series looking back on past Oscar lineups in the Supporting Actress category. Some previous episodes to check out to get a taste for it include: 1954, 1968, 1970, 1973, 1995, and 2017