Dead Man Walking @ 25: Susan Sarandon's long road to the Oscar
Tuesday, December 29, 2020 at 11:31PM 
25 years ago, Tim Robbins' Dead Man Walking opened in theatres. The film dramatizes the true story of Sister Helen Prejean, the close relationship she forged, as a spiritual adviser, with convicted murderers on death row. Here, they are made into the composite fictional figure of Matthew Poncelet. Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn take on the lead roles, delivering two of the best performances of their respective careers. He received his first Oscar nomination out of it. She was honored with her fifth nod and, presently, her last. And she finally won the Best Actress trophy.
The actress may be a controversial figure, but I'm not here to litigate her politics or the way she chooses to express them. Instead, I'd like to look at her achievements as a performer, specifically the five works that paved the way to that triumph on the night of the 67th Academy Awards. Join me – won't you? – as we explore Susan Sarandon's long road to the Oscar…
ATLANTIC CITY (1981)
Louis Malle's elegy for the gangster genre is like a romance steeped and fermented in despair. Focused on an aging criminal played by Burt Lancaster and a young waitress played by Sarandon, the film sings a sad song, one that speaks of crumbling playgrounds, a city in decay, past prosperity rotting into nothingness. It's the kind of subdued character study that seldom gets the attention of AMPAS, making its five nominations, including for Best Picture, into a precious anomaly. While I wouldn't call Sarandon the best of her lineup – that honor belongs to Diane Keaton in Reds – she's certainly worthy of the nod.
After spending the 70s starring in such outlandish and controversial pictures as The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Pretty Baby, one might have expected that Sarandon would do her best work in a stylized register. In Atlantic City, however, she takes the path of naturalism, full of grace notes and marrow-deep exhaustion, little nervous movements, aborted gestures, a sensuality so casual we feel like voyeurs for looking upon her. Best of all, her rapport with Lancaster vibrates with inchoate chemistry, strange feelings swirling around each interaction, never resolving themselves in uncomplicated ways.
Sarandon lost to Katharine Hepburn in On Golden Pond, a record-breaking fourth Best Actress win that's unlikely to be bested.
THELMA & LOUISE (1991)
What more can one say about Thelma and Louise? Directed by Ridley Scott and written by Academy Award winner Callie Khouri, the film's a modern classic, a spin on the road movie, and a crime spree narrative that puts women at the wheel. What starts as the odyssey of two longtime friends is transformed by an attempted rape and a death, turned into a chase for the history books. Lesser artists would perchance lionize the titular characters, sacrificing their humanity to get at some mythic idea of heroism. Thankfully, the makers of Thelma & Louise don't commit such mistakes.
As Louise, Sarandon has to control most of the picture's tonal shifts, handling them with steely resolve while Geena Davis explodes in pain, lust, joy, and joie de vivre. There's a shadow to Louise's demeanor from minute one, and, as the narrative unfolds, we see how detailed Sarandon's characterization is, how she suggests an entire life that happened off-screen but informs every on-screen decision. In a rare avoidance of category fraud, AMPAS nominated both Sarandon and Davis for their complementing performances, each genius in their own right but beyond perfect when put together. Considering Sarandon had just been snubbed a few years prior for her sexy turn in Bull Durham, it's particularly nice to see her being part of one of the few Best Actress pairs in Oscar history.
The winner that year was Jodie Foster, earning her second Oscar for The Silence of the Lambs. It's hard to argue with the result, but this is the sort of race that makes one long for ties.
LORENZO'S OIL (1992)
Before he ever stepped into the Thunderdome or made penguins tap-dance, George Miller was a physician. That vocation surely influenced his work on Lorenzo's Oil. The picture's the dramatization of the real-life events surrounding the parents of a child suffering from adrenoleukodystrophy, their struggle to find a cure, their relentless efforts to improve the kid's quality of life. While the premise may make it sound like commonplace prestige fare, Miller shoots Lorenzo's Oil with maddening style, elevating the medical drama to a heightened register, closer to opera than to Oscar bait.
Still, the film did get some love from the Academy, including a Best Actress nomination for Sarandon. While avoiding the broader acting choices of her costar Nick Nolte, she doesn't necessarily play the aggrieved mother with subtlety. Instead, it's a feat of calcinating emotion. Even silent reaction shots seem to shout in agony, in love, in ragged hopefulness. Sarandon's beautiful big eyes have never looked as huge as they do here, when her gaze is tearful, her brow wet, her voice trembling through words of comfort to a little kid in unimaginable pain.
Emma Thompson won the Best Actress trophy of 1992 for her heartfelt work in Howards End. Considering the nominees, the Academy's decision was right.
THE CLIENT (1994)
The 1990s were the decade for John Grisham adaptations, the popular stories making for box office triumphs. As you can imagine, it was also the decade of Susan Sarandon, at least the first half. No wonder that, when the two forces converged, the result was a movie that made big money and charmed a good percentage of the moviegoing public. In other years, this sort of crowd-pleaser about a brave attorney and the little boy she vows to protect would have been quietly ignored by the Academy. However, as far as AMPAS-friendly titles were concerned, 1994 was a "weak" year for the Best Actress category.
It's, by far, the least impressive of Sarandon's nominated performances, being mostly comprised of her usual tricks and well-oiled strategies. She projects intelligence with a trademark indefatigable stare before morphing into beatific insolence, playing maternal notes and then flashing fear, a heroine who's still too human and too green to be fearless. One wishes the actress had added some discordant notes to her characterization, some abrasiveness to cut through the sentimentality, perhaps an authentic hint of addiction, a genuine meanness. Overall, it's a solid effort and not a nomination anyone should be ashamed of, but hardly a highlight in the actress' rich filmography.
Though few watched Blue Sky, Jessica Lange was the victor of 1994, scoring her second statuette and her first Best Actress Oscar.
DEAD MAN WALKING (1995)
At last, we arrive at the movie and performance that got the star her gold. In many ways, Sister Helen represents a typical Sarandon performance in some ways, though the actress' regular charge of earthy eroticism is hidden under a veil of religious piety. Which is not to say that she's not on autopilot. Neither the script nor her director (and husband, at the time), allow for such mindless passivity, demanding complexity and devotion from the performer. What's most notable about Sister Helen is how much she's a reactive figure, a supporting character within her own story.
She exists as an advisor, a calming presence, an island of serenity for a man facing the crashing wave of death. It's easy to imagine the same basic plot sidelining her, making the lensing of Dead Man Walking all the more disconcerting. Robbins fixes his camera on Sarandon's face, forcing us to stare into her eyes, to see her assimilate information, her reckoning with harsh truths, and the moral quandaries of the situation. She's our guide and companion into the film's world, the reflection of the audience as well as a paragon of empathy made flesh. Neither beatific icon nor blank canvas, she's painfully human, aching, perfectly imperfect.
What's most fascinating about the work is the craft present in the intelligent variations of mood and expression. Sarandon could have played it as an unbending force, but she allows Sister Helen to fluctuate in allegiance and resolve, to laugh in an unjust world, to smile when nervous, to forget her serene mask for a second and reveal a glimpse of ugly shock, revulsion, even disgust. Seeing her negotiate a confrontation with the parents of one of Matthew's victims is excruciating because Sarandon allows Helen to appear lost, she lets the audience see a dilemma and offers no solution, no neat conclusion or catharsis.
Near the end of the movie, Sister Helen proclaims her actions don't necessarily stem from faith but work. Sarandon illuminates the effort of goodness, the difficulty in opening one's heart to a dying man in need of support, the challenge that is defending one's beliefs when they come against the undeniable agony of others. Some may claim this results in cerebral insularity, the mechanical labor of performing laid bare in strenuous facial gymnastics. That may be true, but I still confess myself riveted by what Sarandon achieves, how well she masters the art of listening on-screen, a task much trickier than it first appears.
This was a titanic Best Actress race, and most of the nominees would have made worthy winners including Sarandon. But my pick would be either Streep in Bridges of Madison County or Shue in Leaving Las Vegas.
If you could decide the fates of Oscar, what would Susan Sarandon's tally look like? Did she deserve to win in 95?
Reader Comments (52)
Love this article. She won for the right performance (haven't seen Atlantic City).
I love her as an actress; there is always something unpredictable yet assuring in what she does on-screen. She can go big and small with ease with all the layers in between. Even her recent works (The Meddler, Feud: Bette and Joan, Blackbird, etc.) show someone still on the top of her game.
I actually think she should've won for LORENZO'S OIL (although it has been a quarter century since I have seen HOWARD'S END, but I don't recall Thompson's performance having a huge impact on me at the time) and, even though DMW is Sarandon's best performance, Streep should've won that year for THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY.
Thanks for this write-up/profile on Susan! I remember really loving her Oscar-winning performance when I saw it 1-2 years ago. I have a big blind spot for older Oscar ceremonies so I can’t really make a definitive call if she was the best that year. I’ve always remembered her as one of the big movie stars growing up, so I have seen a handful of her films, but none of her other nominated performances (yet). Haven’t paid attention too much to her recent films/TV projects, as the last one I can recall watching is THE BIG WEDDING. I do have to say she stunned me a couple of years ago with her supporting performance from IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH (that reaction scene through the glass). I’ve heard really good things about her in BLACKBIRD this year, which just got added to Amazon Prime so perhaps I’ll check that out tonight!
Love this breakdown. I'm all for Sarandon's win in 1995, despite the competition. Regardless of her politics, she's an incredible force of nature on screen.
Juan Carlos, Atlantic City is absolutely worth your time. You're right to highlight Feud, where she did amazing work.
Sarandon's nomination for The Client is the equivalent of Jane Fonda getting recognized for The Morning After or Meryl Streep's nod for Music of the Heart.
I have always been a fan of Sarandon as an actress. Each film that was nominated is worthwhile, I was so relieved that she finally won for "Dead Man Walking". But my all time favourite performance is the un-nominated "Bull Durham".
Watch her in any film and you can't really take your eyes off her.
I would probably give it to her for The Client if only cause it's a piss poor lineup and while still hardly a worthy winner, she'd make a better one than Lange (who already had one too).
Opening the window for a more deserving Streep or Shue win in 95, even if I do love her in her winning turn (as you said, it's a remarkable lineup).
My take (aka "musical chairs"):
Best Actor '82: O'Toole
Best Actress '82: (tie) Streep/Lange
Best Actress '91: Sarandon
Best Actress '94: Foster
Best Actress '95: Streep
Best Actor '95: Penn
Best Actor '02: Cage
Best Actor '03: Kingsley
Sorry, Adrien Brody...
Just happened to see Atlantic City this week as part of my tour through the 1981 Best Picture nominees. Sarandon and the film are fantastic.. pleasantly surprised by the palpable sadness and regret. Aside from Raiders of the Lost Ark, the other 3 movies are dreary slogs that were alternately boring, overlong, and misshapen. Can you believe On Golden Pond was the #2 box office hit of 1981?!?!?
PS: 1995 was really a titanic Best Actress showdown.. that’s really where Streep deserved another win.
Great piece as usual, Cláudio. I recently rewatched DEAD MAN WALKING (without realising it was celebrating 25 years) and was blown away by its complexity and thoughtfulness, particularly within Sarandon's performance. Her other nominated performances are also exceptional (outside of THE CLIENT, which I agree is just solid work). She (along with Geena Davis) is my personal winner for Best Actress in 1991.
In addition to her sublime, shouldabeen nominated work in BULL DURHAM, I think she is also pretty great in LIGHT SLEEPER, LITTLE WOMEN, and THE MEDDLER. And, she makes a supremely entertaining villain in ENCHANTED.
Has anyone seen WHITE PALACE from 1990, where she stars with James Spader? I've been meaning to catch up with her non-nominated leading turns of the 90s, including STEPMOM and ANYWHERE BUT HERE. Are they any good?
Oh, and about 1995– it's a very deserving win. That being said, she is probably third in that line-up for me. My ranking goes:
1. Meryl Streep
2. Sharon Stone
3. Susan Sarandon
4. Emma Thompson
5. Elisabeth Shue
All fantastic performances.
One of the best American movies of the nineties. Oscar deserved, Shue on Leaving Las Vegas is okay but that movie nowadays is horrible
a topic that never grow old : 1995 best actress race
My own ranking:
1.Shue
2.Streep ( a close runner-up)
3.Sarandon
4.Stone
5.Thompson
Not to mention Moore , Kidman , Jason Leigh , bates and more could have been worthy nominees too!
and daily reminder : where is Elisabeth Shue? Such s waste!
Crazy that Susan Sarandon was alphabetically first among the 1995 Best Actress nominees.
Sarandon's nomination for The Client is the equivalent of Jane Fonda getting recognized for The Morning After or Meryl Streep's nod for Music of the Heart.
@Marcos: I remember Siskel & Ebert did a special episode where they broke down the 1994 Oscar nominees, and under the heading of Worst Nomination, one of them singled out Sarandon. Maybe they were motivated to spite the Academy for rejecting Linda Fiorentino, but I thought it was a pretty tacky thing for them to do. Still, that opinion about her nomination for The Client was out there, even back then.
Not a big fan of her winning perf (but Best Actress 1995 was outstanding...I mean Shue, Streep, Stone at her most Queen), even if I recognise the overdue factor and the “strong narrative” (DMW was a passion project for her and Robbins). Love her in Atlantic City, Thelma & Louise and (YES) The Client, but she’s fantastic also in Bull Durham, White Palace and Light Sleeper
I really love her as an actress, and am glad she has an Oscar, but I don't know if I would give her the prize for any of her nominated turns. Streep in BRIDGES gives one of the all-time great performances - if only they had given her an Oscar for that and not the awful IRON LADY.
Why did Sarandon fall out of Oscar's graces so quickly? Did it have to do with her politics? I remember my parents hating her around the mid-90s and always cited her politics as the reason, so I imagine it was the same with the Academy. That or they just felt she finally got her prize and her time was up (or both?).
So crazy that she won the BAFTA for The Client. 1994 was truly the bottom of the barrel for Best Actress.
I guess that it’s because it’s criminally underseen and dismissed by those who haven’t as lightweight but... her crowning jewel (in a career of them) is absolutely JEFF, WHO LIVES AT HOME (2012) - a master firing on all cylinders, even with nothing left to prove at that stage.
She really does live or die by how well-written her roles are - struggles to shade in vague and poorly written characters but slam-dunks a great role like no one else.
Luckily, she has shown exemplary taste in scripts over the years.
I think that her first great performance is THE HUNGER and she receives three nominations from me - that, THELMA & LOUISE and JEFF, WHO LIVES AT HOME (winning for both of the last two).
1995 is so strong for Best Actress - my winner is Elisabeth Shue (the only one I nominate personally) but I wouldn’t be unhappy with any choice - everyone is just inside or outside my Top 10...
Torn between Streep and Shue and I usually go for Streep in her 2nd ever best performance.
Sarandon is very good as are Stone and Thompson,overall it's a great line up.
I'd have given it to Susan in 91 for T and L but think she's a solid runner up in 92 for L Oil.
One thing that bothers me about the 1995 best actress line up is Sharon Stone: she’s great, deserved a nomination, but she is OBVIOUSLY a supporting character in Casino. It is a strange case of category fraud. Nicole Kidman should have got her first nom that year, placing Sharon on the supporting race (where she could have won).
About Susan Sarandon: Meryl was (still is) my favorite that year, but I can’t be against Susan, who was pretty good too and deserved the gold.
What a great American actress! I know you all hate her but you'll come around the same way you did with Jane Fonda.
Totally deserved her 5 oscar nominations. I would have also nominated her for Bull Durham and her memorable Annie Savoy.
She's got the perfect Oscar win: previous nominations, passion project, great performance, very good movie, amazing competition, standing ovation, great heartfelt speech. Glad I could live that after the fuckeries of the 80s
White Palace is the snub that stings most for me everything I love about Susan is in that performance.
I find it odd she's never been invited back admittedly only 2 or 3 roles could have brought her back (Stepmom,In the Valley of Elah or Arbitrage),they didn't tickle the Academys fancy though and they probably felt the need to look elsewhere after her overdue win.
She and Robbins were never married. If I could delete two nominees from the 95 best actress lineup it would be Streep and Thompson.
I'm a "no" on her win. I would have flipped actor and actress that year, honoring Eilsabeth Shue for "Leaving Las Vegas" and Sean Penn for "Dean Man Walking".
What I remember most about Sarandon's win that year was that drumbeat of nominations leading up to it. 4 nominations in 5 years was a rare achievement for someone without the last name Streep. Her career seemed to peak during her "child-bearing" years, which in her case was her late 30s and early 40s, usually when actresses' careers slow down. But this was Sarandon's time, as she hit her stride in more mature and weathered characters (she was never convincing as an ingenue). Building off of her well-received performances in The Witches of Eastwick, Bull Durham, and White Palace, she broke through in a big way with AMPAS and I really thought she was going to be there to stay. She's one of those actresses who never got Oscar recognition for her supporting work (bumped up for Atlantic City much to her own surprise!), despite strong work in movies like Igby Goes Down. And she's managed to work consistently over 50 years, immune from "cancel culture," as she's always been an anti-establishment activist (she was starting acting after attending a casting call for those who participated in the 1968 Democratic National Convention protests) and therefore it was so fitting that she won for a movie that openly questioned the use of the death penalty at the 25 year mark. Even though I was rooting for Elisabeth Shue that year (I was too young to have seen any of the nominated movies and mostly wanted "the girl from the Karate Kid and Adventures in Babysitting to win), I am thrilled that Sarandon was recognized and hope she can be part of another Oscar conversation again.
Back when standing ovations mattered and she only won SAG.
All about the Shue, man.
But 1995 was a fucking gonzo-good year for actresses. Holy shit. Even if one were to change that pretty sterling lineup the Academy managed, one would find five more worthy nominees.
Sarandon was terrific, and though it’s my least favorite of the five, the fact I don’t actively disagree with the win just shows how pretty peerless her and her fellow actors were that year at the Academy.
That being said, Shue broke my heart, and that I can’t ignore. :)
She's always a welcome presence in a movie… from The Witches of Eastwick (directed by George Miller!) or her role as mother to a beautiful Eric Roberts (!!) and Brooke Shields in King of the Gypsies… Watching Laura Dern botch the role of Marmee (yes, I said it!) in the 2019 Little Women just reminded me how Susan Sarandon brought all of the sexy yet maternal earthiness in the 1994 version. She didn't have to tell Jo she was "angry" — you sense her in every moment of Sarandon's Marmee.
I would've given Sarandon the Oscar for Lorenzo's Oil (George Miller redux), but agree with @Peggy Sue's assessment of Dead Man Walking giving her a perfect Oscar win.
Looking at her post LLV career, I think the Academy got it right. It was a fluke.
DEAD MAN WALKING in indeed a great Oscar win but i would have reversed the actor/actress wins that year and given them to Penn in DMW and Shue in LLV instead of their co-stars who actually won. But all four performances are sublime. I was so happy Sarandon won at the time as i'd been rooting for her for years (i think her all time best performance is BULL DURHAM and i would have handed her the Oscar that year (yes, over Close in dangerous liaisons)
What is wrong with Susan Sarandon's politics? Looks like a good old fashioned socialist to me.
Her best is Lorenzo's oil. Sharon Stone should have won.
I think Oscar got Best Actress wrong more often than right in the mid-1990s - but I like Sarandon's win here. Shue's great, but both for the work/film and for her overall career, Sarandon winning that year felt right.
Btw, I don't think I've ever sat in a movie theater where there was more crying going on than near the end Dead Man Walking.
Paramount pushed her for Supporting for ATLANTIC CITY, but the Academy was not having any of that category fraud that year. It's a good thing. She might have won for supporting and then never again.
Her win is a deserved one, though, all nominees considered, I'm ultimately partial to Streep in '95, with Sarandon triumphing in '92 instead.
The interesting paradox with Sarandon IMO is that I think Dead Man Walking and Atlantic City are masterpieces. But weirdly enough while I do think she’s quite fine in both films in neither is she at all what I think of when I think of the films and I don’t think she necessarily is doing anything other gifted actors could have brought to the respective roles as admirably self-effacing as she is in both. In both cases I don’t even think she’s the best female performances and I think in both Lancaster and Penn are given something like career best performances in roles that gradually take over the movie to an extent. Again I like her in both, but I think it’s just odd how for me they are handily her best movies but neither would classify as her best performances.
Among her nominations I guess I’ll be obvious and say Thelma and Louise is my favorite of hers. Davis is wonderful and has all the choices “moments” but whenever I rewatch the movie I’m always taken aback by how amazing and multifaceted I find Sarandon to be. There’s no real argument about Foster winning but I they’re basically neck and neck for me. As for the rest, I think she’s fun in the Client and it’s a fun nomination given it’s rarely the kind of thing an actress gets nominated for. But still, I can’t imagine the argument being made that she actually should have been nominated. 1994 truly was a strange best actress year given how many wonderful options there were in admittedly weirder fare. It’s been too long since I’ve seen Lorenzos Oil but I am tempted to go back.
The ultimate criminal thing here is that she was NOT nominated for Bull Durham which I think is handily her best performance and while I’m not a Griffith hater she handily should have been trumped by Sarandon that year. Also anyone who says they should have campaigned for her in Supporting for Atlantic City either hasn’t seen it or is pro fraud. Not only is she indisputably a lead, but there are two other very obvious supporting woman in the movie. I’m still a little mystified that Kate Reid missed out given how much they loved the movie.
I'm fine with her win here, but I like Streep the best. Sarandon should have won for Atlantic City in 1981 (that movie should have easily swept the "Big 5" that year!). She was brilliant in The Meddler, and I thought she was definitely nomination-worthy in In the Valley of Elah/
I do wish Bridges was Streep’s 3rd....
As for Sarandon, think I am still mad at the anti-Hillary rhetoric. Not sure if I want to see her yet on screen.
Luke: Nothing wrong with her socialism, just her unhelpful rhetoric in 2016 that Hillary was as bad as Trump and that it might actually be better to have Trump as president because it could spark the revolution (last I checked, that didn't happen).
Obviously there were/are plenty of people who agreed with her, and she wasn't even the only famous actor to say this - Viggo Mortensen, to my great grief, spouted similar rubbish and didn't get nearly the same flak - but she is/was one of the most high-profile and outspoken among Hollywood's A-list to take this line.
But she remains a fantastic actor whom I enjoy watching in just about any screen role.
1995 is one of those rare best actress line-ups where I think anyone would have been a deserving winner. Then also Kathy Bates for Dolores or Nicole Kidman for To Die for.... such a great year!
So yeah, I'm fine with her win. I love Jodie Foster in TSOTL so much, so no win for Sarandon in 1991 for me. 1992.... maybe. I'm in the minority that is not smitten by Emma Thompson in HE (but she's my winner the year after for sure). I've never seen The Client or Atlantic City, so I can't comment on it.
Sometimes Hollywood takes certain actresss for granted, thinking someday she'll win for a better role, but for more than enough of them it never came true.... thankfully Sarandon hat the timing at least once.
Dead Man Walking is her zenith. A great actress giving her greatest performance in her greatest film in one of the greatest best actress lineups of all time.
Legitimately one of the great Oscar wins in any category of a time.
@Brevity. I didn't know about that special show. It's very interesting. As regards Linda Fiorentino, the film was released on TV first, on 17 July 1984, then theatrically on 26 October. That's that. Not eligible. Many associations did nominate her in film categories, including the New York Film Critics Awards (which she won) and the Baftas. Well, whatever!
Thumbs DOWN to Sarandon. She and Prejean tried to get my former client, Richard Glossip, to plead guilty to masterminding a murder where the facts, if exposed, shows he is innocent. When he would not pled guilty and 'see Jesus' (like Sean Penn in the original movie, Dead Man Walking") they dumped him. Why? Because they didn't get to make another oscar winning "DEAD MAN TOO" (pun intended). However, giving credit to Sarandon's lawyers, they tied Mary Fallin to connections with the murder. Mary Fallin had been Lt. Governor of Oklahoma when the murder was committed, then became Governor. Oklahoma does not want the world to know its Governor, Lt. Governor, District Attorney Robert Macy, Oklahoma County Sheriff John Wethsel and other Oklahoma law enforcement where doing business with a particular cartel.
The 1995 Best Actress line-up was awesome! Personally, I would have given the Oscar to Sarandon. Next, I would place Stone in supporting (which she should have won!) and replaced her with Kathy Bates.
Love the Streep love for "Madison County." The film grated, but her performance is so un-Streep. Agree she or Shue, always an underrated talent, should have won.
As far as the point, Sarandon gave my favorite performance of hers in "Bull Durham." Cher should have won for "Mask," not "Moonstruck" the year Sarandon didn't even get a nomination. But 1988 was also the year of Holly Hunter in "Broadcast News," one of the all-time great performances.
So bottom line is as much I appreciate Sarandon, I would have given the Oscar to other actresses, even the one year she should definitely have been nominated.
McDONNELL4EVA
Peter -- from my understanding the campaign for Sarandon was actually supporting (so she herself was surprised at the Actress nomination) so that probably killed any chances for Reid, even with the "promotion" which was in fact merely accurate.
Mike -- Broadcast News is actually '87 so Sarandon is clear to win for Bull Durham for '88.
Definitely have some issues with her as an irresponsible person, but she had a certain charisma as an actress that was undeniable for awhile. Dead Man Walking? Not sure if that's the performance I'd give her one for, especially since Penn was SO phenomenal and outshone her. I liked her in most stuff before then. Afterwards, she just seemed to do nothing all that interesting or fantastic and it only got worse. She was somewhat memorable on The Big C for a few episodes, playing a nasty person. I guess she didn't have to stretch for that role though.
Thelma & Louise is my favorite performance of hers, but I love Foster's Silence of the Lambs win and think it was the right choice.
I would have nominated Sarandon for Bull Durham and taken away the nod for The Client.
She remains a compelling actress, but following her Oscar win she had a long stretch of being attached to unremarkable projects--I think that's the reason behind the lack of a follow-up nod more than anything. Stepmom and Igby Goes Down were not deserving of Oscar nods.
1995 was such a remarkable year. I'm fine with her win, and I'm glad she has an Oscar. Kidman would have definitely made my line-up, though.