Almost There: Burl Ives in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"
Tuesday, August 4, 2020 at 11:17AM 
In 1958, Burl Ives won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Some cinephiles would, understandably, assume that the great honor came to him as a reward for his legendary turn as Big Daddy in the silver screen adaptation of Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. It wasn't so, however. Burl Ives did indeed win his Oscar for playing the impassioned patriarch of some portentous American clan, but it was for a story set in the arid landscapes of the Far West rather than the humid heat of Mississippi. The winning movie was William Wyler's The Big Country, a sublime epic of its genre whose taste for cruelty is only matched by the lushness of its score. It's not a well-remembered flick despite its quality, and, while great, Ives' supporting turn pales in comparison to what he did as Big Daddy in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof that same cinematic year...
We hear about Big Daddy long before we ever lay eyes on him. Even though the narrative of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is shaped by the marital agonies of Paul Newman's Brick and Elizabeth Taylor's Maggie, Burl Ives' commanding pater familias is the sun around which the other characters orbit. Even when he's absent, people can't stop talking about Big Daddy, whether in mercenary adulation or genuine respect. In the afternoon and dark night during which the story unfolds, the great man is celebrating his birthday. The occasion is all the more notable and stress-inducing because he's just returned from a hospital stay following a health crisis.
The specter of Death hovers over him at all times and questions of legacy, inheritance, and wealth ring throughout everyone's ears. He might not know it yet, but the end is near for Big Daddy and the conclusion to his sorry tale is bound to be painful in more ways than one. That being said, when we first see him, he is as magnificent as ever. Exiting his private plane unto a near-empty airport, Big Daddy's a man with a powerful presence. His body might be ridden with sickness, but he still bellows loud and walks into a room as if he owns it. In a way, the idea of incoming Death when contrasted with such a robust presence becomes even more disturbing than it already is. Big Daddy shouldn't die, he should be constant, a titan as old and eternal as the landscape.
Still, he does feel awfully tired, like a big balloon slowly losing its air. Burl Ives weaponizes his screen presence to show us why Big Daddy has earned his name, but he still peppers the characterization with dissonant notes, little screeches of unexpected pain, doubt, and exhaustion. Contempt itself bears the cross of infirm weariness when it comes to Big Daddy. There's an unmistakable disgust in the way he gazes at his bratty grandchildren and their over-fertile mother. However, the scorn is equal parts condescending superiority and bone-deep fatigue caused by their antics. He's had enough boot-licking to last a lifetime, and only feels at home when alone with people as openly hostile as he is. No wonder he's so enlivened when talking to Brick or Maggie.
To make it sound like Ives' turn is nothing but boisterous presence with a note of emotional sourness thrown in would be a crime, though. The actor had plenty of range and the role of Big Daddy makes great use of it. Notice how he modulates the character's bitterness into comedy, sitting emphatically still while the birthday party explodes around him. With his dark suit and dark mood, Big Daddy's composure is hilarious to behold. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Ives makes his scenes with Newman vibrate, a live-wire of parental despair running through every word thrown at the younger man. Brick is like a puzzle that Big Daddy can't solve – if he can't fix it with shouting, one gets the feeling that he'll smash that puzzle against a wall until it sorts itself out. Agony begets destruction in this household.
And then, there's the plain ugliness of Big Daddy, which coexists with the power, the comedy, the illness, and despair. His casual cruelty towards Big Momma is one of the film's most cutting elements and one of Ives' sharpest choices. She's loved him for years, even his hate, but he likes to see her hurt. Either that or he doesn't care about her pain. Maybe he once did, but has forgotten, one more piece of his soul lost to the passage of time and the accumulation of wealth. Because of that hard carapace of inhumanity built up over decades, Big Daddy's eventual epiphanies are all the more impactful. So much of the performance is about suggesting what Big Daddy knows or doesn't know, a veil of mystery that's teased but never completely lifted, that it can be shocking when knowledge his shoved right in the man's face and personal growth is pulled out of him, kicking and screaming all the way.
The moment when Brick tells him the truth about Big Daddy's health is astounding. One can almost see the claws of Death closing over this man's heart. The fulgor extinguishes, leaving behind only the tired old man that's desperately clawing at life and legacy in hopes of escaping the doom that awaits us all. It's grotesque and it is sad. Weirdly enough, it is in the reminiscence of loss that Big Daddy seems to regain a semblance of happiness, of hope, finding a light that cuts through the darkness. When he remembers the love of his dead father, Ives loosens up, he allows genuine sentiment to shine through his performance with no philter of patriarchal imperiousness. It's amazing to behold, a soul laid bare and beautiful, rueful regret blossoming into gratitude and love. By the movie's end, he's more alive than he was at its start, and Ives seems to have been reborn in front of our eyes.
When faced with such magnificence, it can be hard to return to the matter of the Oscars and its dumfounding results. Even so, that's what we must do.
Considering that The Big Country got only one other nomination besides Ives and that Cat on a Hot Tin Roof conquered a grand total of six Academy Award nominations, it's difficult to see why AMPAS chose to honor Ives for the former rather than the latter. Richard Brooks' movie even earned a Best Picture nod, making it the logical vehicle for which the Academy could honor Ives in 1958. The main problem seems to have been a debilitating category confusion. Despite Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor being the clear protagonists of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, the magnitude of Ives' role might have prompted the studio, and maybe even the actor himself, to campaign as a lead. In any case, the greatness he showed as Big Daddy helped him secure some rightly earned goodwill and precious votes for The Big Country. In the end, the right performer won the 1958 Best Supporting Actor Oscar.
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is available to stream on the Criterion Channel as part of its "Marriage Stories" collection. You can also rent it online from the usual places.
Reader Comments (26)
Judith Anderson too.
You're a wonderful writer, Cláudio, and I always enjoy reading your pieces. So happy you are here on the Film Experience!
I think this is very much a case like when Jo Van Fleet won Best Supporting Actress for East of Eden but it would have seemed more logical for her to be awarded for her work in I'll Cry Tomorrow. The Academy looking to spread the wealth chose one out of two strong performances and that other one kicked the performer into the winner's circle.
Ives is very good in Big Country but I agree that compared to Big Daddy the performance isn't as deep. I'm just glad that he was awarded in his peak year. There are far more examples of performers who weren't as fortunate.
markgordonuk -- It's funny you mention her. I've never considered Anderson to be one of the movie's standouts, but she really impressed me in this last re-watch. Like when Ives talks to Newman, there's a tinge of abrasive despair to her wifely pleading. That line, about her love for Big Daddy, hits like a knife to the heart.
cb -- Thank you so much for the praise. I'm ver happy to be part of the team too.
joel6 -- I agree. While he may not have been rewarded for his most iconic work, Ives still got an Oscar and on his peak year as you say. Many actors as wonderful as him never even get nominated.
Thanks for the feedback.
My first introduction to "Big Daddy" was an episode of THE GOLDEN GIRLS... Blanche's dad is named Big Daddy and it was a caricature of Burl Ives. It wasn't until I saw CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF that I realized Wow, this is the original "Big Daddy"
:)
I mean absolutely no offense, but Burl Ives is absolutely fantastic in The Big Country. It's a spectacular film. He's great in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. But it's really the Newman-Taylor show.
I'm probably the only person alive who's seen THE BIG COUNTRY (a movie I grew up with and love dearly) but *not* CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF. So I have no basis for comparing Ives v. Ives, though you make a compelling case for the latter.
Still...he was great in THE BIG COUNTRY, and I wholeheartedly agree thr film is also great and seriously underrated. Jerome Moross' score is among the very best there is - I can't believe it didn't win the Oscar.
Just like Winslet and Vikander: won in the right year, in the right category, but for the wrong performance.
NOTE: Patricia Clarkson should be part of this "circle" - nominated for Best Supporting Actress for "Pieces of April", but she should have been nominated (and taken the golden man home) for "The Station Agent".
Wonderful piece Cláudio 👌🏻 As usual of course
I love this movie and The chemistry between Taylor & newman is an all-timer we will never have stars like them again
Ives is also great here and I think his performance had a major effect on the voters when they were voting for him for big country
It reminds me also of Di Caprio getting in for Blood Diamond over The Departed and a bit more obscure Charles Durning not getting in for Tootsie and receiving it for Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
I love The Big Country. It's a perfect movie. Perfect. And that was my introduction to anothervactor famous for a Williams adaptation: Carroll Baker! And Gregory Peck is brilliant in it!
I believe the book Inside Oscar explains that Warner Brothers listed the entire cast of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof as leads for Oscar, which is why Ives got the supporting nomination for The Big Country. Ives played the role of Big Daddy on Broadway so it's no surprise how great he was in the movie.
Same thing happened to Jim Broadbent: nom and win for Iris instead of Moulin Rouge.
Burl Ives is not getting the credit here he so justly deserves for The Big Country. As Rufus Hannassey, Ives brings a larger than life presence to the rancher in a pitched battle for water rights.
In a scene that is prime Oscar bait, Rufus witnesses his son Buck, a man lacking noble character, in a duel. Buck cheats by firing early and misses. He then falls into the dust before the gathered witnesses and cries. Rufus orders the man to shoot. Disgusted by Buck's cowardice, the man shoots into the dust. Shamed, Buck wrestles away a pistol from an observer. Rufus shouts for him to stop. Buck ignores his father who then shoots him. As his son dies, Rufus takes his son's head into his arms and mourns. His grief is profound and heart rendering.
There should be no question why Ives won an Oscar for this.
Maybe I'm the only one but I slightly prefer Ives in The big country, Cat on a hot... is a better movie (of course) but Ives pales in comparison of Newman.
I strongly dispute the idea that Cat is the better movie. It's just watered down Williams. The Big Country is flawless, a terrific movie from a master of the cinema, proving himself in a new genre. Wyler was a genius.
For the record, I do think Ives is great in The Big Country. I prefer his performance as Big Daddy, but he's an excellent winner nonetheless. That being said, it seems pretty hard to argue against the fact that he's best remembered for his turn in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
Bgk -- I've used that book as a reference before, but I don't have it with me at the moment. That meant I couldn't confirm Ives' category placement, but I'm glad you pointed it out. It seems bizarre to campaign them all as leads. While the case may be done for Big Daddy's protagonist, Judith Anderson's Big Momma is completely screwed by such categorization.
Lynn Lee -- That score is indeed amazing.
cal roth -- I also think The Big Country is the better movie out of the two. The adaptation of Williams' stage play defanged the material a bit too much for me.
Through this article is about "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", any opportunity to gush about "The Big Country" is an opportunity I cannot pass up. That cast! That score! Wyler at his best! I dare say it's old fashioned Hollywood fare at it's best. It's my go to recommendation whenever I heard someone say they don't like westerns and have only received positive feedback.
But let's play out a little alternate history. Due to the fact that "The Big Country" is rarely mentioned outside its Oscar pedigree, if Burl Ives got the nomination/win for "Cat" (which I agree is easily the better performance) then there is a very real possibility that I and many others wound never have seen or even heard of "The Big Country". That would be dreadful.
One last note, I was lucky enough to see "The Big Country" for the first time in a renovated movie palace, which is the perfect way to see this perfect film.
Back then the attitude considering the category placement was really the opposite U can find nowadays. Ives is amazing as Big Daddy but I can't help but thinking of thi role as supporting, at least in the film version. It seems the studios didn't use to consider the SUPPORTING field so prestigious or they were just more correct
Congratulations Cláudio. I loved this article. But I once suggested to you to give the names of those who did get nominated. Not to analyze any one of those. Just additional information. Those names are important. For starters, one may look at the actual nominees and think, "Well, I now understand why he/she was not nominated. These 5 are the ones I would have voted for!"
The nominees that year were:
Burl Ives himself for The Big Country (winner)
Theodore Bikel for The Defiant Ones
Lee J. Cobb for The Brother Karamazov
Arthur Kennedy for Some Came Running
Gig Young for Teachers Pet
In this case in particular I believe Ives split his own votes. Actually, he was lucky to get nominated at all!
Marcos -- Thank you for puting that information in the comments. It's a failing of mine that I can't organically include that needed context in all these pieces. I'm sorry, but please know that I've taken your previous feedback into account.
I usually write down a paragraph on the other nominees, but end up cutting it when I re-read the text. These pieces always turn out too long and that paragraph is always the first thing I tend to cut.
Hopefully, in the future, I'll get better at including those important tidbits in the finished article. It adds important context, as, I think, you previously pointed out.
Thank you, as ever, for the constructive feedback.
I seem to remember reading somewhere that the producers of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and "Big Country" got together and decided not to campaign Burl Ives for "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" so that he wouldn't cancel himself out of a nomination. They figured a nomination for "Big Country" would benefit both movies.
great article Claudio and an awesome and easily implimented suggestion by Marco. You guys are the best!
As always, lovely writing, Claudio. I co-sign all the love for The Big Country. It’s a stunning visual feast with a perfect cast. It helped Heston win the lead in Wyler’s next epic Ben-Hur. And that rousing music! I love hearing it on my film score Pandora station.
One of my very favorite movies. I watched Elizabeth Taylor and cannot conceive of how she put that performance together when she had just lost Mike Todd and her husband a few weeks previous or while she was shooting. Also as always Newman was amazing, it wasn't just the looks it was a combination of the body language the Charisma the look on his face and those beautiful beautiful eyes one of my favorite movies of all time when is my very favorite movies. In many ways it. Thank God they gave us the opportunity to work together and put form of this little bit of magic in a world that I no longer truly understand. doesn't change with time it's family and we all know what a mess that can be. But a great way to spend an afternoon and watch some very talented people put on a beautifully done movie that sucks you in and you can almost feel the emotions. The world will miss all the stars that to my understanding except for the children that passed at I am so very this time