The 25 Oldest Nominees of All Time in Best Supporting Actress
Saturday, January 9, 2021 at 12:44PM by Nathaniel R
Since Claudio was just discussing Ellen Burstyn's estimable Oscar history and the fact that she'd become the oldest acting nominee of all time (in any of the four categories) if the Academy picks her for Pieces of a Woman, we figured it was time for an Oscar list. (Cue talkback: when isn't it time for an Oscar list, Nathaniel?)
Which older women has Oscar gazed at fondly in the Supporting Actress category? Supporting (for both men and women) typically skews older than Lead since Hollywood prefers midtwenties to mid fortysomethings for protagonists. Herewith the women who broke through the wall of ingenues, girlfriends, wives, and mothers, to score Oscar nominations in Best Supporting Actress category later in life...
25 OLDEST NOMINEES IN BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Just outside this "oldest" list: Jacki Weaver in Silver Linings Playbook, Ethel Barrymore in None but the Lonely Heart, and Meryl Streep in Into the Woods were all 65 when they were nominated for those films, Judi Dench and Sally Field, were both nominated at 66 for Chocolat and Lincoln respectively, and Maggie Smith had just turned 67 when nominated for Gosford Park.
HONOURABLE MENTION / RUNNER UP: LILIA SKALA at 67 for Lilies of the Field (1963)
This Austrian-American actress was wonderful as the stern nun who hires and befriends Sidney Poitier in his Oscar-winning role. She lived a long eventful life passing away at age 98 in 1994. [Discussed on the Supporting Actress Smackdown]
25 ROSEMARY HARRIS at 67 for Tom & Viv (1994)
Still blessedly working at age 93! She just had a cameo in the HBO miniseries The Undoing and before that we most recently saw her in the Mrs. Higgins role within My Fair Lady here on Broadway (a role that also shows up in this very list). She received a lifetime achievement Tony Award in 2019. [Discussed on the Supporting Actress Smackdown]
24 ETHEL BARRYMORE at 67 for The Spiral Staircase (1946)
The Barrymore family was, back then, an acting dynasty. Her younger brother John (Drew Barrymore's grandfather) was the most famous among them but her older brother Lionel was the first Oscar-winning member of the family. Ethel followed him to that distinction in None but the Lonely Heart when she was 65 (previously discussed). Oscar voters were obsessed with Ethel in the 1940s.
23 ETHEL BARRYMORE at 68 for The Paradine Case (1947)
And still more Ethel... [Discussed on the Supporting Actress Smackdown]
22 FAY BAINTER at 68 in The Children's Hour (1961)
This amazing actress had previously won the Oscar for Jezebel (1938). Twenty-three years later she returned for her final nomination for a film which brought her out of big screen retirement (though she'd continued working on the stage and in television during the 1950s). It was her final role and she died in 1968 at the age of 74.
21 RUTH GORDON at 69 for Inside Daisy Clover (1965)
Her first three Oscar nominations were in the Screenplay categories but after she began focusing on acting (which she'd only done very sporadically before this role) in her later years the Academy got even more excited about her. [Discussed on the Supporting Actress Smackdown]
20 HELEN HAYES at 70 for Airport (1970)
Hayes is the only EGOT winner on this list but that's not her only awards-claim to fame. She still holds the record for the performer with the longest stretch inbetween Oscar wins. She won for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931) and then again for Airport (1970) thirty-nine years later. The longest stretch between nominations record is held by Henry Fonda who was honored for The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and did not return until On Golden Pond (1981). [Discussed on the Supporting Actress Smackdown]
19 ETHEL BARRYMORE at 70 for Pinky (1949)
It's funny that 50% of Barrymore's nominations came for performances where she barely ever leaves her bed and the dramatics happen around her or are contingent upon her death (see also The Spiral Staircase earlier in this list). This was the last of her four nominations which all happened in rapid succession in the late 1940s. She made nine more films after Pinky and passed away in 1959 at the age of 79.
18 KATHY BATES at 71 for Richard Jewell (2019)
After a long Oscar absence post-About Schmidt, Bates finally returned playing the sad mom of a man accused of a deadly bombing. Next up for Kathy is the ex-con drama Home (directing by the German actress Franka Potente) and after that she's supposedly making a comedy with both Dame Maggie Smith and The Lovely Laura Linney. PLEASE LET THAT PROJECT HAPPEN!
17 (DAME) MARGARET RUTHERFORD at 71 for The VIPS (1963)
This is a strange Oscar win but 1963 is one of the strangest lineups ever in the Supporting Actress category given that it's the only time three women from the same film competed. Though you'll see plentiful "Dames" on this list, Margaret Rutherford did not receive the Dame title until after her Oscar-winning role and the other women listed were already Dames when these nominations arrived. [Discussed at the Supporting Actress Smackdown]
16 RUTH GORDON at 72 for Rosemary's Baby (1968)
It's one of the greatest supporting performances of all time so thankfully Oscar didn't let their anti-horror bias get in the way. [Discussed on the Supporting Actress Smackdown]
15 LAUREN BACALL at 72 for The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996)
A surprise Oscar night loss for this movie legend with her only nomination. But Oscar would make it up to her with an Honorary Oscar, fourteen years later. She died in 2014 at the age of 89.
14 DAME MAY WHITTY at 72 for Night Must Fall (1937)
More on her further up the list.
13 PEGGY WOOD at 73 for The Sound of Music (1965)
[Discussed on the Supporting Actress Smackdown]
12 JOSEPHINE HULL at 74 for Harvey (1950)
She held the record of "oldest Supporting Actress winner" for over three decades. She won this statue for reprising her popular stage role. A handful of years earlier she'd done the stage to film transfer with another big comedy hit, Arsenic and Old Lace.
11 DAME EDITH EVANS at 76 for Tom Jones (1963)
The first of her two appearances on this list. [Discussed at the Supporting Actress Smackdown]
10 GLADYS COOPER at 76 for My Fair Lady (1964)
Her screen career stretched from silent films in 1917 through her death in 1971. This was her last major role and a "comeback" with Oscar since she hadn't been nominated in 21 years (The Song of Bernadette, 1943). She only made two more films after My Fair Lady but was working in television up until her death. [Discussed on the Supporting Actress Smackdown]
09 DAME EDITH EVANS at 77 for The Chalk Garden (1964)
Dame Evans was like a Maggie Smith of her day (albeit less famous), popular whenever playing haughty elderly snobs. After two quick Oscar nominations in supporting in her seventies she was nominated for lead actress in her eighties for The Whisperers (1968), her greatest performance. She died in 1976. [Discussed on the Supporting Actress Smackdown]
08 DAME PEGGY ASHCROFT at 77 for A Passage to India (1984)
[Discussed on the Supporting Actress Smackdown] She's still the oldest winner of all time in this particular category. She's now held the record longer than her predecessor Josephine Hull in Harvey (1950). Will anyone ever take this mantle from her? Ashcroft only appeared in 12 movies in her life stretching from 1933's The Wandering Jew through Madame Sousatzka in 1988. She died in 1991.
07 DAME MAY WHITTY at 77 for Mrs Miniver (1942)
Some people find the rose competition subplot in Mrs Miniver a distraction. We call it 'bliss'. This was Whitty's second Oscar nomination and she kept working in cinema until her death in 1948.
06 ANN SOTHERN at 79 for The Whales of August (1987)
Oscar did her wrong by ignoring her work in Lady in a Cage but after a rich career in film which began in the silent era she received one of those "career achievement" style nominations for this, her final film. [Discussed on the Supporting Actress Smackdown]
05 EVA LE GALLIENE at 82 for Ressurection (1980)
She was the very last Oscar nominee to be born in the 19th century! She only made three films in her long life, and Resurrection was the last of them. She was a legend of the stage though, famous there by the age of 21. In fact, during the Oscar season for Ressurection, she was busy headlining a Broadway play "To Grandmother's House We Go" which brought her a Tony nomination for Best Actress (she'd previously won a Special Tony honoring her career in 1964). She died in 1991. [Discussed on the Supporting Actress Smackdown]
04 JESSICA TANDY at 82 for Fried Green Tomatoes (1991)
This beloved actress followed up her Oscar win for Driving Miss Daisy (1989) with one more Oscar honor. Call it a victory lap. She was very busy in the last years of her film making three more films and one telefilm after Tomatoes before her death in 1994. [Discussed on the Supporting Actress Smackdown]
03 JUNE SQUIBB at 84 for Nebraska (2013)
This character actress has been exceptionally busy since her Oscar-nominated breakout. Since Nebraska which was barely eight years ago, she's made over three dozen films or tv shows. She's not slowing down in her nineties either. She's currently a regular on the Apple+ series Little Voice and next up at the movies, the stage-to-film adaptation The Humans (2021) plus the Justin Timberlake drama Palmer (premiering later this month... we believe she's playing his grandmother), and something called Shoot the Rooster a comedy with a pretty fun cast list.
02 RUBY DEE at 85 for American Gangster (2007)
Oscar didn't honor her for her most famous big screen showcase A Raisin in the Sun (1961) or her strong supporting work in Edge of the City (1957) but they grabbed the chance for a 'career achievement' style nomination for her very brief stinging role in this crime drama opposite Denzel Washington. Her career can't have been easy but she amassed an impressive 100+ credits in film and televeision. (About 10 of those came after this honor and her death in 2014.)
01 GLORIA STUART at 87 for Titanic (1997)
What an epic send-off for this list ... though it wasn't quite for Gloria who was able to make three more pictures after Titanic before her death in 2010 at the age of... 100! The centerian's big screen career stretched from the early talkies with six films in 1932 alone, her debut year (by far the most famous being James Whale's The Old Dark House) through 2004's Land of Plenty though there was a huge gap in the middle. She didn't make any films or TV shows from 1947 through 1975! So she disappeared from screens from the age of 37 through the age of 65... which is, if you think about it, a kind of darkly comic visualization of Hollywood's problem with women. They love both the ingenues and the grandmothers but inbetween they tend to be all over the place and confused about their affections!
Once again, if Ellen Burstyn is Oscar-nominated for Pieces of a Woman she'll be the new champ on this list. WHICH ARE YOUR FAVOURITE PERFORMANCES FROM THIS BEAUTIFULLY AGED LIST?
Reader Comments (37)
I actually like Richard Jewell and there were some truly affecting scenes between Kathy Bates and Paul Walter Hauser. I like it that Bates still gets nominated but wish she also got a nomination for Dolores Claiborne.
My favorite in the list is Eva Le Gallienne for her wonderful turn in Resurrection. That film never gets discussed much even with strong performances from Ellen Burstyn, Sam Shepard and Le Gallienne's Grandma Pearl. That goodbye scene between her and Burstyn, emotionally moving.
My top 3:
Ruth Gordon in Rosemary's Baby
June Squibb in Nebraska (damn, she makes me laugh "... I didn't even know he wanted to be a millionaire...")
Gloria Stuart in Titanic
What a fantastic list! Rosemary Harris still at the top of her game (see The The Undoing).
Owl -- it's surely because it's been so difficult to find / watch. So many films are forgotten for this reason (even more, I'd argue) than just because they go out of fashion in whatever way.
Lots of interesting tidbits to talk about, but I will just stick with that Kathy Bates movie hopefully coming up with those actresses needs to happen.
Ethel Barrymore's especially wonderful in "Pinky". Also have fond memories of Dame Edith Evans, imperiously hilarious in "Tom Jones". Fay Bainter's definitely the best thing in "The Children's Hour". And Dame May Whitty's always a joy. But I've got to say absolutely no one made a more devilishly indelible impression than Ruth Gordon in "Rosemary's Baby".
@howl. The scene in Resurrection that had me crying like a baby was the final scene. The quality is terrible, but those who have seen the film will be moved.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtAJcvFmUps
Fernanda Montenegro was nominated in 1999, when she was 70 years old.
The Academy should launch a streaming service for Oscar nominees that are old and/or difficult to locate.
I really want to see The Spiral Staircase now. It sounds a bit like Wait Until Dark.
Great article! I love all the photos of these exceptional women.
Love this! As a fully fledged f*g, this is my favorite Oscar category so reading anything about it is riveting. Would love to see a youngest nominees list as well.
I haven't seen all of them but my faves are
Ruth Gordon correct one of the best winners ever in S/Actress
June Squibb who should have had the Oscar,so funny and touching.
Fay Bainter she's just fabulous in this film just not as good as Angela.
Ruby Dee I just love the slap scene
Kathy Bates I think she is just perfect in the unfairly overlooked RJ
Rosemary Harris spot on as a certain type of the well off
Lauren Bacall a camp pleasure.
Love the list - still reckon Maggie Smith has one more nom in her!
Rob Reiner being hyperbolic promoting the award season push for Misery said Bates is an actress equivalent to Maggie Smith and Vanessa Redgrave. I honestly see her eventually joining Smith in the two timers club with the sophomore win in supporting. I was right about her joining the four timers club of nominees from the 90s best actress slate -- I suspect a sentimental narrative will spring for her in the upcoming years.
Am I allowed here?
I’m so happy whenever Fay Bainter gets some love. I still think her Jezebel oscar is quietly the best performance in the film and a bizarrely overlooked in. It’s very odd the only great film roles she got where the ones she was nominated for (I think she’s just great in Children’s Hour). Even by character actress standards it’s a weirdly meager filmography when her talent would seem to merit better.
A wonderful surprise to come upon! All the performances on here are good ones but my favorites would be in no particular order except the first:
Eva Le Galliene-Resurrection-My favorite on this list and one of my favorite supporting performances ever. She is so real and touching and yes Owl that goodbye scene is enough to make a stone cry.
Ethel Barrymore-The Spiral Staircase
Helen Hayes-Airport-I know she's been better and she's laying on the cute pretty thick but I find her endearing.
Margaret Rutherford-The V.I.P.S
Edith Evans-The Chalk Garden
Dame May Whitty-Mrs. Miniver
Gloria Stuart-Titanic-I didn't think much of the hogwash story Cameron pinned onto the tragedy but Gloria's performance is wonderful
Surprised by the Bates defenders - love her in general but that nod still went to Jennifer Lopez in my mind. I actually love Helen Hayes' Oscar win - she was easily my favorite part of that self-serious film, and Oscar often doesn't play nice with fun comedic roles. Peggy Wood also impressed me much more when revisiting Sound of Music. Head and shoulders above all of these, though, is Josephine Hull. She completely steals her movie and just thinking of her facial expressions makes me laugh. Sadly, I think she was edged out in my personal awards by Celeste Holm's brilliant performance in All About Eve (what a year!), but she won out for me as the murderous tittering aunt in Arsenic and Old Lace. If you haven't revisited Harvey in a while, though, I highly recommend it.
Shouldn't Dame May Whitty's first nom be one of the oldest given it was only 5 years before her MM nom.
From the list the clear standouts are Ruth Gordon (RB), Peggy Ashcroft, Fay Bainter and Eva La Galliiene. I must say having seen all of these performances many of them are not my favourite. Ethel Barrymore's oscars run is really not a fave of mine
Ruth Gordon in Rosemary's baby is just amazing, she's my favorite in this list.
Then June Squibb and Margareth Rutherford ( the VIP's is bad movie but she's perfect i it)
@owl @Joel6. You can see Resurrection here.
https://ok.ru/video/1617047521849
Surprised by the Bates defenders - love her in general but that nod still went to Jennifer Lopez in my mind.
You're assuming Bates took Lopez's place. But the Globes are a great precursor that many insist isn't a legit one. Where only Annette Bening was the odd woman out on their slate. Everyone knows about the paperwork error with category placement at SAG. Only BATFA and Critics Choice weren't interested in Bates that year. There's also a huge Eastwood voter bloc at the Academy.
My grandmother loved movies and I got my passion for cinema from her. I remember showing her Titanic for the first time and she said "Who is that?" I told her it was Gloria Stuart. "Oh I know who that is! I thought she looked familiar!" And as pointed out above, Stuart hadn't made a film in decades but my grandmother recognized her. I'm always oddly proud of that.
Then she said Stuart's makeup made her look too old and I about fell over laughing.
I would have voted for:
Peggy Ashcroft
Josephine Hull
May Whitty (1937)
Margaret Rutherford
Ethel Barrymore (1946)
Also love:
Ruth Gordon (1968)
Edith Evans (1963)
OMG SO MANY DAMES!!!!!!!
Eion -- i fixed
Donald -- no
Jose -- this list is the supporting actress trivia. there will be a separate list for lead actresses.
Eion -- i fixed
Donald -- no
Jose -- this list is the supporting actress trivia. there will be a separate list for lead actresses.
Nathaniel - why won't you let Donny post here? You are going to get a lot of trumpers angry for denying him his 1st amendment rights!
Because this is a hate-free zone.
Eurocheese
I think Jennifer Lopez totally should not only have been nominated but also won for Hustlers. But I think Katy Bates totally deserves her nomination for Richard Jewell.
_My own Line up Best Actress in Supporting Role 2019:
1- Jennifer Lopez - Hustlers
2- Shuzhen Zhao - The Farewell
3- Florence Pugh - Little Women
4- Kathy Bates - Richard Jewell
5- Penelope Cruz - Dolor y Gloria
Also come back Jane Alexander.
Looking at this list the key is (mainly) to eschew plastic surgery. Or if Burstyn makes it, don't go overboard.
Ruth Gordon, hands down.
I suspect it's been mentioned before, but it's so interesting how much "older" being in one's 60s and 70s looked decades ago than it does today. Bates, Field, Keaton, Lange, Mirren, Sarandon, Spacek and Streep are all in their 70s and look way younger than Barrymore, Evans, Rutherford, and Whitty. I'm looking forward to this lineup, and the lead category, being shaken up with the infusion of more recent nominees, as I hope all of these thankfully still working actresses gets parts deserving of their talent.
Oh and obviously Tandy as well. Should have been a literal victory lap.
Redo the 1950 Supporting Actress Smackdown you cowards.
Loved this. All of these actresses brought their experience to their roles and made each film better for it. While I have my personal favorites, I think they all deserve our collective applause.