And so we come to the end of this round of Best Actress polls, which completes the nominations covered in WHO Won?!? An Irreverent Look at the Oscars: Volume 3, 1953-1963. Thank you all for participating in these!
1963 had quite a few great performances, and a minimal number of nominations on the basis of anything other than the actual acting going on.
Patricia Neal won for Hud, in what I think is the finest role of her career:
Shirley MacLaine was nominated (again), this time for a comic turn in Billy Wilder’s Irma la Douce, which isn’t as good as we’d like from Wilder (or MacLaine, if we’re being honest):
Leslie Caron, whose acting talent has always left me cold, proved herself to be more than capable of digging deep into a dramatic role in The L-Shaped Room:
Natalie Wood showed Miley Cyrus how shedding your image as a child actor is done with Love with the Proper Stranger:
The final official nomination is Rachel Roberts, matching Richard Harris powerfully in the British Kitchen Sink entry, This Sporting Life:
The Academy did overlook one very fine performance from a veteran actress this year: Judy Garland for her intensely sensitive turn in John Cassavetes’ A Child Is Born, with Burt Lancaster:
Feel free to make other suggestions below in the comments!
As always, I have much more to say in my book: http://www.amazon.com/WHO-Won-Irreverent-Look-Oscars/dp/069232318X/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
And now, please vote!
Although she didn’t have all that much screen time,she certainly made the most of it and took home a much deserved award.