A rather weak field.

And the Nominees were ....

Catherine Burns in Last Summer
Despite many attempts at buying this obscure little movie on eBay, I sadly couldn't get my hands on it. I'm disappointed since I'm very curious to find out what the fuss behind Burns' performance is. She rejected the nomination, wanted to be the outsider and people still praised her for the performance. Ok, maybe one day I will be able to see it but as of now, Burns' performance in "Last Summer" remains the only performance nominated in the Supporting Actress category I haven't seen.

Dyan Cannon in Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice
Dyan plays a neurotic, sexually frustrated housewife.
I'm still not sure what to think of this actress. I think I like her and cannot really say I've seen a bad performance from het yet I'm not crazy about her up to the point where I feel indifferent towards her. She was certainly the best actor in this movie and the only one who merit awards consideration but her role is hardly a supporting one.

Goldie Hawn in Cactus Flower
Goldie plays the young, free-spirited girlfriend of a dentist.
She came out of nowhere and benefit from a very weak year. An unkown blond girl, only known to tv viewers as a dancing girl in some comedy show suddenly became an Oscar winner. Her win is generally regarded as undeserved even though nobody really recalls her competition. I do think she was better than Cannon, Miles and York but only slightly. None of these performances amazed me and since Hawn is my favorite actress from these four I'm fine with her win. Hawn also proved that an eary Oscar win isn't the death-kiss to an acting career.

Sylvia Miles in Midnight Cowboy
Sylvia plays a wealthy, eccentric customer of a hustler.
I don't know what a strange spell Miles put on the Academy but they surely loved her and nominated her for anything where her footage doesn't run over three minutes. I cannot really say anything bad about her performance, she is fine but it's not something I would consider for awards. In her limited screentime she doesn't leave a big impression and therefore didn't belong in the Top 5. She never had a shot to win but her nomination was a win in itself.

Susannah York in They Shoot Horses: Don't They?
Susannah plays a contestant on a dance marathon during the Depression era.
A strange woman. Just like Burns, she wasn't too thrilled being nominated. But where Burns came off rather well, York really damaged her chances to win with her snobby behavior. She has this "I'm-smarter-than-you-and-don't-need-your-awards"-attitude that was somehow out of place. Her performance was fine and I probably the only real threat for Hawn [Burns' movie was too obscure] but her behavior killed all her chances. Oh well ...



And the Oscar went to .... Goldie Hawn



Our Choice
01. Catherine Burns - 10 Votes
02. Goldie Hawn - 8 Votes
03. Susannah York - 6 Votes
04. Dyan Cannon - 3 Votes
05. Sylvia Miles - 0 Votes



Next Year on the List is 1979




Winners from past polls:
[* = Performance also won the Oscar]


1936: Alice Brady in My Man Godfrey
1937: Alice Brady in In Old Chicago *
1938: Fay Bainter in Jezebel *
1939: Hattie McDaniel in Gone With the Wind *

1940: Jane Darwell in The Grapes of Wrath *
1941: Patricia Collinge in The Little Foxes
1942: Agnes Moorehead in The Magnificent Ambersons
1943: Gladys Cooper in The Song of Bernadette
1944: Ethel Barrymore in None But the Lonely Heart *
1945: Ann Blyth in Mildred Pierce
1946: Anne Baxter in The Razor's Edge *
1947: Celeste Holm in Gentleman's Agreement *
1948: Claire Trevor in Key Largo *
1949: Mercedes McCambridge in All the King's Men *

1950: Hope Emerson in Caged
1951: Kim Hunter in A Streetcar named Desire *
1952: Jean Hagen in Singin' in the Rain
1953: Donna Reed in From Here to Eternity *
1954: Eva Marie Saint in On the Waterfront *
1955: Betsy Blair in Marty
1956: Dorothy Malone in Written on the Wind *
1957: Elsa Lanchester in Witness for the Prosecution
1958: Martha Hyer in Some Came Running
1959: Shelley Winters in The Diary of Anne Frank *

1960: Janet Leigh in Psycho
1961: Rita Moreno in West Side Story *
1962: Angela Lansbury in The Manchurian Candidate
1963: Lilia Skala in Lilies of the Field
1964: Grayson Hall in The Night of the Iguana
1965: Shelley Winters in A Patch of Blue *
1966: Sandy Dennis in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? *
1967: Estelle Parsons in Bonnie and Clyde *
1968: Ruth Gordon in Rosemary's Baby *

1970: Karen Black in Five Easy Pieces
1971: Cloris Leachman in The Last Picture Show *
1972: Eileen Heckart in Butterflies Are Free *
1973: Madeline Kahn in Paper Moon
1974: Madeline Kahn in Blazing Saddles
1975: Ronee Blakely in Nashville
1976: Piper Laurie in Carrie
1977: Vanessa Redgrave in Julia *
1978: Maureen Stapleton in Interiors

1980: Mary Steenburgen in Melvin and Howard *
1981: Maureen Stapleton in Reds *
1982: Kim Stanley in Frances
1983: Linda Hunt in The Year of Living Dangerously *
1984: Peggy Ashcroft in A Passage to India *
1985: Anjelica Huston in Prizzi's Honour *
1986: Dianne Wiest in Hannah and Her Sisters *
1988: Sigourney Weaver in Working Girl
1989: Brenda Fricker in My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown *

1990: Annette Bening in The Grifters
1992: Judy Davis in Husbands and Wives
1993: Rosie Perez in Fearless
1994: Dianne Wiest in Bullets over Broadway *
1995: Mira Sorvino in Mighty Aphrodite *
1996: Juliette Binoche in The English Patient *
1997: Julianne Moore in Boogie Nights
1998: Kathy Bates in Primary Colors
1999: Chloe Sevigny in Boys Don't Cry


"I wouldn't piss on her if she was on fire." Bette Davis on Joan Crawford