Day Nine: Best Actress, 1961

The performances nominated for Best Actress at the 1961 Oscars are iconic, career-changing, and, at least in one case, confusing. The nominees, after the jump.

Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly

Breakfast at Tiffany's

*****

fourth of five nominations, past winner; Golden Globe Nomine for Best Actress - Musical / Comedy

Hepburn's performance is full of purposeful calculation, from her handling of props to the heightened accent she uses around flatterers. It makes Holly's less-calculated moments more indelible: do I detect a slight, tell-tale twang when she talks about her brother?

Piper Laurie as Sarah Packard

The Hustler

*****

first of three nominations; BAFTA Award Nominee for Best Foreign Actress, NYFCC Runner-Up for Best Actress

Borderline supporting, but once she enters the film, the entire energy changes. Laurie's voice sells the hardness of Sarah's character; you hear the life she's led. She has a firm handle on Sarah as enabler, cheerleader and wreckage. She had me at, "You're too hungry"; she broke me with, "You're not a loser, Eddie. You're a winner."

Sophia Loren as Cesira

Two Women

****

first of two nominations; BAFTA Award Winner for Best Foreign Actress, Cannes Winner for Best Actress, NYFCC Winner for Best Actress

An unfussy, natural performance - compare this to her turns in El Cid and The Millionairess, you see the difference when she's used for her talent, not just her beauty. She's still sensual, but carries herself more comfortably; she's also much funnier, magnetic.

Geraldine Page as Alma Winemiller

Summer and Smoke

**

second of eight nominations; Golden Globe Winner for Best Actress - Drama, NBR Winner for Best Actress, NYFCC Runner-Up for Best Actress

All pursed lips and fluttery intonations. Why does everyone in this movie act like their only exposure to people was watching 30 seconds of a panel show? Interesting, imitate-able, a choice - but not great.

Natalie Wood as Deanie Loomis

Splendor in the Grass 

***

second of three nominations; Golden Globe Nominee for Best Actress - Drama, BAFTA Award Nominee for Best Foreign Actress

Given what she's working with, what she does is impressive. I don't completely buy Deanie on page, but Wood's performance is the real deal, a perfect storm of horniness and trying to be Good. No wonder she cracks up, in a hysterical sequence that Wood manages to ring true!

Also in the conversation:

• Leslie Caron, Fanny (Golden Globe Nominee for Best Actress - Drama) - Melodrama performances are underrated - this is solid. ***
• Bette Davis, Pocketful of Miracles (Golden Globe Nominee for Best Actress - Musical / Comedy) - Heartbreaking; I wish the movie had more time for her! ***
• Shirley MacLaine, The Children's Hour (Golden Globe Nominee for Best Actress - Drama) - Issues aside, this is an honest, sympathetic portrayal of repressed desires and societal poisoning. ***
• Claudia McNeil, A Raisin in the Sun (BAFTA Award Nominee for Best Foreign Actress, Golden Globe Nominee for Best Actress - Drama) - Powerful. *****
• Hayley Mills, The Parent Trap (Golden Globe Nominee for Best Actress - Musical / Comedy) - Terrific work, even if the accent between the two roles gets muddy. ****
• Rosalind Russell, A Majority of One (Golden Globe Winner for Best Actress - Musical / Comedy) - Warm, lovely performance; I feel like I know this woman, and want her to be happy. *****
• Jean Seberg, Breathless (BAFTA Award Nominee for Best Foreign Actress) - I don't always follow her motivations; I don't think she does, either. But it feels purposeful, and Seberg plays this beautifully. ****
• Miyoshi Umeki, Flower Drum Song (Golden Globe Nominee for Best Actress - Musical / Comedy) - Avoids making Mei Li into a naive, pure stereotype; she's watching, canny. And so alive in her songs. *****
• Monica Vitti, L'Avventura (BAFTA Award Nominee for Best Foreign Actress) - She's fine? I admit, I don't really understand the character or the movie in general. **

-----------------------------------------

Oscar honored the sexpot-turned-serious actress:

A performance I applaud, as you saw! But you also saw that another performance in a highly-regarded classic caught my eye and received five stars. A performance that has gone...overlooked. My Best Actress vote goes to:

PIPER LAURIE

for

THE HUSTLER

Tomorrow, the nominees for Best Picture: Fanny, The Guns of Navarone, The Hustler, Judgment at Nuremberg and West Side Story.

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