Supporting Actor. What a funny category, always. In 1952, neither the BAFTAs nor the New York Critics nor the National Board of Review had gotten on board with an award the Academy had been handing out since 1936. The Golden Globes had, but none of their three nominees were nominated at the Oscars: not The Happy Time's Kurt Kasznar, not The Bad and the Beautiful's Gilbert Roland, and not the winner, My Six Convicts' Millard Mitchell. Given that, who could be said was the favorite to win among these five?
I'm not sure how Arthur Hunnicutt came to his nod. I can guess that Sudden Fear's great reception pulled Jack Palance along for the ride. And with The Quiet Man once planned as John Ford's followup to The Informer, it seems good and proper that both the director and the star, Victor McLaglen, of that 1935 film would both end up nominated. But all were considered also-rans compared to Richard Burton, a leading man campaigned as supporting by his studio, for his star-making performance in My Cousin Rachel. Like Gary Cooper's second Best Actor Oscar, this was a foregone conclusion.
So everyone was surprised when Mexican actor Anthony Quinn, who'd been playing gangsters, Indians, and other supporting baddies for over a decade, won for playing a genuinely supporting part. He couldn't make it, but his wife accepted on his behalf:
...she being Katherine DeMille, daughter of none other than Cecil B. DeMille. It really was DeMille's night, huh?
Here's how I look at this lineup:
Richard Burton as Philip Ashley
My Cousin Rachel
*****
Burton was 27 when he played 25-year-old Philip Ashley, so I assume he was very intimate with those still-youthful tempers that guide our protagonist. When he suspects Rachel of being responsible for her husband's death, nothing can dissuade him, she is evil, and he is passionate in his pursuit of justice; when he falls for her, nothing is too good for her, she can inherit all that is his, this is the greatest love of his life. So stubborn yet so impetuous, Burton's performance of a man who wears his emotions on his sleeve is magnetic, perfect, the best of the nominees here. It's also the leading role: he's in every scene, everything is from his point of view, he's in the title. This is not a supporting role.
Arthur Hunnicutt as Zeb Calloway
The Big Sky
***
only nomination
Here's a narrator in every scene who is a supporting role! Zeb is the instigator of the film's action, getting the protagonists (Kirk Douglas and Dewey Martin) bailed out of jail and bringing them on board his fur trading expedition; he's even the one who brings the love interest Teal Eye along. Hunnicutt makes sure you know this is a man who can fend for himself, and maybe not so much wise as he is very experienced: he walks and talks and generally behaves without worry or hurry, he's a man who's seen it all. He can fight, but he is not ruthless, he is not inhumane.
Victor McLaglen as Squire "Red" Will Danaher
The Quiet Man
****
past winner, second and final nomination
McLaglen can sometimes be a bit much in all his loudmouthing, double-taking, fists-at-the-hips posing - perfect for this role, a rough-and-tumble local squire who wants what he thinks he's owed, even if no one else has ever promised him anything. McLaglen gives us a man who is petty, even pouting like a sullen child; a man who is gullible, as witness the great big smile when he hears, without confirmation, that the widow will consent to marry him; a man who is hot-tempered, clear from his shouting and threats of violence and aggressive handshaking. Is there depth to this man? No, but McLaglen plays it all very convincingly and at just the right comic pitch for a film and role like this.
Jack Palance as Lester Blaine
Sudden Fear
****
first of three nominations
It's always very brave for an actor to play someone who is described as not having "leading man" looks, but Palance truly looks like Satan here. Not knowing what exactly the movie was about, I thrilled at the chemistry between him Joan Crawford as he demonstrated that he may not have the typical looks, but he has the charm, the romantic instincts, the sex appeal to be a leading man. And when that facade gives way to the calculating, manipulative leech underneath, that was thrilling, too: he is equally convincing at Good and Bad, a man whose unpredictably is what makes him dangerous. It's the way he smiles, the feline movements of his gait, the danger in his eyes: a full-bodied performance. If you consider Crawford the only lead, he's supporting; if you, like me, consider this a two-hander between villain and victim, his presence here is fraudulent.
Anthony Quinn as Eufemio Zapata
Viva Zapata!
****
first of four nominations
Quinn sneaks up on you here. As the brother of Emiliano Zapata, Eufemio is there at the famous revolutionary's side for every battle, every struggle. He's not a leader, but he is a man of action: not the incautious but confident way he fires at Fernando Aguirre, only narrowly missing him. Most of the time when we see him, he's drinking or getting with a new woman, and it is he who is quick and eagrer to accept "tribute" from the people for their revolution. Emiliano is the general, the one they came to see, but holding court at that feast is Eufemio. Quinn plants the seeds for the shocking confrontation between brothers to come near the end, a scene that he puts his heart and sweat into. Quinn likes us to see him work; thank goodness he's very good at it.
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Tough pick, since I can't give the win to Burton or Palance and my next two choices are pretty evenly matched. I choose:
VICTOR MCLAGLEN
in
THE QUIET MAN
Tomorrow, the nominees for Best Supporting Actress: Gloria Grahame (The Bad and the Beautiful), Jean Hagen (Singin' in the Rain), Colette Marchand (Moulin Rouge), Terry Moore (Come Back, Little Sheba), and Thelma Ritter (With a Song in My Heart).
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