Billie Burke (Dinner At Eight) Marie Dressler (Dinner At Eight) Margaret Dumont (Duck Soup) Elsa Lanchester (The Private Life of Henry VIII) Una O'Connor (The Invisible Man)
If Mr. Groucho Marx can be believed, Ms. Dumont sent herself roses - and graciously accepted them - at the conclusion of a 1965 performance (with Groucho) on The Hollywood Palace. (She died a short time later.) Call me a rank sentimentalist, but isn't a Best Supporting Actress award for her splendid work in Duck Soup justly merited? For this marvelous lady who played straight to Rufus T. Firefly as portrayed by three Marx Brothers? Who bore the hand prints of Harpo on her derriere? Who graced the moment of triumph with song: "Victory is ours!! Hail, hail, Freedonia ...!!!" Let victory be hers!!!
Named for Katie-Bar-The-Door, the Katies are "alternate Oscars"—who should have been nominated, who should have won—but really they're just an excuse to write a history of the movies from the Silent Era to the present day.
To see a list of nominees and winners by decade, as well as links to my essays about them, click the highlighted links:
Remember: There are no wrong answers, only movies you haven't seen yet.
The Silent Oscars
And don't forget to check out the Silent Oscars—my year-by-year choices for best picture, director and all four acting categories for the pre-Oscar years, 1902-1927.
Look at me—Joe College, with a touch of arthritis. Are my eyes really brown? Uh, no, they're green. Would we have the nerve to dive into the icy water and save a person from drowning? That's a key question. I, of course, can't swim, so I never have to face it. Say, haven't you anything better to do than to keep popping in here early every morning and asking a lot of fool questions?
4 comments:
I vote O'Connor, although I like the lamps on Lanchester. . . .
Elsa, Elsa, Elsa all the way. What a memorable scene.
notice you never see Una O'Connor and Marty Feldman in the same place at the same time? Coincidence? I think not
If Mr. Groucho Marx can be believed, Ms. Dumont sent herself roses - and graciously accepted them - at the conclusion of a 1965 performance (with Groucho) on The Hollywood Palace. (She died a short time later.) Call me a rank sentimentalist, but isn't a Best Supporting Actress award for her splendid work in Duck Soup justly merited? For this marvelous lady who played straight to Rufus T. Firefly as portrayed by three Marx Brothers? Who bore the hand prints of Harpo on her derriere? Who graced the moment of triumph with song: "Victory is ours!! Hail, hail, Freedonia ...!!!" Let victory be hers!!!
Post a Comment