Supporting Awards 1927-35

moviemagz
Posts: 62
Joined: April 15th, 2008, 10:27 pm

Post by moviemagz »

Gosh, if Marie Dressler and Jean Harlow weren't the stars of DINNER AT EIGHT who was?

One of my beefs with the Academy in the last decade is giving "supporting" Oscars and nominations to stars who are really playing starring roles if slightly secondary. Such nominations were extremely rare pre-1980 and I can think of only a few during the golden era - Olivia DeHavilland & Leslie Howard in GONE WITH THE WIND, and Paulette Goddard in SO PROUDLY WE HAIL but in those cases they were major stars playing a decided second fiddle to someone else.

I'm going to do like the newspaper/magazine critics do every Oscar season and post my "choices" and "who will win (or rather would have won)"


1927-28
Best Supporting Actor (choice) Lowell Sherman THE GARDEN OF EDEN
Best Supporting Actor (predict) Lionel Barrymore SADIE THOMPSON
Best Supporting Actress (choice) Merna Kennedy THE CIRCUS
Best Supporting Actress (predict) Louise Dresser THE GARDEN OF EDEN

1928-29:
Best Supporting Actor (choice) Lewis Stone THEIR OWN DESIRE
Best Supporting Actor (predict) John St. Polis COQUETTE
Best Supporting Actress (choice) Anita Page OUR DANCING DAUGHTERS
Best Supporting Actress (predict) Belle Bennett THEIR OWN DESIRE

1929-30:
Best Supporting Actor (choice) James Hall HELL'S ANGELS
Best Supporting Actor (predict) Charles Bickford ANNA CHRISTIE
Best Supporting Actress (choice) Penny Singleton [Dorothy McNulty] GOOD NEWS
Best Supporting Actress (predict) Marie Dressler for ANNA CHRISTIE

1930-31:
Best Supporting Actor (choice) Harry Myers CITY LIGHTS
Best Supporting Actor (predict) Pat O'Brien THE FRONT PAGE
Best Supporting Actress (choice) Maud Eburne LONELY WIVES
Best Supporting Actress (predict) Virginia Cherrill CITY LIGHTS

1931-32:
Best Supporting Actor (choice) Richard Cromwell EMMA
Best Supporting Actor (predict) Preston Foster I AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG
Best Supporting Actress (choice) Una Merkel RED HEADED WOMAN
Best Supporting Actress (predict) Ann Dvorak SCARFACE

1932-33:
Best Supporting Actor (choice) Frank Morgan BOMBSHELL
Best Supporting Actor (predict) Adolphe Menjou MORNING GLORY
Best Supporting Actress (choice) Mary Boland THREE CORNERED MOON
Best Supporting Actress (predict) Billie Burke DINNER AT EIGHT

1934:
Best Supporting Actor (choice) Henry Wilcoxon CLEOPATRA
Best Supporting Actor (predict) Walter Connolly for IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT
Best Supporting Actress: (choice) Louise Beavers IMITATION OF LIFE
Best Supporting Actress (predict) Louise Beavers IMITATION OF LIFE

1935:
Best Supporting Actor (choice) Donald Woods A TALE OF TWO CITIES
Best Supporting Actor (predict) Fred Stone ALICE ADAMS
Best Supporting Actress (choice) Edna May Oliver DAVID COPPERFIELD
Best Supporting Actress (predict) Edna May Oliver A TALE OF TWO CITIES
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srowley75
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Joined: April 22nd, 2008, 11:04 am
Location: West Virginia

Post by srowley75 »

moviemagz wrote:Gosh, if Marie Dressler and Jean Harlow weren't the stars of DINNER AT EIGHT who was?
My rationale for selecting them as supporting performers was that they weren't directly related to the story's central conflicts. The main story concerns the trials and tribulations of the Jordan family (whether Oliver will lose the shipping business, whether Millicent's party for the Fernclifts will be a success, and what will happen with their daughter and her lover), and in that sense I would call Lionel Barrymore and possibly John the film's stars. Personally, I think you could make a better case for calling Billie Burke the lead actress than Dressler or Harlow. After all, it's her "dinner at eight." Plus, the Barrymores' and Burke's characters are rounder and/or develop through the course of the film.

Whatever the case, I don't really see how you could say that Dressler is a lead actress in the movie - not only is she insignificant to much of the conflict, but she's offscreen for lengthy spans of time. Harlow probably has more screen time and is closer to the main plotline, but only because of Wallace Beery.

All that to say - whatever. For what it's worth, it works both ways. Anthony Hopkins won a lead acting award for a relatively brief performance, as did Patricia Neal. I would classify both as supporting actors, and I'm not the only one who would do so.

-Stephen
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