Who was the best ever Best Actress Oscar winner, by decade? 1990s edition

Link to 1980s

OP, FYI - the title is Howards End, no apostrophe.

Thanks R2 I forgot that

I see I'm not the only one who voted for Gwyneth Paltrow just to freak out the DL masses! ;)

I see big titted Susie isn't getting much love for her nun movie

Helloooooo?!

Marissa you were not a leading actress

And you never will be, Marissa.

Any one who voted for Helen Hunt and Gwyneth need to have their noses cut off.

I suspected it would be between Kathy and Jodie this decade

Not much live for Jess?

I have to give it to Swank. Her performance was startling and she surprised everyone by winning. I think Bening was the favored to win for American Beauty.

[quote]I have to give it to Swank.

Me too r12. Great performance.

She was great as that murdered kid Brandon.

Jodie’s performance is iconic.

Susan Sarandon gave a good performance, but no one is going to vote for such a cunt.

Meryl Street should have won over Saggy Susan in 95.

No, Sharon Stone should have won it.

R16 is right. Perceptions of Sarandon's performance are definitely colored by how much of a zealot she's become. But she is very good in Dead Man Walking, even though I prefer some of the other performances that were nominated, and a few that weren't (Nicole Kidman, Kathy Bates, Toni Collette).

I wish Emma Thompson were doing better in the poll. She's fantastic in Howards End. It's a subtler performance that doesn't win that often, but probably should.

Such a strong start, but man, the rot starts to set in by the end of the decade.

The back to back wins of Helen and Gwyneth really was the beginning of the end, wasn't it?

R20 absolutely. Those two wins were a waste of an award. Swank deserved hers so it was a good ebd to the decade but those wins plus the weak year 1994 were disappointing.

Holly Hunter won every award going for "The Piano". Has her performance fallen out of favour?

R22 Yes. Jane Campion has not aged well.

How has Lange even got even one vote?

My choices --

Tied for 1. Bates and Foster

3. Swank

4. McDormand

5. Thompson

6. Sarandon

7. Hunter

8. Paltrow

9. Lange

10. Hunt

Here Gen Z, this is “Misery”…

This decade was full of great winners compared to the 00's!

Kathy Bates - Misery

Jodie Foster - Silence of the Lambs

Emma Thompson - Howards End

Angela Bassett or Madonna - What's Love Got to do With It?, or Dangerous Game

Linda Fiorentino - The Last Seduction

Kathy Bates - Dolores Clairborne

Diane Keaton - Marvin's Room

Judi Dench - Mrs. Brown

Holly Hunter - Living Out Loud

Hillary Swank - Boys Don't Cry

Dead Man Walking is such an Oscar bait movie, though, I don't think people aren't voting for Sarandon because of her political positions so much as 1990s Oscar bait just has not aged well.

I agree with a lot of those r27, especially Kathy Bates in Dolores Claiborne. Stellar performances all around, and Christopher Plummer for once doesn't walk off with the movie, no one would let him.

Frances McDormand for the win

Exceptional: Kathy Bates, Jodie Foster, Hillary Swank

Deserving but even more deserving for other roles: Emma Thompson, Jessica Lange, Frances McDormand, Holly Hunter

Good, but nowhere near as good as their fellow nominees: Gwyneth Paltrow, Susan Sarandon, Helen Hunt

Looking back at the year Susan Sarandon won, the nomination that I found very undeserving was Emma Thompson in S&S. Apart from being too old and looking too old to be Elinor Dashwood her performance consisted of just her usual bag of tricks, with Thompson playing a repressed Englishwoman.

I also thought Stone was average. Shue, Sarandon, and Streep were very good. I'd have taken out Thompson and nominated Nicole Kidman in "To Die For" instead.

It’s interesting that 1994 was considered the weakest year and 1995 one of the strongest.

[quote] Dead Man Walking is such an Oscar bait movie, though, I don't think people aren't voting for Sarandon because of her political positions so much as 1990s Oscar bait just has not aged well.

Miramax's sleazy campaigns backed with Disney's money made things worse and damn near killed the dream that was self-sustaining independent American filmmaking.

[quote]Looking back at the year Susan Sarandon won, the nomination that I found very undeserving was Emma Thompson in S&S. Apart from being too old and looking too old to be Elinor Dashwood her performance consisted of just her usual bag of tricks, with Thompson playing a repressed Englishwoman. I also thought Stone was average. Shue, Sarandon, and Streep were very good. I'd have taken out Thompson and nominated Nicole Kidman in "To Die For" instead.

I politely disagree with most of this.

Emma Thompson played Elinor to perfection. It was such a multi layered performance even if she did look too old. And Sharon Stone have the performance of a lifetime. An amazing role for anyone but she was fucking amazing. I've only seen the film twice but she was unforgettable. Elizabeth Shue was unforgettable as well and I've never actually seen Bridges of Madison County so can't comment on Meryl. Agree with you about Nicole Kidman though. She was sensational.

In the same year the BAFTAs only nominated 4 actresses. Emma Thompson won over Nicole Kidman, Elizabeth Shue and Helen Mirren, who was put into supporting at the Oscars. Jonathan Pryce had been nominated for Best Actor for Carrington, so that film would have swayed voters towards Thompson.

Just seeing this poll now. I thought Thompson would be in the lead. Kathy was great in Misery though and would’ve been a better nominee than Sharon Stone in 1995 for Dolores Claiborne. I’m picking Thompson. Bates, McDormand, Swank and Hunter round out my top 5.

Emma Thompson is so twee.

Howards End was perfection but The Remains Of The Day was even better. One of the best examples of ageing make up in movies.

5 years ago she looked exactly like Miss Kenton did in late 50s Weston Super Mare.

I agree with removing someone for Kidman. R33 weird, isn't it? Pity even one of those great 1995 performances wasn't released earlier to make the 1994 season.

1995 was a very strong year. Sarandon, Stone, Streep, Shue, and Thompson all gave solid and memorable performances. Any of them could have legitimately won.

I forgot that Winslet was up for BSA that same year and lost to Mira Sorvino. I remember Helen Mirren looking a bit pissed off after losing.

Mirren lost the previous year to Diane Wiest for "Bullets Over Broadway"

The Madness Of King George was one of the few films that got nominations at the Oscars and a year later at the BAFTAs when it was eventually released in the UK.

[quote]The Madness Of King George was one of the few films that got nominations at the Oscars and a year later at the BAFTAs when it was eventually released in the UK.

1993: Miranda Richardson nominated at BAFTAs for Tom & Viv

1994: Miranda Richards nominated at Oscars for Tom & Viv, Nigel Hawthorne & Helen Mirren nominated at Oscars for Madness Of King George

1995: Nigel Hawthorne wins Best Actor at BAFTAs, Helen Mirren nominated

1996: Romeo + Juliet nominated at Oscars

1997: Romeo + Juliet wins Best Director at BAFTA along with 3 others.

Helen Mirren should have won for Gosford Park in 2002 over head-scratcher Jennifer Connelly.

Then Judi Dench could have won in 2007 for playing DL icon Barbara Covett in Notes On A Scandal!

If I had to pick the top 10 performances out of the 50 nominees I'd go for the below

Kathy Bates - Misery Jodie Foster - The Silence Of The Lambs Emma Thompson - The Remains Of The Day Sharon Stone - Casino Brenda Blethyn - Secrets & Lies Judi Dench - Mrs Brown Fernanda Montenegro - Central Station Hillary Swank - Boys Don't Cry Annette Bening - American Beauty

It's a tough choice between Foster and Lange, but Lange got to show off more of her devastating emotional range in what is arguably her finest film performance.

R47 that isn't the only thing she got to show off!

Jessica Lange in Blue Sky, of course.

As Carly Marshall, Lange gets to flex every acting muscle the best thespians have and manages to imbue her character with a myriad shades and facets, making her equally seductive, compelling, maddening, repulsive, heartbreaking, and, ultimately, triumphant. Much like a person gripped by manic depression, Lange’s Carly is a kaleidoscope of drives and impulses, emotions and behaviors, and Lange brings her to life with a range, from exquisitely subtle to disturbingly volatile, that is breathtaking. In fact, with this performance alone, Lange has a moment to match each of the best moments of the performances on this list.

What she does here - perhaps my favorite of her turns - is nearly peerless. You would have to go back to the stars and thespians of a bygone era - a few of which she purposefully emulates in the film - like Monroe, Taylor, Bardot, Leigh, Stanley, Rowlands, and Burstyn to to get a performance as simultaneously sexy, vital, potent, beguiling, authentic, melodramatic, volatile, and succulent as Lange’s is in this film. It still astonishes me that she managed to go from the drab, dowdy, albeit genius, performances in Music Box and Men Don't Leave to this, something so iridescent and composed of total abandon.

The film itself is a successful nod and throwback to the female-driven pictures of the 30s-50s and, though it may not be anywhere near the best film on this list, it has stood the test of time and, in my opinion, has grown better and more relevant with age. As dark and dire as the subject matter can get, ultimately, it’s a feel-good, uplifting film.

Lange won the Oscar, the Globe, the Sant Jordi Award (Best Foreign Actress), and the LAFCA Award - equal in my estimation to her Oscar victory - for this performance. This is an extremely underrated performance in an underrated film, though, thanks to the efforts of distributors like Olive Films and BFI - both of which recently released Blu Ray editions, that latter’s being a special edition - not entirely forgotten.

Hillary Swank is my second pick. I rank her at #1 with Lange, actually.

Jussica Lange has long been forgotten by the public.

I knew the Lange Loon would take over this poll. She was #6 and then suddenly went to number one.

And how many times have you cut and pasted the same remarks. Do you really think she acted with her calf muscles?

Why, here I am just last year mentioning Jess again - she really is my favorite actress - as I tend to do every six months or so to the press. (I mention her practically everyday at home.)

Out of respect for the other actresses, the top 5 winners were

Kathy Bates, Jodie Foster, Hillary Swank, Frances McDormand and Emma Thompson.

Gee, somebody has been very busy clicking away at Jessica Lange over and over and over and over and over and over and over......

Foster is absolutely iconic as is the movie so I'd place her over Bates. As I grow older the Emma Thompson performance takes on more resonance. Number one in reality is Sarandon/Davis. Definition of legendary.

What the hell? Jessica Lange was nowhere near the lead, the poll has been hijacked!

I will have no option but to void these results as someone has clearly tried to throw what's meant to be a bit of fun for us all.

Cheers for that.

Is there a way to reset Lange's number to the 1.6% it was at before the deranged Lange loon hijacked the poll?

It's fascinating that the two most memorable performances of that decade, and in consecutive years too, were both in films that could be categorized as being in the horror genre. Horror is not a genre that gets a lot of love from Academy voters, so I love that Kathy Bates' and Jodie Foster's brilliant performances have left such an indelible impression on the popular culture.

Isn't Blue Sky the beginning of every other breathy, horny woman of a certain age performance by Lange?

R59 it also helps they were both really well written. Although Annie Wilkes isn't the most realistic, since she seems to suffer almost every major mental illness around

For Me: Best Performance of that Decade by a non-winning nominated actress:

Anjelica Huston for The Grifters.

What's that word? Sublime?? I watched it again recently. She was absolutely devastating.....

I would have voted for her over Kathy Bates in Misery. I love Bates, but I thought the movie really let her, (and us) down by the end, They turned a 3-dimensional complicated, plausible, emotionally-challenged woman into a one-dimensional villain; your standard movie psycho killing-machine.

And I fully agree with those who mentioned Dolores Claiborne: THAT she should have won for!

Lol Jessica Lange in Blue Sky!!

R58 Or maybe close this one, and start another one that doesn't include Lange because let's face it she is going to be in the bottom three.

Hilary Swank with Ms. Foster in second. The performance of the decade was from Brenda Blethyn and a few others not nominated. Also, I see the dork who trumpets Sharon Stone’s gaudy, histrionic hooker act in Casino has made his way into this thread once again. Jesus Christ and in the year Julianne performed in Safe.

01 Jodie Foster 02 Kathy Bates 03 Jessica Lange ...

04 Holly Hunter 05 Emma Thompson 06 Frances MacDormand 07 Hillary Swank ...

08 Gwyneth Paltrow 09 Susan Sarandon ...

10 Odo (ST:DS9)

And these should've won instead of

Emma Thompson (1992) = Catherine Deneuve (Indochine) Holly Hunter (1993) = Angela Bassett (What's Love Got to Do with It) Susan Sarandon (1995) = Elisabeth Shue (Leaving Las Vegas) Frances MacDormand (1996) = Emily Watson (Breaking the Waves) Odo (1997) = Judi Dench (Mrs Brown) Gwyneth Paltrow (1998) = Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth) Hillary Swank (1999) = Annette Bening (American Beauty)

Another nominated, non-winning performance that I loved: Emily Watson in "Breaking the Waves"

Not nominated but one of the top performances of the decade for me: Toni Collette in "Muriel's Wedding". That to me was much more worthy of a win than Paltrow in SIL, Hunt in AGAIG or Lange in BS.

R15 "Jodie’s performance is iconic."

True, but so are Davis/ Sarandon in Thelma& Louise and Bates in Misery. Probably the most parodied performances of the 1990s too (even more than Titanic).

WTF with Lange?

The Lange Loon is like the uninvited party guest who farts in every room and then steals your stuff.

Blue Sky is purely for the few Jessica fans still remaining on earth. The other ladies gave more iconic and remembered performances.

Lange is perfect in Blue Sky. FEW other actresses could pull off this role. But she won partly for performance, career Oscar for never winning lead in the 80s, and weak competition. I wonder how many voters actually saw BS?

Neither of Jessica's oscar wins were really deserved.

Tootsie was a compensation oscar for not getting best actress. She should have tied with Meryl that year. All of the other supporting nominees were superior.

Linda Fiorentino would have won Best Actress hands down for The Last Seduction had it not played on cable one time before going into theaters. (National Board of Review even made a special one time only Best Actress in a TV movie to give to her). Meanwhile, Blue Sky sat on the shelf for five years before getting a limited release. It's a prestigious made for TV type movie with a decent Lange led performance. Fortunately, her competition was mediocre that year.

It was a good decade for Sarandon and Thompson who did a lot w/o seeming have immense range. Foster and Swank shown in single roles but did a lot of forgettable stuff. Bates is really more of character, supporting actress so it was remarkable that she won for lead actress. Hunter is just generally annoying--I liked her most in that cheerleader film where her grating accent and mannerisms were exaggerated to good effect. The Piano is not a film you want to see over and over again and the allegory is pretty heavy handed. Hunt and Paltrow just reflected weak or odd fields---Hunt was up against a bunch of Brits, Paltrow had relatively obscure competition.

OP, when you do your compilation of the winners by decade, can you indicate that Kathy Bates was the winner? Otherwise the LL will take over that poll too and cheat to try and make Jessica in ‘Blue Sky” the best of the century.

LL is in need of some new fashions.

R72 Linda wouldn’t have won for LS. She doesn’t have the cache and star power of Lange. Plus her unlikeable, grifter character would not have gone over well with the voters, especially the older contingent. Linda deserved a nomination though if it wasn’t for the cable issue.

R74 absolutely, I have no intention of standing by this desecrated poll. Both Kathy and Jodie was way out in front. Shame on whoever spent so much time rigging the vote!

It will piss the delusional Lange Loon off that the crazy lush Jess will not be in the final round across all the decades. Poor Jess won't even make it if we had a similar poll for Supporting Actress winners. Lange would lose the 80s poll for BSA too.

Does anyone even remember the name of her character in Blue Sky? She was good if you are into the unusual genre of damaged and aging army wives in the 1960’s who dress like Marilyn Monroe and do exotic dances. If that film had been released in 1995, she wouldn’t even have been nominated.

Is it just me or is this one of the best decades for Best Actress wins?

Funny how some of the most iconic female performances in 1991 happened at studios that were going bankrupt. You thought MGM's recent sale to Amazon was a matter of concern? That's nothing compared to what Giancarlo Paretti did to them.

And the bankruptcy of Orion worked to the advantage of Jodie Foster and Jessica Lange so their performances did not cannibalize each other.

R79 Carly

Lange wasn't particularly great in any of her nominated performances apart from Frances. She was good as Cline but didn't really capture her. If she'd lost to a more deserving BSA nominee in 82 they might have let her win in lead for the farm movie in 84.

Certainly not that Swank thing.

Swank was terrific in Boys Don't Cry.

[quote]Does anyone even remember the name of her character in Blue Sky?

Exactly. Everyone knows Jodi’s Clarice, even people who didn’t see SOTL.

Carly Marshall. Didn't have to Google it. Also, the name of the character is insignificant to the brilliance of Lange's indelible performance. Read the reviews from 1994.

Lange only won 3 big awards for Blue Sky.

Two Oscars, three Emmys and a Tony. I think I’m doing fine bitches.

R88, Only??

Holy shit this poll is fucked up.

Lange is awful in Blue Sky. The movie was so bad it sat on the shelf for four years. When finally given a pity release, it made a $1.50 at the box office and hasn't been seen since.

R91, do some research. The reason is sat on the shelf for four years is because Orion went bankrupt. Lange is fantastic in the film. Read the reviews when the film was released in '94. Also, you're an idiot.

I think Lange is terrific, but she's in the middle of the pack from this list. Bates, Foster, Thompson, and McDormand are all better.

I think Bates was miscast. She's too on-the-nose in this role. She overplays. Someone like Angelica Huston would have really made the character pop.

I like Lange in all her nominated performances but Blue Sky is a terrible movie and a laughable performance, "Do I make you happy?' in an overgrown woman baby doll voice sounded pathetic.

R95, she was playing a woman who was obsessed with movie heroines like Monroe, so she spoke in a similar voice. It's a shame you don't have the capacity or intellect to understand the nuances of film acting. Lange's performance in Blue Sky was the best of its kind since Gene Rowlands in A Woman Under the Influence.

I tend to agree with Gene Siskel that Winona Ryder so winning as the best filmed Jo March to date should have won in 94 after Anna Paquin stole her Oscar the year before.

R97, Winona was never an awards-caliber actress. She was fun in Reality Bites and Edward Scissorhands and Heathers. She seemed out of her depth in all the dramas she made in the '90s. She was not the best Jo in Little Women.

Huh. R98 she was the frontrunner for Supporting Actress in 93 going into Oscar night and nearly got nominated for Mermaids and nominated for Little Women. She won critics award for some of those movies.

R99, the Academy has been known to build up attractive young ingenue types in hopes they'd develop into the next Streep, Lange, or Close. I like Winona, but even before her shoplifting scandal it was apparent that she didn't have the goods to sustain a substantial career. Autumn in New York anyone?

I never even heard of Blue Sky. It was a movie during the ‘90s??

I remember Holly Hunter being so so so hyped. To this day I refuse to see “the piano” for that reason

R101, that's on you. Google is your friend, bud.

For me Emma Thompson was the standout actress of the 90s.

Why can’t the Lange Loons let it go that she was not the best for the decade? Instead of recognizing other more iconic performances, they have to cheat and try to convince everyone that Jessica was “the best.” She was her usual in Blue Sky - the horny woman who is mentally damaged. It was a minor character and film, not some classic of cinema.

The1994 Little Women is far and away the best screen version of the book and I think it's Ryder's best performance.

Winona was lovely in “Age of Innocence.”

R107, Winona was lovely, she always was, but she wasn't quite up to the role. Seen today she doesn't seem to be in the same film as Daniel Day Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Mariam Margoyes.

I think she did an interesting job of playing someone who you sense knows exactly what is happening around her but pretending be to be too naive to notice making it more difficult for those who are trying not to deceive her to continue further than you they could easily go. May always seemed to be almost to Pollyanna to be true. Almost using it as a weapon.

R105 not the Lange loon here, but her performance was more than that. Jessica disappeared into that role, and was truly wonderful in it. I think she probably would’ve lost in a stronger year, but she was owed a lead one in the 80s, especially for Frances, and earned it well enough for Blue Sky. There have been worse best actress winners. Far worse.

R110. Amen. She deserved award for Frances and Sweet Dreams. She was 2nd for NYFC's best actress in 1985.

Anyhoo, back to reality. Congratulations to Kathy Bates.

Miss Lange was a garbage b-list actress then and a garbage b-list actress now. She isn't even a footnote.

If we are talking definitive for the 90’s, it’s Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs.

R113, you're an idiot, which you already know. Lange is one of the three or four greatest actors ever.

Geez, R91, you talk about it like it was [italic]Clifford[/italic] or something.

More votes for Kathy and Jodie!

For AHS? Wild Oats? The Politician? Feud? Hush? Oh my sides, thanks for the laughs.

[quote]The movie was so bad it sat on the shelf for four years

Wrong. "Blue Sky" sat in a bank vault for 3 years because Orion Pictures filed for Chapter 11 and couldn't release its films until after the bankruptcy was discharged. It was the last movie directed by Tony Richardson, who died nearly three years before the film's release.

"Love Field" with Michelle Pfeiffer was another Orion film delayed because of the bankruptcy.

By the best three or four did you mean Jessica, Donna Mills, Lynda Carter and Linda Evans?

Lange's performance in "Frances" was very powerful.

Wow. The Lange-hating retard’s mania is in full swing, I see. The poor, sad little contorted creature spends so much time trying to convince others to hate Lange the way he does I wonder what else he has time for. It’s like he’s actually trying to block the sun from everyone’s view with one finger.

Are you still screaming “Put the lotion in the basket!” at that desecrated and defecated on “Frances” poster in your basement, Matt?

Good. Seethe.

Linda Fiorentino for The Last Seduction, who was great, should have been nominated. However, speaking frankly, neither the film nor her performance have aged well. Both are very “chic and understated” in that predictable and common 90s way. After closer inspection, the only thing of note she does is wear black and slap her hands against the roof of a car. Lange was much better in this type of role in AHS: Coven - granted, she was given more to work with - and infinitely beyond Fiorentino’s respectable but limited capabilities in Blue Sky.

Really, the only actresses that touch Lange on this list are Swank and Sarandon, who both give passionate and riveting performances. I absolutely LOVE Kathy and her performance, but I don’t think she did anything worthy of an Oscar; certainly nothing she hasn’t done better in other films. She should’ve won for Primary Colors .

Everyone else is good but also UNDERSTATED in capital letters in that oh so self-important way thespians are when they’re pining for an Oscar.

Incidentally, I was recently on Twitter and kept coming across positive Blue Sky mentions by people born after its release. It warms my cold, black little heart to see younger fans rediscovering Lange’s work.

^ Lange Loon

[quote]Incidentally, I was recently on Twitter and kept coming across positive Blue Sky mentions by people born after its release.

This never happened.

R109 Yeah but it’s the script that fills out the character, not the performance.

Lol what is the Jessica Lange obsession?

LOL. Now the LL has to put down Kathy Bates to justify its cheating for Jessica. Are you also a ballot counting manager for the Arizona fraudit? Thanks for the laughs.

R122: Clearly a medication adjustment is in order. I think they objected to the suggestion that a new strait jacket might be advisable.

R123 Kathy won at SAG for PC so she did have some momentum. However her character was a let down when she offs herself later in the film. Dumb move with the writing. Redgrave should’ve really won in 1998 even winner Judi Dench said herself. Bates was the perfect choice for Misery. To balance that line of dark comedy and terrifying scenes is no easy feat.

R125 You’re right, Matt. It “never happened.”

She’s of the older generation, but her opinion still counts goddammit!

It never happened = Watch me continue to try and block the sun from view with my finger like the retard that I am.

The younger fans are too cute.

This never happened.

This one has a PhD, Matt.

This fan is quite the hunk. Rugged and sexy and apparently family, too.

It didn’t happen.

Aww, the adoration is too cute!

Now go sit your ass down somewhere. And not another peep from you, either.

Is that really her best work or just a make-up Oscar because they didn't want to give her anything for what was for all intents and purposes a Disney movie?

The Lange Loon and JanBot must be the same person.

So she plays a mentally ill, unfulfilled wife (not the first time, I'm sure she "emotes for the ages") and the plot seems really stupid but with a "happy ending". What could be wrong with this? It bombed at the box office.

The moment she clinched the future Oscar. The audience loved her win with sustained applause and cheers. Not the Lange loon here, but a nice moment for Jessica all the same.

Again, who is arguing that Jessica was the best of the decade? Four people on Twitter with their random tweets? Plus Janbot repeatedly voting in a Datalounge poll to skew the results? Thank God the poll owner won’t move Jessica forward as the winner.

Are any of the Lange fans disappointed she didn't get a nomination for Cape Fear when Robert de Niro and Juliette Lewis were?

1994 was an odd year.

Jodie Foster and Jessica Lange were the only constants.

Oscars went with Miranda, Winona and Susan

Screen Actors Guild went with Susan, Meg Ryan and Meryl

Golden Globes went with Miranda, Meryl and Jennifer Jason Leigh

[quote]Are any of the Lange fans disappointed she didn't get a nomination for Cape Fear when Robert de Niro and Juliette Lewis were?

There was no way she was getting in for Best Actress that year. Too tight and good a lineup.

In terms of snubs, she needed to get behind Barbra Streisand, Anjelica Huston, Ellen Barkin and Kathy Bates.

Kathy Bates winning with Jodie 5% behind.

R149 I think the poster meant best supporting actress. I think Lewis got in for the disturbing thumb sucking scene. I find Lange more memorable in CF 30 years later.

r143, I've been saying this for months. I even mentioned it in one of Janbot's threads. Of course, Janbot denied it.

R145 I loved that.

Janbot, that loathsome creature, actually hates Jessica Lange. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s Matt, who also despises Lange. Their lunacy knows no bounds.

Good to see Ms. Lange is winning this poll.

Some of you like to bash Jessica Lange, but she is obviously respected and well-liked by her peers.

McDormand. Her performance required the most layers. No major tear jerker or freak out scene and yet still managed to captivate the entire time.

Second place goes to Kathy for a role that so easily could have devolved into camp. That fact she was able to make that role work shows her major talent.

Did the Academy have something against Kristin Scott Thomas? I was shocked McDormand won, I mean gobsmacked.

I can see why Kristin Scott Thomas didn't win for The English Patient (she's almost more of a supporting performance than Binoche), but I think she's the best out of that category. She also deserved nominations for Four Weddings and a Funeral, Gosford Park and I've Loved You So Long.

Then again, even though I adore other Coen brothers movies, I've never understood the love for Fargo, which always struck me as needlessly mean-spirited and ugly.

KST was up against formidable competition that year.

Brenda Blethyn ("Secrets and Lies")

Diane Keaton ("Marvin's Room")

Frances McDormand ("Fargo")

Kristin Scott Thomas ("The English Patient")

Emily Watson ("Breaking The Waves")

I personally thought Watson and Blethyn delivered the best performances that year and would have voted for Watson. For me Keaton was the weakest nominee of the five and I didn't like anything about "Marvin's Room".

It's ludicrous that some people expected Madonna ("Evita") or, worse still, Babs Streisand ("The Mirror Has Two Ugly Faces") to get a nomination that year against that competition!

According to screentimecentral.com, here are the minutes and percentage of screen time for the two nominated and one winning performances in The English Patient:

Ralph Fiennes (Best Actor) - 1:22:17 / 50.92%

Kristin Scott Thomas (Best Actress) - 47:38 / 29.48%

Juliette Binoche (Best Supporting Actress) - 42:04 / 26.03%

Kathy Bates has already been declared the winner because of cheating. It’s all over but the crying.

We need to do an audit of the votes.

R158 Blethyn and McDormand were always the front runners in 1996. The only way Scott Thomas would’ve won would be riding in on the TEP wave, considering it won 9 Oscars but Binoche carried the acting Oscar for the group. Nobody heard of Blethyn, but McDormand has always had that hip factor that voters can feel cool voting for.

Helen Hunt’s Oscar win is a real American tragedy.

Holly Hunter should’ve won for Broadcast News by that nomination was in the 80’s, right?

r166: 1988 - Hunter lost to Cher in Moonstruck.

Give Cher's Oscar to Holly Hunter and then give Hunter's Oscar (for "The Piano") to either Debra Winger ("Shadowlands") or Angela Bassett ("What's Love Got To Do With It?")

[quote]It's ludicrous that some people expected Madonna ("Evita") or, worse still, Babs Streisand ("The Mirror Has Two Ugly Faces") to get a nomination that year against that competition!

Madonna won the Golden Globe and was nominated for other major movie awards.

Debra did nothing special to merit a win for Shadowlands, she was seriously lucky to be nominated.

Madonna won the Globe in the Musical or Comedy category and didn't get a SAG or BAFTA nomination either. Which major movie awards was she up for?

None of her fellow nominees in the Musical or Comedy category was nominated for the Oscar either.

Madge defeated Frances McDormand (Fargo) that year. Frances, as we know, went on to win the Oscar. Also interesting that year was the fact that Courtney Love was up against Meryl, as well as KST, Brenda Blethyn, and Emily Watson.

Madonna was only nominated for the Golden Globes and no other major awards. And it was because they have a musical or comedy category.

I saw Breaking The Waves when it came out and it was a horrible film. I can't remember if Emily Watson was any good in it. Horrible film.

Other contenders for a top 5 spot were Gena Rowlands for Unhook The Stars, Meryl for Marvin's Room, Nicole Kidman for Portrait Of A Lady, Winona Ryder for The Crucible, Debbie Reynolds for Mother, Courtney Love for Larry Flint, Michelle Pfieffer for Up Close And Personal, Goldie Hawn for The First Wives Club and Gwyneth Paltrow for Emma.

[quote]Madonna was only nominated for the Golden Globes and no other major awards. And it was because they have a musical or comedy category.

MTV Movie Awards - Best Female Performance (Nominated)

Blockbuster Entertainment Awards - Favorite Actress - Drama (Nominated)

R175 is that meant to satire? Those are in no way, shape or form major awards. They would even fall behind the Kansas City Film Critics Association awards.

It's tough to say precisely how close Madonna was to an Oscar nomination because the awards season industrial complex hadn't really cemented itself. The SAG Awards were only a few years old, the Critics Choice awards were a minor thing, and the BAFTAs came after the Oscars and didn't follow the same timetable.

Pundits who followed that race thought she had a decent shot, because the two slots that eventually went to Watson and Keaton were very much up in the air. Madonna was never considered a lock, but a nomination for Evita was always a possibility.

Shadowlands was a small film and Winger played against type---total Oscar bait.

There were a few who thought Miss Ciccone was a strong contender, hence the EW magazine cover. But, alas, it wasn't mean to be, the poor darlin'.

Madonna could have been nominated. Diane Keaton definitely didn’t need a nomination that year.

There were better alternative to Madonna in 96. Her hated rival Courtney Love among them. But they were never gonna over come a real beloved actor like Dian Keaton

The Lange Loon is out of her mind again.. I much prefer the Viola troll.

R182, Viola was still suffering immensely and taking the bus from Rhode Island to Juilliard every morning in the 90s.

Secrets & Lies is one of the worst, most boring movies ever made.

Fargo, Silence of the Lambs, Misery and Casino are the only films mentioned still in the pop culture eye. Casino and Sharon’s performance have aged the best, she should have won.

Helen Hunt’s performance is vastly underrated. No one else could have played the role better.

My order of the winners:

1. Swank

2. Sarandon

3. Foster

4. Hunter

5. Thompson (hate the fucking self important bitch though but I can't deny her performance is brilliant)

6. McDormand (supporting)

7. Lange

8. Bates

9. Hunt

10. Paltrow

To be fair no real embarrassments with these winners. Hunter & Paltrow are deserving but they are good with what they have to do.

[quote]Secrets & Lies is one of the worst, most boring movies ever made.

It’s not more boring than The English Patient.

Elaine Benes was right, the English Patient was interminable and dull.

The English Patient is one of my favorite films. I saw it 3 times at the cinema.

Sharon was great looking in Casino except the scenes where she had to act.

Sharon was phenomenal in Casino. Nobody else could do psychotic, manipulative, yet sympathetic uber-bitch as well as her.

The Mirror Has Two Faces is a much better movie than that shit The English Patient.

Lauren Bacall was robbed of the oscar that year because of personal differences.

And Streisand could have easily been nominated for Best Director and Best Actress.

I lost track of the number of people who were sobbing in the theater during Bacall's scene where she's telling Streisand what it was like being beautiful.

It's a wonderful, uplifting piece of moviemaking.

R193, what is Jewish for "Mary!"?

Mary was Jewish, so you could probably just use "Mary!"

R193 = Jason Gould, worried about Babs referring to Josh Brolin as her son, and trying to remind his mom that he expects to be the sole beneficiary in her will.

Which year would Jodie Foster have been on contention for Sommersby? Would it have been Holly Hunter Piano year?

The "for your consideration" clip was clearly the courtroom scene "Because I never loved him the way I love you".

And who do you think was more pissed when Julie Christie got nommed for Afterglow - Jodie for missing out on Contact or Jessica for A Thousand Acres?

Pam Grier was probably the only person with a reasonable shot at a nomination that year. It wasn't Jodie, and definitely wasn't Jessica.

Lange didn't have a shot at a nomination at all. She got that filler Globe nomination out of reputation alone, but was never a serious contender for a movie that received such awful reviews.

R186 isn’t winning the Oscar the exact opposite of underrated?

R193 Babs Streisand

R194: Myriam is the Hebrew for Mary; it sounds a little elder gay---like someone's grandmother, but then a lot of these old lady names eventually comeback (think Hanna, Grace, but of course, not Gertrude, Enid or Bertha)

Enid and Bertha are punishment names for annoying babies.

Bertha immediately makes me think of the insane Mrs Rochester.

By Performance: 1. Hunter 2. Foster 3. Thompson 4. Bates 5. Lange 6. McDormand 7. Sarandon 8. Swank 9. Paltrow 10. Hunt

Best Film 1. The Silence of the Lambs 2. Fargo 3. Howards End 4. Dead Man Walking 5. The Piano 6. Misery 7. Blue Sky 8. Boys Don't Cry 9. Shakespeare in Love 10. As Good As It Gets

I can't fault the actress winners in my top half. For 1999, Annette Bening should have won. For 1996, I wouldn't have minded Blethyn, Watson, or even Thomas winning, but I still like McDormand's win (Blethyn would have been my pick). For 1998, it probably should have been Montenegro, but I've never seen Central Station. For 1997, I don't care.

Holly Hunter was supposed to be in As Good As It Gets, but they wouldn't pay her what she thought she deserved. At one time, Julia Roberts and Winona Ryder were both attached to Shakespeare in Love. When Boys Don't Cry went into the production, it beat a competing project that was supposed to be a vehicle for Drew Barrymore from her production company directed by Diane Keaton. Blue Sky sat on the bankrupt Orion's shelf for years, before it was dusted off and thrown into awards season 1994. Sigourney Weaver's agent was to blame for her possibly not getting Ada in The Piano. Michelle Pfeiffer turned down another chance to work with Jonathan Demme because she thought in Silence, "evil won out in the end." Sister Helen Prejean went on Oprah with Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon to promote Dead Man Walking. Her jovial personality is nothing like Sarandon portrayed her as in the movie. Howards End was a huge arthouse hit and was in the cinema for most of 1992.

Two of the winners were directed by their partners at the time!

R204, your mention of Sigourney Weaver reminded me of another great performance that wasn't nominated.

Sigourney Weaver in "The Ice Storm"

I actually think Weaver would have nailed it as Ada. She has the expressive, yet stoic presence that would have worked for her with the signing and facial expressions. Yet, Hunter's short, petite body makes it difficult to imagine the tall, statuesque Weaver. But, I have no doubt she could have played the role. I do find her wooden and limited though, at times. Yet, when she has the right role, she knocks it out of the park.

She was so great in Working Girl. It's too bad she didn't win. She would have deserved it. I would have supported a win for her in Aliens as well (Or Kathleen Turner in Peggy Sue).

I can see her staging a comeback. Being part of the Alien, Ghostbusters, and Avatar franchises keeps her in pop culture consciousness for multiple generations. She just needs the right director and a larger-than-life role that plays to her strengths.

Siggy is starring in The Good House, a great role of an alcoholic character similar to Barbara Covett from Notes On A Scandal.

Sean Young was supposedly offered the part of Ada as well.

[quote]Sean Young was supposedly offered the part of Ada as well.

R208, I'm not sure I believe that. By 1989, she was blackballed from the A-list. Warren Beatty suddenly dropped her from Dick Tracy, and Woods and his partner filed that lawsuit against her (after, I'm sure, starting rumours). By 1991, she was playing in a homemade Catwoman costume on Joan Rivers. By 1992, she was getting Razzie nominations.

The Piano would have filmed in 1992.

Perhaps Campion considered her, but she would have never got the funding, I imagine.

Kathy Bates was great

Worst nominees of the 90s

1. Meryl (Music of the Heart)

2. Julia (Pretty Woman)

3. Bette (For the Boys)

4. Meryl (One True Thing)

5. Diane (Marvin's Room)

6. Jodie (Nell)

7. Jessica (Blue Sky)

8. Susan (Lorenzo's Oil)

9. Gwyneth (Shakespeare in Love)

10. Annette (American Beauty)

I noticed that Cate Blanchett was nominated in 1998 and again in 2007 for playing Elizabeth I. Has this happened any other time where the same actress has been nominated twice for playing the same character?

r212 No. Different actresses have been nominated for portraying same role multiple times. But Cate's the only one who got nominated multiple times for portraying the same role. Even Wikipedia mentions that.

[...]

R212, the only other time, I think, was in the Best ACTOR category, when Peter O'Toole was nominated for playing Henry II in "Becket" (1964) and "The Lion in Winter" (1968).

There have been several instances when actors received multiple nominations for the same character in different movies: Bing Crosby for Going My Way and its sequel, The Bells of St. Mary's, Al Pacino for the first two Godfather movies, and Sylvester Stallone for the original Rocky and Creed.

How about different actors/actresses nominated for playing the same character?

Diana Ross/Andra Day.

Anyone else?

There have been three people nominated for playing Henry VIII in different movies (Charles Laughton, Robert Shaw, Richard Burton), and two people for the same role in different movies (Henry V, Jo March, Richard Nixon, possibly a few others I don't remember off the top of my head). A pair of roles earned two different actors Oscars: Vito Corleone and The Joker.

Kate Winslet was nominated twice playing the young version of a character while the actress playing the older one also got nominated (Titanic with Gloria Stuart, Iris with Judi Dench).

Judi Dench won Best Supporting for playing Elizabeth I. Cate Blanchett nominated as Best Actress twice for playing her.

There is nothing wrong with the Julia Roberts nomination,. Gene Siskel "There's a lot of pretty faces in Hollywood that is not something there's a shortage of. But this woman lit up the screen in the most remarkable way. We really saw the birth of major star here. I thought she would get the nomination. And she absolutely does deserve it.

Hillary Swank was great in BDC

R220, Sure, Jan

In my mind the only contenders were Kathy and Jodie. I gotta go with Jodie because Silence of the Lambs scared the shit outta me and Jodie made me care so much about that damn character.

Jodie and Swank.

How is Lange winning this? Shes fine in it but she is definitely "acting".

LL has OCD. You can’t put Jessica in any DL poll and expect an accurate result.

Jessica Lange is a shitty actress and particularly shitastic in Blue Sky. It took them 2 years to find a distributor for that piece of crap.

R225 some person rigged the poll by voting a load of times for Jessica

R227, See R119.

The history of such a minor release doesn't matter much at all R229. Blue Sky is a pretty fucking terrible film. Jessica Lange's it up. She's better than that movie is my point. I feel bad that she won for that shite film than nobody saw or remembers. Why would they? I rate Jessica Lunge as number 10 on OP's list. On her best day she deserved only one Oscar. So it doesn't really matter. Tootsie it is.

You queens are just begging to set off the Lange Loon.

Fuck that nutty bitch with all its sock puppet accounts. He F&Fs all his dissenters while upvoting his most simple statements 8 times within minutes of posting them! Gives you an idea of how many active accounts it has. Takes a village to keep Jessica Lange at the top of any list. His posts will eventually have 20 or 30 W&Ws in the next few days. This IS the old bitches full time job. Being crazy on the internet is hard work. Tells you how many accounts that LOON is permitted on DataLounge, each and every day R231.

Fuck it with a whispery Jessica Lange HOWL.

Jessica can’t hold a candle to this goddess

Jessica Lange for the win. I attended an advance screening of the film in L.A. with a guy who worked in the industry. When the film ended, he exclaimed, "Ohm y God, do you know what we just saw? It's probably the best performance since Gena Rowlands in A Woman Under the Influence." I wasn't the least bit surprised when the acclaim began and gained momentum that carried Lange to wins at the Gloves and Oscars. It's a performance for the ages. Peter Rainer, one of the great film writers, wrote in the LA Times that screenwriters should be writing screenplays for Lange. She was that sensational.

^ Not the loon, no. Not at all.

You have never attended an advanced screening to anything but an HIV test R234.

R234 His review was exquisite. I’ll post it below.

The Lange hating retard has been having a fit in this thread. Block it and see for yourself. It burns him that Lange won for this because neither he nor his face could ever be so simultaneously succulent and enthralling.

You have to be more than a little mentally ill to hate on Jessica Lange, lol.

neither he nor his *fave, though face works just as well, lol!

Exquisite Perfection. STAH POWAH.

:chef’s kiss:

Let’s set off the Lange-hating retard by posting some clips of Meryl fawning over Lange.

Speed it up to 4 minutes, toots:

“Divine.” Truly.

You know Meryl was furiously rubbing her clit and in awe while watch her screener for Blue Sky. Probably one of her most cherished votes ☝🏼

M never misses an opportunity to bring up J. It simply [italic]bathes[/italic] me in joy and euphoria.

Always remember, Meryl only bows this far for ONE Queen, bitch. And it ain’t you or your fave.

Jessica Lange has gotten more clicks here than who are aware of or have actually seen "Blue Sky". Not exactly a hit film, though granted she was excellent in it.

Meryl is a better actress than Jessica, but they are both inferior and affected compared to their peers. Lange was kind of pretty when she was young - but she whored it away. At least Meryl made some watchable films before she became so mannered and ridiculous. Naturally she would compliment Lange. Together they have fooled so many in different ways. Collecting awards for the same old tics and toks.

Poor Jessica Lange. She was enigmatic. For 15 years, she's looked like a beat up old drunk with a lot of plastic surgery. She's a bit of a freak. More like Baby Jane than Joan Crawford.

R244 “She’s a bit of a freak.” You must be used to hearing that one, huh, dear?

In either case, none of the other girls top Streep or Lange, who can enthrall in and elevate the shittiest films. Most of the others have to star in films that do most of the heavy lifting. There are exceptions, of course, but not many.

Lange and Streep: The Dionysian and Apollonian Goddesses of Acting.

Lange is a sacred ruin.

She looks like some great, great, grandmother in a bad wig. She does have nice eyes. Like most 90 year olds. She holds secrets.

[quote] She holds secrets.

Okay, bitch, this got me 😂 Fuck you for making fun of her, though. She one of the few actresses that does NOT deserve it, you nasty little gash.

Is she only 90 years old? Because she looks ancient. Getting cute. Driving Miss Crazy. Sacredly divine & ruined of course. Or just like a very old lady. Do beautiful women remember being beautiful? I think so. Time to take up falconry Jess.

The creator of the poll already wrote that Lange is disqualified and Kathy Bates, who was winning the poll comfortably before the Lange loon went crazy with menopausal rage and voted 50 times, will be declared the winner.

In fact, just to piss off the Lange loon troll, Foster should also be given an honorary entry in the final voting because she could have caught up with Bates if the crazy LL bitch hadn't shown up like a rude, tacky, cheap, uninvited guest at a party who then proceeds to shit in the pool, drink all the alcohol, have sex with the host's pet dog and even steal the host's belongings. In other words the kind of stuff you can imagine the narcissistic lush Lange herself doing.

I must have the OP on ignore, because I can't see the results. But, from comments that "she's winning the poll," make me laugh.

I guess because she's in semi-retirement, LFF has nothing else to do, but repeatedly click her name in the list.

:Yawn: Fuck the op. As with the Oscar, Lange has won this poll.

Next!

Bates and Foster would be very close. Lange is out of her depth. A lot of gays love Ryan Murphy and thus love his muse by extension (Lange). Sure, she's good for a freak show, but she's way too far over the top for serious drama.

Although Jessica is a good actress, the LL takes everything with her to an obscene level of dementia. It’s ironic since Jessica seems to love playing women with mental illness, including women locked up in asylums for the mentally insane. Perhaps LL is drawn to her because of its own mental health issues. Jessica has her very own Annie Wilkes. Also ironic, since Kathy Bates won the poll.

[quote]Lange is a sacred ruin.

No, she’s just a ruin.

R192 She isn’t sympathetic. She’s not a good actress. Period.

Hilary Swank was the best ever, frankly.

I'm still upset Jennifer Jason Leigh hasn't gotten an Oscar. She was brilliant in Georgia. Maybe it's because she's not scared of playing unlikable characters and deviants. Oscar voters are so stuffy when it comes to stuff like that.

R258 It's funny you say that. I think JJL best work was when she played unlikable characters.

Jason Leigh should have won for Last Exit To Brooklyn

Quentin Tarantino has also been very complementary toward Lange.

I thought Thompson's age in Sense & Sensibility added a poignancy to her character and gave Elinor more layers than in the original novel. I usually hate it when actors play parts that they're too old for (*cough*Babs in Nuts*cough*), but in that case it worked.

Jesus Fucking Christ, most of us can appreciate Jessica Lange. She was unusually lovely, sensual and confrontationally sexual and full of surprise for a while. And she was a hoot as Baby Jane Hudson for about 5 years in the Ryan Murphy Programs. But she doesn't win any best actress POLLS on this or any other Academy Award List.

Breathy and howling or crying and sashaying away. Wipe the water from some brown eyes. Miss Lange was enjoyable. But she's can't win a decade. Nope.

R263, read the 1994 reviews of her performance in Blue Sky. It was called a performance for the ages.

Is there more than one Lange Loon?

R263 <============================ What he said.

What was her last film? Wild Oats? It filmed seven years ago. What would she do without Ryan Murphy?

I actually like her and think she's incredible, but the Lange loon has ruined her for me.

[quote]Is there more than one Lange Loon?

God help us if there is. One of them is a drug-addled psycho who makes up shit about other people and believes his own paranoid delusions.

He was funny and charming at first. But, deep down, he's just crazy (and nasty).

*I meant Swank is ONE of the best ever winners, not THE best.

Didn't Swank show her fanny and tits in Boys Don't Cry? Was she the first actress to do so in their winning performance?

You can always spot the Lange-hating retard in its various guises even when it is seemingly complimenting Lange in a feeble attempt to be stealth. It inevitably follows up its “compliment” by dragging Lange and always reduces her fans and admirers, of which there are many, as has been evidenced repeatedly, including in this thread, to just one “loon.” It truly cannot help revealing itself. Its mental illness knows no bounds.

Thankfully, those of us who admire and revere Lange have no compunctions about expressing our love for her [italic]and[/italic] reducing the retarded hater to the slithering pile of messy id that it truly is.

^ sick fuck poster, himself.

I’m talking specifically about the Hispanic piano-playing sex-obsessed gym rat freak who used to crash AW. If there are more of you crazies, so be it.

^ Look Norman - there's Another LOON!! ^

Nasty piece of work, Cinesnatch is.

I want the Viola troll back I can't tale anymore Lange Loon

take*

The best performances all time on here are supposedly goop in talented mr riply, Judi dench notes on scandal, Sharon Stone casino, Lange in blue sky…

Lange’s “one fan” is at it again!

If Lange came out as trans and announces that she will now be Jesse Lange her "Blue Sky" win can be revoked. "He" can then fight with Tom Hanks and his vomit-inducing performance in Fuckfest Gump to see which of them deserved the Best (Ham) Actor in a Leading Role that year.

That year was a particularly awful group of winners: Hanks, Lange, Fuckfest Gump, Zemeckis. Even the supporting winners Landau and Wiest were OK rather than memorable.

Landau was having a late career comeback--pure Oscar bait.

Wiest had had a solid career in supporting parts--it was probably a cumulative win.

[quote]If Lange came out as trans and announces that she will now be Jesse Lange her "Blue Sky" win can be revoked. "He" can then fight with Tom Hanks and his vomit-inducing performance in Fuckfest Gump to see which of them deserved the Best (Ham) Actor in a Leading Role that year.

The best role for a woman that year was Bernadette in Priscilla.

Give Terence Stamp Jessica's second Oscar.

Landau and Wiest were both memorable.

Big Di Wiest won all the awards for Bullets

How the hell did Sarandon get a BAFTA for "The Client"? I know that movies often got released at very different times in the UK back then, so the list of nominees didn't always match the Oscars, but Sarandon for [italic] that [/italic] role? Was it their way of making it up to her for not giving her a win for "Thelma and Louise"?

[quote] The best role for a woman that year was Bernadette in Priscilla. Give Terence Stamp Jessica's second Oscar.

Yep, Lange didn't deserve either of her Oscars. Close or Garr deserved the BSA win the year Lange was honored for her window dressing role as a mannequin in "Tootsie". And "Blue Sky" was just an awful movie with an awful performance that belonged on Wifetime: Television for Frauen.

Who is Jessica Lange? I've never heard of her.

I know there are clips with me mentioning her on this thread but I was just reading from a script somebody gave me.

[quote]How the hell did Sarandon get a BAFTA for "The Client"? I know that movies often got released at very different times in the UK back then, so the list of nominees didn't always match the Oscars, but Sarandon for that role? Was it their way of making it up to her for not giving her a win for "Thelma and Louise"?

She was nominated alongside Uma Thurman for Pulp Fiction, Linda Fiorentino for The Last Seduction and Irene Jacob for Three Colours Red. Little Women was nominated for best costume so Winona was eligible. Looking at the other films nominated the majority were dominated by male performances.

Miranda Richardson would have won for Tom & Viv had BAFTA not rushed her into the previous year's category, and Helen Mirren would have won for The Madness Of King George if they'd not delayed the nominations until the previous year.

1994 is infamous for being the shitiest year in this category for that last 50+ years.

I perhaps would choose 1984 and 2005 over it. Maybe even 2011.

84, 94, 05, 09, weak years

[Quote]How the hell did Sarandon get a BAFTA for "The Client"?

R283 "The Client" had an excellent script (based on one of Grisham's better books) and the child actor was AMAZINGLY talented. All of that helped.

Plus it was long before Sarandon became a loony insufferable bitch!

BAFTA were always out of sync with Oscars

Sarandon is a very competent and occasionally fine actress. She completely deserved the Oscar for Thelma and Louise and Dead Man Walking. Because she's sexy and doesn't do accents, people tend to overlook what going on behind her eyes. She's gifted and experimental. Has a beautiful speaking voice and moves beautifully too.

Roger Ebert said of Dead Man Walking that Sarandon was the first people in cinema history to play a spiritual person and give a spiritual performance. (something live that) Sarandon's work in that film is not like the real Sister PreJean - who is rather one dimensional in real life.

Sarandon and Sean Penn and the supporting players all do excellent work in DMW. It's just the kind of film that's no longer considered valuable. Blame it on Dateline NBC and Netflix.