Leading Actress 1967

A group of huge names in some films that are considered classics has me excited that this could also be a pretty great group of actresses and performances. It's all I'm ever hoping for out of the actress categories since they seem to let me down more than the actors. So let's find out shall we?

1967 Best Actress

Katherine Hepburn - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner

Honestly, I can't believe she won for this performance. This feels like the Academy wanting to reward her again after so many years since her first Oscar. This film was a landmark film that changed Hollywood and brought interracial marriage to the forefront just as it was legalized in America. Very timely stuff. Hepburn plays the mother of the white girl who brings her black fiancee home and his parents also join in the dinner party. Basically what I got from this performance was that Hepburn is good at reacting and looking. Sure, she talks a bunch but a lot of the key moments are her reactions to being told her daughter is marrying a black man or her husband being told the same. I don't feel there is a ton of acting being done by Hepburn in this film. I am also distracted by her constantly watery, shiny eyes that make her look like she is always on the verge of tears or actually crying. It's hella distracting and you wonder why no one spoke up about how bad it looked. But even then, she just has this sort of statesman kinda vibe to her as she moves through the scenes. She's a great actress and has history with Spencer Tracy, but she doesn't offer up anything truly interesting in her performance. She is motherly and concerned and offended and welcoming and shocked. All things any other actress could pull off with ease. This feels like a win based on her stature and standing in the community and maybe about the issues as well. Just not a good win considering she would win the following year for a really great performance that actually made her look years younger than this one did.

Anne Bancroft - The Graduate

Yes, Mrs. Robinson was trying to seduce you. What's weird is that this is considered a leading performance. Bancroft is really only in about half of it, maybe less. She does have an important factor on the outcome but still, she plays second fiddle after less than an hour. Yes, Bancroft seduces Hoffman and the way she does so is so flipping hot. She denies it at every step and comes up with a convincing reason as to why she wants Hoffman to unzip her dress. As the audience, you are also questioning whether or not she is seducing him. She plays that sexy but demure character so well and it's weird to think of Bancroft acting this way because I know her as Mel Brooks' wife. It just feels weird to see her in that way, though she was a multi Tony and Emmy award winning woman. She could play whatever she wanted. The thing is about this performance is that we don't get any reasoning as to why she cheats on her husband with a younger man. We also don't really get to see that fury and anger of Hoffman dating and eventually boning her daughter that I feel we should. There are some scenes where it's brought up but it never feels pressing or important. So it's really weird to see this guy just bang both mother and daughter without much push back. Bancroft was a previous winner so maybe that was why she was nominated in Best Actress. It has certainly become an iconic portrayal, but we classify it as such based on a couple scenes. Bancroft is great throughout the film with what she is given to do, but I don't feel her arc is rational for any woman. It's interesting and iconic, no doubt, but I don't see it as leading.  That's my big issue. But anyway, Bancroft is pretty good and the film is a classic for a reason.

Faye Dunaway - Bonnie and Clyde

I feel like this is the performance that everyone knows Dunaway for, though I think her work in Network and Chinatown is brilliant and her work in this film lead up to her Oscar win later. To state the obvious, Dunaway plays Bonnie, the young and beautiful bank robber. We rob banks! An iconic, yet simple line that shows the enthusiasm of this young girl getting out of her meager existence in a small town. Bonnie was captivated by Clyde and egged on his criminality and helped escalate it to more than just robbing small banks. The film never shows the two stars be intimate except to show that Clyde wanted to but was impotent in that moment. This took out the sex but left the emotional relationship as complex and Dunaway showed that in her face and manner with Beatty. There is this yearning and intensity to the performance as we see in a scene where she takes him to the bedroom and he wants to get back to the others. These emotional depths and undertones aren't really explored much in the film. They are left to simmer just under the surface as the action is more important than the relationships and emotions. Dunaway is great at having this sort of quiet sadness along with being wild and ready to cause mayhem and rob banks. There is a scene where Bonnie visits her family and she clearly misses her family, yet her mother is cold because she's a criminal and doesn't want her near her. Dunaway shows how devastated she is by this revelation without giving in to histrionics. It shocks her and she realizes there will be no happy ending. I like that Dunaway is way more than just a pretty face. Her performance has to tread through many different emotions without really getting to explode except for when she demands to see her mom and family. The balance is key for Dunaway to succeed because it elevates her above just being Beatty's arm candy. She stands out on her own and we see just how fierce and delicate she can be as an actress and it's totally engrossing. We see those strong performances to come in this one and it has become an iconic performance for a reason. I'd even say she's better than Beatty and it's great to see a performance like this opposite of him.

Edith Evans - The Whisperers

This was Edith Evans' third nomination in five years at the twilight of her career and life. She was an older English actress whose name is unfamiliar to me despite having three total nominations, which will no doubt be more common as I go back in time. The film itself is really quite boring. It's kinda neat to see a little known or remembered black and white film of the late 60s. But this certainly feels like the Academy wanting to reward Evans for her career, as evidenced by her flurry of nominations in just a couple years. She plays an older lady who lives on her own and is a bit eccentric. Her son visits her and hides some money he stole at her place before going to jail. Evans finds it and starts making plans and casually tells a random lady stranger about it and of course that stranger schemes to get Evans stinking drunk, kidnap her, take her money, and leave Evans for dead in the cold. Evans is found and sent to the hospital and authorities find her long estranged husband who also takes advantage of her before leaving due to working for some gang. The second half of the film is more about the husband and really doesn't give Evans anything to do. Prior to that, she is a very paranoid, kooky old lady. Loves her son who just uses her and is mostly just a harmless, doddering old lady. I keep saying she's just an old lady but that's basically what the performance is about. It's more interesting that a story like this could be made into a film. I didn't get much out of the performance so I will have to wait to see her other couple of nominations to see what kind of actress she truly is.

Audrey Hepburn - Wait Until Dark

I was thinking about Audrey Hepburn and how I actually haven't seen very many of her performances. I've seen a couple, I think anyway, but I know she's one of those actresses that never really gave a bad performance. I should do my due diligence and seek those out to watch. I know I'll get a couple more instances in this project though. I was actually really interested in this performance because it's not a Hepburn film that you think of when seeing her name. I would be hard pressed to find someone who knows this film and performance. It's actually a really interesting film, though! Hepburn plays a blind woman and her husband accepted a doll from a woman he was on a plane with and that doll had drugs in it. So some con men and a murderer try to find the doll while they try to trick Hepburn by pretending to be other people and accessing her home. It's a psychological thriller that I guess was a play before this. I would assume the reason Hepburn is nominated is because she has to play a blind woman and go through the physical aspects of that or because it's just name recognition in a weak year. I really like Alan Arkin's performance in this film as the murderer guy. Very creepy and unsettling. As far as Hepburn, she really doesn't do much other than be scared in the majority of the film. And overly trusting to random people showing up to her home. Hepburn is fine but it doesn't really evoke any strong feelings for it. Meaning I watch this and go okay that was a film and then move on. We all do that for a ton of films but I hate doing it for this one. It seems like it should be a really cool performance that is only lukewarm. The film is interesting especially for late 60s and would make for a cool remake in today's world. I just wanted something more than Hepburn pretending to be blind and acting in a blind panic. Interesting film, not that interesting of a performance.



Not a bad group this year, if just a bit underwhelming. I had high expectations that weren't exactly met, but I wasn't completely letdown overall. We can start with Evans who it feels like she got nominated because she was old and respected and the Academy loves doing that sort of thing. She got 3 nominations in 5 years and that feels like them trying to get her an Oscar for whatever reason. Her performance is kinda blah and she's not even in the second half of the film that much. Audrey Hepburn gets nominated because she plays a blind woman and that's the only reason why. Play someone with a disability as a respected actress and you'll more than likely get in. She was okay, but I can't call that Oscar worthy. Katherine Hepburn had no business winning an Oscar for that performance. Especially since she won for a really great one the next year which of course the Academy didn't know would happen yet. This just reeks of them trying to get her another Oscar because they like her and she was in a well liked film. It's decent but she doesn't really standout in the role to me. Bancroft is runner up because she is really a supporting character. I do love what she does with the character and how unique and vibrant her performance is. I'd have given her the win if she were in the film more after the first half. Bancroft really surprised me with how great she was. Dunaway ends up the winner almost by default, though she is very good in the role. I enjoyed that she was a complete person and not just arm candy for Warren Beatty. She was actually way better than he was and we see just how good she would become. Again, not the best group but not the worst either. Some decent performances and a chance to see some people I haven't seen yet. Just hoping that 1966 can deliver me something great.

Oscar Winner: Katherine Hepburn - Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
My Winner:  Faye Dunaway - Bonnie and Clyde
Anne Bancroft
Katherine Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn
Edith Evans