Supporting Actress 1964

Fun fact about this year's category and group of nominees is that it may be the oldest average age of nominees ever at 61. I think I read that somewhere, so I don't know if another category is older, but this one is for sure an average age of 61. So it is full of older white women. Now I don't know what that means exactly, older women were getting pushed into supporting roles? Academy wanted to reward some older actresses with a nomination? This was just a coincidence for the year? Or maybe we were in a transition year where the older folks were having their last hurrah before the 60s really started to take over. I dunno which one is more accurate but it's an interesting fact. I'm hoping for some really good performances and not some boring, perfunctory efforts simply voted for because they are old. Let's find out.

1964 Best Supporting Actress

Lila Kedrova - Zorba the Greek

I have always been interested in watching this winner because I have no idea who Kedrova is/was and the film was always well talked about whenever it would come up in discussions. From what I read, Kedrova learned English for this role as she was Russian and then did more film and stage work in the West, eventually winning a Tony Award for the early 80s revival of Zorba. Pretty interesting and that could certainly play into her win in a weak year with only older, white actresses in the running. Kedrova plays Madame Hortense, a foreign woman who owns a hotel in Greece. She is introduced to our main two men when they need a place to stay and she eventually gets all romantical with Anthony Quinn. She has a strong presence in the beginning of the film and then a little bit at the end of the film and is very naturally supporting to Quinn and Alan Bates. She's a woman with a lot of passion and gusto and she plays up the emotional side of her character and it almost mirrors Quinn's character in a way. She also shrouds her sadness in the vibrant emotions she shares on screen with her dancing and fretting about her hotel. She's been often married, so I think she is just at the end of her life and enjoying her time with Zorba but also anxious in the budding relationship. She's a very sympathetic character and it's easy to see why this was a well liked performance for the year. She brings a much needed balance to Zorba and helps liven up a film that can be a little too serious at times. A pretty decent performance that may not wow you and would certainly not win in a more stacked year. It at least entertains and is an actual supporting role which I can appreciate.

Gladys Cooper - My Fair Lady

This is one of those pointless nominations that comes along for the ride with a film that was so beloved by the Academy that it won 8 Oscars. I imagine that this was partly a veteran nomination as well as fitting the theme of this year's category of rewarding older, experienced actors. If you've seen the film, you may have trouble remembering who she is because she only has a couple short scenes. She plays Henry Higgins' mother. Now I must say, as I often do with these kinds of nominations, this is not a bad performance. Cooper is actually good for the film because she stands up to Higgins' shtick and doesn't blink at all at his shenanigans and behavior. To say it frankly, she doesn't put up with his shit. And it's welcome as I'm sure many folks can't stand Harrison in the role or at least the character itself. So it is essentially a mother who doesn't suffer her son's crap, calls him out with some haughty lines, and that's about it. It's a nice change of pace but is also too short and really doesn't leave a lasting impact. You can look to Stanley Holloway's supporting nomination as one that does do a lot for a film. I would rather have another actress here that maybe showed off more and allowed a chance to see another film. Not a bad performance, just not a good nomination.

Edith Evans - The Chalk Garden

This was Evans' second consecutive nomination, so that tells me the Academy probably loved her and that they were trying to give her at least a win. Is this a veteran nomination? Oh absolutely! It has to be. The film itself is actually pretty good. I thought it was going to be this stuffy British period piece type of thing, but it is about Evans who is an old wealthy Englishwoman who has custody of her granddaughter and wants to keep it that way. Which sounds stuffy, but it is not at all! The granddaughter is Hayley Mills and she is spoiled rotten and never told no and just has her bad behavior encouraged. So Evans is the main lady, Mrs. St. Maugham, where Mills' character lives. Her mother divorced her father and ran off with another man and so Evans' character took her in. Lots of animosity abound. Deborah Kerr is a mysterious woman who comes and answers an ad to be the governess and is hired. The film is about Kerr and Mills going at each other and that's the mystery and the appeal of the film. Evans plays the haughty grandma who has that prickly British accent who gives whoever shit when they deserve it or when she feels they deserve it. She is upper crust and tries to rule her little kingdom, but lets her granddaughter do whatever she wants, including burning things and snooping and just being a terrible person. You watch this film for Kerr and Mills, but Evans certainly adds to the overall appeal of the film. I enjoyed her performance because it adds to the film and supports the others involved. Though the performance is still mostly a grumpy old woman in power who talks down to everyone. I really did enjoy the performance, though. Not above and beyond or anything, just as a really good, classical supporting role in an entertaining film.

Grayson Hall - The Night of the Iguana

I was excited to watch this film because I have become a big Richard Burton fan and this is also an adaptation of a Tennessee Williams play. So it had some good pedigree going in its favor. The film is good enough, but feel like it may lose something from the play, I don't know for sure. The film is about Burton who is a priest who suffered a breakdown after being accused of banging a young Sunday school teacher. He went down to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to chill out as a tour guide and drink. A church tour comes through lead by Hall who has a young, hot teenage niece who tries to seduce Burton. Hall then vows to destroy Burton's reputation. Most of what I got out of Hall's performance was mostly one note. She screams a lot at Burton or when trying to locate her niece. She just seems like a grumpy, repressed bitch who may or may not be a lesbian who has a thing for her own niece. Just high strung and on guard from the start and never really eases up on that part of the performance. Hall plays her more like a lonely spinster who gets her kicks on getting someone in trouble. She has a memorable look with her wild hair and screeching but it doesn't progress much beyond that. This film does have some very good female performances especially from Ava Gardner, who I am looking forward to seeing more of, and from Deborah Kerr. Both feel like they'd be better choices but also are probably more leading than Hall. They also both have other big films this year, so it's surprising they weren't nominated themselves. Interesting film, yet the interesting performances weren't nominated in this film.

Agnes Moorehead - Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte

The most interesting fact about Moorehead that I learned was that she was the first female host of the Oscars and I found that to be very cool. It also tells you what the Academy thought of her and probably why she got nominated here. This is a Southern Gothic melodrama with some hints of horror and it is really fascinating and entertaining to watch, honestly. It's very campy at times and Moorehead is fully on board with that campiness. I think you have to go into this with an idea that it's supposed to be the way it is and not some super serious Oscar contender, though it did get seven nominations. And you have to realize that this is a follow up of sorts to Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? and realize why it was made. Starring Bette Davis and Olivia de Havilland, it's about Charlotte who in later life lives alone and is eccentric and crazy and in her youth was having an affair with a man who was killed in a gruesome way. Moorehead plays Velma, Charlotte's maid. She overacts and I think that is by design as she knows she's in a campy film where Bette Davis is overacting her ass off. She's got that very Southern accent and fiercely defends her employer. That's about all of what she does in the role. She lurks around and does Charlotte's bidding and then at the end of her time in the film, accuses de Havilland of drugging Charlotte. A lot of melodrama and I enjoyed it all. I don't think that Moorehead is all that amazing in the role, though she does make it her own. She is probably singled out for the aforementioned reasons but I'm okay with that because I got to watch this film as a result. It's campy fun and you get to watch quite a few big name older actresses do their thing and that's pretty cool, honestly. Never gonna be a winner, but it's fun to just sit back and enjoy a film for what it is.


One of the oldest average aged group of nominees actually produced a decent enough slate of performances. I am actually surprised and happy about that! Cooper is a throw in for a film everyone liked and probably because she was a beloved actress herself. Fine. But would be better suited with someone more deserving. Hall is completely one note to me and it brings her impact down so much. Just shrieking and not very likable, just above the ride along nominee. I really enjoyed Moorehead's campiness. It was such a melodramatic film that it fit and it just felt fun to watch. I got a sense of who she is and what she is capable of and will probably see more of her as I go back in time. Evans was almost the winner for me. Great in the role and in a surprisingly interesting film, with such a weak year she almost took it home. But I enjoyed Kedrova's desperate for love and attention hotel owner. She added to the film and was a great supporting player and, well, can't go against the Academy when they get it right. A year I didn't think would be very good, ended up being pretty entertaining with some super interesting films. More like this please.

Oscar Winner: Lila Kedrova - Zorba the Greek
My Winner:  Lila Kedrova - Zorba the Greek
Edith Evans
Agnes Moorehead
Grayson Hall
Gladys Cooper