Leading Actress 1963

Some notable names and only Roberts is not multi nominated in their career. Makes me want to watch her with a bit more attention to see if she stacks up against the rest. Hoping for some good films along with the performances.

1963 Best Actress

Patricia Neal - Hud

It's kind of interesting and maybe somewhat telling that both of Neal's nominations came after tragedies in her life. Her second nomination for The Subject Was Roses came after she had some strokes or brain issues where she had to relearn how to walk and talk and felt like the Academy rewarding her for her efforts and tipping their cap to a previous winner. For her win here as Alma, the hired help for a cattle ranch, she had just lost her daughter to measles and flew home to London to be with her family in the middle of filming when there was downtime for her. I wouldn't doubt that the sympathy vote helped her win for this role, as insensitive as that sounds. It's also interesting that this is I believe the shortest Best Actress winning role at just under 22 minutes of screen time. You really could argue she is more Supporting than anything. I guess because she is the only woman of note in the film is why she counts. In the original book, her role was actually a black woman who was the hired help. That may have been interesting to see if they kept that intact, but it was the early 60s. Neal plays a live in maid essentially who cooks and cleans for the all men family. She has to deal with Paul Newman drunkenly hitting on her and at one point sexually assaulting her and has to play it off all cool like. That is the part where Neal excels when she has to dish right back to Newman, basically roasting him at times to diffuse the inappropriate tension. She has to be the one to deflect everything that comes her way, even the grandson gets flirty with her. It's a sad role because she is just an object for Newman to fawn over and be belligerent with while she takes it. We don't really get to know a whole lot about her character other than she is used to how she is treated which is why she is so good at the repartee with Newman. It's a lot of internalized rage that she never gets to let out and just pushes further down. Neal's character actually admits she's into him but knows that men like that have only hurt her in her past life. Some of that melancholy and hurt come out in the performance and I'm sure Neal was drawing on her own recent personal pain to make that sense of emotion come through on screen. This performance is mostly a woman dealing with being hurt, in the past and in the present, and having to live with that. I feel like this is way more of a supporting role than leading and feels like we don't get to know Neal's character all that well. It's still a good performance and I enjoyed what she brought to the film as a counter to Newman and all the testosterone, but not sure about a win for this one, I'll have to see.

Leslie Caron - The L-Shaped Room

This was one of those British kitchen sink dramas from the late 50s and early 60s that focused more on realism than lords and manors and all that. Caron plays a young pregnant French woman who rents a room at a boarding house in London and kinda just wants to be alone. But throughout the film she befriends the other tenants who are all outcasts like her. This was Caron's second Oscar nomination so her performance here has intrigued me enough to be excited for her first one. This is such a genuine performance by Caron. It's a quiet, understated performance that is wholly believable of a woman unsure of what to do with herself and her situation and just wanting to be withdrawn from the world. The other tenants bring her out again and become something of a little outcast family. Caron portrays her character in such a real way. There are no dramatic overacting bits, no histrionics, no big grand moments. Just a tender portrayal of a woman going through a bit of an emotional mess helped through by some loving friends with their own flaws. This is a strong but quiet performance of a woman going through a bit of a personal crisis in a realistic manner. It's a good performance, maybe not quite up for the win but it made me want to seek out more films from Caron.

Shirley MacLaine - Irma la Douce

This one feels more like the Academy really loved MacLaine and wanted to reward her than it being any kind of Oscar worthy work. I hate that I have to say that but this performance doesn't do a whole lot for me. MacLaine plays a prostitute named Irma in Paris who eventually falls for Jack Lemmon's character. It's basically a screwball comedy where Lemmon starts out as a cop who busts Irma along with all the other streetwalkers before he is fired, to him becoming Irma's pimp and lover, to concocting a scheme to play a wealthy English lord so that his love won't bang other men. It's a what could possibly go wrong kind of story and it's hilarious at times and Lemmon is fantastic. MacLaine is very good in her role but it's honestly not something I'd ever vote for. She portrays her prostitute Irma in a very comfortable way. She's just doing a job and she cares more for her dog than the men and we see just how detached she is. There isn't any deeper characterization or some kind of statement on working women or anything serious. She is just playing a role in a comedy and doing a great job at that role, but not anything amazing. MacLaine herself didn't really like the script and felt if she won the Oscar she would feel nonplussed for the role. So this tells me the Academy loved her more than even MacLaine even loved her own performance. It's a funny film, albeit a bit long, but worth watching once at least. Not really something that could have won realistically.

Rachel Roberts - This Sporting Life

This was a very interesting film. The story is about Richard Harris who is a miner who gets into a fight after work and is noticed and asked to be on the local ruby team where he becomes a star player. Seems like a fun story, but it's super intense due to both Harris and Roberts and their relationship and also Harris just being a giant brute looking for respect throughout the entire film. Roberts plays the widowed woman with kids that Harris boards with and Harris is infatuated with her. Obviously this is Harris' film and Roberts really feels more like a supporting character for most of the film. A lot of the interactions she has is her being kinda meek and like she's stepping on eggshells to not rile up Harris. She is also still dealing with the trauma of her late husband and feels like this man wanting her is making her process her grief. She doesn't want to forget her husband and she definitely feels pressured by Harris. Roberts has to play his little game for most of the film as she keeps him content and voices her concerns. Now this isn't like a totally abusive thing. Harris isn't beating her or coercing her and Roberts does sleep with him but that feels more like just placating him. Roberts is really good at just playing the reserved widow who is uncomfortable with starting a new relationship after losing her husband. I think that's why it's somewhat of a welcome surprise at the end when she finally explodes on Harris and tells him off. It's certainly some cathartic emotion for the character and for Roberts to finally have that moment. That is her Oscar scene and probably bumps the performance up a bit for me. Still feels mostly supporting and her ending is anticlimactic if I'm being honest. But it's a quietly strong performance from Roberts that rises to the occasion when necessary.

Natalie Wood - Love with the Proper Stranger

The thing I like most about Ms. Wood is her big, expressive eyes. She does a lot of acting in this performance with only her eyes and that's a skill few possess and can master. Emoting with the eyes is tricky because it does have to have emotion behind it and not just be wildly looking around and blinking. But that's what I liked most about the performance because instead of staying wide eyed and super focused like most actors, she's glancing around and moving her eyelids to convey thought and whatever emotion she is feeling at the time. I know it sounds dumb as hell, but it genuinely makes her performance feel so much more authentic. You will have to watch her to see what I mean. It also works in the context of this story where she plays a young woman who we find out is pregnant after a one night stand with Steve McQueen who doesn't even remember her. I actually thought this was going to be a deep look at abortion as it heads down that road, but she stops herself and then the two start falling for each other. So I thought then it would be a nice little love story of an almost shared trauma uniting two people. But then it turns into a very boring and superficial quirky love story. Wood moves out of her parents home and starts dating a clumsy, fat, older guy who treats her well and wants to marry her. But then McQueen comes back into the picture, treats her like a broad, and gets kicked to the curb before a real cheesy, completely unearned ending. In the beginning of the film I was thinking that this was a very strong performance and was starting to think it could become a classic given the story to that point. But the film lets Wood down by not giving her as much to do in the end besides being the pretty woman choosing a guy. I wanted the movie that explores the issue of abortion or of connecting after almost going through with it and it being much more than a simple romantic love story. Of course, none of this is Wood's fault. I thought she was amazing in the beginning and she's perfectly fine throughout the rest of the film, but it's a letdown for sure because she was so good right out the gate. The film neuters her and that's a shame because this could have been a classic performance for Wood.


Hmmm. Sometimes it can be very difficult to figure out who the winner should be. I think a lot of people might think I'm crazy putting MacLaine last, but her performance did nothing for me and I know she's been way better before and after this. Roberts was a very interesting film and performance. Very quiet and meek and cautious until the end when she explodes. It's good but feels supporting for most of the film, hiding behind Richard Harris. Caron is actually starting to sneak up on me after watching her. It's what is completely necessary for that film and I appreciate how she doesn't go over the top or get too heavy into acting. Just feels natural and real and it may creep up more over time. Wood was very good and I enjoyed her. She may tend to overact a little bit, but she is so expressive and doesn't quite meet expectations in a good way for her character. I am leaving Neal with the win even though that is really a Supporting performance if you ask me. It also feels like they gave her a win because her daughter died which is kinda icky. Can't really change it because nothing else felt like a winner to me. This year really felt like a category of two's and three's but no real winner. I'll take that over some other years though!

Oscar Winner: Patricia Neal - Hud
My Winner:  Patricia Neal - Hud
Natalie Wood
Leslie Caron
Rachel Roberts
Shirley MacLaine