Supporting Actress Sundays: The Keyword Project
Lovely reader: I write to ask your assistance. I'm contemplating a comprehensive "tagging" process as I consider a revamp of the the Supporting Actress Sunday archive. Basically, my vision for this task is a version of what Nathaniel and I contemplated some time ago. I'd like to begin to develop a fairly comprehensive array of "categories" that might help chart compelling connections among the widely varied actresses at the edges who have received Supporting Actress nominations. And for that I need your creative insight. I have a few "tags" already in mind, including:Long Suffering Loves - Wife and/or Girlfriend
Mothers - Monstrous and/or Martyred
Daughters - Devoted and/or Devious
Mouthy Broads
Little Miss Sunshines
Miss Lonelyhearts
More Than Just a Pretty Face
Harlots with Hearts of Gold
Blacktresses
Certifiably Crazy Ladies
10 comments:
Oooh, how fun! How about the "Under-10 Club," featuring supporting actresses with performance times of less than 10 minutes who nevertheless steal the show? Featuring charter member Maria Ouspenskaya, along with Judi Dench and Ruby Dee. Could also be called "Short, but Sweet" -- except these perfs are rarely "sweet."
And don't forget the Internationalistas, the token foreign actresses in otherwise American films. Like Penelope Cruz, Rinko Kikuchi, Adriana Barraza -- and Maria Ouspenskaya! (Basically, I want Maria Ouspenskaya to have lots of tags. I love Dodsworth.)
Thanks, Middento, for weighing in. (I hope others do too.)
I might use "Short but..." as the tag. And, yeah, I want to do something for the foreign language globe trotters. Just not sure what to call it so it doesn't include the Anglophone emigres as well...
How about "Sapphic Signals"? Into which group one might place Grayson Hall ("Night of the Iguana"), Estelle Parsons ("Rachel,Rachel") and Cher ("Silkwood") Also maybe Margaret Avery ("The Color Purple") and Vanessa Redgrave ("Julia). Plus it's hard not to think of prison matron Hope Emerson for "Caged" - in spite of that "guy" she decked herself out for on her night off.
Thanks, Ken, I'm thinking "Sapphic Signals" or "Somewhat Sapphic" might be really good.
What about "Getting to Know You"? Often young supporting actresses get nominated because Oscar is never going to give them the trophy but nominates them as a vote of confidence for what they hope is good work down the line (I'm thinking the first nominations of Kate Winslet and Marisa Tomei, or Queen Latifah for "Chicago")
What about "Ditsy Dames"? Not certifiably crazy characters but ones who are merely missing a few dozen IQ points. Examples:
Mary Steenburgen, "Melvin and Howard"
Jennifer Tilly, "Bullets Over Broadway"
Lee Grant, "The Landlord"
Madeline Kahn, "Paper Moon"
Jean Hagen, "Singin' in the Rain"
Lesley Ann Warren, "Victor/Victoria"
Estelle Parsons, "Bonnie and Clyde"
Jeannie Berlin, "The Heartbreak Kid"
Candice Bergen, "Starting Over"
Ellen Corby, "I Remember Mama"
How about the "once before I die" club - possibly including - Lauren Bacall, Margaret Rutherford, Ruby Dee, Peggy Ashcroft, Gloria Stuart and probably others. (a less tasteless title might be something like "the Overlooked Oldies" - especially when an actress is given a nom for lesser work as compensation for missing out earlier on in their career - might even be a separate category).
I sorta love that, James.
"Just Once Before I Die"
I've always wanted to know to how many Dames have been nominated for Oscars... Dame May Whitty, Dame Edith Evans, Dame Maggie Smith, etc.
So maybe a "Dames of the Order of the Academy" or "Supporting Dames"?
I've always wondered how many British Dames had been nominated for Oscars. So that could be a list.
Something like "Supporting Dames" or "Dames of the Oscar Empire"?
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