Katharine Hepburn won her second Oscar for Best Actress for this film. Hers was the only performance from this film to win. (Spencer Tracy, Cecil Kellaway and Beah Richards were also nominated but lost.)
Just curious...do others feel that she deserved the award?
The others in her category were:
Anne Bancroft, "The Graduate"
Faye Dunaway, "Bonnie and Clyde"
Dame Edith Evans, "The Whisperers"
Audrey Hepburn, "Wait Until Dark"
No. She totally and completely did not deserve it. The main reason she got it, as far as I'm concerned is that she was KATHERINE HEPBURN and she was old, so I am assuming they felt like this might be one of her last, or her last movie. They didn't know she'd do On Golden Pond in the 1980's.
There is nothing memorable about her performance or her character,
Anne Bancroft's Mrs. Robinson is part of the American lexicon, part of our culture. Parodied tons of times. Very, very memorable movie, and one of the best female roles EVER. She should have gotten it. People who haven't seen this movie still know who "Mrs. Robinson" is.
or
Faye Dunaway, another great actress in an interesting and memorable role.
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Did Hepburn deserve the Oscar for this role? As much as Ingrid Bergman deserved the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in Murder on the Orient Express...Which is to say, Absolutely! Beyond any question! She is spot on here, in every reaction, from start to finish. Watch her reactions in the car with Spencer Tracy; she knows perfectly well he's never had boysenberry sherbet in his life, and that he will initially dislike it, before deciding it's not so bad after all. It's all done with such subtle assurance that one might fail to realize she's acting at all, but the craft it all there and it's absolutely impeccable. And her playing of the final scene with Tracy...well, words fail. I also would suggest Hepbern deserved six (maybe seven) competitive Oscarss, although I disagree with the earlier poster on what the films should be. I agree on Long Day's Journey, Lion in Winter (her performance is slightly superior to Streistand's with whom she tied in 1968); and On Golden Pond. I also feel she should unquestionably have won in 1940 for The Philadelphia Story (in this year, Ginger Rogers' win for Kitty Foyle is simply absurd); and in 1959 for "Suddenly Last Summer" and again in 1951 for "The African Queen" - although it's a close call between Hepburn here and Vivien Leigh, whose performance in "A Streetcar Named Desire" is certainly award-worthy. If I opt for Hepburn here it's only because I find it a trifle more natural than the Leigh performance, which has a certain arch theatricality that always gives me slight pause. Technically, though, no question that Leigh is quite extraordinary, and of course the styles of the films are quite dissimilar.
As a side note, I think Beah Richards was very deservedly Oscar nominated, and perhaps deserved the supporting award in her own right.
Spence deserved the Oscar, not Kate. But he deserved an Oscar for every performance he ever did. He's the greatest screen actor of all time. He blows away everyone else in this film. He was an amazing, amazing actor.
shareOf course she didn't.
She didn't deserve any of her Oscars -- although she deserved Oscars for "Bringing Up Baby," "The Philadelphia Story," and "Long Day's Journey into Night."
jrhpax wrote: She didn't deserve any of her Oscars
I haven't seen "The Morning Glory", so I can't say, but I must disagree regarding "The Lion in Winter". She definitely deserved that Oscar.
No; she was terrible, as always. Of all the great stars, she was possibly the
worst actress ever to pollute the screen. Yet she was revered for her woodenness; her plain, masculine appearance; and her monotonous delivery. Her
performance in this film consisted mainly of repeatedly getting teary-eyed;
director Stanley Kramer obliged her by giving her constant "isn't she great"
close-ups whenever her eyes misted over. Maybe she won as a nod to "Old Hollywood" since the late '60s was a time when movies were becoming more modern
and younger filmmakers were taking over. Anne Bancroft gave a much better
performance, and Faye Dunaway's role was an iconic one for the era and would
also have been a good choice.
I'm not crying, you fool, I'm laughing!
Hewwo.
Her performance in this film consisted mainly of repeatedly getting teary-eyed
There's me thinking that she was crying because Spencer was dying.
shareWow what a year.
My personal opinion is that Faye Dunaway should have won for Bonnie and Clyde. It changed cinema and she was marvelous. She was everything, sympathetic, disdainful, weak, strong, glamorous and trashy. Through it all you believe her. Just great.
Then i would have to say Katherine Hepburn. I don't think she won it because of who she is. If anyone would have gotten it because of their name and due to his death, it would have been Spencer Tracy, but he didn't. This isn't to say he didn't deserve it, honestly i feel he should have won.
Then i suppose Anne Bancroft. Another iconic movie, just like Bonnie and Clyde and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? I didn't like the movie and hated her character but she did a wonderful job but the character is a bit one-note. Just a complete b!tch.
Audrey Hepburn was being Audrey Hepburn. I didn't like the movie or her in it.
I haven't seen the Whisperers, so i can't comment on it. Perhaps it will change my ranking completely.
She actually deserved every one of her Oscars and perhaps she should had won a couple more (e.g. for the African Queen).
Back to the subject: Look how elegantly and effectively portrays a mother that first is shocked, then disdained, then coldly evaluating and then gradually worming up to the event that her daughter will be marrying a colored person (then it was much) and that she had to decide in just a few hours if she wanted that or not. She never verbally expresses all these initial feelings, the audience just knows by her facial expressions, bodily movements and her carefully chosen words. Its only ha;f-way the film we know she is really in favor of the marriage, despite constantly evaluating the future of her daughter.
In the mean time, we know just for the FEW hours that the film takes place how dynamic woman she is and we see that with a tour de force scene when she fires her longtime associate with a smile at her face and without spreading a bad word just for being both rude and patronizing to her and we really see that the woman had not seen it coming - and may I add nor the audience.
Maybe, you should evaluate more her performances and judge less.
Just saw the film. She definitly deserved the nomination. Win? Undecided. Very, very good performance and quite a good character but maybe a hair too melodramatic? But her character arc is pretty astonishing and she did steal almost every scene she was in.
Overall...
Yes, I'd say she deserved the win :)
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I don't think so. I would have gone with Faye Dunaway.
Of course, the Academy voters probably felt that this film would be her swan-song and were swayed by that. They could not predict that she would come back the next year with an absolutely AMAZING performance in The Lion in Winter, for which she was very deservedly awarded the Oscar (tied with Barbara Streisand). I cannot shake the feeling that they were also paying her tribute for being so wonderful in getting Spencer Tracey on the screen one last time, but I don't think that is a reason to award an Oscar. IMHO they did the same for On Golden Pond, which was also not Oscar-worthy. I've never seen Morning Glory, so I can't judge that performance.
I'm not the biggest Katharine Hepburn fan, but I would say yes! Perhaps the other Hepburn got the more challenging role that year (her performance in "Wait Until Dark" was terrific and unforgettable), but Katharine's performance was so full of little nuances and made of nearly unnoticeable funny/sad details that her character was truly real, complete and fascinating. Perhaps she was "playing herself", like it has been said countless times over the years, but WOW!, what a superb self it was! The 60-year-old Hepburn was pure class and a genuine delight to listen to and look at. I just adored her performance and, at least for me, she's by far the very best thing about this movie.
Animal crackers in my soup
Monkeys and rabbits loop the loop
I haven't seen The Whispers, but based on the other movies, she seems a tie with Audrey Hepburn and Faye Dunaway. But of the three Katharine's is the most understated, which may have been the deciding factor. The dialog didn't overstate her emotions, a trait of a great actor.
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