Alex in Movieland

Best Actress 1985

There was a draw for the next Best Actress year and 1985 won. The draw was between available years from the 80s, and the result is somewhere in the middle for me. I admit to have wanted 1989, but I’m happy I didn’t get 1982, so this one will work. :) The Color Purple has been in my Top 10 ever for years now. I have a lot of respect for Out of Africa, and I’ve seen Sweet Dreams a couple of years ago. I’ve never watched The Trip to Bountiful (quite excited about it) and seen only a couple of scenes from Agnes of God.

Let’s make a short analysis. The 5 ladies that Oscar had chosen for 1985, in alphabetical order:

Anne Bancroft as Mother Miriam Ruth, in Agnes of God

Whoopi Goldberg as Celie Johnson, in The Color Purple

Jessica Lange as Patsy Cline, in Sweet Dreams

Geraldine Page as Carrie Watts, in The Trip to Bountiful

Meryl Streep as Karen Blixen, in Out of Africa

This was the year when it seemed like Oscar will finally have a black actress winning this category. It didn’t happen, but Whoopi came into it as a favorite: she had the Golden Globe win, the award from the National Board of Review and a Best Picture nominated film. Yet Oscar chose Geraldine Page, and how can people really complain: it was her 8th (!) nomination and she had never won. She came into the race with a Golden Globe nomination, an Indie Spirit Award and an award from the Boston Society of Film Critics. You can easily tell what older voters went for.

Also a strong contender was Meryl Streep: her film was the future Best Picture winner, she had a Golden Globe nomination and a win from the Los Angeles Film Critics. What stopped her from ultimately winning this was the fact that she already had 2 Oscars by the age of 36. Anne Bancroft came into the race with only a Golden Globe nomination, while Jessica Lange was a big surprise, with nothing to indicate her film was under the critics’ or Oscar’s radar.

This was Meryl Streep’s 6th Oscar nomination, with 2 previous wins in Supporting for Kramer vs Kramer (1979) and in Best Actress for Sophie’s Choice (1982). It was Anne Bancroft’s 5th nomination, and she was an Oscar winner for her leading performance in The Miracle Worker (1962). Jessica Lange received her 4th Oscar nomination for this performance, and she had previously won the award as a Supporting Actress for Tootsie (1982).
This was Geraldine Page’s 8th Oscar nomination and the only one to bring her the win. Whoopi Goldberg received her 1st nomination for The Color Purple, as the film is considered her feature film debut.

Let’s throw in some names of other actresses that could’ve also been nominated:

Cher – Mask
Norma Aleandro – The Official Story
Sally Field – Murphy’s Romance
Mia Farrow – The Purple Rose of Cairo
Kathleen Turner – Prizzi’s Honor
Jane Fonda – Agnes of God

Most believe, as do I, that Cher would’ve been nominated, had Jessica Lange not sneaked her way into the Top 5.

Here’s the video proof that 1985 was correctly drawn, in case you wanna waste 75 seconds :)