John C. Reilly in Chicago
Christopher Walken in Catch Me If You Can
Chris Cooper in Adaptation
Paul Newman in Road to Perdition
Ed Harris in The Hours
Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2005: Ed Harris in A History of Violence
Ed Harris did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Carl Fogarty in A History of Violence.Ed Harris portrays the Philadelphia gangster who comes looking for diner owner Tom Stall who recently killed two men trying to rob his diner..
Best Supporting Actor 2011: Nick Nolte in Warrior
Nick Nolte received his third Oscar nomination for portraying Paddy Conlon in Warrior.Warrior details a winner take all mixed martial art tournament whose two main combatants are estranged brothers (Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton) fighting for their own difficult reasons.
Alternate Best Actor 2011
And the Nominees Were Not:Ryan Gosling in DriveRobert Wieckiewicz in In DarknessMichael Fassbender in ShameMichael Shannon in Take ShelterBrendan Gleeson in The Guard..
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Best Supporting Actor 2002
John C. Reilly in Chicago
Christopher Walken in Catch Me If You Can
Chris Cooper in Adaptation
Paul Newman in Road to Perdition
Ed Harris in The Hours
The best part about being Rob Petrie
I wanted to become a comedy writer because of THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW. I wanted to be Rob Petrie when I grew up. The idea of being in a great marriage with a son and writing television comedy seemed like the dream life. When my partner, David Isaacs and I were starting out, writing spec scripts, we would watch reruns of THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW every afternoon for inspiration. We became such
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Best Supporting Actor 1973: Results
character as well as he really could be.
Robert Shaw in The Sting
Max Von Sydow in The Exorcist
Best Supporting Actor 1973: Vincent Gardenia in Bang the Drum Slowly
Vincent Gardenia received his first Oscar nomination for portraying Dutch Schnell in Bang the Drum Slowly.
Bang the Drum Slowly depicts a star pitcher on a baseball team who tries hard to help his friend simple catcher who has a terminal disease.
Vincent Gardenia portrays the team manager Dutch who is unaware why the star pitches Henry (Michael Moriarty) wants the simple catcher Bruce (Robert De Niro) to catch for him, but he intends to find out. The exasperated sports team manager certainly is not the most original of character and Gardenia never tries to portray this type of character in an particularly unusual fashion.
Gardenia though does manage to play Dutch just as he should be as well. Dutch is a tough manager who wants to handle his team his way, and does not much care for being told he won't have control over his lineup. Gardenia gets the constantly frustrated style of Dutch down just right. He also handles the frustrations of Dutch just wanting to figure what the deal is with Henry and Bruce is exactly well as well.
Gardenia mostly is simply consistent in his performance through the film but he does have a single big scene when he finds out what really is wrong with Bruce. He has a nice heartfelt scene where he shows that Dutch maybe is a bit of a softie at heart. Gardenia is appropriate earnest in this scene and does not seem fake either being honestly saddened by a member of his team dying that does not override the rest of his performance, but more of suggests his toughness toward his team is simply the way he has to do it.
Gardenia's performance is never an amazing one, but he does seem to get the most out of Dutch as a character. He does not take a completely unorthodox approach to the role, but Gardenia is effective in all of his scenes, and adds a nice presence to the film. I can't say it is ever all that much, or even especially memorable but it is a good performance.
Vincent Gardenia portrays the team manager Dutch who is unaware why the star pitches Henry (Michael Moriarty) wants the simple catcher Bruce (Robert De Niro) to catch for him, but he intends to find out. The exasperated sports team manager certainly is not the most original of character and Gardenia never tries to portray this type of character in an particularly unusual fashion.
Gardenia though does manage to play Dutch just as he should be as well. Dutch is a tough manager who wants to handle his team his way, and does not much care for being told he won't have control over his lineup. Gardenia gets the constantly frustrated style of Dutch down just right. He also handles the frustrations of Dutch just wanting to figure what the deal is with Henry and Bruce is exactly well as well.
Gardenia mostly is simply consistent in his performance through the film but he does have a single big scene when he finds out what really is wrong with Bruce. He has a nice heartfelt scene where he shows that Dutch maybe is a bit of a softie at heart. Gardenia is appropriate earnest in this scene and does not seem fake either being honestly saddened by a member of his team dying that does not override the rest of his performance, but more of suggests his toughness toward his team is simply the way he has to do it.
Gardenia's performance is never an amazing one, but he does seem to get the most out of Dutch as a character. He does not take a completely unorthodox approach to the role, but Gardenia is effective in all of his scenes, and adds a nice presence to the film. I can't say it is ever all that much, or even especially memorable but it is a good performance.
Best Supporting Actor 1973: John Houseman in The Paper Chase
John Houseman won his Oscar from his only acting Oscar nomination for portraying Professor Charles W. Kingsfield Jr.
The Paper Chase depicts the troubles and the success of a first year Harvard Law student.
John Houseman was better known as a film producer than a film actor before his performance here. He was only in a single feature length film before this one in a rather small role. Here though it is no surprise that Houseman was nominated and won since the Oscars do seem to like it when people act even if that person is better known for something else and the role of Professor Kingsfield is an incredibly showy role.
Kingsfield rules over his room with absolute control with his loud distinct voice, and commonly humiliates those who do not meet the requirements of his questions during the class. After this there is little to say actually about Kingsfield you learn very little of him outside the class, what you do learn is never portrayed by Houseman's performance instead they are merely said by others. When you do see him outside the classroom he acts just as he does inside the classroom with the same superior attitude.
Houseman is calm cool collected as well as commanding in the role I can't say he is all that much more than that. He always gives the same smug glances the same piercing looks in every scene there is no change in behavior ever nor should there be as that exactly how Professor Kingsfield is written to be. That does not mean he is amazing at all, I always felt he was just fine, but this never became that entertaining or interesting performance as relatively simple performances like this can be sometimes. I do frankly think though many scenes he could have brought out an appropriate degree of humor in his performance something that someone like John Gielgud probably could have done with ease. He is most certianly never bad, but I just never really found him to be worthy of acting awards good either.
John Houseman was better known as a film producer than a film actor before his performance here. He was only in a single feature length film before this one in a rather small role. Here though it is no surprise that Houseman was nominated and won since the Oscars do seem to like it when people act even if that person is better known for something else and the role of Professor Kingsfield is an incredibly showy role.
Kingsfield rules over his room with absolute control with his loud distinct voice, and commonly humiliates those who do not meet the requirements of his questions during the class. After this there is little to say actually about Kingsfield you learn very little of him outside the class, what you do learn is never portrayed by Houseman's performance instead they are merely said by others. When you do see him outside the classroom he acts just as he does inside the classroom with the same superior attitude.
Houseman is calm cool collected as well as commanding in the role I can't say he is all that much more than that. He always gives the same smug glances the same piercing looks in every scene there is no change in behavior ever nor should there be as that exactly how Professor Kingsfield is written to be. That does not mean he is amazing at all, I always felt he was just fine, but this never became that entertaining or interesting performance as relatively simple performances like this can be sometimes. I do frankly think though many scenes he could have brought out an appropriate degree of humor in his performance something that someone like John Gielgud probably could have done with ease. He is most certianly never bad, but I just never really found him to be worthy of acting awards good either.
the unknown star of THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW
Most primetime scripted series today have “pod” producers attached. These are non-writing producers who are usually former executives who received producer deals after their executive services were no longer, uh… required. Golden parachutes is another way to describe it. But they have now so ingrained themselves into the system (since current executives would rather communicate with them than
Best Supporting Actor 1973: Randy Quaid in The Last Detail
Randy Quaid received his only Oscar nomination so far for portraying Larry Meadows in The Last Detail.
Randy Quaid plays the arrested Seaman who "Bad Ass" Buddusky (Jack Nicholson) and "Mule" Mulhall (Otis Young) have to bring to the brig. Larry Meadows is a young wet behind the ears kleptomaniac. Quaid is absolutely quiet for a good amount of time during the film. Quaid just shows Larry to be a very sad, very modest fellow, who just steals things basically just to steal them there is barely a purposeful criminal intent, he just does not know any better.
With this Quaid creates an appropriate sympathy for Larry because Larry is such a pathetic guy. He never makes Larry's problems seem at all malicious nor does he make his inexperience seem unrealistic or annoying. There is a genuine naivety to Quaid's performance that works well for the film, and makes the sympathy Badass and Mule gain for him properly believable. I particularly liked when he goes to his home where no one is that just shows the sad state of Larry that Quaid has shown it to be something he has pretty much accepted.
After setting up this characterization though Quaid really has very little to do. Most of the time he just reacts with a very modest and sad response to the behavior of Badass. He has a few moments where he freaks out an makes some impulsive escape attempt, which Quaid shows exactly what it is, but other than that there really is not anything that special about his reactions. Quaid is as he is, he really does not show change or growth nor should he the experiences Badass give to him are not the sort that would make him a new man. Its a good performance that serves its purpose, it is also a limited one though just by the nature of it, and just like Jack Gilford in Save the Tiger Quaid never takes a scene away from Jack Nicholson.
With this Quaid creates an appropriate sympathy for Larry because Larry is such a pathetic guy. He never makes Larry's problems seem at all malicious nor does he make his inexperience seem unrealistic or annoying. There is a genuine naivety to Quaid's performance that works well for the film, and makes the sympathy Badass and Mule gain for him properly believable. I particularly liked when he goes to his home where no one is that just shows the sad state of Larry that Quaid has shown it to be something he has pretty much accepted.
After setting up this characterization though Quaid really has very little to do. Most of the time he just reacts with a very modest and sad response to the behavior of Badass. He has a few moments where he freaks out an makes some impulsive escape attempt, which Quaid shows exactly what it is, but other than that there really is not anything that special about his reactions. Quaid is as he is, he really does not show change or growth nor should he the experiences Badass give to him are not the sort that would make him a new man. Its a good performance that serves its purpose, it is also a limited one though just by the nature of it, and just like Jack Gilford in Save the Tiger Quaid never takes a scene away from Jack Nicholson.
