1952 was a stellar year with many great films like “The Quiet Man”, “High Noon” and “Singing in The Rain” but I kept thinking of the actors and went to Best Supporting Actress because, to me, there was one actress who should have won the Oscar and I still feel she was robbed. I will let you know from the get go who won, who should have won, in my humble opinion, and who was not even nominated and should have been.
1. JEAN HAGAN IN SINGING IN THE RAIN
This is the gal who should have won the Oscar for her tour de force performance as a silent screen star with a less than stellar voice or personality. Jean plays Lina Lamont a famous actress and famous partner to Don Lockwood, played by Gene Kelly. They are making their umpteenth swashbuckler movie when everything is halted due to the big blockbuster of “The Jazz Singer”, a talking picture. The studio shuts down to make it ready for sound and that’s when real hilarity ensues because they are now curtailed by the ever present Mike. We can laugh but everything shown on screen is pretty close to what really happened. Jean shines as the guttersnipe actress who is as stupid as she is conniving. A fun anecdote is that when you hear Debbie Reynolds character dub Lina’s voice with her own, it’s actually Jean Hagen’s voice that you hear.
2. KATY JURADO IN HIGH NOON
This Mexican actress really made a name for herself when she made this film that starred Gary Cooper and a young Grace Kelly. Gary Cooper has just married the sweet blonde Quaker girl when he finds out this old gang is coming to town to kill the sheriff, namely Cooper. Everyone tells him to take off with his new wife but he turns the buggy around to face his foes much to Grace’s chagrin. While Coop tried to find people to support him, we meet his old girlfriend, Katy who still loves Cooper and is not too happy that he got married nor happy how his new wife does not seem to support him. Katy shone in her role but she was not even nominated which is a crime.
3. GLORIA GRAHAME IN THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL
Hi, Birgit!
ReplyDeleteLike many boomers, I came to know many great actors who made their mark in films during the first half of the 20th century. Often, my first exposure to them was through their roles in 1950s and 1960s TV series. Jean Hagen is a good example. I first came to know her as Margaret Wms in the Danny Thomas sitcom Make Room for Daddy. The sequence of scenes you posted is hilarious. It reminds younger generations how difficult it was to make movies when sound was first introduced and recording equipment and techniques were primitive.
It has been decades since I watched High Noon, and I agree that Mexican actress Katy Jurado should not have been passed over for an award nomination.
I'm a fan of Lana Turner and watched B&B many years ago, possibly in my college film course. I don't remember Gloria's character, and will need to take your word that her part was too minor to justify a Best Supporting Actress Oscar. When it comes to naming other worthy actresses who deserved recognition that year, I am unfortunately drawing a blank, but I want to give a shout out to Ridge and Taylor on The Bold and the Beautiful.
Please take good care of yourself and my animal chums Harley and Lexie, and stop over to see me at SPMM this coming Sunday, Monday or Tuesday if you have time. Blessings to you, dear friend Birgit!
I can't even think of another movie that came out that year, so no, I can't.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Hagan did a great job in Singin'. But it was a comedy. You know how the Academy feels about comedy.
ReplyDeleteI've only singing Singin' in the Rain and I feel like I can still speak for the fact that she should've won. lol
ReplyDeleteI ADORE Gloria Grahame but there is no way she should have won for Rosemary! If she was going to be nominated this year it should have been for the far better role of the duplicitous Irene in Sudden Fear.
ReplyDeleteBut even then it should have only lead to a nom not a win because the award should have gone to no one else but Jean Hagen and her flat out brilliance. Just comparing her work in Singin' in the Rain with her role as the careworn Doll a few years earlier in The Asphalt Jungle shows the scope of her, sadly underutilized talent.
Katy Jurado was indeed robbed! She is such an important component of High Noon, her exclusion is puzzling considering Gary Cooper won and the picture was heavily acknowledged. She received a compensation nomination two years later for a vastly inferior role in Broken Lance but she belonged in the mix in 1952.
The unfortunate thing is Gloria's win cost her a richly deserved nomination (and to be honest win) the next year for The Big Heat and poor Jean Hagen never had another chance at the award. It's hardly the first time the wrong person won but this is one of the most egregious examples.
Funny thing is that Gloria didn't expect to win, she thought it was going to go to Thelma Ritter who was in contention for the third time for With a Song in My Heart, though Thelma should have won the next year as well for Pick-up on South Street. But of course she never won any of her six nominations either!!