The most difficult category of the year, because it truly is a murderer's row. Three of these actresses were nominated for their first and only time: Eve Arden, who went on to fame and fortune on television; and teenage actresses Ann Blyth and Joan Lorring, both playing "bad girls" in different degrees and accents. The other two were returning nominees. Angela Lansbury had just made her film debut the year before and already found herself a two-time nominee. Anne Revere had been nominated for The Song of Bernadette two years prior, but it was her role as the mother in National Velvet that won her the Academy Award:
She was nominated again for Gentleman's Agreement two years later, but the Red Scare effectively blacklisted her for twenty years. What a stupid time. Anyway, here are the nominees for 1945's Best Supporting Actress:
Eve Arden, Mildred Pierce
Ann Blyth, Mildred Pierce
Angela Lansbury, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Joan Lorring, The Corn is Green
Anne Revere, National Velvet
In Mildred Pierce, Eve Arden is the wisecracking friend and co-worker, while Ann Blyth is the traitorous, ungrateful daughter. In The Picture of Dorian Gray, Angela Lansbury is the saloon singer who maintains her innocence and, disastrously, falls in love with the titular heel. In The Corn is Green, Joan Lorring is the uncouth daughter of a schoolteacher's housekeeper who presents a challenge for the household and its hopes for the young Welshman they hope to make a writer of. And Revere is Momma to Liz Taylor.
My rankings, from fifth to first:
5. Joan Lorring as Bessie Watty
The Corn is Green
only nomination
A lot of “sassy” side-eyeing and swaying, not the deepest portrayal of a bad girl - and then you’ll see genuine hurt in the eyes, not the stereotypical frustrations of a thwarted brat but the heartbreak of someone who feels like she’ll never be enough for anyone in her life. Lorring adds texture that the rest of the film doesn’t acknowledge: she knows Miss Moffatt can be the villain.
4. Angela Lansbury as Sibyl Vane
The Picture of Dorian Gray
second of three nominations; Golden Globe winner for Best Supporting Actress
Dorian Gray ultimately loses his soul because he finds its perfect mate, a young woman of real Goodness, and rejects her cruelly. You have to believe such a woman exists, would fall for waxen Hurd Hatfield (as Dorian), and had such deep feelings that his rejection destroys her. She also has to sing well enough to stand out from other pub entertainers but still believably “just” a pub entertainer. Lansbury nails every detail, down to how she approaches the singing.
The order of the next three is what’s been bugging me, I’ve been switching them around every day, finally committed to this one…
3. Eve Arden as Ida Corwin
Mildred Pierce
only nomination
The queen of the wisecrack, she is an artist and sarcasm’s her medium! If that’s all she was required to do, toss off lines like, “Alligators have the right idea - they eat their young,” she’d still deserve a spot in the Top Five, Arden expertly delivers such dialogue with a straight face and too-knowing glance. But the moment her Ida first sits down to help Mildred, Arden shows that this is going to be more than comic relief: when permitted, hers is a performance of real friendship, a healthy partnership, sharing in successes … and too aware of the inevitability of the avoidable pitfalls.
2. Anne Revere as Mrs. Brown
National Velvet
second of three nominations
Well, how could you not love this role, this performance? With her even tone, she displays the cool head that runs this crowded household; with her proud and understanding smile, she reveals her own past of youthful dreams and the courage to make them, a knowledge that links her to her daughter even more than mere blood can. And when she teasingly “plays” house with her husband, calling him Mr. Brown with a kittenish smile as they sit across from each other - and he responds in kind - you see the history of their love, the foundation of their partnership, the personalities that have raised a family to believe an adolescent could race a horse. She does all this very simply, very believably.
1. Ann Blyth as Veda Pierce
Mildred Pierce
only nomination
Just as I admire Lorring for adding depth where there isn't any, I admire Blyth for not shading Veda with any more complexity than necessary. Only 17 herself at the time, Blyth doesn't overplay Veda's greed and cruelty, but rather, understands that these are the actions of a bratty child. She's not calculated or sophisticated, even if she thinks she is - the scene where she reveals to Mildred that she's trying to trap a rich boy by faking pregnancy is delivered with such unearned confidence, you can see Blyth performing the certainty of an idiot. And yet there are times when Veda is running to mother, in times of desperation or tragedy, and the sincere wide-eyed-ness of those moments is Blyth reminding you that Veda is still a child and operating with the instincts of one. It's hard to believe someone this young has so much innate talent!
Tomorrow, the nominees for Best Picture: Anchors Aweigh, The Bells of St. Mary's, The Lost Weekend, Mildred Pierce, and Spellbound.
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