Day Eight: Best Supporting Actor, 1954

And then there were three...nominees from a single movie, that is! On the Waterfront holds the distinction of being the first film to take up 60% of the Best Supporting Actor category. A rare enough feat that it only happened again twice: for 1972's The Godfather (Caan, Duvall, Pacino) and 1974's The Godfather Part II (De Niro, Gazzo, Strasberg). Please note all the overlap: the Best Actor winner for both 1954 and 1972 was Marlon Brando, for On the Waterfront and The Godfather, respectively; Michael V. Gazzo made his film debut in a bit part in On the Waterfront; Lee Strasberg was director of the Actors Studio from 1951-1982, an organization co-founded by Waterfront director Elia Kazan that boasted among its alumnae...basically everyone I just named. 

As I say, On the Waterfront was the first and The Godfather Part II was the last to go for three-for-five in Best Supporting Actor. But it did happen once before in the Best Leading Actor category. In 1935, all three male leads for Best Picture winner Mutiny on the Bounty were nominated: Clark Gable, Charles Laughton, and Franchot Tone. The next year, separate categories for supporting players were introduced. Oh, and in 1963, Best Picture winner Tom Jones got three supporting actress nominations: Diane Cilento, Dame Edith Evans, and Joyce Redman.

This much we can take to the bank: three acting nods in one category means your movie's winning Best Picture. But it also means one of the other two nominees is going home with the Oscar. Only once has a nominee from the threesome won, and that was Robert De Niro speaking Italian while "doing" Marlon Brando. In 1954, the honor went to Edmond O'Brien of The Barefoot Contessa - the only nominee from a film not up for Best Picture:

The nominees are:

The 1964 Finalists!

Two months and 52 films later...here we are: The finalists for the 1964 Hollmann Awards. Some caveats before we begin: there were nineteen original screenplay contenders that I whittled down to fifteen, so...I guess it's not that representative of a group. And as for special effects, I had to keep it down to seven finalists, what with the limited number of contenders there. And I won't be separating the crafts into color/black-and-white, which may seem unfair for cinematography (advantage: B&W) and costume (advantage: color), but you have to kill your darlings. It's the right thing to do.

Karl Malden (1912 - 2009)

Karl Malden. When Ben told me at the office, the world froze. I could feel myself welling up. Something Farrah, Michael, and the Orange Glo guy couldn't do was get this reaction out of me. This overwhelming sadness, the knowledge that the world was now a much dimmer place.

And yet I can only think of one film that I've seen him in: his Oscar-nominated role in <span style="font-style:italic;">On the Waterfront</span>. My grandfather made me watch it once, and I am forever in his debt because of it. Malden's performance as Father Barry was incredible, captivating. Edmond O'Brien won for The Barefoot Contessa, but I just...I can't see anything being better than this:



I don't care for a world without Father Barry.