Bette Davis, Angela Lansbury and Edith Head are robbed of Oscars, 1963

Probably more drama backstage than on-stage, the 35th Academy Awards were held April 8, 1963.

Bette Davis was up for Best Actress for her performance as Jane Hudson in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, but her feud with Joan Crawford led to Crawford campaigning against her receiving the award.  It would have been Davis's third Oscar win, which would have been made her the first actress to win three Oscars. But Crawford's smear campaign worked and Anne Bancroft won the Oscar for her performance in The Miracle Worker.  I like Anne Bancroft, but I think Bette Davis should have won.  To add insult to injury, Crawford had arranged ahead of time to accept the award for Bancroft who was unable to attend.  

Patty Duke won Best Supporting Actor for her work as Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker.  However, I wonder if someone had initiated a campaign against Angela Lansbury, because she should have won the award for her performance as Eleanor Iselin in The Manchurian Candidate.  I really think something fishy was going on there.  Especially since The Manchurian Candidate was only nominated for two supporting acting awards, nothing else, not even Best Picture or Best Directing.  

The Music Man won Best Music (Scoring of Music-Adaption or Treatment) for Ray Heindorf. Was there any real competition?

Henry Mancini won for Best Music (Song) for Days of Wine and Roses for the movie of the same name.  Johnny Mercer wrote the lyrics. I'm not familiar with the other nominees so I agree with this award. 

What Ever Happened to Baby? won for Best Costume Design (Black-and-White) for Norma Koch.  Iconic Edith Head was nominated for the two costume design categories but didn't win either.  Hmmm....

Lawrence of Arabia was the biggest winner of the night, winning seven out of ten nominations.  

Bette Davis wins first Academy Award 1936

Film icon Bette Davis won her first Academy Award for her work in the movie Dangerous, at the 8th annual ceremony held March 5, 1936.  It was her second nomination having been nominated the year before.  

Mutiny on the Bounty was nominated for 8 Academy Awards but only took home the Best Picture award.

The Informer was nominated for 6 Academy Awards and won four: Best director for John Ford; Best Actor for Victor McLaglen, Best Writing Screenplay for Dudley Nichols, and Best Score for Max Steiner.   

 

"It Happened One Night" wins 5 Oscars 1935

Considered one of the best movies ever made, It Happened One Night, became the first movie to win the top five awards at the 7th annual ceremony held February 27, 1935.  It won: Best Picture, Best Director for Frank Capra, Best Actor for Clark Gable, Best Actress for Claudette Colbert, and Best Adaption for Robert Riskin. It won all the categories in which it was nominated.  

One Night of Love received 6 nominations, the most for any movie that evening, but only came away with two, including the Academy's first Award for Best Original Score.  It also won for Best Sound Recording,

Apparently the awards for Best Supporting Actor and Actress were not given out at this time.  Bette Davis was nominated for one of her many. 

Bette Davis wins second and last Oscar 1939

Bette Davis took home the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Jezebel at the 11th annual ceremony held February 23, 1939. She had been nominated twice before and won the award for her work in Dangerous in 1935.  After this, she racked up eight more nominations, but failed to win any of them.

Jezebel took home another prize, Best Supporting Actress for Fay Bainter for her performance.

Jezebel had been nominated for Outstanding Production, Best Scoring for Max Steiner, and Best Cinematography.

Walt Disney was given an Honorary Award "for creating Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,". The Academy gave him one statuette and seven miniature statuettes indicating the seven dwarfs.  This is a rare case of a film being recognized in two consecutive years.  Snow White had been nominated for Best Score the previous year. 

Agatha Christie's "Death on the Nile" premieres 1978

The first film adaption of Agatha Christie's novel Death on the Nile was released into US theaters September 29, 1978.  It boasted a stellar cast: Peter Ustinov (as Hercule Poirot), Angela Lansbury, Bette Davis, Maggie Smith, George Kennedy, and David Niven.

It won a Academy Award for Best Costume Design for Anthony Powell, who won the BAFTA Film Award for Best Costume design as well.  Angela Lansbury won a National Board of Review award for Best Supporting Actress.

The 2022 version by Kenneth Branagh is a great adaption as well, even though Branagh changed it up a little.  

"Sunset Boulevard" wins four Golden Globes 1951

Billy Wilder's black-and-white masterpiece Sunset Boulevard won four Golden Globe awards at the 8th ceremony held February 28, 1951.  It took home Best Picture, Best Actress for Gloria Swanson, Best Director for Wilder, and Best Original Score for Franz Waxman.  It was nominated for three more awards: Best Supporting Actor for Erick von Stroheim, Best Screenplay and Best Cinematography Black and White.

Gloria Swanson beat Bette Davis for the Best Actress Award but they both lost the Academy Award. 

"Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte" premieres 1964

One of the best movies ever, and not just from the psycho-biddy or hagsploitation genre, Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte, starring Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland and Agnes Moorehead opened December 24, 1964.  A good wholesome movie for the holiday!

We all know about the feud between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford which led to de Havilland being brought in to replace Crawford after she was fired. 

The best performance in this movie was by Agnes Moorehead, who won a Golden Globe for her role and was nominated for an Academy Award.  She was the only member of the cast to be nominated for an award.

"Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" released 1962

The birth of the "hagsploitation" or "psycho-biddy" genre happened when Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? was released October 31, 1962.  Starring two aging actresses who's stars were fading,  Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, the movie portrayed two aging actress who's stars were fading. 

It is well-known now that Crawford and Davis had a long-running feud but managed to hold it together to complete the movie.  Then they went back to fighting.  Crawford campaigned against Davis for her Oscar nomination for Best Actress.  The film was a financial success and garnered 5 Oscar nominations.  It won the Oscar for Best Costume Design, Black and White.

Davis and Crawford started to film Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte but Joan Crawford was fired before completing it and her scenes were re-shot with Olivia DeHavilland. 

Other films that followed this new genre included Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice?, What's the Matter With Helen? Whoever Slew Auntie Roo?

My favorite movies - 1962

The latest Facebook challenge is to lists your favorite film from each year that you have been alive.  I started in 1962 (duh!) and the plan was to list several years at a time so I'm not posting these for the next year, but when I looked at the films from 1962, I couldn't narrow them down to just one.  So I listed five (not in any particular order)

The Manchurian Candidate (favorite thriller) starring Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey and Angela Lansbury.




The Music Man (favorite musical) starring Robert Preston and Shirley Jones.




Hatari! (favorite action movie) starring John Wayne and Red Buttons



Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (favorite psychological thriller) starring Joan Crawford and Bette Davis




The Brain That Wouldn't Die (favorite sci-fi, guilty pleasure) starring Jason Evans and Virginia Leith.