Parker – for all her talent didn’t stand a chance.

While Eleanor delivered a memorable performance in Caged and deserved to be on the ballot as much as anyone else included the truth is that the race for Best Actress of 1950 was a four-pronged affair. I’m removing Eleanor Parker from contention in this discussion right off the bat, but not because she was an unworthy player. One of the actresses up against Davis and Swanson for Oscar in 1951 was Eleanor Parker for her performance in John Cromwell’s Caged. Yet, neither Davis or Swanson took home Oscar at the 23rd Academy Awards held on Thursday, Maat the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood.

Consider, for a moment, the careers of the two legends and the fact that the roles of Margo Channing and Norma Desmond are definitive accomplishments. The merits of both All About Eve and Sunset Blvd. are numerous, but today I’ll focus on the extraordinary performances delivered by Bette Davis and Gloria Swanson, which made the Best Actress category in 1951 a thrillfest. Gregory La Cava’s My Man Godfrey had held the record since 1936. The former received 14 nominations (won 6) breaking the record of 13 set by Gone with the Wind in 1939 and the latter became only the second film in Oscar history to receive nominations in every acting category failing to win a single one. All of the nominated movies that year are memorable, but the Mankiewicz and Wilder works stood (and stand) well above the others.Īll About Eve was given the top honor, but it along with Sunset Blvd. made history. The other contenders for the top award that year were George Cukor’s Born Yesterday, Vincente Minnelli’s Father of the Brideand Bennett/Marton’s King Solomon’s Mines. Mankiewicz‘s All About Eve and Billy Wilder’s Sunset Blvd. Two of the greatest movies of all time were pitted against each other – Joseph L. The year was 1951, which celebrated achievements in the motion picture industry for 1950. Although the contest didn’t end as I would’ve liked, it makes for great drama and fun speculation. Rather than focus on a specific performance for this year’s THE ACTORS! week in the 31 Days of Oscar Blogathon I decided to take a look back at one of the most hotly contested Best Actress races in Oscar History.

Old telugu movies list 1950