These nominees gave performances that have stood the test the time, typically much better than the originally winners.
1. Claude Rains, Best Supporting Actor, Casablanca, 1941. Absolutely the best supporting performance of all time, male or female. Rains's humour is what relieves the tension of Casablanca. The immortal leads of Bogart and Bergman never crack a smile, and it's Rains who delivers the humour. He gets many of the best lines of the best screenplay ever, and it's his delightful amorality that leaves the ending in doubt every time we watch.
2. Sigourney Weaver, Best Actress, Aliens, 1985. Try to imagine this movie with a man! The arc her character undergoes from the beginning to the end, Weaver's initial fragility to her natural, scared driven will to save those she loves, represents female nature at its best. The best female performance of all time.
3. Humphrey Bogart, Best Actor, Casablanca, 1942. It's hard to imagine Bogart struggled to get taken seriously as a dramatic actor. One of the iconic pieces of acting ever, like all of Casablanca it is as deep and fine as it ever was.
4. Al Pacino, Best Supporting Actor, The Godfather, 1972. The initial casting controversy was that the studio wanted a star to play Michael, not understanding that the character has to be ignorable, until he's not, and must be Film's ultimate enigma. Countless viewings of the movie simultaneously deepen and confuse the character. No one understands who the character is, nor will we ever.
5. Al Pacino, Best Actor, The Godfather Part II, 1974. Just two years later Pacino returned and continued the descent of his character. One of the harshest characters in film history, Pacino is all rage and ice, controlled coiled fury.
6. River Phoenix, Best Supporting Actor, Running on Empty, 1987. Phoenix's brilliant talent is on full display here, in an ideal part for a young actor. What a loss of talent Phoenix was. The closing scene is one of the great final scenes in movies.
1. Claude Rains, Best Supporting Actor, Casablanca, 1941. Absolutely the best supporting performance of all time, male or female. Rains's humour is what relieves the tension of Casablanca. The immortal leads of Bogart and Bergman never crack a smile, and it's Rains who delivers the humour. He gets many of the best lines of the best screenplay ever, and it's his delightful amorality that leaves the ending in doubt every time we watch.
2. Sigourney Weaver, Best Actress, Aliens, 1985. Try to imagine this movie with a man! The arc her character undergoes from the beginning to the end, Weaver's initial fragility to her natural, scared driven will to save those she loves, represents female nature at its best. The best female performance of all time.
3. Humphrey Bogart, Best Actor, Casablanca, 1942. It's hard to imagine Bogart struggled to get taken seriously as a dramatic actor. One of the iconic pieces of acting ever, like all of Casablanca it is as deep and fine as it ever was.
4. Al Pacino, Best Supporting Actor, The Godfather, 1972. The initial casting controversy was that the studio wanted a star to play Michael, not understanding that the character has to be ignorable, until he's not, and must be Film's ultimate enigma. Countless viewings of the movie simultaneously deepen and confuse the character. No one understands who the character is, nor will we ever.
5. Al Pacino, Best Actor, The Godfather Part II, 1974. Just two years later Pacino returned and continued the descent of his character. One of the harshest characters in film history, Pacino is all rage and ice, controlled coiled fury.
6. River Phoenix, Best Supporting Actor, Running on Empty, 1987. Phoenix's brilliant talent is on full display here, in an ideal part for a young actor. What a loss of talent Phoenix was. The closing scene is one of the great final scenes in movies.
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