Best Actress 1961

Who do you think deserved to win the Oscar?

Audrey was miscast. Buddy Ebsen gives my favorite performance in the movie. The cat comes in second.

R2 Do you think Marilyn should’ve played Holly like Truman Capote wanted?

Yet Hepburn's performance is one of the most iconic in Hollywood history so how could she have been miscast?

Splendour In The Grass is just absolutely cray-cray. It don’t make no sense. I watched it not too long ago - not a good movie.

Geraldine Page was nominated for several movies that ate completely forgotten today.

Natalie is heartbreaking in Splendor. She was head and shoulders above her competitors.

It's a solid lineup. But Piper Laurie should be in supporting and her spot taken by Deborah Kerr in The Innocents.

Harriet Andersson in Bergman's 'Through A Glass Darkly' smokes them all. Silvia Pinal in 'Viridiana' was also great, although I understand not many foreign performances sneak in.

From the nominees, I really do think Wood's is the best performance. There's a real childlike fragility throughout that melts through the screen. The way she conveys the entire mental breakdown sequence is quite 'modern' for 1961, a more naturalistic style of acting. And even her eyes in the initial party scenes are quite telling that something is not quite right with her.

Having said that, I don't have too many complaints about Loren winning - she was excellent. I agree that I would put Piper in supporting. Hepburn is great in her movie, she nails the wry comedic moments... but the competition was tough that year and she has been better elsewhere, even if this became one of her most iconic characters.

r12, I forgot about Andersson -- she's fucking amazing.

Where was Marilyn's nomination for The Misfits?

No one even remembers that Sophia Loren movie. I bet most people don't even know whether Loren is dead or alive.

R3 I think Marilyn would have been much more iconic than Audrey but the film would have been more campy and she wouldn’t get a nom.

R15 You know that’s a lie.

I recently rewatched the Loren movie and she is fucking astounding in it. I can't believe DL is going for Natalie Wood's usual neurotic hysterics made passable over that truly heart-wrenching performance by Loren - there was also a very good against type supporting turn from the recently deceased Jean-Paul Belmondo. Foreign actresses in foreign films so rarely win for their deserving performances, especially recently like Huppert in Elle or Riva in Amour. People don't remember Loren's movie because it's not easily accessible online or through streaming services.

Audrey is probably the most iconic performance from this list. Splendor does not hold up at all - the acting is overwrought and it's one of Kazan's worst. Laurie is solid in The Hustler but she was more supporting. Haven't seen Page's performance. All of these performances though, are head and shoulders above what gets praised today.

Two Women available for streaming:

Splendor in the Grass on streaming:

Breakfast at Tiffany's on streaming:

The Hustler on streaming:

Summer and Smoke on streaming:

Natalie Wood's performance is staggering and heartbreaking. There's a depth to it that's missing from the others, which may be due to the writing and I'm not a fan of William Inge. The award should have been hers.

R24 The lack of depth is why she didn't deserve it over Sophia Loren or any of the others besides Laurie, perhaps.

R25, it appears you don't understand film acting.

Speaking of Riva, she and Belmondo were both fantastic in the 1961 movie, "Leon Morin, Priest". Belmondo was nominated for a BAFTA for his performance, but Riva's role and performance are unforgettable.

I also thought Loren and Belmondo were great in "Two Women". I'm not much of a Shirley Maclaine fan, but I thought she was excellent in "The Children's Hour" (with Audrey Hepburn)--she was nominated for a Golden Globe but not an Oscar.

R26 I don't understand film acting because I believe a shallow performance doesn't deserve an Oscar over fully formed ones with more depth? Natalie was beautiful and a lovely person, but she was adequate at best in most of her post-childhood movies. If she hadn't died tragically, people wouldn't be trying to rebrand her as some sort of lost great talent.

R27 Leon Morin is one of my all-time favorite movies. It's the one I always pull out when I have to convince people Belmondo was more than just a clown or action hero - he was a first-rate serious actor. Better than Delon, equivalent to Tritgnant IMO. Riva is stellar, as she always is. One of the most unsung actresses in the mainstream.

Here's how I would rank them:

1. Natalie

2. Sophia

3. Geraldine

4. Audrey

5. Piper

Audrey should’ve won for Sabrina.

Riva's film career slowed in the 70s and 80s; she said she very selective about scripts and, “They stopped calling. They forgot me". She continued to act on the stage until 2001, and then had a late film career resurgence with "Amour". Similar to Jessica Tandy in that way.