1955 | Grace Kelly Defeats Judy Garland for Best Actress

on Oscar night 1955 Judy Garland was in the hospital recovering from the birth of her son Joe convinced that she would win Best Actress NBC sent a camera crew to her room to film her reaction to her win but then she didn't judy garland's lost to Grace Kelly for the country girl remains one of the most stunning upsets in Academy history if nearly everyone had predicted that Judy's performance in a star is born' would earn her the award why didn't she in this episode we'll walk through the development of Judy's reputation in Hollywood how grace is drastically differs and why reality undercut expectations before we dive in let's check out the other nominees each of them belong in their own best actress videos down the line so I'm admittedly sparse with their content here but just so you know Audrey Hepburn of the year's previous winner and one of her loveliest roles in Sabrina Dorothy Dandridge the first african-american woman to be nominated for the Best Actress Academy Award in Carmen Jones this is a huge feat and accomplishment in itself which of course will be revisited down the line and Jane Wyman in her first Douglas Sirk melodrama magnificent obsession when James Mason's character Norman Maine in a star is born watch his duties perform he says she says that's what she was they'll be mayor saw it too way back in 1935 when he signed 13-year old Judy already a vaudeville veteran to a long-term MGM contract before long she became one of Hollywood's most valuable bankable stars with credits like Love Finds Andy Hardy meet me in st. Louie and a little film called The Wizard of Oz for which Judy was awarded a juvenile Oscar but this it was in place to make stars stars were especially hard on Judy to keep up with seven day work weeks with sometimes 18 hour work days Judy was given pills uppers to perform and Downers to get through the night by her late teens she was an addict and suffering from mental illness which inevitably affected her ability to work the pattern was usually the same frequent sometimes days long absences chronic tardiness outbursts and generally a concerning unhealthy appearance during the filming of the pirate in 1947 she broke down and attempted suicide although Judy had been reliably one of the most bankable stars in the 1940s MGM executives coldly questions whether Judy's behavior was worth the trouble the pirate was the first film Judy ever made that didn't yield a profit her delays on the set of summer stock caused production to run over six months which was absurd for the time so even though it made a lot of money is still ended up at a net loss of over $80,000 for the studio when she couldn't complete films because of her health they replaced her three times Ginger Rogers took over in the Barkley's of Broadway Betty Hutton and Anna gets her gun and Jane Powell in Royal Wedding again MGM took the hit for example reshoots for Annie Get Your Gun caused its budget to more than double incorporating the cost of these delays and the psychiatry and hospital bills they paid to help her recover they calculated it was more expensive to keep Judy than not to and in 1950 after 15 years they let her go enter Grace Kelly the same year Judy left MGM Grace Kelly conducted her first screen test the first stage in a relatively smooth and generally meteoric rise to stardom she had grown up in an affluent Pennsylvanian family got in a prestigious education and worked as an actress and model in new york initial success led to her first film role in 1951 s 14 hours then High Noon with Gary Cooper 1954 was a banner year for grace she received her first Academy Award nomination for her third film a gumbo she started in rear window dial M for murder and the country girl meaning she had that quote uncanny luck of having each of her films among the top grocers of 1954 her box-office draw was so significant and understood that it even became a punchline at the fifty five Oscars beyond to the money she could pull in she quickly came to represent the glamour and elegance of the 1950s movie star she was of course stunning but more importantly she carried herself with a quiet confidence and refinement she was Hitchcock's snow-covered volcano the press who touted her as one of the most publicized actors ever constantly described her as a natural beauty who could quote go without glamor gimmicks she was Hollywood's idealized image of a woman sexy without being vulgar a mannequin for the most beautiful wardrobe and the perfect partner for an adventure in other words she naturally embodied everything the studio believed Judy could never be in the country girl grace played a repressed wife of a manipulative actor struggling with alcoholism grace fought for the role because she wanted characters with more death saying I just had to be in the country girl there was a real acting part in it for me sometimes I had to act before but I had beautiful clothes or beautiful lingerie or glamorous settings to help me grace rose to the challenge and received critical acclaim for what is probably her greatest acting achievement the New York Times called her performance forceful and perceptive her performance stood out partly because she was cast against type in Addie glammed roll her bulky sweaters and glasses felt particularly transformative because they came on the heels of two performances that essentially epitomized 50s high fashion the commitment required to D glam has always been like catnip to the Academy this too though highlights a contrast with Judy's experience Dee glamming has a certain privilege because it suggests that you have glam to take away in the first place ridiculously Studios constantly told Judy that she had to glam up just to pass her costume Designers on a star is born' complains that her hips started under her bustline Louie be mayor allegedly referred to her as my little hunchback pressured her to get cosmetic surgery and would only let the MGM commissary serve her chicken broth and cottage cheese for her death lambing wasn't an option but that was really the least of Judy's worries pressures mounted as the production on a star is born in 1953 began it would be her first film in four years after another suicide attempt and more hospital stays and Warner Brothers was banking on her comeback to draw in a big crowd in a star is born Judy plays Vicki Lester an actress who must care for her actor husband as her career skyrockets and his plummets this remake of the 1937 film starring Janet Gaynor was plagued with difficulty from the beginning and at first none of it having to do with garland herself mainly confusion over the type of film and aspect ratio they would use but eventually Judy's behavior unfortunately began to meet everyone's worst expectations director George Cukor wrote in a letter toward the end of production quote strange sinister and sad things began happening to Judy I've observed that after her so-called rests she always comes back in much worse shape than when she left I think there's much more drinking than resting when she came back this time her behavior was really unconscionable sometimes she'd come in for an hour and then leave because she was absolutely exhausted and then go straight to the races she abandoned all pretense of reporting to work on time this is the behavior of someone i hinged but there is an arrogance and a ruthless selfishness that eventually alienates one sympathy if it really was so hard working with Judy why did people do it as Gloria DeHaven put it she was late but boy it was worth waiting for a star is born more so than any of her other films in my opinion showcases how versatile and skilled a performer Judy was of course she delivered top quality musical performances but up until that point no one had considered Judy Garland a dramatic actress yet here she gave such a sensitive and expansive performance you think she'd been doing it her whole career I personally think her dressing room monologue ranks as one of the best acted seams on film perhaps the scene is so powerful because the parallels are inescapable vicki is desperate to understand what makes a person self-destruct she wishes trying to escape addiction was enough for a person to succeed in doing so qguar didn't shy away from the comparison either he once explained quote just before the take I said to her very quietly you know what this is about you really know this additional problems occurred upon release originally over three hours MGM pulled the first cut out of theaters to shorten it their hack editing job confused motivations and plot devices which according to cuecore lessened the impact of Judy's performance and subsequent screenings again the delays and reused the cost to over five million dollars making it the second most expensive film ever made at that point causing some derision in the press warner failed to promote the film properly and judy couldn't again in the hospital because of a bad pillow alcohol combo still come Oscar season the critics were equally taken by Judy's performance as I just was the New York Times said her performance would make hearts flutter and bleed look magazine said Judy put on the greatest one-woman show on earth it seemed obvious that Judy would win which brings us right back to that hospital room with those cameras clearly a majority of voters didn't think Judy should have won and yet a majority were still surprised that she didn't I think Ron haver phrased it best if everybody expected Judy to win why didn't she probably because not everybody wanted her to win I don't think it's a coincidence that both Grace and Judy played wives of self-destructive actors they're sympathetic characters in an archetypal story very familiar to every single voter except in real life judy was that actor she was her own antagonist her own Norman main one underlying message in the country girl and a star is born is that it's really hard to be on someone's team under those conditions nobody really believed Judy acted out of malice in fact most people were marked upon how kind and funny she was but her behavior made them uneasy inter trade gossip gave every hairdresser grip and designer the perception that she was overdone and exhausting graces other Awards in 1955 provide the most helpful hint for understanding why voters chose her she one photo plays gold medal award for most promising talent was called most sought after on the recover of Redbook motion picture daily named her actress of the year in January 1955 she won favorite new face she took home the New York Critics Circle Award for three of her films as a unit these notices are important not only because they showcase her popularity but also because they suggest the beginning of something words like newcomer promising sought-after all forecast future success Hollywood chose to invest in her stardom because in their eyes grace broadened money Judy wasted it grace was effortless Judy took effort grace had youth Judy had been around grace was as Jimmy Stewart put it too perfect a memory of the untouchable glamour of Hollywood past ironically both Grace and Judy were nearly done with their Hollywood careers Grace famously became Princess of Monaco while Judy stuck mostly to concerts a TV where she even made fun of her Oscar night surprise this reminds me actually of the Academy Award that I lost Grace Kelly did give a wonderful performance in the country girl but her win will always be associated with the upset never on its own merits Judi lost for the best performance of her career ironically playing an actor whose Oscar night is ruined by substance abuse because her reputation undermined her even if someone took home a trophy no one really won here but it shows how Hollywood will invest in its future and how the people you work with every day may change their minds when they're alone with their ballots thank you for watching if you enjoyed this video please like and I guess subscribe thanks

Channel: Be Kind Rewind

Views: 531,776

Keywords: grace kelly, grace kelly oscar, oscars, academy awards, judy garland, a star is born, the country girl, 1954, 1955, 1954 oscars, judy garland a star is born, grace kelly wins oscar, rear window, dial m for murder, film history, judy garland the man that got away, video essay, best actress

Id: zDBXKP6L9iY

Length: 14min 3sec (843 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 07 2018