Although very popular with the public and critics, I don't think that Mitchum was ever appreciated by the Acadamy or Hollywood, because he made it all look so easy. He was so laid back and casual about acting that he may have given the impression that he didn't care. In fact, he took his work very seriously, as his friend and frequent co-star Deborah Kerr disclosed in interviews. She said that he was totally professional, and a joy to work with.

Deborah was another star who never won an Oscar, and she was Nominated 6 times, but at least that she was presented with an Honorary Award, which some refer to as the death bed Oscar.

I have no respect for the Acadamy, they have snubbed so many wonderful performers, while awarding the modestly acomplished Liz Taylor two Oscars. The first for not dying in the London Clinic. Even she said that she won it for her tracheotomy (the throat operation to save her life.)

It's also shocking Peter O'Tole never won

Controversial, but I always felt Marilyn Monroe was deserving of at least one or two oscar nominations. While Marilyn's legacy seems to be more about her look and her tragic love life and death, I feel she was terribly underappreciated as an actress. She was no Katherine Hepburn or Bette Davis, but she had her own style of acting. I also think she had great comedic timing. Her performance in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is one of my all time fav performances by an actress. And unlike many other leading actresses in musicals around that time, she actually did do her own singing in her films. She had a beautiful voice. She wasn't your typical oscar worthy actress but I think she was worthy for at least one or two of her films.

As for Liz Taylor winning two oscars, her first oscar win was undeserved. She made no effort at all in Butterfield 8 and later admitted she hated the film and only did it to get out of her contract so she could do Cleopatra. Personally, this showed for me in the performance. I would of much preferred her to of won for Suddenly Last Summer, which she did earn an oscar nomination for and won a golden globe. Her scenes with Katharine Heburn were electric. Her second oscar for Whose Afraid of Virginia Woolfe is sublime and very much deserved.

Would you say the academy's judgement has always been a bit off and not worthy of your respect or it got worse over time?
Was it any better in the early days from the late 1920s when perhaps there was less commercial showcasing and less blatant favouritism or was studio manoeuvring and sops to sob stories always a weakness in the system?

It has always made the strangest choices, right back to when Katie Hepburn (who I love) won for her mannered, and frankly embarrassing performance in Morning Glory.

One of their biggest errors was awarding an Oscar to Ginger Rogers for Kitty Foyle, a dreadful film with a forgettable performance. The Acadamy were probably carried away by the fact that a dancer could actually act a little. It is ludicrous when you look at who she beat, Bette Davis in The Letter, Martha Scott in Our Town, and Joan Fontaine in Rebecca (who should have won). Consequently, Joan won the following year for Hitchcock's Suspicion. I was a big fan of Joan's but that wasn't an Oscar worthy performance, and she beat her sister Olivia in Hold Back the Dawn, Bette in The Little Foxes, and Barbara in Ball of Fire. These frankly crazy decisions can have a rollover effect, so when they give an Oscar as a kind of consolation prize because the recipient didn't win the previous year, then a more deserving nominee misses out.

There was an uproar in 1934 when Bette Davis wasn't Nominated for Of Human Bondage. To make up for it, the Acadamy Nominated her, and she won the following year for Dangerous, a very ordinary programmer. Even Bette considered it a consolation prize, and said that Katie Hepburn should have won for Alice Adams, and she was right.

I have mentioned before that Cary Grant was not even Nominated for The Philadelphia Story, yet James Stewart won the Best Actor Oscar for what was really a supporting role in the same film. Probably because he lost the previous year for Mr Smith Goes to Washington.

As you may recall, I have never liked Ingrid Bergman, and I hated her hammy performance in Murder on the Orient Express. I couldn't believe when she won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for it. In her acceptance speech even she admitted that it should have gone to Valentina Cortesa for her memorable performance in Day for Night.

There are many more, but those are the names that come to mind.

Morning Glory is the only performance of Hepburn's i disliked. It was a weak film anyway. In fact, watching Hepburn in that film is like watching a totally different actress. She was not good at all. A far cry from what she would become in the films that followed. An example of giving an oscar to an actress far too early in her career. Quite a few forums I have been on in the past do argue that her first oscar should of been for Alice Adams or The Philadelphia Story.

I didn't like Bette Davis in any of her oscar winning films. They were good films but not her best performances. She should of won for All About Eve and Baby Jane, which both remain her most iconic and well remembered performances until this very day anyway. Bette made it no secret she wanted to win for All about eve anyway. Her and Gloria Swanson were both the favs to win that year, but Judy Holliday did a "Grace Kelly" and shocked everone that year by winning. But then Bette was never going to win for Baby Jane as she was up against Anne Bancroft who did deserve her oscar for The Miracle Worker.

Bette did say that she wouldn't have minded losing to Swanson, she loved her performance in Sunset Boulevard. It was unusual that a comedy performance would win over two of the strongest dramatic performances in the history of the Oscars, and not forgetting the other two Nominee's, Anne Baxter in All About Eve, and Eleanor Parker in Caged. Bette admitted that Anne's role was not only more difficult, it was also longer than hers, so she had every right to be in the Best Actress category.

It was unfortunate that Judy Holliday just happened to be up against all those fabulous performances that year, because her performance in Born Yesterday was wonderful, and far more deserving of an Oscar than Grace Kelly when she won over Judy Garland in A Star is Born.

Just started watching 'bundle of joy' on talking pictures, staring Debbie Reynolds.

Checking imdb, I'm happy to report she's still alive. And still working.....

Still alive, but sadly not well enough to accept her Honorary Oscar last November. Hopefully she will be at the forthcoming Oscar ceremony when the Honorary winners are usually mentioned. Although I don't understand why they can't present them at the main ceremony as they used to. It was always the highlight of a usually long, tedious evening.

Just a reminder that Joan Lorring, the lady who inspired this thread will be on the Talking Pictures channel on Valentines Day, Sunday 14th February at 6.10pm.
She supports Barbara Stanwyck in The Other Love, and anyone who has been reading this thread for very long will recall how often I have mentioned it, and know just how significant this film is to me.

I saw it when it was first released in 1947, I was not quite 10 years old, and it was only the second time that I had seen Barbara on screen. It had such an effect on me, and I became a lifelong fan. She plays a concert pianist who arrives at a Swiss Sanatorium to recuperate from some unknown aliment, probably TB.

Joan plays a fellow patient, and she is just luminous in their scenes together. If you see it I am sure that you will agree that she deserves to be the subject of her own thread.

Thanks for the heads up about Joan Lorring.

I never realised that Debbie Reynolds was ill

I know how to find you through Google now just type in Frank the Plank!

Congratulations on your 20th medal in Ashford -Im sure it won't be your last!

Did you read the sad news a few days ago regarding one of the "founders" or early organisers I believe of the London marathon who died aged 87?

With regards to Robert Mitchum do you think he didn't play the Hollywood academy's game and was emollient and clubbable /sociable on the circuit if you like, could that have cost him nominations?

"Other love" is on my talking pictures watch !ist......

Ive become somewhat obsessed with talking pictures.

I do hope that you enjoy it, and just wait till you see Barbara playing the piano over the opening credits.

I love Talking Pictures, there have been some very rare films on there lately. I recorded Dr Crippen last week, and I haven't seen that since it's 1963 release.

I was born in 1947, so obviously a vintage year.

I will definitely be watching The Other Love on Talking Pictures, a channel which I have enjoyed watching in recent months.

That is great to hear, I will just mention that the ending that is shown now is not the one that I saw in 1947. For some crazy reason the powers that be decided to cut the ending when it was re-released in 1954. As you have never seen the original film it shouldn't spoil your enjoyment, and you will probably guess how it ended when it was first shown.

No, I didn't hear about the death of one of the founders of the London Marathon, but what a wonderful legacy he has left behind.

Robert Mitchum certainly didn't play the Hollywood game, and I don't expect that he worried too much about Oscar's or any other awards. I think that his attitude is summed up in the title of the excellent biography on him, Baby I Don't Care.

Yesterday I watched bundle of joy, the last holiday, and the anniversary. Tomorrow, I want to watch the bargee, and the beast must die...

I have Gaslight recorded from the other night. Ingrid Berman won her first oscar for it and it was the film debut for Angela Lansbury and earned her an oscar nomination.. Will watch it at some point. Any thoughts on the film? Not seen any of Bergman's work. I am slowly making my way around the hollywood greats.

I have to admit that I have never liked Bergman, and not just because Barbara Stanwyck should have won the Best Actress Oscar for Double Indemnity in 1944.

I just find her overrated, and that so called ethereal smile comes across to me, as a smug, self satisfied smirk. Although I like all the actors in Casablanca, I can't watch it because of her, and her mannered performance in Murder On the Orient Express spoiled it for me, and giving her an Oscar for that was just crazy.

Well i watched it. A rather good film. But i did not like Ingrid's performance at all. If that was an attempt to portray a mentally ill woman, it was absolutley laughable. I couldn't warm to the character or feel sorry for her in anyway, largely down the acting and not the writing. She won an oscar for this? Hmm ok, but then the oscars never get it right all the time. As for Angela Lansbury, she did what little she was given but it was far from an oscar worthy performance. Especially if you match it up to the two other performances she would later be nominated for.

I always liked Sir John Gielgud's summing up of Bergman, he was known for putting his foot in it when discussing colleagues, but I thought that he really nailed it when he said,

Dear Ingrid, speaks five languages and can't act in one of them!

http://runningmagazine.ca/london-mar...er-dies-at-87/

Here's the article Walter on John Disley, cofounder of the London marathon recent sad passing.


Would you say in terms of the film world that in relation to awards and Oscars etc that Robert Mitchum showed /expressed his disinterest, lack of enthusiasm for them in a much "classier or dignified way" than say Marlon Brando did?

How long have all the other main film awards been going like the film critics awards, screen guilds etc and what kind of recognition or oversight did they give the likes of Barbara Stanwyck, Lauren Bacall, Robert Mitchum, Cary Grant etc?

Thanks very much for the article, I must confess that I didn't know who was the originator of the London Marathon.

I would say that Robert Mitchum was certainly more classy and dignified than Brando, who was a self obsessed bore.

I know that both Cary Grant and Lauren Bacall were awarded Honorary Oscars, and Mitchum won the Cecil B de Mille Award at the 1992 Golden Globes.

As for Barbara, in her later years Hollywood seemed to be making up for all the years that they had snubbed her.

Here are her Awards:

Acadamy Awards - Best Actress Nomination - 1937 - 1941 - 1944 - 1948 - Awarded Honorary Oscar 1982

Motion Picture Costumers Award - For Artistry in the Use and Interpretation of Costume - 1957 and 1964

Los Angeles Women's Advertising Award - Woman of the Year - 1953 and 1962

Radio and Television Women of Southern California Award - The Woman Most Outstanding on Television - 1961

Professional Photographers of California - First Lady of the Camera - 1964

Emmy Award - Best Actress in TV Series 1961 - 1966 - 1983

Photoplay Magazine - Most Popular TV Actress - 1966 and 1967

Screen Actors Guild - Life Achievement Award - 1967

The National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Centre - Wrangler Award - 1973

Golden Apple Award - Most Co-operative Actress of 1961 - Female Star of the Year - 1983

Lincoln Centre Film Society - Life Achievement Award - 1981

Los Angeles Film Critics - Life Achievement Award - 1981

Golden Globes - Best Performance by an actress in a Supporting role in a mini series - 1983

Golden Globes - Cecil B de Mille Award - 1986

American Film Institute Life Achievement Gold Star - 1987

Golden Boot - In Memorium Award - 1998

Probably her most unique award was in 1954, when she was inducted into the Brave Dog Society in a full ceremonial ceremony by the Blackfoot Tribe of Montana. She became an Honorary member of the tribe and given the title, Princess Many Victories III.
They were very impressed when they watched her performing all her own stunts when she was filming Cattle Queen of Montana with Ronald Reagan

http://m.huffpost.com/uk/entry/9233504

Will reply to other posts /points later but felt this was worth posting.

Call me an old cynic, but I can't help thinking that this was a token gesture after all the fuss in Hollywood about black actors being snubbed by the Acadamy.

A terrific actor for sure, but it does seem a bit of a coincidence.