Your Favourite Performances from 1929 to present are...

[skimpole]

Peter O'Toole,  Lawrence of Arabia
James Mason, Lolita
Gregory Peck, To Kill a Mockingbird
Chishu Ryu, An Autumn Afternoon
Ralph Richardson, Long Day's Journey into Night


Runner-ups:  Tatsuya Nakadi (Harakiri), Jack Lemmon (Days of Wine and Roses), Oskar Werner (Jules et Jim), Jean-Paul Belmondo (Le Doulos), Alain Delon (L'Eclisse), Henri Serre (Jules et Jim), Leon Niemczyk (Knife in the Water), Zygmunt Malanowicz (Knife in the Water), Anthony Perkins (The Trial), Kolya Burlyayev (Ivan's Childhood/My Name is Ivan), Toshio Mifune (Sanjuru), Tom Courtenay (The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner), James Stewart (The Man who Shot Liberty Valance), Marlon Brando (Mutiny on the Bounty),


Actress

Jeanne Moreau, Jules et Jim
Anna Karina, Vivre sa Vie
Katharine Hepburn, Long Day's Journey into Night
Jolanta Umecka, Knife in the Water
Lee Remick, Days of Wine and Roses
 

Runner-ups:   Anne Bancroft (The Miracle Worker), Anna Magnani (Mamma Rosa), Corinne Marchand (Cleo from 5 to 7), Monica Vitti (L'Eclisse), Silvia Pinal (The Exterminating Angel),

,

Supporting Actor

Alec Guinness, Lawrence of Arabia
Peter Sellers, Lolita
Omar Shariff, Lawrence of Arabia
Laurence Harvey, The Manchurian Candidate
Jason Robards, Long Day's Journey into Night


Runner-ups:  Dean Stockwell (Long Day's Journey into Night), Jack Hawkins (Lawrence of Arabia), Henry Fonda (Advise and Consent), Akira Ishihama (Harakiri), Arthur Kennedy (Lawrence of Arabia), Evgeny Zharikov (Ivan's Childhood/My name is Ivan), Orson Welles (The Trial), Anthony Quinn (Lawrence of Arabia), Eijiro Tono (An Autumn Afternoon), Jack Klugman (Days of Wine and Roses), Walter Pidgeon (Advise and Consent), Jose Ferrer (Lawrence of Arabia), Claude Rains (Lawrence of Arabia)

 

Supporting Actress

Shelley Winters, Lolita
Angela Lansbury, The Manchurian Candidate
Mary Badham, To Kill a Mockingbird
Patty Duke, The Miracle Worker
Shima Iwashita, Harakiri, An Autumn Afternoon



Runner-ups:  Janet Leigh (The Manchurian Candidate), Jeanne Moreau (The Trial), Ursula Andress (Dr. No), Valentina Malyavina (Ivan's Childhood/My Name is Ivan), Mariko Okada (An Autumn Afternoon),


Not seen:  The Music Man, Divorce Italian Style, David and Lisa, Birdman of Alcatraz, Sweet Bird of Youth, Billy Budd

 

-------Alec Guinness finally gets one of my Oscars, and while one might cavil at having an Arab played by an English (Scots?) actor, in my view director/actor chemistry counts more than historical accuracy.

 

-------Two girls enter the always weak Supporting Actress category.  Yet if I had to choose a juvenile performer for the year it would be Burlyayev well behind in the Actor runner-ups.

[LawrenceA]

Nor had I heard of it, Lawrence. I take it that Timothy Carey is not a boy next door type in it.

 

I just noticed that World's Greatest Sinner  is scheduled to air October 29/30 at 2:30 AM EST. Mark your calendars!!!

[speedracer5]

1962

 

I actually haven't seen two of the biggest films from this year-- To Kill a Mockingbird and Lawrence of Arabia.  I have 'Mockingbird' recorded on my DVR.  I have read the book if that counts! Lol. 

 

WINNER IN BOLD

 

BEST PICTURE

 

Boys' Night Out

The Brain That Wouldn't Die

Cape Fear

Days of Wine and Roses

Gypsy

In Search of the Castaways

Lolita

Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation

That Touch of Mink

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

 

BEST ACTOR

 

James Garner, Boys' Night Out

Jason Evers, The Brain That Wouldn't Die

Gregory Peck, Cape Fear

Robert Mitchum, Cape Fear

Jack Lemmon, Days of Wine and Roses

Maurice Chevalier, In Search of the Castaways

James Mason, Lolita

James Stewart, Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation

Cary Grant, That Touch of Mink

 

BEST ACTRESS

 

Kim Novak, Boys' Night Out

Virginia Leith, The Brain That Wouldn't Die

Polly Bergen, Cape Fear

Lee Remick, Days of Wine and Roses

Natalie Wood, Gypsy

Rosalind Russell, Gypsy

Hayley Mills, In Search of the Castaways

Sue Lyon, Lolita

Maureen O'Hara, Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation

Doris Day, That Touch of Mink

Bette Davis, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

Joan Crawford, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? 

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

 

Tony Randall, Boys' Night Out

The Creature in the Closet, The Brain That Wouldn't Die

Jack Klugman, Days of Wine and Roses

George Sanders, In Search of the Castaways

John McGiver, Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation

Karl Malden, Gypsy

Victor Buono, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

 

Ruth McDevitt, Boys' Night Out

Ann Jillian, Gypsy

The Strippers, Gypsy (I'm considering them one entity) 

Shelley Winters, Lolita

Laurie Peters, Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation

 

BEST SONGS:

 

I agree with Swithin about all the great music in film this year.  

 

My favorties:

 

"Castaway, Castaway" Hayley Mills, In Search of the Castaways

"I've Written a Letter to Daddy," Bette Davis, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

"Let Me Entertain You," Natalie Wood, Gypsy

"Boys' Night Out," Patti Page, Boys' Night Out

"Cream Puff," Fabian & Laurie Peters, Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation

 

SCARIEST PERFORMANCE

 

Robert Mitchum was down-right terrifying in Cape Fear.  He could be charming Barrie Chase in one scene and in the next scene, he's scaring the crap out of her, to the point where she won't even talk to the police when they come to nab him.  She's that terrified of him.  Then the entire scene in the houseboat between Mitchum and Polly Bergen is scary and creepy. Who needs a gory slasher flick to scare you when you've got Robert Mitchum as a convicted rapist who continually threatens sexual violence against women and teenage girls? 

 

BEST FIGHT SCENE

 

Between Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum in the river in Cape Fear. 

 

BEST SIMPSONS PARODY

 

"Cape Feare," when Sideshow Bob follows "The Thompsons" (aka "The Simpsons," they're now in the Witness Re-Location program) to a houseboat on Terror Lake.  His goal: Killing Bart.  Bart was responsible for Sideshow Bob being sent to prison.  The highlight of the episode is when Bart convinces Sideshow Bob to sing the entire score from the "HMS Pinafore." 

 

BEST COSTUMES

 

Gypsy.  Natalie Wood looked gorgeous in this film.

 

BEST DEATH SCENE

 

Shelley Winters in Lolita.  Man was she irritating.

 

FUNNIEST SCENE

 

The beginning of The Brain That Wouldn't Die.  The boyfriend starts driving maniacally, racing to get to his lab.  What could go wrong? They crash.  The girlfriend is decapitated.  The boyfriend carries the girlfriend's head to his lab.  Combine this with the raucous jazz music at the beginning and you have a very entertaining beginning to a film.  

 

MOST TRAGIC FILM

 

Days of Wine and Roses.  A couple's descent into alcoholism.  A beautifully acted film by Lee Remick and Jack Lemmon.  It was excellent, but it was so heartbreaking that it is difficult to see myself watching it again and again.  

 

FUNNIEST COMPUTER

 

The computer in That Touch of Mink that spits punch cards all over the place.

 

GREATEST APARTMENT

 

Kim Novak's apartment in Boys' Night Out.  

 

GREATEST VILLAIN

 

While Robert Mitchum was terrifying in Cape Fear, Bette Davis is a fantastic villain.  Her Baby Jane encompasses so many character traits that, as an audience member, it is difficult to decide who to feel sorry for.  The obvious choice of course is Joan Crawford's Blanche.  However, Baby Jane is a combination of sadistic and vindictive while at the same time, she's pathetic and delusional.  As an audience member, you kind of feel sorry for Jane because she just cannot grasp the idea that she's lost "it." I also found her mean tricks on Blanche to be really funny.  

 

MOST INAPPROPRIATE, YET INTRIGUING RELATIONSHIP

 

James Mason & Sue Lyon in Lolita.  On one hand, Humbert Humbert's fascination with "nymphets" is disturbing and completely inappropriate.  Yet, when you understand the character's background and the pain he suffered during adolescence when the love of his life died suddenly, you understand why he's in love with younger girls--he's trying to capture what he lost and heal the hole in his heart.  When you understand his fascination from that perspective, it is more romantic, even if from a legal and conscientious perspective, it is grossly inappropriate. 

 

BEST "LOOK"

 

Bette Davis' "I haven't washed my makeup off in 10 years and everyday I just apply another coat" look in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? She looks insane and she is relishing every moment.

 

BEST (AND SADDEST) ENDING

 

What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

 

JANE: You mean all this time, we could have been friends?

 

SPEEDRACER'S TAKEAWAY FROM "THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE"

 

Can you imagine the boyfriend's pickup line when he goes to the clubs looking for a new body for his girlfriend's head? 

 

"Hey, you got a hot body.  Your face is meh, but that body is bangin'.  Would you mind coming home with me so I can show you to my body-less girlfriend? We're trying to find a new home for her head." 

[Bogie56]

Best Supporting Actress of 1962

 

7.  LILI PALMER (Frau Marianne Mollendorf), The Counterfeit Traitor

 

The (kingrat) best performance in a mediocre film goes to Lili Palmer.

[Bogie56]

 

FUNNIEST SCENE

 

The beginning of The Brain That Wouldn't Die.  The boyfriend starts driving maniacally, racing to get to his lab.  What could go wrong? They crash.  The girlfriend is decapitated.  The boyfriend carries the girlfriend's head to his lab.  Combine this with the raucous jazz music at the beginning and you have a very entertaining beginning to a film.  

 

 

And if memory serves he is driving a classic convertible.  Too expensive for the cheapo production to ruin so you don't even see the big car crash!

[kingrat]

1962 is not only the last great year of the studio system which lasted through, say, 1966, it is one of the best years for movies ever. Like Lawrence, I'm overwhelmed by so many great choices for best actor. I had Robert Mitchum as an easy winner for best supporting actor, but the rest of you seem to think this is a lead role, which overloads the best actor category even more.

 

Best Actor for 1962:

 

Peter O'Toole, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA****

Laurence Harvey, THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE

Robert Mitchum, CAPE FEAR

Jack Lemmon, DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES

James Mason, LOLITA

Alberto Sordi, MAFIOSO

Gregory Peck, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

Ralph Richardson, LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT

 

Honorable mention: Stanley Baker, EVA; Tom Bell, THE L-SHAPED ROOM; Tom Courtenay, THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER; Keir Dullea, DAVID AND LISA; Robert Preston, THE MUSIC MAN; Dean Stockwell, LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT; Oskar Werner, JULES AND JIM

 

Best Actress of 1962:

 

Jeanne Moreau, JULES AND JIM****

Lee Remick, DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES

Leslie Caron, THE L-SHAPED ROOM

Jean Seberg, IN THE FRENCH STYLE

Anne Bancroft, THE MIRACLE WORKER

 

Honorable mention: Patty Duke, THE MIRACLE WORKER; Katharine Hepburn, LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT; Janet Leigh, THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE; Corinne Marchand, CLEO FROM 5 TO 7; Simone Signoret, TERM OF TRIAL

 

Best Supporting Actor of 1962:

 

Frank Sinatra, THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE****

Omar Sharif, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA

Jason Robards, LONG DAY'S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT

Charles Bickford, DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES

Walter Pidgeon, ADVISE AND CONSENT

 

Honorable mention: Warren Beatty, ALL FALL DOWN; Paul Ford, THE MUSIC MAN; Alec Guinness, LAWRENCE OF ARABIA; Ross Martin, EXPERIMENT IN TERROR; Patrick McGoohan, ALL NIGHT LONG; Brock Peters, THE L-SHAPED ROOM; Donald Pleasence, LISA

 

Best Supporting Actress of 1962:

 

Angela Lansbury, THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE****

Claire Bloom, THE CHAPMAN REPORT

Vera Miles, THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE

Cicely Courtneidge, THE L-SHAPED ROOM

Avis Bunnage, THE L-SHAPED ROOM

 

Honorable mention: Barrie Chase, CAPE FEAR; Hermione Gingold, THE MUSIC MAN; Sarah Miles, TERM OF TRIAL; Eva Marie Saint, ALL FALL DOWN

 

Best Musical Number: "Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty," performed by Cicely Courtneidge in THE L-SHAPED ROOM

 

As Bogie noted, I like to give special mention to performers who manage to give outstanding performances in less than stellar films. How on earth can anyone give a serious performance in a campy, giggle-provoking film? I don't know, but she does:

Claire Bloom, THE CHAPMAN REPORT

[CoraSmith]

ACTOR:

1. Gregory Peck - To Kill a Mockingbird

2. Peter O'Toole - Lawrence of Arabia

3. James Mason - Lolita

4. Sean Connery - Dr. No

5. James Stewart - The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

6. Jack Lemmon - Days of Wine and Roses

7. Frank Sinatra - The Manchurian Candidate

8. Peppino De Filippo - Boccaccio 70

9. Leon Niemczyk - Knife in the Water

10. Anthony Perkins - The Trial

 

ACTRESS:

1. Monica Vitti - L'Eclisse

2. Anna Karina - Vivre Sa Vie

3. Lee Remick - Days of Wine and Roses

4. Yvette Mimieux - Light in the Piazza

5. Debbie Reynolds - How the West Was Won

6. Jolanta Umecka - Knife in the Water

7. Shirley MacLaine - My Geisha

8. Corinne Marchand - Cléo from 5 to 7

9. Bette Davis - What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

10. Anne Bancroft - The Miracle Worker

SUPPORTING ACTOR:

1. Anthony Quinn - Lawrence of Arabia

2. Brock Peters- To Kill a Mockingbird

3. Omar Sharif - Lawrence of Arabia

4. Peter Sellers - Lolita

5. Anthony Quayle - Lawrence of Arabia

6. Orson Welles - The Trial
7. Charles Bickford - Days of Wine and Roses
8. Lee Marvin - The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

SUPPORTING ACTRESS:

1. Shelley Winters - Lolita

2. Angela Lansbury - The Manchurian Candidate

3. Vera Miles - The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

4. Anita Ekberg - Boccaccio 70 

5. Estelle Evans - To Kill a Mockingbird

6. Ursula Andress - Dr. No

7. Thelma Ritter - How the West Was Won

8. Jeanne Moreau - The Trial

BEST JUVENILE PERFORMANCE: 

1. Sue Lyon - Lolita

2. Mary Badham - To Kill a Mockingbird

3. Patty Duke - The Miracle Worker

 

BEST ANIMAL PERFORMANCE: Lawrence's camel in Lawrence of Arabia

BEST EXTRA: David Lean - Lawrence of Arabia

BEST STRIPTEASE: Natalie Wood - Gypsy

BEST EVOCATION OF BIRTH OF VENUS: Ursula Andress - Dr. No

BEST REVOICING: Nikki van der Zyl dubbing Ursula Andress in Dr. No

LEAST PLAUSIBLE SCENE: Dry quicksand scene in Lawrence of Arabia

BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Edith Head - My Geisha

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE: Lawrence of Arabia (Maurice Jarre)

BEST ORIGINAL SONG: Return to Sender (Elvis Presley in Girls! Girls! Girls!)

BEST NON-ORIGINAL SONG: Little Girl Blue (Doris Day in Billy Rose's Jumbo)

BEST QUOTES: 

1. "There may be honor among thieves, but there's none in politicians." (Lawrence of Arabia)

2. "Whoa, take 'er easy there, Pilgrim!" (The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance)

3. "A martini, shaken, not stirred." (Dr. No)

[Bogie56]

The New York Film Critics Circle Awards were not awarded in 1962 due to a newspaper strike.

 

—————————————————————————————————

 

The National Board of Review Awards for 1962 were…

 

Best Actor

Jason Robards, Long Day’s Journey Into Night and Tender Is the Night* 

 

Best Actress

Anne Bancroft, The Miracle Worker*

 

Best Supporting Actor

Burgess Meredith, Advise & Consent*

 

Best Supporting Actress

Angela Lansbury, The Manchurian Candidate and All Fall Down*

[TomJH]

Is it a great performance or perfect casting?

 

 

James Anderson as Robert E. Lee "Bob" Ewell in To Kill A Mockingbird, a chillingly believable performance of a character who is the incarnation of ignorance and racist evil.

 

However, Gregory Peck, not an actor known for friction in his relationships with fellow actors, was on record as intensely disliking Anderson during the production of this film, indicating that other cast members felt much the same way about him. I wonder what the story was there. Thus my question at the beginning of this post.

 

I'm not certain about the accuracy of the following which I found on the internet but here it is:

 

JAMES ANDERSON, THE ACTOR WHO PLAYED MEAN OLD BOB EWELL, REALLY WAS KIND OF MEAN.

Or he behaved that way on the set, anyway, possibly due to some Method acting mentality. He didn't get along with Brock Peters (who played Tom Robinson), and wouldn't talk to Peck at all, insisting on communicating through Mulligan, their director. In the climactic fight with Jem Finch, Anderson yanked young Phillip Alford's hair so hard, he pulled him out of the shot.

[Bogie56]

Here are my choices of the 97 films I've seen from 1962 for…

 

Best Actress of 1962

 

1.  LEE REMICK (Kirsten “Kirsti” Arnesen Clay), Days of Wine and Roses

2.  JEANNE MOREAU (Catherine), Jules and Jim

3.  ANNE BANCROFT (Annie Sullivan), The Miracle Worker

4.  LESLIE CARON (Jane Fosset), The L-Shaped Room

5.  GERALDINE PAGE (Alexandra Del Lago/”Princess Cosmonopolous”), Sweet Bird of Youth

 

6.  KATHARINE HEPBURN (Mary Tyrone), Long Day's Journey Into Night

7.  ANNA MAGNANI (Mamma ‘Roma’ Garofalo/’Mamma Ro’), Mamma Roma

8.  PATTY DUKE (Helen Keller), The Miracle Worker

9.  POLLY BERGEN (Peggy Bowden), Cape Fear

10.  SUE LYON (Lolita Haze Schiller), Lolita

 

and ...

 

BETTE DAVIS ("Baby" Jane Hudson), What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

JOAN CRAWFORD (Blanche Hudson), What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

LEE REMICK (Kelly Sherwood), Experiment In Terror

SOPHIA LOREN (Zoe), Boccaccio ’70

MARIETTE HARTLEY (Elsa Knudsen), Ride the High Country

[Bogie56]

Here are my choices of the 97 films I've seen from 1962 for…

 

Best Actor of 1962

 

1.  JAMES MASON (Humbert Humbert/“Hum”), Lolita

2.  PETER O'TOOLE (Thomas Edward “T.E.” Lawrence/”El Aurens”), Lawrence of Arabia

3.  JACK LEMMON (Joe Clay), Days of Wine and Roses

4.  TERENCE STAMP (William “Billy” Budd, Merchant Seaman), Billy Budd

5.  ANTHONY QUINN (“Mountain” Rivera), Requiem for a Heavyweight

 

6.  BURT LANCASTER (Robert Franklin Stroud), Birdman of Alcatraz

7.  RALPH RICHARDSON (James Tyrone, Sr.), Long Day's Journey Into Night

8.  ROBERT MITCHUM (Max Cady), Cape Fear

9.  PETER USTINOV (Post Captain Edwin Fairfax Vere, Royal Navy), Billy Budd

10. GREGORY PECK (Atticus Finch), To Kill a Mockingbird

 

and ...

 

OSKAR WERNER (Jules), Jules and Jim

PAUL NEWMAN (Chance Wayne), Sweet Bird of Youth

LAURENCE HARVEY (Staff Sergeant Raymond Shaw), The Manchurian Candidate

SEAN CONNERY (James Bond/"007"/”Captain”), Dr. No

ALBERTO SORDI (Antonio Badalamenti), Mafioso

HENRI SERRE (Jim), Jules and Jim

JOEL MCCREA (Steve Judd), Ride the High Country

NIKOLAI BURLYAYEV (Ivan Bondarev), Ivan’s Childhood

KIRK DOUGLAS (Jack Burns), Lonely Are the Brave

MARLON BRANDO (1st Lieutenant, Fletcher Christian), Mutiny on the Bounty

TREVOR HOWARD (Capt. William Bligh), Mutiny on the Bounty

MARCELLO MASTROIANNI (Enrico), Family Diary

ANTHONY PERKINS (Joseph K), The Trial

JOHN WAYNE (Tom Doniphon), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

[JamesStewartFan95]

Best Picture
Cape Fear
Days of Wine and Roses
Lawrence of Arabia
Lolita
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence
The Miracle Worker
To Kill a Mockingbird
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane

Best Director
Robert Aldrich, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane
David Lean, Lawrence of Arabia
Robert Mulligan, To Kill a Mockingbird
Arthur Penn, The Miracle Worker
J. Lee Thompson, Cape Fear

Best Actor
Laurence Harvey, The Manchurian Candidate
James Mason, Lolita
Robert Mitchum, Cape Fear
Peter O’Toole, Lawrence of Arabia
Gregory Peck, To Kill a Mockingbird

Best Actress
Anne Bancroft, The Miracle Worker
Polly Bergen, Cape Fear
Joan Crawford, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane
Bette Davis, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane
Lee Remick, Days of Wine and Roses

Best Supporting Actress
Hermione Gingold, The Music Man
Angela Lansbury, The Manchurian Candidate

Vera Miles, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Thelma Ritter, The Birdman of Alcatraz
Shelley Winters, Lolita

Best Supporting Actor
Victor Buono, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane

Lee Marvin, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
Peter Sellers, Lolita
Omar Sharif, Lawrence of Arabia
Frank Sinatra, The Manchurian Candidate

Juvenile Performance
Phillip Alford, To Kill a Mockingird

​Mary Badham, To Kill a Mockingbird
Patty Duke, The Miracle Worker
Sue Lyon, Lolita

Best Utterance that Will Forever Be Stuck in My Head
"Ye gods".-Susan Luckey as Zaneeta Shinn-The Music Man

Best Outstanding Musical Performance
Robert Preston as Harold Hill in The Music Man


Favourite Piece of Score
The Elephant Walk-Hatari (Henry Mancini)
James Bond Theme-Dr. No (Monty Norman, John Barry)

[Bogie56]

The BAFTA winners for 1962 were ….

 

Best Actor (British)

Peter O’Toole, Lawrence of Arabia*

Richard Attenborough, The Dock Brief

Alan Bates, A Kind of Loving

James Mason, Lolita

Peter Sellers, Only Two Can Play

Laurence Olivier, Term of Trial

 

Best Actor (Foreign)

Burt Lancaster, Birdman of Alcatraz*

Franco Citti, Accatone (61)

Charles Laughton, Advise and Consent

Robert Ryan, Billy Budd

Anthony Quinn, Lawrence of Arabia

Jean-Paul Belmondo, Leon Morin, Pretre (61)

George Hamilton, Light In the Piazza

Kirk Douglas, Lonely Are the Brave

George Wilson, Such a Long Absence (61)

 

Best Actress (British)

Leslie Caron, The L-Shaped Room*

Janet Munro, Life For Ruth/Walk In the Shadow

Virginia Maskell, The Wild and the Willing

 

Best Actress (Foreign)

Anne Bancroft, The Miracle Worker*

Jeanne Moreau, Jules and Jim

Anouk Aimee, Lola (61)

Melina Mercouri, Phaedra

Natalie Wood, Splendor In the Grass (61)

Geraldine Page, Sweet Bird of Youth

Harriet Andersson, Through a Glass Darkly (61)

 

Interesting that Charles Laughton is considered a foreign actor while Leslie Caron is not.

[TomJH]

 

Bizarro Performance of the Year

 

Peter Sellers, Lolita

 

 

 

 

 

SUPPORTING ACTOR:

 

4. Peter Sellers - Lolita

 

 

Best Supporting Actor

 

Peter Sellers, Lolita

 

Lolita has my favourite James Mason performance but many critics at the time of the film's 1962 release thought that Peter Seller's characterization of Claire Quilty had stolen the film.

 

Here's a comment from Wiki, speculating how one of Quilty's disguises in this film may have laid the groundwork for one of his most famous performances just around the corner:

 

Numerous observers have seen similarities between Peter Sellers' performance of Quilty-as-Zempf and his subsequent role in Stanley Kubrick's next film as Doctor Strangelove. Stanley Kubrick himself in an interview with Michel Ciment described both characters as "parodies of movie clichés of Nazis". Commenting elsewhere on the characters, Ciment writes "Peter Sellers prefigured his creation of Dr Strangelove, particularly in the role of Dr Zempf, the school psychologist whose thick German accent recalls that of the mad professor (note Kubrick's ambiguous feelings towards Germany, his admiration for its culture... his fear of its demonstrations of power...)".

 

Thomas Allen Nelson has said that in this part of his performance, "Sellers twists his conception of Quilty toward that neo-Nazi monster, who will roll out of the cavernous shadows of Dr. Strangelove", later noting that Zempf "exaggerates Humbert's European pomposity through his psychobabble and German anality." The Kubrick interview has been commented by Geoffrey C o c k s, author of a controversial book on the impact of the Holocaust on Kubrick's overall work, who notes that "Dr. Strangelove himself... is the mechanical chimera of modern horror."

 

Other observers of this similarity include Internet film critic Tim Dirks who has also noted that Sellers's smooth German-like accent and the chair-bound pose in this scene are similar to that of Dr. Strangelove. Finally, Barbara Wyllie, writing in Julian Connelly's anthology The Cambridge Companion to Nabokov, speaks of "Quilty's visit to the house in Beardsley, masquerading as Dr. Zempf, a German psychologist (a Sellers character that prefigures Dr. Strangelove in Kubrick's film of 1964)."

 

 

[Bogie56]

Here are Danny Peary’s Alternate Oscar choices for 1962.  Winners in bold.  

 

Best Actor

Peter O’Toole, Lawrence of Arabia*

Kirk Douglas, Lonely Are the Brave

Joel McCrea, Ride the High country

James Mason, Lolita

Gregory Peck, To Kill a Mockingbird

Robert Preston, The Music Man

Ralph Richardson, Long Day’s Journey Into Night

Randolph Scott, Ride the High Country

Dean Stockwell, Long Day’s Journey Into Night

 

Best Actress

Ann Bancroft, The Miracle Worker*

Bette Davis, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

Katharine Hepburn, Long Day’s Journey Into Night

Shirley MacLaine, Two For the Seesaw

 

 

And here are Michael Gerbert’s Golden Armchair choices for 1962:

 

Best Actor

Peter Sellers, Lolita*

 

Best Actress

Shelley Winters, Lolita*

[TomJH]

Here are Danny Peary’s Alternate Oscar choices for 1962.  Winners in bold.  

 

Best Actor

 

Kirk Douglas, Lonely Are the Brave

 

I'm a little surprised that so few posters on this thread have made reference to this performance. Kirk often played hard nuts and characters you would never want to meet on screen. But he also played some really good guys, and I think his portrayal here of the loner cowboy living outside his time, the actor's ode to rugged individualism, is Douglas at the peak of his career as a performer.

 

His Jack Burns is stubborn but principled. It's a humane characterization. He has charm but few real friends because of his roving lifestyle. His greatest rapport with any living creature is with his horse which leads, of course, to the film's ironic ending. A truly beautiful performance by Douglas, in my opinion. I never thought he was more engaging. The actor, by the way, (as well as his son, Michael) is on record as ranking Lonely Are the Brave as his favourite film of his career.

 

The film also has wonderful support from Walter Matthau as a gum chewing lawman reluctantly doing his job and hunting after Douglas after he escapes from jail, and Gena Rowlands as a former lover and now wife of one of Douglas's few friends. And in an early memorable performance during his villain period, George Kennedy plays a sadistic jail guard with a chilling malevolence. Particularly memorable is the manner in which Kennedy states the name of Douglas's character with a drawn out contempt in his voice, "John Double U Burns."

 

 

Kirk's Jack Burns doesn't know it as he comfortably sits back here, relaxing with a beer, but he's about to have a memorable encounter with a one armed man in that bar, in a terrifically staged sequence. The one armed man was played by Bill Kaisch, soon to have a form of immortality to a '60s television generation in The Fugitive series.

[kingrat]

Several of us mentioned Alberto Sordi in Mafioso on our best actor lists for 1962. TCM showed Mafioso a couple of years ago, so it may turn up again. This is one of the very few films that changes tone successfully. We begin with Alberto Sordi as a kind of Walter Mitty character who has an office job in the big city. He and his family go to visit Mama and the rest of his relatives in Sicily. So far, we're seeing a kind of National Lampoon's Italian Family Vacation movie.

 

SPOILERS AHEAD:

 

It turns, out, however, that the poor schlub actually has one talent: he was always a good shot. That makes him extremely useful to the local mafiosi. They want a rival in New York taken out, and who better than a shooter who will transported in and out?

 

For the film to work, the tone has to be managed carefully. The lead actor has to get everything just right. With Alberto Sordi as our hapless henpecked guy, there are no worries. The very capable director is Alberto Lattuada, who co-directed Fellini's first film, Variety Lights.

 

Italian cinema from the rise of neorealism to the mid-60s appears to have been one of the golden ages of film, and not just the four or five big names. I would enjoy seeing more films by directors like Lattuada, Mario Monicelli, and Dino Risi.

[Bogie56]

The Golden Globe Awards for 1962 were …

 

Best Actor in a Drama

Gregory Peck, To Kill a Mockingbird*

Jack Lemmon, Days of Wine and Roses

Bobby Darin, Pressure Point

Anthony Quinn, Lawrence of Arabia

Paul Newman, Sweet Bird of Youth

Peter O’Toole, Lawrence of Arabia

Jackie Gleason, Gigot

Laurence Harvey, The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm

Burt Lancaster, Birdman of Alcatraz

James Mason, Lolita

 

Best Actress in a Drama

Geraldine Page, Sweet Bird of Youth*

Susannah York, Freud

Katharine Hepburn, Long Day’s Journey Into Night

Melina Mercouri, Phaedra

Susan Strasberg, Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man

Glynis Johns, The Chapman Report

Lee Remick, Days of Wine and Roses

Shelley Winters, Lolita

Anne Bancroft, The Miracle Worker

Bette Davis, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

 

Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical

Marcello Mastroiani, Divorce Italian Style* (61)

Alberto Sordi, The Best of Enemies (61)

Stephen Boyd, Billy Rose’s Jumbo

Jimmy Durante, Billy Rose’s Jumbo

Karl Malden, Gypsy

James Stewart, Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation

Robert Preston, The Music Man

Charlton Heston, The Pigeon That Took Rome

Cary Grant, That Touch of Mink

 

Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical

Rosalind Russell, Gypsy*

Shirley Jones, The Music Man

Jane Fonda, Period of Adjustment

Doris Day, Billy Rose’s Jumbo

Natalie Wood, Gypsy

 

Best Supporting Actor

Omar Sharif, Lawrence of Arabia*

Telly Savalas, Birdman of Alcatraz

Harold J. Stone, The Chapman Report

Ross Martin, Experiment In Terror

Paul Newman, Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man

Cesar Romero, If a Man Answers

Peter Sellers, Lolita

Harry Guardino, The Pigeon That Took Rome

Ed Begley, Sweet Bird of Youth

Victor Buono, Sweet Bird of Youth

 

Best Supporting Actress

Angela Lansbury, The Manchurian Candidate*

Martha Raye, Billy Rose’s Jumbo

Susan Kohner, Freud

Jessica Tandy, Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man

Kaye Stevens, The Interns

Patty Duke, The Miracle Worker

Hermione Gingold, The Music Man

Tarita, Mutiny on the Bounty

Gabriella Pallotta, The Pigeon That Took Rome

Shirley Knight, Sweet Bird of Youth

[Bogie56]

The 1962 Berlin International Film Festival winners were…

 

Best Actor

James Stewart, Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation

 

Best Actress

Rita Gam and Viveca Lindfors, No Exit

 

——————————————————————————————

 

The 1962 Cannes Film Festival winners were…

 

Best Actors

Dean Stockwell, Jason Robards and Ralph Richardson, Long Day’s Journey Into Night

Murray Melvin, A Taste of Honey (61)

 

Best Actress

Rita Tushinghan, A Taste of Honey (61)

 

—————————————————————————————

 

The 1962 Venice Film Festival winners were:

 

Best Actors

Philippe Noiret, Therese Desqueyroux

 

Best Actress

Anna Magnani, Mamma Roma

 

—————————————————————————————————

 

The 1962 San Sebastian Film Festival winners were…

 

Best Actor

Peter Sellers, Waltz of the Toreadors

 

Best Actress

Anne Bancroft, The Miracle Worker

[Bogie56]

I confess to having had this crazy hobby of keeping a film diary and lists of my favourite films and performances for many years now.  There are some performances that just hit you the first time out and you know that they are number one in your books.  Others you can reassess when you happen to see the film again years later.  

I've seen Lolita about a dozen times now and James Mason steadily rose in the ranks of appreciation over the years to finally become number one of 1962 ahead of some other startling performances that year.

His Humbert Humbert is sculpted with nuance and subtlety.  Some of my favourite moments are these:

"The Farlows have been arrested?"  Humbert taking a bath after his new bride, Charlotte Haze has conveniently been run over by a car.  His stupor and the gun beside him are mistaken signs of grief.

"Don't try to be clever please.  I've got a terrific pain in my arm."  Humbert is so worried about being followed he is having a heart attack which appears to bother Lolita very little.

"Life is very short.  Between here and that old car outside are 25 paces.  Make them, now, right now."  Humbert begs Lolita one last time to run away with him then breaks down in tears.  This is quite possibly Mason's finest moment on film.

And then there's 'the Haze woman' played brilliantly by Shelley Winters.  This has always been the top supporting performance for me.  

"Excuse the soiled sock."  Charlotte gives Humbert the tour of her house and tries to impress the Professor with her faux sophistication.

"One-two.  Cha-cha-cha.  Very good.  A little more joie de vivre."  Charlotte dances to Nelson Riddle and attempts to romance Humbert.

"Harold look what happened.  I was disloyal to you.  I couldn't help it though.  Seven years is a very long time.  Why did you go and die on me"  After discovering Humbert has only married her to be near her nymphet daughter, Charlotte begs her dead husband's ashes for forgiveness.

Now, I can't wait to watch it again.

 

[LawrenceA]

The first time I saw Lolita, I was struck by the odd vocal characterization by Peter Sellers as Quilty. It wasn't until years later that I learned that he was imitating Stanley Kubrick's own voice, which made the performance all the more humorous to me. It ranks among the other fun performer-as-filmmaker turns along with Ward Bond as the John Ford-like John Dodge in The Wings of Eagles, Dustin Hoffman as a Robert Evans-like producer in Wag the Dog, and Robert DeNiro as Martin Scorsese as the Devil in Angel Heart.

[Bogie56]

And let's not forget countless leads such as Kenneth Branagh playing Woody Allen in his films.

I know what you mean by Kubrick's voice.  I was surprised by his think NY accent when I first heard it.

And regarding Tom's post about Strangelove I wondered if there might be a touch of Henry Kissinger in there somewhere.  He was on the scene in those days.

[Bogie56]

I don't know if we have any fellow fans of the old radio program The Goon Show with Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan?  CBC radio used to rerun it in the 70's.  I recall one episode where Sellers was imitating Oliver's Shakespearean speech patterns during something very absurd.  It had me in stitches.

[TomJH]

  This is quite possibly Mason's finest moment on film.

 

Bingo.

 

As I stated earlier in this thread, Lolita has my favourite James Mason performance. I haven't read Nabokov's book but it's my understanding that, for obvious censorship reasons, the film greatly tones down the explicitness of the relationship between the professor and the nymphet, and makes the character of Humbert Humbert far more sympathetic.

 

It's been, I admit, a good number of years since I last saw the Kubrick film, but I recall marveling at the urbane sophistication that Mason brings to his role. The film, of course, is largely a drama. However, there is also a sly wicked humour to his scenes with Shelley Winters (never better) in which he plays up to her while at the same time subtly conveys his revulsion regarding her commonness to the audience. His eager eye is clearly elsewhere as this needy woman threatens to smother him with affection.

 

This film, combined with the wonderfully wry A Touch of Larceny, released in 1959-60, shows how wonderful a performer Mason could be when he had well crafted humourous material of a sophisticated nature. He is an actor who will be primarily remembered for his dramas (Five Fingers is one of my favourite spy dramas) but the film world missed out by not providing this droll, intelligent actor with more opportunities to show his flair with sophisticated comedy.

 

At least, we'll always have those golden moments in Lolita . . .

 

[Bogie56]

Here are some performances from 1962 that will be recognized in subsequent years …

 

Leslie Caron will be nominated for the Best Actress Oscar in 1963 for The L-Shaped Room (1962).  She will also be nominated for the 1963 NY Film Critics Best Actress Award and she will win the 1963 Golden Globe Best Actress Award.

 

Howard Da Silva will be nominated for the BAFTA Best Foreign Actor Award in 1963 for David and Lisa (1962).

 

Jack Lemmon will be nominated for the BAFTA Best Foreign Actor Award in 1963 for Days of Wine and Roses (1962).

 

Gregory Peck will be nominated for the BAFTA Best Foreign Actor Award in 1963 for To Kill a Mockingbird (1962).  

 

Lee Remick will be nominated for the BAFTA Best Foreign Actress Award in 1963 for Days of Wine and Roses (1962).

 

Joan Crawford and Bette Davis will be nominated for the BAFTA Best Foreign Actress Award in 1963 for Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962).

 

Bibi Andersson will win the Berlin Film Festival’s Best Actress Award in 1963 for Alskarinnan/The Swedish Mistress (1962).

 

Vittorio Gassman will win Italy’s David di Donatello Best Actor Award in 1963 for Il Sopasso (1962).

 

Gregory Peck will win Italy’s David di Donatello Best Foreign Actor Award in 1963 for To Kill a Mockingbird (1962).  

 

Peter O’Toole will win Italy’s David di Donatello Best Foreign Actor Award in 1964 for Lawrence of Arabia (1962).

 

Gina Lollobrigida will win Italy’s David di Donatello Best Actress Award in 1963 for Imperial Venus (1962).

 

Geraldine Page will win Italy’s David di Donatello Best Foreign Actress Award in 1963 for Sweet Bird of Youth (1962).

 

Jack Lemmon will win the San Sebastian Film Festival Best Actor Award in 1963 for Days of Wine and Roses (1962).

 

Lee Remick will win the San Sebastian Film Festival Best Actress Award in 1963 for Days of Wine and Roses (1962).