Why Anne Bancroft won the Oscar over Bette Davis
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- Опубліковано 23 сер 2024
- Anne Bancroft received the Best Actress Oscar of 1962 for her performance in "The Miracle Worker" over Katharine Hepburn, Geraldine Page, Lee Remick and Bette Davis who was nominated for her performance in "What ever happened to Baby Jane?" - and was sure that she would finally win her third Oscar.
In this video, I discuss how the race was seen at the time and how Anne Bancroft won the award in the end.
Please note: This video is an excerpt from my video on the beginnings of Anne Bancroft's career: • Best Actress 1962, Par...
You can find the playlist of all 1962 videos here: • Review 1962
My video on Bette Davis in "What ever happened to Baby Jane?": • Best Actress 1962, Par...
My video on Geraldine Page in "Sweet Bird of Youth”: • Best Actress 1962, Par...
My video on Katharine Hepburn in "Long Day's Journey into Night”: • Best Actress 1962, Par...
My video on Lee Remick in "Days of Wine and Roses": • Best Actress 1962, Par...
My personal ranking of the 5 nominees: • Best Actress 1962, Par...
Music
Hanging Out - Bruno E.
#academyawards #bestactress #oscars #themiracleworker #annebancroft #bettedavis #leeremick #whateverhappenedtobabyjane #geraldinepage #katharinehepburn
Bette definitely deserved that Oscar. Her performance as Baby Jane is a masterclass
❤❤
Miracle Worker is a GREAT movie.. I still have in my computer..
Bette's performance was divisive in 1962. It has stood the test of time, now considered one of the most fearless and iconic in film history by many. Anne was also fantastic, but not as memorable as Bette (Anne should have won Supporting Actress for The Graduate, another all-time great, wrong category).
Great job as usual Fritz, cutting through the revisionist theories and breaking down the actual Best Actress race dynamics, circa 1962-63. As a sidenote, poor Luise Rainer will never live down those two Oscars!
The two performances that Bette Davis is most remembered for are All About Eve and Baby Jane rather than Dangerous and Jezebel. Davis really performed these two roles beautifully. Baby Jane was a much showier performance than Bancroft, in that film Patty Duke had the most memorable performance.
you are correct and have a very good point , but I still think Bette Davis as Baby Jane deserved the Oscar ., It was ground breaking performance it was just Perfect.
I will watch anything you put on your channel, and have had marathons with your content. Love seeing you working the impossible YT algorithm, because your content is worth it and everyone should see it!
Haha, thanks! Yes, that's why re-uploaded some videos - maybe that helps to create some interest...
It's safe to say that Bette Davis probably believed she deserved an Oscar for every one of her pictures. As far as I'm concerned, Anne Bancroft deserved hers, as would Katharine Hepburn, had she won it for Long Day's Journey Into Night (a great film). That year produced many great pictures.
Bette always the victim...Anne deserved the Oscar....as usual Bette played her role over the top
There is reason that Bette never won another Oscar, is because Oscar is a peer-voted award. Bette thought she knew better than the writer, producer, director, and all the co-stars of every picture Bette was a part of, and that left very little taste for others to laud awards at Bette's feet. No, she wasn't robbed of that Oscar, and I think it insulted Anne. Bette wasn't robbed and in fact, I doubt Bette could have done what Anne did with the Helen Keller part.
Anne did not play Helen Keller, that was Patty Duke.
A very thoughtful piece and I admire the editing. Another point here is Bette Davis was in a "Horror/Noir" genre.
This genre, producing standout/iconic performances, like Anthony Perkins in "Psycho", Tyrone Power in "Nightmare Alley", Robert Mitchum in "Cape Fear" and "Night of the Hunter", Gloria Swanson in "Sunset Boulevard" or Tony Curtis in "The Boston Strangler" more often (Swanson WAS nominated) doesn't even earn the nominations deserved because the major studios didn't promote them. It's a very tough genre to win in.
Anthony Hopkins broke through with his Hannibal Lector, "Silence of the Lambs". Thank you!
Thanks for watching!
Another excellent clip courtesy of Fritz. I always hang on to every word he speaks during his fascinating presentations. Anne Bancroft won the 1962 Best Actress Award because, as Fritz points out, her performance checked all the boxes the voters look for. We know how desperately Bette Davis wanted to be the first actress to win three, especially after losing 12 years earlier for ‘All About Eve’, which she felt she should have won.
Bette probably believed that ‘Jane’ was her last chance to make Oscar history. I never believed the Joan Crawford conspiracy theory about her trying to undermine Bette’s hopeful win. It never made sense to me, nor does it to Fritz. Thank you so much for once again sharing your reservoir of knowledge with us, Fritz!
Thanks so much for your kind words!
My favorite role and movie of all time . I’ve seen it hundreds of times.
I understand the politics and machinations behind Oscar decisions, but objectively (and without needing to blame Joan Crawford at all, a story I never bought myself -given Crawford had been thrown on the rubbish heap, after so many years saving studios from bankruptcy, and given that male stars of the same age or older were never labelled 'has beens' and continued to get top parts and billing, and even play the objects of young women's love), and despite the greatness of Anne Bancroft (one of the finest American actors of all time), Bette should have won that Oscar. There isn't a serious drama school trained actor who does not marvel at that performance as remarkably controlled, given the camp-baroque style of the (great) film. I saw the film on the big screen for the first time five years ago and I was mesmerised by her performance. Bette made 'baby Jane' pathetic, comical and grotesque but open to our humanity. Behind all that theatrical face paint her character favours and the chilling 'infantilism', the aggression and violence, there is a ruin, a suffering human being. Not easy to do at all, especially in film where the close-up can betray the face despite its acting intentions (not that she did not act with the entire body and voice!)
PET PEEVE: When Anne Bancroft gets a Tony award for a performance she perfected during 500 performances so that every pause, every gesture has been calibrated to a live audience she should not be able to go to Hollywood, put this performance on film and win an Oscar. Bette Davis had to create this intense and passionate role of Baby Jane in the heat of the moment with NO audience. The same goes for Judy Holliday who perfected her comic role with hundreds of performances in Born Yesterday.
That was probably why Julie Andrews was not allowed to do My Fair Lady, and it wasn’t fair that Rex Harrison won for a role he performed for a couple of years on stage.
@@quitequiet1 Julie wasn't yet famous enough is the only reason. As for Rex....
he is TOO OLD - the man has a dowager's hump! "a 'bachelor set in his ways' more like an old queen.
@@poetcomic1Why are you making excuses for the male actor, but not the actress? Who cares about his age, he shouldn't have get the Oscar with same logic..
Bette Davis was absolutely brilliant as Baby Jane Hudson and any other other year like the year that Elizabeth Taylor won for Butterfield 8, good performance but not win worthy but anyway Bette Davis is mostly remembered for the performances that were nominated not winning like All About Eve and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. Anne Bancroft is wonderful in Micracle Worker but Bette's work as Baby Jane is next level
Well written video. Watching from Assam India..😊
2024 and still talking about Bette Davis and Joan Crawford ❤. I think they would be pleased. And think of all the scripts they would get from Netflix ❤ ...oh and I vote for Bette in all her nominations except for The Star
This is another fabulous video that carefully dissects the reasons for an Oscar win. By carefully examining the media coverage of the Oscar race at the time and also taking into account the zeitgeist of that time you have explained why Bette did not win. Bette’s ego may very well have put many people off but most stars had enormous egos, but they were more careful about displaying them. Bette was a great talent but I feel that Joan Crawford still hasn’t received her due as an actress. Joan is acknowledged as a great star but her performance in Baby Jane deserves more credit. Blanche Hudson is really the more nuanced role, in spite of seeming to be a kindly and gentile woman it was her pathological jealousy of her younger sister that turned Jane into a monster. Jane may have ended up imprisoning Blanche but it was originally Blanche who imprisoned Jane by turning her into a slave.
Oh I so agree. When you think about it who is the bigger villian? Is it Jane who torments Blanche? Or is it Blanche who in trying to kill her sister snaps her back and makes JANE THE CAREGIVER FOR LIFE?
Awards are overrated anyway. They neither raise an actor's salary nor result in a deluge of job offers.
Once again, you prove how precise and illuminating your critical acumen has been: this is such an extraordinary analysis of what was happening in 1962. I'm flabbergasted at your ability to plumb such critical depths! Can't wait for what you will be covering next! (And - i hate to say this - but glad that you put Bette Davis in her place; her lack of generosity towards her colleagues became so extreme by the 1960s.)
Und genau das hatte ich mich bei "Feud" auch gefragt, also danke für die Aufklärung.
Ich empfehle meine 1962 Videos, da rede ich noch mehr über Feud 😀
@@FritzandtheOscars Ja supi! Werde ich mir anschauen. Ich bin mmir zwar sicher, ich hätte da schon was gesehen, aber evtl hab ich Doofi ja was verpasst.😄
Anne Bancroft gave a outstanding performance as the teacher for Helen Keller. BD gave an excellent performance but not what Anne did without makeup and tomfoolery.
Why Anne Bancroft won the Oscar over Bette Davis. The question should be Why did Anne Bancroft win the Oscar over Bette Davis, Katherine Hepburn, Geraldine Page, and Lee Remick. The answer is very simple. Anne Bancroft got more votes than her fellow nominees. It's strictly a popularity contest. Academy members vote for whomever they choose. There are no round table discussions among the members to discuss the merits of each performance. A member can vote for their favorite, even if they haven't seen the film that the actor was nominated for. I'm sure the voters would not have been interested in Joan Crawford's opinion about who they should vote for. After Bette Davis won her second Oscar for Jessabel she would have been the 1st to win three Oscars every time she was nominated for an Oscar. After Jessabel she never got enough votes to win in any of her subsequent nominations. Very simple. As far as the movie "FUED" that's a work of fiction. There was no feud. It was Joan Crawford's idea that she and Bette Davis work together and they got along very well.
Bette hands down
Davis was full of BS. Crawford did not have the clout to influence the voting. Secondly, Crawford did not keep Bancroft's for a year.
Yep, it never made sense Crawford would have to carry the award around for a year- she already had her own Oscar if she wanted to do that. The picture of Joan giving Anne her Oscar after a Broadway performance in "Mother Courage," which closed not too long after the Oscars, makes it clear Joan was as efficient as ever in taking care of business.
Davis was not even frontrunner as she'd like us to believe. The race was really down to Bancroft n Page, w Hepburn a distant 3rd. W the horror genre bias n her "I absolutely deserves the 3rd win" attitude, Davis was probably last on the ballot count. Her nom over Crawford IS alr the win
On the other hand, Bancroft was playing a well-known figure and Annie Sullivan's story with Helen Keller is the stuff of inspiration. it was a tough choice. After I watched FEUD, it was hard to settle on a decision, glad I wasn't on the Academy. I loved them both.
One of the most competitive years in Best Actress history. 5 worthy, strong performances. If only had Baby Jane been released the following year....Davis would have had her third Oscar. But I cannot disagree with the Academy's choice in 1962.
Anne Bancroft’s performance in the miracle worker is one of the great showcases of the method on film. Bette Davis is still quite stylised and old fashioned in comparison. If you look at the dramatic style of the moment, Anne Bancroft embodies it. Like Julie Harris, Marlon Brando and James Dean before her. Also Bette Davis lost when she nominated the previous year’s Golden Globes to Geraldine Page in Sweet Bird of youth, Another role stepped in the method and Elia Kazan. So I would say Geraldine Page was the run up.
I really wish they’ve given them both the Oscar, I love Bette and Ann’s performances equally, both are iconic and heartbreaking. The academy really should give horror a better look
Bette did perhaps the most acting Anne gave the best performance.
Bette would probably be fifth place for me that year.
Bette was always giving Joan too much power which Joan probably didn’t mind. I doubt Joan had much influence if any .
It’s sad she could never be satisfied as if Judy Holliday and Anne Bancroft were undeserving . Bette probably had the best dozen or so years of giving one solid performance after another. I just personally am not the biggest fan of her later work.
In Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte I think Olivia , Joseph and Agnes had the better performances.
I never cared much for Baby Jane.
Davis should have won for The Little Foxes, The Letter, All About Eve. But this crap? I can’t imagine why she thought she was going to win for chewing up the scenery. Did they have Razzies then? Bancroft richly deserved that award, giving a nuanced performance of an actual person. I doubt if Davis was even #2 on that list. If Bancroft hadn’t won, it would’ve been Hepburn or Page. And if anyone believes that Davis truly deserved it, I suggest you write a stern letter of protest to the academy 😉
Bette should have won.
Bette Davis not winning the Oscar for baby Jane was a TRAVESTY. Bette’s performance was one of the greatest of all time . She definitely should’ve won. Hands down 👏👏👏
My favorite actress has been Bette Davis since I first became fascinated by classic films but in all honesty Anne Bancroft definitely deserved the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1962. Anne Bancroft was one of the few actresses they literally reinvented herself. Anne Bancroft made her film debut in the film Don't Bother To Knock (1952, 20th Century Fox) was put under contract at 20th Century Fox made some really awful films like Gorilla At Large (1954) and she made some good films like New York Confidential (1955) and The Girl In Black Stockings (1957). But Anne wanted more challenging roles so she bought out the rest of her contract returned to Broadway in 1958, Bancroft made her Broadway debut as lovelorn, Bronx-accented Gittel Mosca opposite Henry Fonda (as the married man Gittel loves) in William Gibson's two-character play Two for the Seesaw, directed by Arthur Penn. For Gittel, she won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play. She subsequently won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play in 1960, again with playwright Gibson and director Penn, when she played Annie Sullivan, the young woman who teaches the child Helen Keller to communicate in The Miracle Worker. She took the latter role to Hollywood, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress, with Patty Duke repeating her own success as Keller alongside Bancroft in the 1962 film version of the play. After The Miracle Worker (1962) Anne Bancroft was now considered a leading lady in "A" films.
Are you INSANE! Bette Davis as Baby Jane. Was the greatest performance that year hands down. In the history of the Academy Awards this was the worst snub EVER.
Bette should've won for Baby Jane & just like how Weinstein stole Oscars from Saving Private Ryan.
If you need an Oscar as DESPERATELY as Davis did for "BABY JANE"--and then complain at every public opportunity you have that you did not win it for the NEXT TWO DECADES (as David did!), there is something seriously wrong with your perspective, priorities, and even your personality. The problem is Davis and her ego. She was as cracked as Baby Jane herself on that topic. Davis did deserve a third Oscar-- for "ALL ABOUT EVE" in 1950-- NOT her "freaked out/freak show" performance in "BABY JANE". And to blame her "loss" on Joan Crawford's imaginary "campaign against her" is also misguided and completely wrong.
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I'll never understand how Bette's over-the-top performance was honored with a nomination compared to Faye Dunaway's near career-ending take on Joan Crawford.
Faye tried to do Crawford Davis was baby Jane
In 1962, probably the only person who thought Bette Davis deserved an Oscar was Bette Davis. She won no awards for "Baby Jane" at the time, but she desperately wanted to be the first actress to win three Oscars. I find her hammy, over-the-the top acting to be embarrassing. Anne Bancroft was an unusually deserving winner.
Bette Davis is dying from cancer n still smoking.....????
Bette. Hands down !