Best Supporting Actress 1967: Ranking

5. Carol Channing in Thoroughly Modern Millie

Carol Channing delivers an almost unbelievably odd performance that achieves the rather unique feat of being over-the-top and dull at the same time.

Best scene: "Jazz Baby"

4. Beah Richards in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

Beah Richards squanders a potentially touching role by delivering a surprisingly uninspired and lifeless performance.

Best scene: Her small, reactionary moments during the final scene.

3. Mildred Natwick in Barefoot in the Park

Mildred Natwick is very funny without ever becoming broad but also manages to add some depth and weight to what could have been a stereotypical role.

Best scene: Ethel and Victor kiss for the first time.

2. Estelle Parsons in Bonnie and Clyde

Estelle Parsons delivers an over-the-top performance but her loud approach fits perfectly the grating character she's playing. Past that she adds a lot of depth and poignancy to her role and her final scenes are heartbreaking.

Best scene: Blanche realizes she's blind.

1. Katharine Ross in The Graduate

Katharine Ross gives a realistic and powerful performance turning a potentially bland role in a three-dimensional one. She delivers a luminous turn in which she nails every emotional beat.

Best scene: The final scene.

Honorable Omissions: Glenda Jackson was phenomenal in Marat/Sade playing perfectly both Charlotte Corday and patient portraying her: as the former, she's fierce and compelling; as the latter, she's vulnerable and lost. What I love the most though is the fact that the two sides of her performance are not strictly separated - she intertwines so beautifully the two of them delivering a vivid, unpredictable turn that stands as the movie's strongest asset. Nathalie Delon is great in Le Samourai, bringing the needed allure to the character while conveying her character's affection and loyalty towards her lover:  the scene in which she stands up to the detective is passive-agressiveness at its finest. In the same movie,  Cathy Rosier also does a pretty strong job in the story's most enigmatic role. Games is a pretty terrible movie that never seems to decide whether it wants to be a straightforward thriller or something more campy: Simone Signoret goes entirely for camp and I would say she pulls it off for the most part. Save for a couple of misguided moments, she manages to be both entertaining and disturbing, delivering especially in her pitch-perfect final scene. Jo Van Fleet is extremely memorable in her single scene in Cool Hand Luke and Lee Grant makes the most out of her brief screen-time as a grieving widow in In the Heat of the Night. As the depressed, neurotic Allison, Julie Harris is simply devastating in Reflections in a Golden Eye. Billie Whitelaw is excellent in her brief screen-time in Charlie Bubbles, revealing some shades of tenderness behind Lottie's bitter façade.On a side note, while I can't count it as an omission since she was nominated in the leading category, I really believe Anne Bancroft belonged to this category instead for her performance in The Graduate.

The next year: At Calvin's request, 1999.

My Best Supporting Actress Ballot:

1. Anne Bancroft, The Graduate - 5/5
2. Julie Harris, Reflections in a Golden Eye - 5/5
3. Glenda Jackson, Marat/Sade - 5/5
4. Katharine Ross, The Graduate 
5. Nathalie Delon, Le Samourai - 4.5/5
6. Estelle Parsons, Bonnie and Clyde 
7. Simone Signoret, Games - 4/5
8. Billie Whitelaw, Charlie Bubbles - 4/5
9. Jo Van Fleet, Cool Hand Luke - 4/5
10. Mildred Natwick, Barefoot in the Park