Best Actress in a Supporting Role 1983: Ranking

5. Alfre Woodard in Cross Creek

Alfre Woodard gives a very good performance that stands as one of the movie's few redeeming values and manages to make Geechee an affecting and memorable character, but the character is very underwritten and she can't strike up a very memorable chemistry with Mary Steenburgen due to the wooden performance of the latter.

Best scene: Geechee tells Rowings she is going to leave Cross Creek.

4. Amy Irving in Yentl

Amy Irving delivers a surprisingly effective and haunting performance making Hadass the most interesting character of the whole movie: she does a great job in portraying Hadass' transition into a stronger, more indipendent person in a realistic and moving fashion, even if I wish Streisand gave her a little more space and time to develop her character.

Best scene: "He didn't make me tremble tonight"

3. Glenn Close in The Big Chill

Glenn Close doesn't truly standout within the ensemble of The Big Chill but she adds a lot to the overall quality of the picture and portrays her character's emotional state with a welcome subtlety. She does a great job in conveying Sarah's conflicted feelings over Alex's death and she even manages to sell the potentially ridiculous subplot with Mary Kay Place.

Best scene: Sarah's breakdown in the shower. 

2. Cher in Silkwood

Despite being often in the background, Cher manages to give a compelling and touching performance as Dolly in Silkwood. She's heartbreaking in portraying her character's vulnerable emotional state and she shares an incredible chemistry with Meryl Streep, and makes her character's actions in the third act particularly intriguing and puzzling making Dolly the biggest mystery of the movie. 

Best scene: Karen cheers Dolly up on the porch.

1. Linda Hunt in The Year of Living Dangerously

Linda Hunt is fully convincing at playing a male character but there's so much more to her performance than just that: she makes Billy Kwan one of the most heartbreaking characters I have ever seen and she is properly devastating in portraying his character's growing disillusionement over the man he idolizes, while creating a particularly interesting dynamic with Gibson and Weaver.

Best scene: The "I created you" monologue. 

Honorable Omissions: My category placement of Susan Sarandon's performance in The Hunger might be a bit controversial and I certainly agree she's borderline leading, but I consider both her and David Bowie supporting, because she becomes a truly central character only in the second half of the movie, and he is a central character only in the first half while Catherine Deneuve is completely leading from beginning to end. Anyway, I think that Sarandon's performance in this is criminally underrated as she brings a lot of realism and emotional power to the characters' conflict between her morals and her needs and she shares a wonderful chemistry with Deneuve: she is the movie's source of humanity and she even manages to survive the movie's terrible ending. Melinda Dillon is just lovely in the equally wonderful A Christmas Story - she's warm, tender and funny and fits perfectly the movie's unique atmosphere while being a great match for Darren McGavin. Rosemary Harris' appearance in The Ploughman's Lunch has a huge build-up and she does not disappoint: she's fierce, passionate and intelligence and as the movie progresses she's extremely moving at portraying Ann's loneliness. Tess Harper delivers a beautifully tender, quiet and realistic performance in Tender Mercies and her chemistry with Robert Duvall is the heart of the movie.  I wish she had more screen-time in the movie. Eileen Atkins doesn't get a huge amount of screen-time in The Dresser but she makes the most out of it and in her big scene with Albert Finney she is subtly devastating as she beautifully conveys Madge's hidden feelings for Sir. In her limited time on-screen Suzanne Flon gives a great performance as the deaf Cognata in One Deadly Summer, developing a wonderful chemistry with the (amazing) Isabelle Adjani and adding depth, complexity and a history to her character through her beautifully delivered voice-over. I really don't care at all for Scarface but Michelle Pfeiffer's performance as the drug-addicted, messed-up Elvira is in my opinion the best part of it, as she is terrific in portraying her character's slow decay leading beautifully to her explosive final scene which is a knockout. Jaime Lee Curtis is very entertaining as the prostitue Ophelia in Trading Places and her chemistry with Dan Aykroyd is charming and sweet. Diane Lane is very good in Rumble Fish, showing both why she is attracted and repulsed by Rusty James all at once, and in the same movie Diana Scarwid is extremely haunting as the pathetic, heroin-addict Cassandra in her few minutes on-screen. Mary Kay Place, JoBeth Williams and Meg Tilly are all remarkably effective in The Big Chill, particularly the enchanting, entertaining Tilly who shares a poignant chemistry with William Hurt. 

The next year: As requested, 2005. 

My Best Supporting Actress Ballot:

1. Susan Sarandon, The Hunger - 5/5
2. Melinda Dillon, A Christmas Story - 5/5
3. Cher, Silkwood 
4. Rosemary Harris, The Ploughman's Lunch - 4.5/5
5. Meg Tilly, The Big Chill - 4.5/5
6. Tess Harper, Tender Mercies - 4.5/5
7. Suzanne Flon, One Deadly Summer - 4/5
8. Michelle Pfeiffer, Scarface - 4/5 
9. Eileen Atkins, The Dresser - 4/5
10. Diana Scarwid, Rumble Fish - 4/5

Due to the fact that The Year of Living Dangerously had its first release in theaters on December 1982, I consider Linda Hunt a contender for that year in my personal ballot.