Rosalind Russell
Anyone else agree that Russell was robbed of a Best Supporting Actress nomination for her performance in this film?
shareWell, it was her own fault. She refused to take "supporting" status. Too bad -- she would have won, she was deserving.
shareRussell negotiated "co-starring" billing and apparently felt she should be considered in the Best Actress category. It was already hard enough for actresses in her age group to find good film roles (she appeared in a total of 5 films between 1950-1960), and she most likely felt that accepting a Supporting Actress Nomination would signal to Hollywood that her leading lady days were over (which seems to be what happened to Mary Astor). Fortunately she'd just had a big success on Broadway in WONDERFUL TOWN, and after PICNIC she would top that success with AUNTIE MAME. She may have lost out on an Oscar nomination for PICNIC, but she remained a leading lady and received her 4th and final nomination as Best Actress for the 1958 film of AUNTIE MAME.
Today's stars don't seem to care which category they're nominated in - Cate Blanchett, Kate Winslet and Renee Zellweger have been nominated in both categories, as has Judi Dench.
I love Roz Russell, but I think she was over-the-top as Rosemary, EXCEPT in her all-important "please marry me, Howard" scene - she was really superb there.
Those of you who think you know everything should politely defer to those of us who actually do!
Harold - i agree with Roz being over-the-top except for that key scene: not an Oscar-worthy performance.
Even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream
I didn't know that she refused to be put in the Supporting category...yeah, then she screwed herself, because she would have been a dead lock in the supporting category. Between the winner that year Anna Magnani for THE ROSE TATTOO and Katherine Hepburn for SUMMERTIME, she didn't really have a chance in the lead category.
shareUm, I had no idea Magnani WON for the Rose Tattoo...her performance in that role wasn't acting, it was screeching.
saucybetty.blogspot.com
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Harry Cohn wanted to orchestrate a campaign for Russell in the supporting actress category, but she turned it down. Russell had been burned in 1947 when her husband arranged a campaign for her for Mourning Becomes Electra.
Does any really remember Jo Van Fleet's Oscar winning performance for East of Eden? I didnt think so
As much as I love Roz, she really chewed the scenery in "Picnic." It really wasn't her fault--she had an over-the-top persona that, if unchecked by the director, could really be too much. (Compare this film to her wonderfully uncharacteristic and subtle work in "The Trouble With Angels." Director Ida Lupino clearly knew how to reign her in there!) Josh Logan as a film director wasn't the best, in my opinion, and "Picnic" shows some of his weaknesses, particularly his inability to get all his actors working harmoniously. Roz chews the scenery and spits it out, Holden is a little too energetic in his role, Strasberg is a little too consciously "method," Novak is a little too underplayed. Personally, Novak's style works for me the best from a modern perspective, though her subtle (thought excellent) performance can seem lacking compared to the histrionics of some of the rest of the cast.
Anyway, Roz is great, but she's just too much in this film. There are moments where she is brilliant, but she is simply over-the-top at other times.
But she's perfection in "Auntie Mame" and several other films.
I agree Roz over acted the part. The director needed to bring her down in many of her scences. The last part of her performance when she tones it dowon is her best
scence. She forget she was doing a movie , her preformance is the type that
is best for the stage. She didn't deserve the oscar for this part or even an oscar nonimation. The other two supporting females Verna Felton and Betty Field
deserved a oscar nomination more than Rosalind Russell!!!
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In my opinion, Roz played the part the way it needed to be played. She was desperate and afraid that "life had passed her by", that she would be a lonely spinster her whole life. She was angry that she was no longer young, yet she still had feelings and desires. She was frustrated and probably felt trapped, not knowing how to deal with all her overwhelming emotions. (And to top it off, she was drunk.) Seeing Madge and Hal together reminded her of all these feelings, Hal rejects her and she lashes out. So, the dance scene where she literally "tears into" Hal makes sense. It needed to be "over-the-top". Then her "Marry me, Howard" scene is just heart-wrenching. The pace is different. The "mania" is replaced by a palpable sadness. She is afraid and desperate, embarassingly so, and defeated. The contrast in how Roz played these two scenes made her character so much more powerful. You are right -- yes, she would have won her first Oscar for that performance, if only she had allowed herself to be nominated for Best Supporting!
share<<Then her "Marry me, Howard" scene is just heart-wrenching.>>
Yes, it is. I found it an extremely uncomfortable scene.But I think I'm the only one who thinks Howard might have married her.
It's an interesting psychological phenomenon.
She was excellent in this....so much so, I actually could not stand her. She did not deserve to be married. I thought she deserved an Oscar but if refusing to be nominated in the supporting catagory meant her getting the role in Auntie Mame, so be it. She was EXCELLENT in that.
shareVan Fleet's brief performance in "East of Eden" is etched in my memory not only because of her fine acting, but also because of the chemistry between her and James Dean.
I probably would have voted for Rosaalind Russell if only for that achingly pathetic scene with Arthur O'Connell. It is so hard to watch!
"What do you want me to do, draw a picture? Spell it out!"