[Oscar Montage] Academy Award Winners for Best Actress, 1927-present

Best Actress Oscar Winners: 1927-2009

This is a pretty good montage of all the winners. Of course you'll see Joan once for her win for Suspicion and Olivia twice in clips from The Heiress and To Each His Own

Music: Theme from Shakespeare in Love by Stephen Warbeck

Complete list of winners

1928 (1927-28) Janet Gaynor – Seventh Heaven/Street Angel/Sunrise
1929 (1928-29) Mary Pickford – Coquette
1930 (1929-30) Norma Shearer – The Divorcee
1931 (1930-31) Marie Dressler – Min and Bill
1932 (1931-32) Helen Hayes – The Sin of Madelon Claudet
1933 (1932-33) Katharine Hepburn – Morning Glory
1934 Claudette Colbert – It Happened One Night
1935 Bette Davis – Dangerous
1936 Luise Rainer – The Great Ziegfeld
1937 Luise Rainer – The Good Earth
1938 Bette Davis – Jezebel
1939 Vivien Leigh – Gone with the Wind
1940 Ginger Rogers – Kitty Foyle
1941 Joan Fontaine – Suspicion
1942 Greer Garson – Mrs. Miniver
1943 Jennifer Jones – The Song of Bernadette
1944 Ingrid Bergman – Gaslight
1945 Joan Crawford – Mildred Pierce
1946 Olivia de Havilland – To Each His Own
1947 Loretta Young – The Farmer's Daughter
1948 Jane Wyman – Johnny Belinda
1949 Olivia de Havilland – The Heiress
1950 Judy Holliday – Born Yesterday
1951 Vivien Leigh – A Streetcar Named Desire
1952 Shirley Booth – Come Back, Little Sheba
1953 Audrey Hepburn – Roman Holiday
1955 Anna Magnani – The Rose Tattoo
1956 Ingrid Bergman – Anastasia
1957 Joanne Woodward – The Three Faces of Eve
1958 Susan Hayward – I Want to Live!
1959 Simone Signoret – Room at the Top
1960 Elizabeth Taylor – BUtterfield 8
1961 Sophia Loren – Two Women
1962 Anne Bancroft – The Miracle Worker
1963 Patricia Neal – Hud
1964 Julie Andrews – Mary Poppins
1965 Julie Christie – Darling
1966 Elizabeth Taylor – Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
1967 Katharine Hepburn – Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
1968 Katharine Hepburn – The Lion in Winter  (tie)
1968 Barbra Streisand – Funny Girl (tie)
1969 Maggie Smith – The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
1970 Glenda Jackson – Women in Love
1971 Jane Fonda – Klute
1972 Liza Minnelli – Cabaret
1973 Glenda Jackson – A Touch of Class
1974 Ellen Burstyn – Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
1975 Louise Fletcher – One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
1976 Faye Dunaway – Network
1977 Diane Keaton – Annie Hall
1978 Jane Fonda – Coming Home
1979 Sally Field – Norma Rae
1980 Sissy Spacek – Coal Miner's Daughter
1981 Katharine Hepburn – On Golden Pond
1982 Meryl Streep – Sophie's Choice
1983 Shirley MacLaine – Terms of Endearment
1984 Sally Field – Places in the Heart
1985 Geraldine Page – The Trip to Bountiful
1986 Marlee Matlin – Children of a Lesser God
1987 Cher – Moonstruck
1988 Jodie Foster – The Accused
1989 Jessica Tandy – Driving Miss Daisy
1990 Kathy Bates – Misery
1991 Jodie Foster – The Silence of the Lambs
1992 Emma Thompson – Howards End
1993 Holly Hunter – The Piano
1994 Jessica Lange – Blue Sky
1995 Susan Sarandon – Dead Man Walking
1996 Frances McDormand – Fargo
1997 Helen Hunt – As Good as It Gets
1998 Gwyneth Paltrow – Shakespeare in Love
1999 Hilary Swank – Boys Don't Cry
2000 Julia Roberts – Erin Brockovich
2001 Halle Berry – Monster's Ball
2002 Nicole Kidman – The Hours
2003 Charlize Theron – Monster
2004 Hilary Swank – Million Dollar Baby
2005 Reese Witherspoon – Walk the Line
2006 Helen Mirren – The Queen
2007 Marion Cotillard – La Vie en Rose
2008 Kate Winslet – The Reader
2009 Sandra Bullock – The Blind Side
2010 Natalie Portman – Black Swan
2011 Meryl Streep  – The Iron Lady
2012 Jennifer Lawrence - Silver Linings Playbook
2013 Cate Blanchett - Blue Jasmine

Olivia and Jimmy Stewart: A Romance

The following excerpt is from the biography of Jimmy Stewart, Pieces of Time: The Life of James Stewart, by James Fishgall.

My notes are in blue.

The setting: New York, December 19, 1939. The NY premiere of Gone With The Wind at the Astor Theater. Olivia was scheduled to attend.

Jimmy, eight years older than Olivia, was on the east coast for the holidays; his hometown was the small town of Indiana, Pennsylvania (his father owned a hardware store in town). Jimmy was visiting his sisters in New York around the time of the GWTW premiere.
While Stewart was in Manhattan, Lelan Hayward (Stewart's agent) asked if he would escort Olivia de Havilland to the New York premiere of her latest film, Gone With the Wind. The fix-up had been the brainstorm of Irene Mayer Selznick, wife of the film's producer, David O. Selznick. Stewart didn't know the actress, but he had read in a gossip column that she wanted to meet him, so he eagerly complied with his agent's request.



"Jimmy met me at La Guardia airport," de Havilland recalled, "even had the limousine drive out to the airfield - we were both quite shy and ventured one word at a time in our conversation." Still, a definite spark passed between them. Over the next few days, Stewart took her to the theater several times and to the "21" Club. She recalled that one of the plays they saw as Mornings at Seven, directed by Jim's old friend Josh Logan, whom she met for the first time backstage.

Jim and Olivia continued to see each other after they returned to Los Angeles. On one occasion, Stewart arrived at her Spanish-colonial house in the Hollywood hills driving his brand-new La Salle convertible. She was impressed until the automobile began making a weird groaning sound and they started rolling down the hill. The brakes had failed! Jim took off in pursuit, but the La Salle picked up speed down the incline, denting other cars and ruining curbside shrubbery along the way. Finally, it crashed into a telephone pole. Naturally, Stewart, who had been trying to impress his date, was terribly embarrassed, but she laughed and thanked him for the entertainment. They then continued their evening as planned - in her car.

Around the same time, actress Maureen O'Hara remembered having dinner one night at de Havilland's house. A fish that Stewart had caught was the main course. It was fine, but they decided to play a prank on him by telling him it had made them sick. "But he didn't pay the slightest bit of attention," O'Hara recalled, laughing. "He knew."

The 12th Academy Awards, honoring films in 1939, was held on February 29, 1940 at a banquet in the Coconut Grove at The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. Olivia and Jimmy were both nominated for Oscars. Jimmy was up for Best Actor for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (He lost to Robert Donat in Goodbye Mr. Chips) and Olivia was up for GWTW.

Below: footage from the Oscar ceremony that night. As you can see, they arrived separately that night at the dinner (I can't tell who their dates are). 



Update (August 2015): A big thanks to some readers of the blog who believe Olivia's date is Jock Whitney, who helped Selznick financially with GWTW.

If anyone thinks they know who Jimmy's date is, feel free to leave a comment! (I have no idea!)

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Joan Fontaine's Memory of Olivia and Jimmy 

Fishgall quotes a passage from Joan's 1979 autobiography, No Bed of Roses:

[Joan] remembered inviting her sister and Stewart to dinner to mark de Havilland's birthday (July 1, 1940 - Olivia turned 24; Jimmy was 32). "Two hours after the time they were asked for," Fontaine wrote, "Olivia and Jimmy rang our bell. When I remonstrated that the dinner as hardly palatable any longer, Olivia answered, 'It's my birthday. I can arrive whenever I like!'" Ha! Ha!

Olivia and Jimmy's 1940 romance continues...

More from the Stewart biography by Fishgall:

De Havilland was in all probability the first woman that Stewart ever seriously considered marrying. After all, she was well-bred, college educated, and refined-all qualities that he desired in a wife. He did, in fact, propose, although de Havilland would later say, "I think his offer of marriage was just a frivolous thing on his part. Jimmy wasn't ready for a wife. I guess he still had a few more wild oats to sow." The exact nature of their relationship never became public, but the Hollywood press used plenty of ink speculating on what was transpiring between the two stars, including the possibility that they might elope in the spring of 1940. Columnist Gloria Hall also reported that Warner Bros., which ad de Havilland under contract, wanted to team the actress and her new boyfriend in a picture, but the stars refused. (The only films in which they both appeared in were 1977's Airport '77 and the TV Miniseries North and South, Book II in 1986) According to the reporter, they gave as their reason that "they would be embarrassed to make love - in public." Thus, de Havilland spent the spring of 1940 making My Love Came Back and Stewart did The Mortal Storm and No Time for Comedy.

Of course in 1940 Jimmy was also busy filming a third movie - The Philadelphia Story, which finished shooting in August of 1940. Once the film wrapped, Stewart helped to organize a benefit in Houston Texas to support Great Britain, then standing alone against the forces of Nazi Germany.

Jimmy was still seeing Olivia at this time.

The benefit took place in August 1940 at the Houston Coliseum. It featured Tyrone Power, Mischa Auer, and Henry Fonda, a longtime friend of Jimmy's. In the show, Fonda and Stewart did a magic trick act together. Stewart also played accordion and Fonda the cornet. Olivia also participated in the show.

Not long before that, Olivia returned to her Hollywood home after location filming on Santa Fe Trail. Away from home, she had been bored and lonely, and missed spending time with Jimmy. The excerpt continues:

According to biographer Charles Higham, "Her only consolation (during filming) was the chance of returning to Stewart on an occasional weekend for flying lessons and romance." (Jimmy was a pilot and loved taking her on trips over southern California and over the sea) Nevertheless, the relationship between the stars had cooled. De Havilland increasingly felt Stewart's marriage proposal was pro forma, that he didn't really want to settle down. Still they continued to date for nearly another year. Then Livvy fell in love with John Huston, the director of her then current film, In This Our Life, and the relationship with Stewart came to an end. By that point, Jim was in the service. (Stewart enlisted in the Army in March 1941)

Olivia and Joan at the 60th Annual Academy Awards

The year was 1988. In honor of the milestone 60th anniversary ceremony, the Academy planned a huge "year by year" salute toward the end of the show, kind of like how they did it for the 70th and 75th Oscars where the stars on the stage would get a moment of screen time.

Among the legends invited to the LA Shrine Auditorium on that hot April day in 1988: Paul Newman, Gregory Peck, and Audrey Hepburn, just to name a few.

Also invited: Olivia deHavilland and Joan Fontaine.

They both showed up to the ceremony, yet they arrived separately.

According to the book, "Inside Oscar" by Mason Wiley and Damien Bona:

Rebecca's Joan Fontaine managed to arrive on time without the help of the Academy's escort-who never materialized-but her sister wasn't so lucky. Olivia had to hop out of her car and hike 10 blocks in order to be there to hand out an award. Robert Osborne recounted that "She and others were all dressed to the nines, hurrying off to a ga-ga glmaour event while rushing past taco stands, donut shops, and gawking onlookers, the latter munching on hot dogs and cradling babies, surprised at the unexpected passerby. Sigh!

Olivia was scheduled to present an award that night.

Joan wasn't asked to present (either that or she refused; it's uncertain), but her sister was invited to present the Oscar for Art Direction and she accepted. Olivia's appearance was within the first hour of the ceremony, right after Olympia Dukakis won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress Moonstruck.

Olivia walked onstage to "Tara's Theme". There was a standing ovation. The television cameras didn't get a shot of Joan; so viewers couldn't tell if she was standing or sitting during the ovation.

Olivia enthusiastically announcened the winners of the award (the team from "The Last Emperor").

The big moment of the evening was supposed to be at the end--shortly before the last Oscar (Best Picture) was handed out. It was to be a salute to all 60 of the past Oscar winning years. Supposedly, the Academy invited at least one cast member from an Oscar winning film from each year (1927-1987), and they would appear on stage and on camera for a brief moment as each year and film would be introduced one by one.

Olivia would be representing "Gone With the Wind". Joan would be representing "Rebecca".

But the "Year by Year" segment flopped.

Shortly before air time, legendary silent/20s/30s actress Anita Page (age 77) was so overcome with heat exhaustion that she collapsed as she approached the red carpet. She was rushed to a local hospital and treated.

Thankfully, Ms Page was OK after awhile, but her absence left a void in the "Year by Year" presentation. Apparently she was the only person there to represent the year 1928 (The Broadway Melody) So the producers of the show scrapped the segment at the last minute.

As a consolation, the director of the telecast made sure that cameras caught a few glimpses of some of the recognizable (or perhaps not so recognizable) film legends throughout the night, so viewers were able to at least see Mercedes McCambridge (All The King's Men, 1949), Karl Malden (On The Waterfront, 1954), Charles "Buddy" Rogers (Wings, 1927), Celeste Holm (All About Eve, 1950), Charlton Heston (Ben Hur, 1959), and Burt Lancaster (From Here to Eternity, 1953), even for just a few seconds.

Other legends were there in the audience, such as Roddy McDowall (How Green Was My Valley, 1941) and Robert Stack (Written on the Wind, 1956), but sadly, they didn't get any screen time, not even a reaction shot. I'm sure there were more stars present, but I just don't know who.

There was only one shot of Ms. Fontaine during the entire ceremony; it was a reaction shot where the audience sees how she was clearly not amused with host Chevy Chase's unfunny monologue.

According to the aforementioned book Inside Oscar, Joan became a little impatient towards the end of the ceremony, and was wondering when it was time for her appearance onstage. Reportedly she was sitting very close to Roddy McDowell, and at one point turned to him as asked, "When do we go on?" "Later Later" he assured Rebecca's second Mrs. deWinter.

Apparently a number of the stars were never told that the segment was cancelled, nor that Anita Page was hospitalized.

It's too bad the "Oscar-Year-by-Year" segment flopped. It would have been a neat segment to watch. The Academy tried a similar stunt again for the the 70th (1998) and 75th (2003) ceremonies when they invited all of the Oscar recipients of acting awards (but in '98 and '03, it didn't matter what year the stars represented, since they were introduced alphabetically--the Academy learned from their embarrassing mistake)

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That night in 1988, there was no "reunion" between Olivia de Havilland and her sister Joan Fontaine, something many fans were hoping for. It's possible that it the last time the two sisters were in the same building together.

According to the book "Inside Oscar", Joan was upset about the segment being cancelled, and that she didn't receive any screen time other than one split-second reaction shot. She reportedly vowed to never return to another Oscars ceremony which explains her absence from the 70th and 75th anniversary tributes. (Olivia appeared at the 75th Oscar ceremony in 2003)