Best Supporting Actor 1979: Frederic Forrest in The Rose

Frederic Forrest received his only Oscar nomination for portraying Huston Dyer in The Rose.

The Rose is a film about a fictional rock singer the Rose (Bette Midler) clearly based on Janis Joplin. I found it to be interesting at times and did get better as it continued. Although at the beginning I found it was trying far too hard  to be abrasive.

Frederic Forrest received a nomination for this film and he could have easily received one for his work in Apocalypse Now too. It is interesting to see him in too rather different roles, although both characters were soldiers at least at one time. Huston Dyer is a chauffeur who becomes the lover of The Rose. Forrest seems essential to this film since when he shows up I felt the film greatly improved since he was more relaxed  natural presence than anyone up until that point.  He seemed to improve the tone of the film and he seemed to make Midler act better really. She became far more natural and less over the top when he arrived in the film.

I like Forrest here as a normal guy who tries to help the Rose but sees that he really cannot really understand or relate to her life style. He starts out perfectly as very interested in her and tries to help her, but slowly becomes less interested and more offended by her lifestyle. Forrest is perfect at showing Dyer's slow change from loving the Rose to being frustrated by her again and again. I liked Forrest because he never over did anything in his performance. He kept it understated and internalized very well. He never overacts and keep his performance realistic and natural. His performance is essential to the film because his leaving of the Rose causing Rose's extreme decay, although his leaving was in part do to her inability to stop her slow descent anyways. Forrest is a good presence throughout the film and adds a normal man's view to the film perfectly. He never overacts and creates a very needed realistic performance for this film. He really could have been nothing but he makes his performance and character stand out as well as possible.