Best Supporting Actor 1968: Daniel Massey in Star!

Daniel Massey received his only Oscar nomination for portraying Noel Coward in Star!.

Star! is a very bad film about the career of British performer Gertrude Lawrence played by Julie Andrews. There is nothing special about it, the characters are very dull, and the film just goes on and on.

Daniel Massey plays fellow performer, and playwright Noel Coward who is her friend, who makes remarks that are supposed to be witty about her life and career, with his distinct voice, and his distinct way of holding his cigarette. I say this since that is all there really is to his performance. Massey just stands and talks in his imitation of Coward. He is not bad exactly but there is nothing else to his character. Just remarks that are intended to be witty that is about it. In one scene he acts out anger because he is playing a character in a play but that still is not much. He adds nothing what so ever to add complexity to the character as he is in the script who is written so simply. Massey gives an incredibly forgettable performance, he technically is not that bad really, but I have trouble saying that he was good either. Perhaps if Coward was given any depth in the script his performance could have been something but that simply is not the case.