Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1957: Results

5. Bengt Ekerot in The Seventh Seal - Although nicely boosted by the film's direction Ekerot does not lose the mystery and intrigue of the character when he speaks.

Best Scene: The end of the game.

4. Jack Hawkins in The Bridge on the River Kwai - Hawkins effectively creates yet another intriguing portrait of a most peculiar sort of madness. 

Best Scene: Warden is injured.

3. Lee J. Cobb in 12 Angry Men - Cobb gives a strong performance by fulfilling his duties as the passionate "villain", but always showing the humanity that propels him.

Best Scene: 3's final breakdown.

2. Gunnar Björnstrand in The Seventh Seal - Björnstrand gives a great depiction of a man confidant of his own world forced to face whatever the next may or may not be.

Best Scene: The squire faces death.

1. Burt Lancaster in Sweet Smell of Success - Good prediction Jackiboyz. Lancaster gives a brilliantly and coldly brutal portrayal of a man whose words are his most dangerous weapon.

Best Scene: Sidney goes to see Hunsecker.

Overall Rank:

1. Sessue Hayakawa in The Bridge on the River Kwai
2. Burt Lancaster in Sweet Smell of Success
3. Gunnar Björnstrand in The Seventh Seal
4. Lee J. Cobb in 12 Angry Men
5. Jack Hawkins in The Bridge on the River Kwai
6. Toshiro Mifune in The Lower Depths
7. Jack Warden in 12 Angry Men
8. Ralph Meeker in Paths of Glory
9. Walter Matthau in A Face in the Crowd 
10. Jack Klugman in 12 Angry Men 
11. James Donald in The Bridge on the River Kwai 
12. Karl Malden in Fears Strikes Out
13. Bengt Ekerot in The Seventh Seal 
14. Ed Begley in 12 Angry Men
15. Red Buttons in Sayonara 
16. Tyrone Power in Witness for the Prosecution
17. George Macready in Paths of Glory 
18. Chishū Ryū in Tokyo Twilight
    
19. Martin Balsam in 12 Angry Men 
20. Timothy Carey in Paths of Glory
21. Lee Marvin in Raintree County 
22. John McIntire in The Tin Star
23. Lee J. Cobb in The Three Faces of Eve
24. Minoru Chiaki in The Lower Depths
25. Andre Morell in The Bridge on the River Kwai
26. E.G. Marshall in 12 Angry Men  
27. Jack Warden in The Bachelor Party
28. Robert F. Simon in Edge of the City
29. Larry Blyden in The Bachelor Party
30. Minoru Chiaki in Throne of Blood
31. Edward Binns in 12 Angry Men 
32. E.G. Marshall in The Bachelor Party
33. Kamatari Fujiwara in The Lower Depths
34. Maurice Chevalier in Love in the Afternoon 
35. Wayne Morris in Paths of Glory 
36. Amedeo Nazzari in Night of Cabiria
37. Adolphe Menjou in Paths of Glory
38. Niall MacGinnis in Night of the Demon
39. Dennis Hopper in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
40. Philip Abbott in The Bachelor Party
41. Jack Warden in Edge of the City
42. Vasili Merkuryev in The Cranes Are Flying
43. Bill Nagy in Across the Bridge
44. Richard Jaeckel in 3:10 to Yuma
45. Nils Poppe in The Seventh Seal  
46. Aldo Silvani in Nights in Cabiria
47. Gunnar Björnstrand in Wild Strawberries
48. Vittorio De Sica in A Farewell to Arms
49. Paul Newman in Until They Sail 
50. Nigel Patrick in Raintree County
51. Ganjiro Nakamura in The Lower Depths
52. John Williams in Witness for the Prosecution  
53. Aleksey Batalov in The Cranes Are Flying
54. Mickey Shaughnessy in Designing Woman
55. George Voskovec in 12 Angry Men 
56. Leo McKern in Time Without Pity
57. Jim Backus in Man of a Thousand Faces
58. Ake Fridell in The Seventh Seal
59. Emile Meyer in Sweet Smell of Success
60. Sebastain Cabot in Johnny Tremaine
61. Alberto Sordi in A Farewell to Arms 
62. Theodore Bikel in The Enemy Below
63. Robert Webber in 12 Angry Men 
64. Sunil Dutt in Mother India
65. Richard Wattis in The Prince and the Showgirl
66. Takashi Shimura in Throne of Blood
67. John Fiedler in 12 Angry Men 
68. Martin Balsam in Time Limit 
69. Lee Van Cleef in The Tin Star
70. Geoffrey Horne in The Bridge on the River Kwai 
71. Jean Marais in White Nights
72. Joseph Sweeney in 12 Angry Men 
73. Howard Smith in A Face in the Crowd 
74. Neville Brand in The Tin Star
75. Richard Basehart in Time Limit
76. Bernard Lee in Across the Bridge
77. Raaj Kumar in Mother India 
78. Pat Hingle in The Strange One
79. Rajendra Kumar in Mother India 
80. Michel Auclair in Funny Face
81. François Périer in Nights of Cabiria
82. James Garner in Sayonara  
83. Arthur Kennedy in Peyton Place
84. David Wayne in The Three Faces of Eve 
85. Sam Levene in Designing Woman
86. Martin Milner in Sweet Smell of Success 
87. Walter Sande in Johnny Tremaine
88. Robert Emhardt in 3:10 to Yuma
89. Oskar Homolka in A Farewell to Arms 
90. Ricardo Montalban in Sayonara
91. Joseph Calleia in Wild is the Wind
92. Jeremy Spencer in The Prince and the Showgirl
93. Lloyd Nolan in A Hatful of Rain 
94. John Ireland in Gunfight at the O.K. Corral
95. George Peppard in The Strange One
96. Russ Tamblyn in Peyton Place
97. John McGiver in Love in the Afternoon
98. Lloyd Nolan in Peyton Place
99. Arthur Storch in The Strange One
100. Richard Beymer in Johnny Tremaine 
101. Leon Ames in Peyton Place 
102. Rip Torn in Time Limit 
103. Paul Langton in The Incredible Shrinking Man
104. David Nelson in Peyton Place
105. Lou Merrill in The Giant Claw
106. Anthony Franciosa in A Face in the Crowd
107. Anthony Franciosa in Wild is the Wind

Next Year: 1937 Supporting if there's time. 

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1957: Bengt Ekerot and Gunnar Björnstrand in The Seventh Seal

Bengt Ekerot did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Death in The Seventh Seal.

The Seventh Seal is an effective and atmospheric film about a knight (Max von Sydow) seeking existential answers while playing a game of life or death with the grim reaper during the time of the black plague. 

Bengt Ekerot is death who haunts to proceedings while the chess game with the knight. Ekerot's death is certainly the most iconic character from a film by Ingmar Bergman and the look of the character went on to influence such later classic films as Bill and Ted's Bogus journey. Bergman's direction deserves a great deal of the credit for the character as everything around him amplifies the creepiness of Ekerot. The look also of Ekerot here is enough with his long black cold and his excessively white face. Almost all the hard work seems to be done for Ekerot already but that's not to say that Ekerot simply acts a prop. Ekerot's work here is interesting in that he actually kinda plays death in a somewhat comedic way actually. Although his death does act as a villain in the way he appears suddenly reek terror on his eventual victims as well as does really scheme against the Knight during the reprieves of their chess game.

Ekerot is appropriately chilling in his ice cold delivery and his equally chilly expressions that seem lifeless even when he smiles. Ekerot has more fun in the role than you might expect going in to watch the film for the first time. Ekerot in a way treats death as though he is just playing a round of a game he's done so many times so why not have a little fun with it. Ekerot actually plays death as a bit of an easygoing sort who is in no rush about anything since he knows how everything will turn out. This is particularly well seen in a scene where death is sawing a tree away to kill a man whose time is up. Ekerot goes about the task like a lumberjack would and when the man protests Ekerot is quite memorable by playing the scene like he is a technician just informing the man that the job will soon be done. Ekerot in a way makes death inevitable simply because he treats the situation in such a straight forward fashion.

Ekerot's performance is of course a constant throughout the film as there would be no reason for death to change his method and manner at anytime. He's a constant that death should be in the film as he creates the sense that there truly is no escape for the Knight and the game is merely extending his time that is all. Although Ekerot definitely contributes with his performance I would say the most effective moments involving the character are due to Bergman's direction such as found in his sudden appearances and just the doom he represents when he is seen from a distance such as in that final dance at the end of the film. Ekerot does serve a much needed purpose though through his performance. The mystery and terror of sorts represented by death is not lost when we do see him talk and Ekerot most importantly keeps death just as he should be even when we technically get to know him.

Gunnar Björnstrand did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Jöns the squire in The Seventh Seal.

Gunnar Björnstrand plays the squire to Max von Sydow's knight and acts his sidekick through the film. Although he's the squire though Jöns is much more the man of action throughout the story because the Knight is caught in his thoughts about life and death during the game. Björnstrand plays his role in a very lively fashion and almost as the comic relief early in the film. Björnstrand treads a fine line here, but his manner here importantly makes Jöns stand out very nicely against von Sydow's more internalized style of performance. Björnstrand is great at being a man of the present life while the Knight is preoccupied with the after life. Björnstrand interestingly makes the early comic moments involving his character seem wholly natural to the feel of the film. It's rather remarkable in that Björnstrand makes the humor in the squire that of a man who seems to understand the world they live in better than any other man that is seen throughout the film.

Björnstrand is brilliant in making the squire a truly worldly man and is almost comforting because the way Björnstrand makes this understanding of the world so strong in Jöns. Björnstrand is striking in his scenes where the squire makes his own philosophy regarding such things as a possible afterlife known. Björnstrand is terrific in these moments by being so wonderfully blunt about it. Where von Sydow presents the Knight's mind as being constantly troubled by these thoughts, Björnstrand cuts through this effectively by showing that Jöns is a man much more comfortable with life as a whole because he is merely able to accept his own sort of faith his own way. There is nothing that weighs on his mind and Björnstrand exudes a certain type of confidence in the squire's demeanor. It is not the confidence of religious man who is constantly a praying as such, but rather the confidence of a man due to being more preoccupied with his current existence he is far more able to simply accept what comes afterwards.

While the Knight is stuck with his game of death being rather inactive in his current life Jöns takes several actions during the course of the story in order to help others. It is a strange thing perhaps to say about this film about existential angst set during the black plague, but I have to say that Björnstrand can be described as "cool" in the role. Björnstrand is great in the scenes where the squire goes about rescuing and helping a few people along the way. He technically might as well be the knight as Björnstrand is the one to portray the true idea of chivalry. What I love about Björnstrand again though is that he once again keep Björnstrand very much down to earth and to the point even when he commits the heroic deeds. He's especially good in the scene where he saves one of the actors from further harassment by thugs in a bar. Björnstrand exudes such a command in the scene as he deals with the men and really you could almost see the squire was the one who perhaps has kept the Knight alive as along as he has, which creates perhaps an irony since it appears by the end that the Knight may be the one causing Jöns's death.

Björnstrand is outstanding by bringing the understanding of the present world through his depiction of Jöns. There's a great moment where he prevents water from being given to a man dying from the plague. Björnstrand does not portray any cruelty in this but rather the needed wisdom of a man who knows how to best survive in the place that he lives in. It's interesting to look at Ekerot's and Björnstrand's performances together since death is obviously the man fit for the other side while Jön is the most adapted to the side he is on. Also Ekerot's performance perhaps benefits the most from the atmosphere created by Bergman whereas Björnstrand's work often stands out on his own. Their meeting together, where you see from Death's view, Björnstrand has one last great moment in the film. Björnstrand presents the fear certainly as the squire sees his end right in front of him, but a man who has adapted so well to the cruel world he lives, Björnstrand powerfully portrays as being able to still stare directly at death even daring to voice his protest. Björnstrand gives a great performance that stands well within the world created by Bergman. He as well though makes Jöns compelling on his own and Björnstrand makes him so much more than just one of the men in the following death at the end.

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1957

And the Nominees Were Not:

Lee J. Cobb in 12 Angry Men

Jack Hawkins in The Bridge on the River Kwai

Burt Lancaster in Sweet Smell of Success

Bengt Ekerot in The Seventh Seal 

Gunnar Björnstrand in The Seventh Seal