Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1994: Results

5. Bruce Willis in Pulp Fiction- Willis utilizes his usual on screen persona effectively in a role that suits it.

Best Scene: Butch saves Marcellus.

4. Bob Gunton in The Shawshank Redemption- Gunton gives a terrific performance portraying the evil Warden viciously yet never comprising the "proper" manner of his character.

Best Scene: Warden Norton threatens Andy in the hole.  

3. Gary Oldman in Leon: The Professional- Oldman is one flamboyant fireball here delivering a delicious performance as a corrupt DEA agent with almost no scruples.

Best Scene: Stansfield murders Mathilda's family. 

2. Raul Julia in Street Fighter- I give Julia the edge over Oldman as Julia seemed to give his performance all on his own accord since his film otherwise is pretty bad. Julia though is insanely entertaining in his brilliantly over the top turn as General M. Bison.

Best Scene: (This was a hard choice to make) The Bisonopolis Speech.

1. James Whitmore in The Shawshank Redemption- James Whitmore gives a very powerful and heartbreaking performance as a man whose been so institutionalized by prison that he fears the outside world.

Best Scene: Brooks's Letter

Overall Rank:

1. Martin Landau in Ed Wood
2. James Whitmore in The Shawshank Redemption
3. Jean-Louis Trintignant in Three Colours: Red
   
4. Raul Julia in Street Fighter
5. Gary Oldman in Leon: The Professional
6. Jean-Hugues Anglade in La Reine Margot 
   
7. Delroy Lindo in Crooklyn
   
8. Bob Gunton in The Shawshank Redemption
9. Christopher Walken in Pulp Fiction
10. Harvey Keitel in Pulp Fiction
11. Clancy Brown in The Shawshank Redemption 
12. Jeremy Irons in The Lion King 
13. Ian Holm in The Madness of King George
14. Richard Attenborough in Miracle on 34th Street 
15. Gary Sinise in Forrest Gump
16. Paul Scofield in Quiz Show
    
17. Giancarlo Esposito in Fresh 
18. Stephen Rea in Interview with the Vampire
19. Bokeem Woodbine in Jason's Lyric
    
20. Michael Wincott in The Crow
    
21. Maximilian Schell in Little Odessa
22. Daniel Auteuil in La Reine Margot
    
23. William Sadler in The Shawshank Redemption 
    
24. Dennis Hopper in Speed 
25. David Paymer in Quiz Show
26. Ving Rhames in Pulp Fiction 
27. Bill Hunter in Muriel's Wedding
    
28. Chazz Palminteri in Bullets Over Broadway
29. Willem Dafoe in Clear and Present Danger
30. Jim Broadbent in Bullets Over Broadway 
31. J.T. Walsh in The Last Seduction
    
32. Bill Hunter in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
33. James Garner in Maverick  
34. Randy Quaid in The Paper
    
35. Tim Roth in Pulp Fiction
36. Bill Murray in Ed Wood
37. Samuel L. Jackson in Fresh 
38. Eric Stoltz in Pulp Fiction 
39. Robert Duvall in The Paper
    
40. Jeffrey Jones in Ed Wood
41. Martin Scorsese in Quiz Show
42. John C. Reilly in The River Wild
43. Clive Merrison in Heavenly Creatures
44. Aidan Quinn in Legends of the Fall 
45. Dennis Quaid in Wyatt Earp
    
46. Kevin Spacey in Iron Will
47. Paul Newman in The Hudsucker Proxy
48. Joseph Mazzello in The River Wild 
49. Gabriel Byrne in Little Women
    
50. George Steele in Ed Wood
51. James Earl Jones in The Lion King
52. Danny Aiello in Leon: The Professional 
    
53. Mark Rolston in The Shawshank Redemption 
54. Christian Bale in Little Women
    
55. Bill Pullman in The Last Seduction
    
56. Jack Palance in City Slickers II
57. Jeff Daniels in Speed 
58. Rade Šerbedžija in Before the Rain
    
59. Antonio Banderas in Interview with The Vampire
    
60. Jeffrey DeMunn in The Shawshank Redemption 
61. Don McKellar in Exotica 
62. Pascal Greggory in La Reine Margot
    
63. Charles Durning in The Hudsucker Proxy 
64. Campbell Scott in Mrs. Parker and The Vicious Circle
    
65. James Coburn in Maverick 
66. Walter Olkewicz in The Client
67. Jean-Pierre Lorit in Three Colours: Red
    
68. Rupert Graves in The Madness of King George
69. Peter Greene in Pulp Fiction
70. Mike Starr in Dumb and Dumber 
71. Taungaroa Emile in Once Were Warriors
    
72. Ben Silverstone in The Browning Version
    
73. Joe Viterelli in Bullets Over Broadway 
74. Cliff Curtis in Once Were Warriors
    
75. Christian Slater in Interview with the Vampire 
76. Gene Hackman in Wyatt Earp
    
77. Robert Englund in Wes Craven's New Nightmare
78. Peter Riegert in The Mask
79. Frank Whaley in Pulp Fiction 
80. Julian Arahanga in Once Were Warriors
    
81. Gill Bellows in The Shawshank Redemption
82. Mike Starr in Ed Wood
    
83. Bill Cobbs in The Hudsucker Proxy
84. Duane Whitaker in Pulp Fiction 
85. Powers Boothe in Blue Sky
    
86. Malcolm McDowell in Star Trek Generations
87. Judge Reinhold in The Santa Clause
88. Peter Green in The Mask
89. Philip Seymour Hoffman in Nobody's Fool
90. Jeroen Krabbé in Immortal Beloved
91. Christopher McDonald in Quiz Show 
92. Max Casella in Ed Wood
93. Roshan Seth in Street Fighter
94. Alfred Molina in Maverick 
95. David Krumholtz in The Santa Clause 
96. Brent Spiner in Star Trek Generations
97. Bruce Willis in Nobody's Fool
98. Bill Paxton in True Lies 
99. Anthony Hopkins in Legends of the Fall
    
100. Tommy Lee Jones in The Client
     
101. Tom Hulce in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein
     
102. Joaquim de Almeida in Clear and Present Danger
103. Tom Arnold in True Lies
104. Henry Thomas in Legends of the Fall
     
105. Wes Studi in Street Fighter
106. Jason Mewes in Clerks
107. Kevin Smith in Clerks 
108. Forest Whitaker in Jason's Lyric
     
109. Michael Madsen in Wyatt Earp
     
110. Art Malik in True Lies
111. Mykelti Williamson in Forrest Gump 
112. John Mahoney in The Hudsucker Proxy
113. Michael Ironside in The Next Karate Kid
114. Tone Loc in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
115. Pat Morita in The Next Karate Kid
116. Charles Rocket in Dumb and Dumber
117. Hank Azaria in Quiz Show   
118. Donald Moffat in Clear and Present Danger
119. Jim True-Frost in The Hudsucker Proxy
120. Matthew Modine in The Browning Version
     
121. Jeremy Davies in Nell 
     
122. Dylan Walsh in Nobody's Fool
123. Jaye Davidson in Stargate 
124. Anthony LaPaglia in The Client
     
125. Eric Lloyd in The Santa Clause
126. The Rest of the Cast of Street Fighter
127. Quentin Tarantino in Pulp Fiction
128. Michael Cavalieri in The Next Karate Kid

Next Year: 1943 lead

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1994: Bob Gunton in The Shawshank Redemption

Bob Gunton did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Warden Samuel Norton in The Shawshank Redemption.

The Shawshank Redemption has a terrific ensemble from its two great lead performances by Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman, to the small supporting turns by the other prisoners in Shawshank particularly of course James Whitmore's heartbreaking turn, and as well the two central antagonists of the film. The head of the prison guards Captain Byron Hadley who is brutally played by Clancy Brown, and the man he acts as the brawn for the Warden of the prison Samuel Norton played by Bob Gunton.

The first time we meet the warden he welcomes the prisoners might actually be one of Gunton's most disturbing scenes. He opens up the scene as one would expect a warden from the period. Gunton is dignified and dominant with a certain amount of piety. He is the strict and firm administrator, but we see more to him when after he asks if the men have any questions. One man does ask a question causing just the slightest of indication in Norton that makes Captain Hadley violently discipline the man. Norton doesn't change his expression and in that Gunton shows the true evil of the man in this unchanging expression. The expression shows that such cruelty is something maintained as a commonplace institution by Warden Norton.

In the first hour of the film there is not a great deal of Gunton, but from what we do see of him he is very effective in his creation of Norton as a character. What is important about his performance is avoiding stereotype as the man who claims to believe in the teachings of Jesus yet seems to follow none of them is ripe for cliche. Gunton never gives a cliched characterization to Norton, and one of the ways he does this is that he never lays on the piety of Norton too thickly. Gunton instead lets the hypocrisy speak for itself really and never hammers the idea in. Gunton by playing it this way is able to be far more convincing in his character. He is able to make this piousness in Norton something very realistic, and as something that Norton uses almost to hide the true nature of the man.

Gunton does just hammer on just the evil nature of his character, but instead does well to mediate the character in other scenes. There are the moments where he is just handling the day to day operations and reacts appropriately as a man doing his job his way such as in the scenes of his at first reluctance and later frustrations over some of Andy Dufresne's (Tim Robbins) methods to try to bring humanity back to the prison. Gunton also is incredibly good in his scenes of bring the good Warden to the public even though he is only using the public to make himself rich through bribes which are hidden through Andy's abilities from being a former banker. Gunton smile as he is doing this is just perfect in showing the good public servant hiding the truly devious criminal beneath it.

Gunton's variety he brings to Norton allows the moments when the vile monster to finally come out to be especially effective. His best scene in the film is after Andy has been disobeying him and he comes personally to tell Andy what will happen if he continues on this path. Gunton is rather terrifying as he tells Andy his threat with that soft gentle southern accent. It is a brilliantly handled scene because although Gunton keeps the Warden's fairly restrained style in tact the sheer viciousness and hatred in the Warden as he vows to destroy everything that Andy has worked for is chilling. Gunton's delivery of the threat makes one of the best scenes of the film as he presents us with the absolute worst in selfish and uncaring Warden.

Where James Whitmore's performance expresses the sad truth to what happens to man full engulfed in the institution of Shawshank, Gunton's performance expresses the worst that a man can do through the power given to him through the institution. He does this incredibly well never letting the warden just being a one note antagonist as he very easily could have been, and he realistically represents the dehumanizing element in the story. Gunton's portrayal of the Warden here is a terrific example of being the man you absolutely hate in the film. The degree in which Gunton makes you hate Norton serves the film wonderfully as it makes both Andy's fate as well as the Warden's fate an extremely satisfying ending to this great film.

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1994

And The Nominees Were Not:

Raul Julia in Street Fighter

Gary Oldman in Leon: The Professional

James Whitmore in The Shawshank Redemption

Bob Gunton in The Shawshank Redemption

Bruce Willis in Pulp Fiction