Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1963: Results

5. Peter Sellers in The Pink Panther- Sellers is by far the best part of his film giving a hilarious turn that steals every scene he is in.

Best Scene: Clouseau takes the witness stand. 

4. Donald Pleasence in The Great Escape- Pleasence adds a lot in his little turn giving one poignant portrait of a man who wants to escape a prison escape even when his eye sight begins to fade.

Best Scene: Blythe thanks Hendley. 

3. Robert Shaw in From Russia With Love- Shaw is a great Bond villain. He is great as the silent menace, but he is something really special when he finally opens his mouth.

Best Scene: Colonel Nash reveals himself to be Red Grant. 

2. Brandon De Wilde in Hud- De Wilde is essential to his film being the man in the middle and creates a powerful reactionary performance by showing both how he deals with the men around him and as well how they change him.

Best Scene: Lon reacts to Hud and Homer's fight. 

1. Tsutomu Yamazaki in High and Low- My win for the supporting this year also goes to the great film High and Low. Yamazaki's performance as a kidnapper is one that only gets better the more I think about it. Despite the limitations for most of his film he creates a great complex villain, but as well in his last scene somehow manages to be heartbreaking in his portrayal of a desperate man.

Best Scene: King Gondo meets with Ginjirô Takeuchi.

Overall Rank:

1. Tsutomu Yamazaki in High and Low
2. Melvyn Douglas in Hud
3. Brandon De Wilde in Hud
4. Robert Shaw in From Russia With Love
5. Donald Pleasence in The Great Escape
6. Peter Sellers in The Pink Panther
7. Anil Chatterjee in Mahanagar
8. James Garner in The Great Escape
9. David Warner in Tom Jones  
10. Tatsuya Nakadai in High and Low 
11. Claude Rains in Twilight Of Honor
12. Kenjiro Ishiyama in High and Low
13. Phil Silvers in It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
14. Walter Matthau in Charade 
15. Patrick Wymark in Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow
16. Dick Shawn in It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
17. James Donald in The Great Escape
18. Geoffrey Keen in Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow
19. Isao Kimura in High and Low
20. Spencer Tracy in It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
21. Bobby Darin in Captain Newman M.D.
22. Pedro Armendáriz in From Russia With Love
23. Terry-Thomas in It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
24. Stanley Adams in Lilies of the Field 
25. Max von Sydow in Winter Light
26. Johnathan Winters in It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World 
27. Romolo Valli in The Leopard
28. Hugh Griffith in Tom Jones
29. Tsutomu Yamazaki in A Woman's Life
30. George Cole in Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow
31. John Huston in The Cardinal  
32. Nigel Green in Jason and the Argonauts 
33. Roddy McDowall in Cleopatra 
34. Richard Johnson in The Haunting
35. Jacques Jouanneau in Judex
36. Paul Lynde in Bye Bye Birdie
37. Robert Duvall in Captain Newman M.D. 
38. Larry Tucker in Shock Corridor 
39. Buddy Hackett in It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World 
40. Mickey Rooney in It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
41. Charles Bronson in The Great Escape
42. John Leyton in The Great Escape 
43. Eric Flynn in Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow
44. George Devine in Tom Jones  
45. Haradhan Banerjee in Mahanagar 
46. Michael Hordern in Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow
47. Lee Marvin in Donovan's Reef 
48. Allan Edwall in Winter Light
49. Boris Karloff in Black Sabbath
50. Paolo Stoppa in The Leopard
51. Rod Steiger in Hands Over the City
52. James Coburn in Charade 
53. Jesse Pearson in Bye Bye Birdie  
54. Russ Tamblyn in The Haunting
55. Peter Falk in It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World 
56. Eddie Anderson in It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World    
57. Tatsuya Mihasi in High and Low  
58. Jim Backus in  It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World 
59. Tom Bosley in Love With a Proper Stranger
60. Angus Lennie in The Great Escape
61. Tony Curtis in Captain Newman M.D. 
62. Haren Chatterjee in Mahanagar 
63. Tony Britton in Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow
64. Jimmy Durante in It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World  
65. Sid Caesar in It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World 
66. Bruce Ritchey in A Child is Waiting
67. Gordon Jackson in The Great Escape 
68. Tatsuya Nakadai in A Woman's Life 
69. Charles Vanel in Magnet of Doom
70. Hari Rhodes in Shock Corridor  
71. John Astin in Move Over Darling
72. George Kennedy in Charade
73. Milton Berle in It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World  
74. David Niven in 55 Days At Peking
75. Jose Isbert in The Executioner
76. Ned Glass in Charade 
77. Robert Brown in Dr. Syn, Alias the Scarecrow
78. Nick Adams in Twilight of Honor
79. Ossie Davis in The Cardinal
80. Dan Frazer in Lilies of the Field
81. Heinz Weiss in The Great Escape 
82. Peter Bull in Tom Jones
83. Jacques Marin in Charade 
84. Ralph Nelson in Lilies of the Field 
85. Jerry van Dyke in  McLintock!
86. James Coburn in The Great Escape
87. James Best in Shock Corridor
88. Cecil Kellaway in The Cardinal
89. Eddie Albert in Captain Newman, M.D.
90. Jack Warden in Donovan's Reef 
91. Alain Delon in The Leopard
92. Bobby Rydell in Bye Bye Birdie
93. Juzo Itami in 55 Days At Peking
94. Jean-Baptiste Thierrée in Muriel
95. Theo Sarapo in Judex 
96. Cesar Romero in Donovan's Reef
97. Chuck Conners in Move Over Darling 
98. Patrick Wayne in McLintock!
99. Martin Landau Cleopatra
100. Hume Cronyn in Cleopatra
101. George Cole Cleopatra
102. Tom Gaman in Lord of the Flies
103. Hugh Edwards in Lord of the Flies
104. Tom Chapin in Lord of the Flies
105. Jack Palance in Contempt
106. Fritz Lang in Contempt
107. Robert Wagner in The Pink Panther  
108. Richard O'Sullivan in Cleopatra

Next Year: 1980 lead

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1963: Brandon De Wilde in Hud

Brandon De Wilde did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Lon "Lonnie" Bannon in Hud.

Brandon De Wilde is an actor I last wrote about in his Oscar nominated performance in Shane. De Wilde, unlike many child actors, De Wilde continued his career after his start until it was tragically cut short by an automobile accident. De Wilde as with his work in Shane stars in a western although this one is set in the modern day opposed to the more romantic period piece of Shane. De Wilde though once again plays an impressionable character although this time as a young man, and this time with far more complications then were found when he worshiped the titular hero in that very different western.

Brandon De Wilde has a very difficult role in this film as he is the in between. There is the two sides of the film found in the noble man of the old west Homer Bannon (Melvyn Douglas) and the modern cowboy who cares about no one other than himself Hud Bannon (Paul Newman). They are the two generations above Lon with Homer being Lon's grandfather, and Hud being his uncle, Lon's own father having died some time ago. De Wilde has to stand in the middle as the reactionary party to the struggle as well as represent what exactly will become of the third generation who is influenced by both the first and the second generations above him.

De Wilde has quite a challenge because Lon does not have the convictions of his elders, and therefore he also lacks their passion when it comes into their scenes together. De Wilde has to make Lon several things and nothing exact. This begins with his relationships with his elders and De Wilde is very good in creating a certain chemistry with both Newman and Douglas. With Douglas there is a great deal of respect that De Wilde creates. He always shows him to be looking up to him in the most respectful fashion, there is always a certain tenderness De Wilde portrays. De Wilde always has his head turned and focused with earnestness toward Douglas that properly suggests that Lon's always listens to his grandfather.

With Newman though De Wilde is very different, but still portrays a reverence for Hud as well although of a different sort. De Wilde portrays a greater enthusiasm when Lon is with Hud, not that he is bored with Homer, but he shows a certain energy that comes to life when Lon becomes engrossed into Hud's sort of life. There is a shyness he properly infuses here to in the life in that Lon would rather be an observer of the life at times rather than be right with it. De Wilde shows that Lon looks up to Hud in a different way. He does not have that respect that he has for Homer, but there is a great interest he portrays and he suggests that there is a strong part of him who likes the ideas of the thrills that Hud gets in life.

The way Lon does look up to both men leaves him in awkward position when the two fight over their differing values. Although Douglas and Newman have the speeches in these scenes De Wilde still manages to stand with them in his meeker role. There is a great power in the close up of his face in these scenes and he conveys the conflicting emotions that occur in him. It is not just sadness to see the men he admires in different ways, but as well a certain confusion of what exactly he should. There is a support in his eyes for Homer, yet at the same time there still is that connection with Hud at the same time.  De Wilde lends sympathy to both parties and suggests a longing to try to understand the conflict even though he can't quite do it. De Wilde creates a very effective dynamic in his performance showing the way both men influence him.

An interesting thing about this performance though is it does not end the way one would think. One would think he would either go the way of Homer or Hud, but in the end he really does not choose either path. A series of tragic circumstances instead changes Lon and De Wilde portrays this in a very powerful fashion. In the end Lon rejects Hud's ways, but as well does not seem to suggest any of the optimism Homer had either. Instead he is left as a jaded man who is hardened by the experience. It is a striking development particularly because of how well De Wilde earns this change through the way his earnestness slowly devolves as everything thing in his life seems to take a turn for the worse. The last scenes are made truly sad by De Wilde because how honestly he expresses that the final lesson Lon has learned is only to simply face the world with a distaste for what lies in it.

Brandon De Wilde performance stands as the underrated facet of this film as it was the only of the four main characters not to be remembered by the academy. De Wilde though is an essential part of the film as his performance as Lon is in a way what holds the whole film together as well as leads the film to its conclusion in terms of the fight between the old and the new. De Wilde is terrific in every aspect of his performance, because he does not flub up a single relationship. Whether it is the unique fashion that Lon looks up to each of the other men, or his boyish attempted flirtations with their housekeeper Alma (Patricia Neal) he adds an extra layer to the film through the complexities he brings to these relationships. He never lets Lon be the simple bland man in the middle instead he finds what is fascinating in being the man between the two worlds, and creates something quite remarkable in showing where this leads Lon in the end.

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1963

And the Nominees Were Not:

Tsutomu Yamazaki in High and Low

Brandon De Wilde in Hud

Robert Shaw in From Russia With Love

Donald Pleasence in The Great Escape

Peter Sellers in The Pink Panther

Best Supporting Actor 1953: Results

5. Brandon De Wilde in Shane- Brandon De Wilde is a dull presence in the film, and every single line and reactions only take away from the film. He is suppose to be the heart in the film but fails miserably to ever be authentic.

4. Frank Sinatra in From Here To Eternity- Sinatra isn't overly endearing as Maggio but he does find an earnest chemistry with Clift. 

3. Eddie Albert in Roman Holiday- Albert technically does nothing wrong in his role, and does not take away from the film, but he basically is always just in the background taking pictures that is all.

2. Robert Strauss in Stalag 17- He is funny enough as the two man Pow comedy team, and he does not let his jokes actually interfere with more serious sections of the film.

1.  Jack Palance in Shane- The role he plays it not much but Palance puts the right amount of menace in his role as the villainous gunman. He is never required to all that much but everything he does do is as well handled as possible.

Deserving Performances:
Otto Preminger in Stalag 17
Ernest Borgnine in From Here to Eternity
John Gielgud in Julius Caesar
Jay Robinson in The Robe

Best Supporting Actor 1953: Brand De Wilde in Shane

Brandon De Wilde received his only Oscar nomination for portraying Joey Starrett in Shane.

Shane is an interesting western about a mysterious man who helps homesteaders in their conflict with a cattle baron. It is not a perfect film for a few reasons but it always feels like a classic of sorts even in the lesser scenes.

Brandon De Wilde is a kid here playing the son of Joe Starrett (Van Heflin) who idolizes Shane (Alan Ladd).  I want to say that De Wilde definitely grew up to become a good actor, he should have been nominated for Hud, but here Wilde does not show all that much promise. His whole character is a bit odd to me, I believe he was suppose to be the heart of movie especially at the end, but all I ever saw was an annoying and dull presence throughout the film.

In the film there are always these constant cutaways to his reaction to various things in the film. His reaction is almost always the same dull expression, that never ever helps a scene. In fact the constant reactions from him are pointless because he almost always has the same impression. Except at the end and when Shane shows off his shooting skills. But than he makes a pretty poor surprised reaction that seems a little forced. He most of the time just says Shane in rather woodenly, and really adds no true emotions to any of his scenes. He does have his final scene which is almost semi okay at the very end where he properly makes a sad face but still when he says "I hate you Shane" that is pretty unbelievably said.  His performance never felt authentic to me at all, and really is a bad performance by a kid. He adds nothing to the film except his obnoxious reactions and overall his performance only harms the film, never helping it.

Best Supporting Actor 1953

And the Nominees Were:

Jack Palance in Shane

Brandon De Wilde in Shane

Frank Sinatra in From Here to Eternity

Eddie Albert in Roman Holiday

Robert Strauss in Stalag 17

Who do you pick? What do you predict my ranking will be?