Best Supporting Actor 1975: Results

5. Jack Warden in Shampoo- Warden is descent and humorous enough in the stock role of a hapless rich guy always being fooled by some hip young guy.

4. Chris Sarandon in Dog Day Afternoon- Sarandon in his two scenes is great creating an interesting character as well as a complex a believable relationship with Pacino's character.

3. Brad Dourif in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest- Dourif adds well to his film giving a heartbreaking performance as a very troubled young man that effectively adds to the ensemble and has one truly great individual moment.

2. George Burns in The Sunshine Boys- Burns gives a very enjoyable and funny dead pan performance. He never budges an inch and is entertaining in every scene.

1. Burgess Meredith in Day of the Locust- Coming down to two aging vaudevillian only makes this race even closer. This choice was one of my hardest to make in the category, and really they are both equally great in their own ways, and this is really a case I don't have much of a reason otherwise than Meredith is terrific in his role of both a tragic and inspiring man who seems to always be on death door yet there is always a great deal of joy and life in him as well.

Deserving Performances:
Robert Shaw in Jaws
John Cazale in Dog Day Afternoon
Charles Durning in Dog Day Afternoon
Max von Sydow in Three Days of the Condor

Best Supporting Actor 1975: Burgess Meredith in The Day of The Locust

Burgess Meredith received his first Oscar nomination for portraying Harry Greener in The Day of the Locust.

The Day of the Locust tells of some various strange characters living in depression era Hollywood.

Burgess Meredith portrays one of the strange characters a former vaudevillian Harry Greener who is the father of wannabee starlet Faye (Karen Black). Harry no longer has work on the vaudeville scene and instead is a door to door salesman. This sort of film has many character's given little time, and they also sometimes make very little impact. Meredith though even with his short amount of screen time does make quite an impact on the film particularly in his first scene when he tries to move his product to people by doing a bizarre version of his former vaudeville act.

Meredith is superb in this scene having all the energy and joy just like in a genuine vaudeville act, but it comes off as almost grotesque though do to the way it is being used. Meredith though is excellent because he has that spirit of the stage like Harry is performing in front of an entire audience even though he is only performing in front of one for a likely shoddy and overpriced product. Meredith makes an outstanding but bizarre dynamic in this scene clearly showing a very downtrodden man, but still that gleam of hope in his eyes.

Meredith has a fascinating method of portraying his character through out his whole small little section. He shows a heartbreaking portrait of a physically haggard man, which Meredith portrays flawlessly, but as well always shows this as an upbeat portrait. Really this could have just been one depressing character given his sickness in the film, and the sad state of the once great vaudevillian reduced in the way he is, but Meredith never portrays the character as such. There is always a certain joy and charm in his performance to show that even at rock bottom Harry always can still keep a smile on his face.

Meredith certainly has some strange scenes where Harry is coughing, and wrenching, but even in these moments Meredith still shows Harry is playing for a laugh. It is most certainly strange that Harry is always trying to be entertaining even when he is dying, but Meredith throws himself entirely into the role, and actually manages to make the character believable. It is a fascinating portrayal, and even though many of the character's just seem to be odd for odds sake, Meredith actually manages to breath actual life into his role, and makes Harry Greener a person first.

Meredith only has a few scenes but he never wastes one of them, he is particularly good in his later scenes where he tells about the good old days of his life, as well as about his unfaithful wife. Again Meredith miraculously never is overbearing in this moment, he shows a man with regrets in his life certainly, but also a great degree of happiness in these memories as well. Meredith in this scene brilliantly conveys the golden age of this man, as well as his particular history, and his own rather peculiar outlook in his life, particularly when speaking of his wife.

Harry certainly is not proud his wife, most certainly has little regard for her, but still he loves her despite all of it. Meredith is wonderful because of this undying positive quality always is made absolutely genuine in his performance, it never feels false which is incredible. He never makes Harry just seem stupid either, in his reflections he shows Harry certainly had pains, but Meredith just shows that his enthusiasm for life has always overpowered these feelings. This is a great performance by Burgess Meredith creating a unique heartbreaking as well almost inspiring portrait of a dying vaudevillian. I would say I only wished he had been in the film more, but Meredith in his few scenes makes his own distinct and memorable mark on his film.

Best Supporting Actor 1975

And The Nominees Were:

Chris Sarandon in Dog Day Afternoon

Burgess Meredith in The Day of The Locust

George Burns in The Sunshine Boys

Brad Dourif in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest

Jack Warden in Shampoo

And here it is my final year in the supporting category.

Best Supporting Actor 1976: Results

5. Burt Young in Rocky- Young gets the job done as Adrien's brother. Although the job only involves acting jerky, which he does well enough but that is not really all that much.

 

4. Ned Beatty in Network- Beatty has one scene basically in Network and gets to yell for awhile. His yelling though is just not as well done as the rest of the cast's and his yelling seems a little unnatural.

3. Jason Robards in All the President's Men- Robards delivers in the role of Ben Bradley providing a sort of supportive mentor though with a definite incisiveness of a man who supports his writers but also demands the best of them.

2. Burgess Meredith in Rocky- Meredith is very effective as Mickey and creates a memorable character, and he has one emotional scene where he is truly great.

1. Laurence Olivier in Marathon Man- Olivier is brilliant and creates an incredibly villain with his performance Dr. Szell. He never over plays the part and gives an incredibly effective performance.

Deserving Performances:
Hal Holbrook in All the President's Men
 Carl Weathers in Rocky

Best Supporting Actor 1976: Burgess Meredith in Rocky

Burgess Meredith received his second and final Oscar nomination for playing Mickey Goldmill the crusty old manager in Rocky.

Meredith plays what became probably his best known role as Mickey in Rocky. His line delivery being continually parodied in various shows, other movies and commercials. An interesting thing though is that the meat of his performance is not really related to this. Yes Meredith is good in the trainer parts telling Rocky to do this and do that. Meredith does put the right amount of energy into theses scenes and his presence does make the final fight better. Telling Rock to get him all that really is made effective because of Meredith.

The greater part of Meredith's performance is when he actually is not even Rocky's manager. He has one good scene and one great scene before he becomes Rocky's manager. The good one is where he chews Rocky out for being a collector for a loan shark. Here Meredith puts in the right amount of anger and intensity in the scene to give it the right strength, and passion.

The great scene of his performance though involves his visit to Rocky where he tries to persuade Rocky to allow him to be his manager. Meredith is pitch perfect in this scene, showing both Mickey want to help Rocky's future and his own laments about his own troubled boxing path. Meredith really strikes the right emotional chord here. When he is talking about how he had nails punched through his own mouth as a boxer, and how he never achieved what he thought he could. Then the best part is when Rocky closes the door on him, and he pleads with Rocky. Meredith is great in this scene putting all the emotional power into the scene making it probably the best scene in the film. Meredith gives overall a memorable performance, and a great one in this scene which alone makes his nomination deserving.

Best Supporting Actor 1976

And the Nominees Were:

Burt Young in Rocky

Jason Robards in All The President's Men

Laurence Olivier in Marathon Man

Ned Beatty in Network

Burgess Meredith in Rocky

 Since Sage just finished Supporting Actress for this year, Joe did Best Actress recently, and I just finished Best Actor I thought I would close the year with Supporting Actor to a take a short break from lead actor. And as usual who do you pick? Who do you Predict?