Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1964: Results

5. Frank Overton in Fail-Safe- Overton gives a moving performance as a General who must deal with a Nuclear crises as well as a hostile room of men.

Best Scene: General Bogan speaks with his Russian counterpart.

4. Nigel Green in Zulu- Green gives a strong performance as a career soldier who has the utmost conviction in his code.

Best Scene: Sergeant Bourne calls out the roster.

3. Fredric March in Seven Days in May- March gives possibly the best performance of his career in his assured and remarkable depiction of the President of the United States who must prevent a coup.

Best Scene: President Lyman confronts General Scott.

2. George C. Scott in Dr. Strangelove- Scott's performance is pure comedic gold as an off the wall General who he appropriately plays in an off the wall fashion. Scott's whole performance is one great risk that completely pays off.

Best Scene: Turgidson gives his own thoughts on what they should do.

1. Sterling Hayden in Dr. Strangelove - Sterling Hayden gives a hilarious performance where he does not exactly play it straight nor does he play it funny, but whatever he does do it's perfect. My win is Hayden as I enjoyed his performance the most on this watch although if I watched it again I might switch over to Scott.

Best Scene: Ripper asks Mandrake about being tortured. 

Overall Rank:

1. Sterling Hayden in Dr. Strangelove
2. George C. Scott in Dr. Strangelove
3. Fredric March in Seven Days in May
4. Christopher Plummer in The Fall of the Roman Empire
5. David Tomlinson in Mary Poppins 
6. Alan Bates in The Caretaker
   
7. Shailen Mukherjee in Charulata
8. Nigel Green in Zulu
9. Frank Overton in Fail-Safe
   
10. Keenan Wynn in Dr. Strangelove
11. Karl Malden in Dead Ringer
12. Gian Maria Volonté in A Fistful of Dollars
13. Jack Hawkins in Zulu 
14. Burt Lancaster in Seven Days in May  
15. Dan O'Herlihy in Fail-Safe
16. Patrick Magee in Zulu
17. Wilfrid Brambell in A Hard Day's Night
18. John Gielgud in Becket
19. Stanley Holloway in My Fair Lady
20. Slim Pickens in Dr. Strangelove 
21. James Booth in Zulu 
22. Walter Matthau in Fail-Safe
23. Lee Tracy in The Best Man
    
24. Edmond O'Brien in Seven Days in May 
25. Peter Finch in The Girl with Green Eyes
    
26. Umberto Spadaro in Seduced and Abandoned
27. James Mason in The Fall of the Roman Empire
    
28. Kei Satō in Onibaba
29. James Stewart in Cheyenne Autumn
    
30. John Mills in The Chalk Garden
31. Tatsuya Nakadai in Kwaidan 
32. Anthony Franciosa in Rio Conchos
    
33. Gert Fröbe in Goldfinger 
    
34. Robert Morley in Topkapi 
35. Robert Earl Jones in One Potato, Two Potato
    
36. Larry Hagman in Fail-Safe
37. Peter Bull in Dr. Strangelove
38. Martin Balsam in Seven Days in May 
39. Trevor Howard in Father Goose
    
40. Paul Scofield in The Train   
41. Aldo Puglisi in Seduced and Abandoned
    
42. Ed Wynn in Mary Poppins
43. Leo McKern in King & Country
44. Gert van den Bergh in Zulu  
45. Dick Van Dyke in What a Way to Go
46. James Coburn in The Americanization of Emily
47. Alec Guinness in The Fall of the Roman Empire
    
48. Lando Buzzanca in Seduced and Abandoned
    
49. Percy Herbert in Guns at Batasi
50. Cecil Kellaway in Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte
51. Herbert Lom in A Shot in the Dark
52. John Junkin in A Hard Day's Night
53. José Calvo in A Fistful of Dollars
    
54. Jack Hawkins in Guns at Batasi
55. Errol John in Guns at Batasi
56. John Houseman in Seven Days in May 
57. Melvyn Douglas in The Americanization of Emily
    
58. Arthur O'Connell in 7 Faces of Dr. Lao
    
59. Robert Mitchum in What a Way to Go 
60. Yaphet Kotto Nothing But a Man
    
61. John Leyton in Guns at Batasi
62. Norman Rossington in A Hard Day's Night 
63. Victor Buono in Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte
64. Ivor Emmanuel in Zulu 
65. Rentarō Mikuni in Kwaidan
66. Gene Kelly in What a Way to Go 
67. Stanley Green in Nothing but a Man
    
68. Donald Wolfit in Becket  
69. Andrew Duggan in Seven Days in May
70. Akim Tamiroff in Topkapi
71. Glynn Edwards in Zulu 
72. Dean Martin in What a Way to Go
    
73. Peter Lawford in Dead Ringer
74. Desmond Llewelyn in Goldfinger
75. Patrick Magee in Seance on a Wet Afternoon 
76. Yuri Tolubeyev in Hamlet
77. Dom Deluise in Fail-Safe 
78. Takashi Shimura in Kwaidan
    
79. James Mason in The Pumpkin Eater 
80. Felix Aylmer in The Chalk Garden
    
81. Eli Wallach in Kisses for My President 
    
82. James Earl Jones in Dr. Strangelove 
83. Mikhail Nazvanov in Hamlet
84. Joseph Cotten in Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte 
85. Edmond O'Brien in Rio Conchos
    
86. George Sanders in A Shot in the Dark
87. George Macready in Dead Ringers
88. Sotiris Moustakas in Zorba the Greek
89. Kevin McCarthy in The Best Man
90. David Kernan in Zulu 
91. Richard Attenborough in The Third Secret
    
92. Katsuo Nakamura in Kwaidan
    
93. James Ward in The Night of the Iguana
94. Jack Weston in The Incredible Mr. Limpet 
95. Shelley Berman in The Best Man
96. Bernard Lee in Goldfinger
97. Martin Gabel in Marnie
98. David Weston in Becket
99. Bruce Dern in Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte 
100. Richard Mulligan in One Potato, Two Potato
     
101. Mark Eden in Seance on a Wet Afternoon 
102. Jean Servais in That Man From Rio
     
103. Bruce Dern in Marnie 
104. Arthur Kennedy in Cheyenne Autumn
     
105. Giacomo Rossi-Stuart in The Last Man on Earth
106. John Henry Falk in The Best Man
107. Harold Sakata in Goldfinger  
108. Stuart Whitman in Rio Conchos
     
109. Wilfrid Hyde-White in My Fair Lady 
110. Paul Newman in What a Way to Go
     
111. Leon Ames in The Misadventures of Merlin Jones 
112. Joseph Egger in A Fistful of Dollars
113. Hugh Marlowe in Seven Days in May
114. Anthony Eisley in The Naked Kiss
     
115. Norm Grabowski in The Misadventure of Merlin Jones 
116. Matthew Garber in Mary Poppins  
117. Fritz Weaver in Fail-Safe 
118. Paolo Stoppa in Becket
119. Jeremy Brett in My Fair Lady
120. Vincent Beck in Santa Clause Conquers the Martians
121. Bill McCutcheon in Santa Clause Conquers the Martians
122. Carl Don in Santa Clause Conquers the Martians

Next Year: 1955 lead

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1964: Frank Overton in Fail-Safe

Frank Overton did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying General Bogan, USAF in Fail-Safe.

Fail-Safe is the dead serious version of Dr. Strangelove about a malfunction that sends a bomber on a mission that could cause a nuclear holocaust. Although this is an effective film in its own Dr. Strangelove is the superior film. This film suffers from just too many conveniences (inconveniences) that makes Dr. Strangelove honestly more believable (precious bodily fluids aside) since Dr. Strangelove compensates for unlikely human behavior by having the most gun-ho pilot of all time, and a deranged general to push the insanity forward.

Fail-Safe has a large cast in its story which jumps back and forth between the plane itself, the president (Henry Fonda) talking to the Russian premier with a young Larry Hagman as his translator, the pentagon with Walter Matthau playing against type before he had a type as a callous political science professor, and a dread filled General played by Dan O'Herlihy, and the Air Force headquarters that is run by Overton's General Bogan. Overton, who is probably best known for his role on Star Trek or playing the sheriff in To Kill a Mockingbird, plays the important role of General Bogan who must handle perhaps the most problematic group of people during the extremely tense situation.

Frank Overton plays General Bogan as a calm controlled figure who is very much a man who try his very best to diffuse the situation no matter what it might take. Overton handles his performance very well as a man set out in his duty but he carefully alludes to the emotional strain that Bogan has to face. Bogan never cracks staying assured the whole time, but Overton is effective by showing that it is not that Bogan is unemotional but he is a man who is doing his very best to stay in control of his situation. Although every situation is a stressful one the place Bogan is in is perhaps the most because it eventually is decided that the USAF must help the Soviets bring down their own planes.

Overton makes the most out of his part of Bogan who does his best to avert disaster even though many other men in the room are not really behind the idea of shooting down their own men and helping the enemy. Overton brings the emotional weight necessary in his scenes to show the urgency in Bogan to stop the upcoming travesty while to still reflecting his underlying unease in needing to give away the position of his own men. Bogan stays on course the entire time, but Overton is very effective in showing the building frustrations in Bogan. Overton lets these frustrations out in the right which are the worst times such as when either his own men or the Russians won't listen due to distrust.

Overton's best moment though is a quieter one where he talks to his Russian counterpart for a brief moment while the mayhem rages around them. Overton is excellent in this scene by honestly not becoming overly emotional in this scene either even though it is a very tender scene, one of the few of them in the film. Overton nicely plays the scene in a simple but very poignant fashion as he shows for a moment a Russian and American having understanding even though it is only for a moment. Overton succeeds by making it in a powerful moment by just giving that remarkable but brief moment of reflection where Bogan is allowed to feel the weight of the situation at the scale of an individual. Frank Overton's fulfills his role well making an impact within the large cast and amplifying the power of the scenes with the USAF war room. 

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1964

And the Nominees Were Not:

Nigel Green in Zulu

Fredric March in Seven Days in May

Frank Overton in Fail-Safe

George C. Scott in Dr. Strangelove

Sterling Hayden in Dr. Strangelove