Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1992: Results

5. Samuel West in Howard's End- West handles his part well, but he fails to leave that much of a lasting impression.

Best Scene: Bast first meets the Schlegel sisters. 

4. Steve Buscemi in Reservoir Dogs- Buscemi gives a good performance by giving a realistic depiction of a man who strives to be professional above all else.

Best Scene:  The Mexican standoff.

3. Richard Harris in Unforgiven- Harris gives a strong performance by nicely building up his character's prim pompousness just to have it cut down.

Best Scene: English Bob and Little Bill meet once again. 

2. Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross- Just one great monologue and he delivers it flawlessly.

1. Paul McGann in Alien 3- Good Predictions Michael McCarthy and Psifonian Although it was never in question who would take this year overall, it should be noted that McGann gives a great portrayal of uncontrollable madness.

Best Scene: Golic apologizes for a killing.

Overall Rank:

1. Gene Hackman in Unforgiven
2. Paul McGann in Alien 3
3. Ray Wise in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
4. Al Pacino in Glengarry Glen Ross
5. Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross
6. Richard Harris in Unforgiven
7. Charles Dance in Alien 3 
8. Morgan Freeman in Unforgiven 
9. Fred Gwynne in My Cousin Vinny
10. Ed Harris in Glengarry Glen Ross 
11. Jeff Goldblum in Deep Cover
12. Charles S. Dutton in Alien 3
13. Wesley Snipes in The Waterdance
14. Robin Williams in Aladdin 
15. Kevin Spacey in Glengarry Glen Ross 
16. William Forsythe in The Waterdance 
17. Gary Sinise in A Midnight Clear
18. David Bowie in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
19. Steve Buscemi in Reservoir Dogs
20. Harry Dean Stanton in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me 
21. Tom Skerritt in A River Runs Through It
22. Sydney Pollack in Husbands and Wives
23. Graham Greene in Thunderheart
24. Stephen Fry in Peter's Friends
25. Frank Silva in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
26. Jaye Davidson in The Crying Game
27. Kevin Kline in Chaplin
28. Saul Rubinek in Unforgiven
29. J.T. Walsh in A Few Good Men 
30. Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own
31. Michael Beach in One False Move
32. Alan Arkin in Glengarry Glen Ross 
33. Ray Wise in Bob Roberts 
34. Kenneth Branagh in Peter's Friends
35. Michael Madsen in Reservoir Dogs 
36. Kyle MacLachlan in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
37. Jonathan Pryce in Glengarry Glen Ross
38. Samuel West in Howard's End
39. Lawrence Tierney in Reservoir Dogs 
40. Frank Whaley in A Midnight Clear
41. Tony Todd in Candyman
42. Anthony Wong in Hard Boiled
43. Pete Postlethwaite in Alien 3 
44. Liam Neeson in Husbands and Wives
45. Hugh Laurie in Peter's Friends
46. Richard E. Grant in The Player
47. Giancarlo Esposito in Bob Roberts
48. Sam Shepard in Thunderheart
49. Kiefer Sutherland in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me 
50. Matt Damon in School Ties
51. West Studi  in The Last of the Mohicans
52. Sully Boyar in In the Soup
53. Dana Ashbrook in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
54. Anthony Hopkins in Dracula
55. Dana Carvey in Wayne's World 
56. Lenny von Dohlen in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me 
57. Alan Rickman in Bob Roberts
58. Chris Penn in Reservoir Dogs
59. Ray Walston in Of Mice and Men
60. Tom Waits in Dracula 
61. Chris Isaak in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
62. Tim Curry in Home Alone 2
63. Sidney Poitier in Sneakers
64. Russell Means in The Last of the Mohicans 
65. Oliver Platt in Beethoven
66. Stanley Tucci in Beethoven 
67. Al Freeman Jr. in Malcolm X
68. Fred Ward in The Player 
69. Peter Berg in A Midnight Clear
70. James Earl Jones in Sneakers
71. James Woods in Chaplin
72. Jim Broadbent in The Crying Game  
73. Will Patton in In the Soup
74. Peter Ustinov in Lorenzo's Oil
75. Rob Campbell in Unforgiven 
76. Kevin Bacon in A Few Good Men  
77. Woody Allen in Husbands and Wives
78. Kevin Dillon in A Midnight Clear
79. Stephen Tobolowsky in Sneakers
80. Delroy Lindo in Malcolm X
81. Billy Bob Thornton in One False Move
82. Philip Seymour Hoffman in Scent of a Woman 
83. Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men
84. Anthony James in Unforgiven
85. Rob Lowe in Wayne's World 
86. David Lynch in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me 
87. Stanley Tucci in In the Soup
88. J.T. Walsh in Hoffa
89. Donald Sutherland in Buffy The Vampire Slayer
90. Danny Webb in Alien 3
91. Joe Pesci in Home Alone 2 
92. Rutger Hauer in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
93. David Strathairn in Sneakers
94. Gilbert Gottfried in Aladdin  
95. River Phoenix in Sneakers 
96. Paul Reubens in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
97. David Paymer in Mr. Saturday Night 
98. Frank Whaley in Hoffa
99. Ralph Brown in Alien 3 
100. Jared Harris in The Public Eye
101. Ian Watkin in Dead Alive
102. Philip Chan in HardBoiled
103. Eddie Bracken in Home Alone 2 
104. Edward Bunker in Reservoir Dogs
105. Eric Schweig in The Last of the Mohicans
106. Ben Kingsley in Sneakers
107. Vincent D'Onofrio in The Player
108. Jonathan Freeman in Aladdin
109. Philip Kwok in Hard Boiled
110. Forest Whitaker in The Crying Game 
111. David Strathairn in A League of Their Own
112. Lance Henriksen in Alien 3
113. Robert Prosky in Far and Away
114. Mako in Sidekicks
115. Wayne Knight in Basic Instinct 
116. Zeljko Ivanek in School Ties
     
117. James Rebhorn in Scent of a Woman 
118. Miguel Ferrer in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
119. Richard E. Grant in Dracula
120. Peter Gallagher in The Player 
121. Dan Aykroyd in Sneakers
122. Harvey Keitel in Sister Act 
123. William Forsythe in American Me
124. Brian Doyle-Murray in Wayne's World
125. Daniel Stern in Home Alone 2
126. Anthony Hopkins in Chaplin 
127. Rupert Graves in Damage
128. Stephen Weber in Single White Female
129. Cary Elwes in Dracula
130. Christopher Walken in Batman Returns
131. George Dzundza in Basic Instinct 
132. Chris O'Donnell in School Ties
     
133. Michael Beach in One False Move
134. Wolfgang Bodison in A Few Good Men 
135. Jaimz Woolvett in Unforgiven 
136. James Wilsby in Howard's End
137. Kevin Pollack in A Few Good Men
138. Ralph Maccio in My Cousin Vinny
139. Ralph Brown in The Crying Game 
140. Fernando Rey in 1492 Conquest of Paradise
141. Maurice Roeves in The Last of the Mohicans
142. Billy Campbell in Dracula
143. Dean Jones in Beethoven
144. Dan Aykroyd in Chaplin
145. John Heard in Home Alone 2
146. Jonathan Brandis in Ladybugs 
147. Ron Silver in Mr. Saturday Night
148. Armand Assante in 1492 Conquest of Paradise 
149. Bradley Whitford in Scent of a Woman 
150. Steven Bauer in Raising Cain
151. Casey Siemaszko in Of Mice and Men
152. Kiefer Sutherland in A Few Good Men
153. Victor Garber in Light Sleeper
154. Stephen Tobolowsky in Single White Female
155. Chuck Norris in Sidekicks
156. Beau Bridges in Sidekicks 
157. Gregory Sierra in Deep Cover
158. Thomas Gibson in Far and Away
159. Quentin Tarantino in Reservoir Dogs 
160. Spike Lee in Malcolm X
161. Pauly Shore in Encino Man
162. Charles Martin Smith in Deep Cover 
163. Danny DeVito in Batman Returns
164. Michael DeLuise in Encino Man
165. Joe Piscopo in Sidekicks
166. Keanu Reeves in Dracula

Next Year: 1945 Lead

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1992: Samuel West in Howard's End

Samuel West did not receive an Oscar nomination, despite being nominated for a Bafta, for portraying Leonard Bast in Howard's End.

Howard's End is a very fine adaptation of the novel which tells the story of three families through the exchanging of a house Howard's End that goes from person to person.

Each of the families in Howard's End represents a different class of Edwardian England. The Wilcox family being the very wealthy upper class, the Schlegel sisters being the bourgeoisie, and Bast being the lower class. Of course it is a relative lower class for Bast as he is a white collar lower class still as he does not look poor when you look right at him, but unlike those above him money seems to be an actual concern for him. West plays Bast very much in the appropriate style that most of the actors employ. The style being firmly in that Edwardian bent where emotions are to be very specifically expressed, and even when one's emotions become more volatile it's still to be done in a fairly repressed way that still must keep one's proper manner intact at all times.

The Edwardian confines are an interesting challenge for any actor because it is up to them to not simply be dull in his portraying this particular style of person, and as well attempt to see what they can do below the surface with the work. West technically gets a little more wiggle room with Bast as he is one of the more emotional characters, although still not that emotional. West definitely is good in coming up with that Edwardian reserve as he always seems at least slightly constrained in some way, as a good Edwardian should even though he is technically an emotional fellow. West is effective in always keeping that a mostly proper stance, and when there is something for him to be a little more emotional about West is effective in stressing a stronger intensity in these moments to basically show a strong repression.

Bast comes in and out of the film usually being roped along by the whims of the the Schlegel sisters who think they are helping Bast, but he continually finds himself off in slowly worse circumstances. There are few moments where Bast takes exception with them but they are played as very Edwardian by West which certainly is the way they should be played. For the most part though West plays Bast as a man who just is slowly getting more and more depressed over his situation. He plays it as a particularly inward bound depression as he just seems to sunken from the inside. This does not change even when he has an affair with one of the sisters as the film seems to play it that she does this in part because of his rather miserable state both financially and emotionally.

 West handles his dissolution of the man well enough to even the point that his sudden exit at the end of the film can even be believed rather easily. West's work here is a good performance which firmly stands within the realm of the Edwardian culture. I don't see this as a particularly great performance though as he never quite stands out really all that much with his performance. It's a good enough performance in that I have no real complaints and he definitely gets across exactly what should be gotten across in regards to Bast as a character. It's fine work but just fine. There is perhaps there could have been ground gained with the character it is hard to say, but either way I find that his performance is more than adequate but also pretty easy to forget.

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1992

And the Nominees Were Not:

Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross

Paul McGann in Alien 3

Richard Harris in Unforgiven

Steve Buscemi in Reservoir Dogs

Samuel West in Howard's End