Best Supporting Actor 1958: Results

5. Arthur Kennedy in Some Came Running- Kennedy gives a rather uninteresting performance in a very dispensable part.

4. Theodore Bikel in The Defiant Ones- Bikel gives an adequate performance that fulfills his role as the humane sheriff.

3. Gig Young in Teacher's Pet- Gig Young gives a rather enjoyable performance being funny both when he is the perfect pompous man, to just a man with a very bad hangover.

2. Lee J. Cobb in The Brothers Karamazov- Although he is not in a great film Cobb makes the most out of his performance. He turns his bad father into an effectively realistic villain who is just as much of a buffoon as he is a master manipulator.

1. Burl Ives in The Big Country- Good prediction Eddie and Fritz. Ives gives the best performance of all of the nominees despite the fact that his film is quite lacking on a whole. Ives though never becomes the mediocrity of his surroundings though and gives a powerful moving portrait of troubled landowner and father, that frankly finds complexities to the part that probably were not even in the character as written.

Deserving Performances:
Orson Welles in Touch of Evil
Burl Ives in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Best Supporting Actor 1958: Theodore Bikel in The Defiant Ones

Theodore Bikel received his only Oscar nomination at the moment for portraying Sheriff Max Muller in The Defiant Ones.

Theodore Bikel portrays the Sheriff who leads the posse who is searching for the two escaped chain gang convicts (Sidney Poitier, Tony Curtis). Bikel's role is a rather simple one to say the least in terms of the film. It on occasion cuts from the story of the escaping men to the posse lead by Bikel's Sheriff who wishes only to recapture the men without incident. He merely wants to catch them not kill them making it necessary for him to basically calm down some of his party who think he is being too easy on the men.

Bikel really isn't asked to do very much in the role of the Sheriff. I suppose a southern accent maybe was wanted since he sort of tries to do one in just his first scene than proceeds to pretty much give up on it right afterwards. Other than that he just needs to be a rather kindly Sheriff which Bikel shows in a very relaxed fashion. He is anything but intense and I suppose he is properly humane I guess in his portrayal, as he makes the Sheriff just a nice guy.

The whole point of the performance and the character seemed really just to show the audience that if Poitier and Curtis will be captured they won't be mistreated by those chasing them. Bikel is technically just fine at doing this there is nothing wrong with his portrayal. There just is not much to it either, he is there does his piece every so often sets up the humanness of the man nothing more. He never takes your interest from the main story line but that was not the point of the Sheriff either. It is a satisfactory performance in a functional role no more no less.

Best Supporting Actor 1958

And the Nominees Were:

Theodore Bikel in The Defiant Ones

Lee J. Cobb in The Brothers Karamazov

Burl Ives in The Big Country

Gig Young in Teacher's Pet

Arthur Kennedy in Some Came Running