Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2013 November 11

= November 11 =

Doris Wishman alike film directors
Besides Doris Wishman, who else also directed films like hers? meaning with nude women? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.31.20.195 (talk) 02:08, 11 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Nude women? See Nudity in film. But more specifically, see the list at Sexploitation film.--Shantavira|feed me 10:35, 11 November 2013 (UTC)

Nina Zanjani
Watching Wallander (Swedish TV series), I can't shake the feeling that I've seen some English-speaking actress who looks just like Nina Zanjani (whose IMDb credits are all Swedish). Can you scratch that mental itch? —Tamfang (talk) 10:57, 11 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Could it be Jennifer Carpenter, who plays Debra Morgan in Dexter (TV Series)? - Cucumber Mike (talk) 00:25, 12 November 2013 (UTC)

Best Actor/Actress Oscar in their final lead role
Henry Fonda won the Best Actor Oscar for his role in On Golden Pond, which was his last film. Are there any other actors who won the ultimate Hollywood accolade for their final film? --Viennese Waltz 15:03, 11 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Peter Finch and Heath Ledger won posthumously, although they had each worked on a project following their eventual Oscar-winning role (as was Fonda, apparently). ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 15:52, 11 November 2013 (UTC)
 * I was going to point out Heath Ledger, for his role as the Joker.   Miss Bono  [hello, hello!]  16:01, 11 November 2013 (UTC)
 * I believe that Heath Ledger won in the Supporting Actor category, not Leading Actor. Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 16:14, 11 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Oops, you're right. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 16:15, 11 November 2013 (UTC)


 * This is just a guess. Perhaps Jessica Tandy?  (Also, perhaps George Burns and Jack Palance in supporting role categories?)     Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 16:11, 11 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Those aren't bad guesses considering the age of the three when they won, but, each of them had numerous roles after winning their Oscars. Burns played God in a couple sequels and Jack played Curly's twin brother in the next City Slickers film. Tandy was in Fried Green Tomatoes and several other films as well. MarnetteD | Talk 16:31, 11 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Yes, those were all "off the cuff" guesses, knowing that each was very old at the time of the award. I didn't realize that they were all so prolific, even after the Oscar!   Thanks.   Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 18:43, 11 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Okay, I have been through both lists. Except for Fonda and Finch I can't find an actor who even comes close to having won his award in his last or next to last film. As to the women the only one that comes close is Geraldine Page who only appeared in a couple films after winning her Oscar. Grace Kelly might qualify as she was only in a few films after her win for The Country Girl (1954 film) and before her marriage to Rainer III of Monaco. She was in 5 films that were released in 54 and 3 after that. I mention her because the circumstances of her leaving the film business are fairly unique. Now several of the people we have mentioned in this thread won for "Supporting ..." Oscars but I didn't go through those lists as that was not the OPs question. MarnetteD | Talk 19:09, 11 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks all. Yeah I'm only interested in lead role, not best supporting actor.  I'm not too excited about posthumous either, since you suspect that the Academy only gave them the award because they had passed away.  So it looks like Fonda is the only example of an actor who won Best (lead) Actor for their last (lead) role while they were still alive. --Viennese Waltz 20:14, 11 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Let me just clarify one point. You stated that the Academy sometimes gives the posthumous award simply because the person passed away.  That may, of course, be true sometimes.  However, there are also instances where the individual was alive at the time of the nomination and just happened (by coincidence) to die before the presentation of the award.  If I remember correctly, this happened with Finch ... and I think Audrey Hepburn, also.  Some of these are reported at: List of posthumous Academy Award winners and nominees.  Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 20:48, 11 November 2013 (UTC)


 * You are welcome. I am sure we are all glad to have helped. FWIW please don't take the "they only received the award because they passed away" too literally. Finch was being touted for the award even before he passed away. IMO his performance in Network was extraordinary and indelible. I don't know how today's audience would react to the film but there are points that Paddy Chayefsky was making in his script that seem more relevant in our world of cable TV and the net than they did when the film was released in '76. MarnetteD | Talk 20:55, 11 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Good point. And I am quite sure that Heath Ledger would still have won, whether dead or alive.  I am pretty sure that he was the hands-down favorite.  Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 20:59, 11 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Well, maybe unofficially and conjecturally. He died on 22 January 2008.  The movie was not even released till July 2008, six months after he died. His Oscar nomination came on the exact first anniversary of his death, 22 January 2009, and it was only from then that any serious talk of favourites might have been entertained.  So, yes, he was the favourite, but we'll never know now whether he would still have been the favourite had he not died before the nomination. --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  08:55, 12 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Yes, I agree. Of course, we will never officially "know".  But, my understanding was that his was a tour-de-force performance, way ahead of the pack.  The second place favorite wasn't even close.  That was my recollection of this situation.  Thanks.   Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 16:05, 12 November 2013 (UTC)
 * I guess my unstated point was that highly acclaimed performances and other significant contributions are not always nominated for awards when the time comes. A case in point is Bruce Beresford's direction of Driving Miss Daisy.  That film won a host of awards - 3 Golden Globes, including Best Picture; Best Picture and Best Actor from the National Board of Review; and 9 Oscar nominations, with 4 wins including Best Picture and Best Actress.  One might have thought that the director of what was widely regarded as the Best Picture of the Year might have been nominated somewhere along the line - but no.  I'm sure there are other famous non-nominations.  So, while Heath Ledger's performance was widely praised, there was never any guarantee he would even be nominated for an Oscar, let alone win.  But certainly, having been nominated, he was the outright favourite from Day 1.  --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  21:02, 12 November 2013 (UTC)
 * I haven't seen Driving Miss Daisy, but I can hazard a guess as to why Beresford wasn't nominated for Best Director. He's not that well known as a director, probably because he doesn't have an identifiable directorial style - which is what is being recognized by the Best Director award.  Some directors' work is "artless" and as such is not really suitable for independent recognition.  Just because a film is great doesn't mean the direction was great - what made it great could have been the acting, the script, the costumes, the music or any combination of those. --Viennese Waltz 21:13, 12 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Oh, certainly. Likewise, Heath Ledger's performance wasn't the only good thing about The Dark Knight.  I just get back to my point that you can't be the favourite for an award like an Oscar before you've even been nominated, and Ledger was nominated exactly one year after he died.  All the earlier talk about a possible Oscar nod was just that - talk.  To give a converse example, almost nobody thought that John Wayne's performance in True Grit (1969 film) was worthy of any sort of Oscar recognition - yet, not only was he nominated, he won the thing, in the face of competition from Dustin Hofmann and Jon Voight in Midnight Cowboy (whose votes were probably split, thus clearing the way), not to mention Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole.  The ways of the Academy have always been inscrutable.  That's probably part of its appeal.  --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  00:35, 13 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Still not as bad as the Nobel Prize Committee giving a prize to Yasser Arafat. Perhaps they thought that the PLO was a peaceful organization ?  And then there's the prize they gave Obama, apparently for the accomplishment of not being George Bush. StuRat (talk) 20:53, 14 November 2013 (UTC)
 * Yes, he will be long remembered for his 1975 utterance: We do not want to destroy any people. It is precisely because we have been advocating co-existence that we have shed so much blood. Great. This is matched only by the Brazilian leader João Figueiredo's I intend to open this country up to democracy, and anyone who is against that, I will jail, I will crush.  Wonderful.  --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  01:26, 15 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Good points, Jack. You are always insightful in all things Academy Award-related!  Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 19:07, 13 November 2013 (UTC)


 * Wow, that's the nicest thing anyone's said to me in a long time. Thanks, Joseph.  --   Jack of Oz   [pleasantries]  21:22, 13 November 2013 (UTC)


 * You're welcome!  Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 22:10, 13 November 2013 (UTC)