Helen Hayes, The Sin of Madelon Claudet

as MADELON CLAUDET

Won: Academy Award - Best Actress | Venice Film Festival - Audience Referendum, Favorite Actress

As I recall from Inside Oscar, producer Irving Thalberg was surprised that he managed a successful Oscar campaign for Helen Hayes and The Sin of Madelon Claudet, a movie which ended up being such a mess the first time they made it that it had to be reshot and retitled. In spite of this, I came into the film with great expectations for Miss Hayes' debut, as you would for any actress deemed the "First Lady of the American Theatre".

Fredric March, Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde

as DR. JEKYLL / MR. HYDE

  Won: Academy Award - Best Actor | Venice Film Festival - Audience Referendum, Most Favorite Actor

For as long as I've been interested in the Oscars, I've always thought that Fredric March's win for Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde was a little perplexing--mostly because it's an acting win for a science-fiction/horror film. These wins, or even nominations, are basically unheard of nowadays. "How good could an early 1930's film about a dude who turns into a monster possibly be?" I thought. And while I've read a few articles in recent years praising March's performance, a part of me couldn't help but continue to judge this book by its cover.

Grand Hotel

Betty Compson, The Barker

as CARRIE

As I've mentioned before, three years ago, Nick Davis of Nick's Flick Picks posted this entry on his blog. I, stumbling across this through film blog osmosis, was about to witness the beginning of his glorious 41 post run of the remaining Best Actress performances he had yet to see out of the then 408 possible performances one could see. It was an amazing thing to tune into his blog every day for the next two months to see which Actress performance he'd cover next. I was enraptured, because while I'd long loved the Oscars, most especially the Best Actress category, I never realized that there were other people out there who shared the same particular interest as myself, and the idea of watching every single Best Actress nominated performance had never even crossed my mind. Thus, Nick's feat awoke an inspired and competitive monster from within me; "I'm an actressexual too! I want to join this elite club of one too!" So I started a blog (and then another...and then another...). And thus began my own blogging odyssey of watching every Best Actress nomination in chronological order. Thanks again Nick.

In the years that have passed, some of the most elusive films (The Constant Nymph, Holiday, etc.) have either been released on DVD or put up on YouTube by wonderful film buffs. That left The Barker, the film featured in the post that was the catalyst for this entire mess, as the most difficult film to get ahold of, with Betty Compson the most elusive Best Actress nominee. And after three years, the Oscar Gods finally granted me my wish. (The fact that I'm in Los Angeles for a summer internship plays a huge factor as well.) So here goes!

Actress Round-up: 1930-1931