Beatrice Straight Wins Supporting Actress 1977 Oscars

[@nickbyrne5871]

After being in 40 plays, myself........I can say.........there ARE no small roles............Straight's performance in NETWORK still remains as superb and heart felt and REAL as when I first saw it in the movies, as a teen.

[@goodowner5000]

Beatrice Straight is a powerhouse in her role in "Network"! Really one of the best 'single scene' nominations, along with Montgomery Clift & Judy Garland in "Judgement at Nuremberg" and Viola Davis in "Doubt".

[@dawnemerson3604]

Yes so powerful

[@garymacmillan6401]

Ingrid Bergman in Murder on the Orient Express.

[@robertriteman3227]

Chris Sarandon in Dog Day Afternoon but like the others you cited he did not win. At the end of the day, understandably, most voters want more than one scene

[@heaintloveu]

I don’t know how Judy Garland didn’t win for JaN

[@goodowner5000]

@@robertriteman3227 Yes, that is true. I've read that actors consider it a good role if they have at least five good scenes, but it is magic when they can totally invest you with one scene as good as Ms. Straight's or the others mentioned.

[@andrewfaduk214]

This scene is absolutely breathtaking... You feel her pain.. Anger.. Bitterness in every fibre of her being. One scene was all it took..... Damn right she deserved the award Xxx R. I. P

[@paulsuchy6210]

In 2007, I attended a special Oscar screening of the 5 Best Picture nominees. Between films, the organizers gave prizes for correct trivia answers. When they asked who won an Oscar for the shortest amount of screen time, I gave the correct answer. The guys argued with me and said it was Judi Dench. I asked them to research their trivia questions before running a contest. They owe me a tshirt.

[@christineobrien7707]

Lovely, gracious speech.

[@robertqld]

I feel like if Talia Shire went Supporting instead of Lead she would've had a good shot at winning (apparently the studio suggested Supporting but she was wanting to nominate for Lead). Her role was small and would've made more sense in Supporting.

[@seand.397]

The Academy got this one right. A one scene performance that truly deserved it. Piper Laurie was a close second, but they were not ready to honor a horror performance back in 1977. Piper wins in the end though, because her performance is the one that will stand the test of time out of the five.

[@karllieck9064]

Oscar well deserved. Straight's performance was jaw-dropping painful.

[@supermodel2]

Wonderful performance by Straight a very well deserved Oscar and great for the academy to honor it. Yes she was a Whitney so extremely wealthy NYC family so she didn’t act that much but when she did she performed with extreme artistry and was very accomplished as she won a Tony award as well.

[@johnnolan5579]

Piper Laurie was easily the best, giving one of the most indelible supporting performances of all time. At least Straight admitted it was unexpected and the dark horse of the nominees.

[@JoelReed0]

Straight was the dark horse that year since she had received no precursor award nominations for her role. Most of the Supporting Actress precursor awards attention went to Shire, Foster and Ross with a few others rounding out the rest of the nominee lists. Straight truly came out of nowhere to take this award.

[@yvonneplant9434]

After years of being in obscurity after her stellar performance in The Hustler, Laurie winning would have been a kind of justice.

[@MultiSUPERLATIVO]

All the President's Men is such a revealing movie! Most incredible of all it is a film that is more current than ever. Those days when the Oscars were pure glamour.

[@infonut]

I think Alexander should have gotten it. Meaningless as it is. We have never gotten enough of her.

[@bingovegas4867]

Minutes on screen, simple brilliance =OSCAR. 🎉

[@fanorama1]

She won with one of the shortest on-screen times of any supporting actress winner.

[@enricotolentino2537]

Beatrice Straight's performance is magnificent. I can't actually call it as a performance. It's so raw that she conveys the emotion of devastation, fury and acceptance.

[@abe_froman8360]

Her speech was actually longer than her screen time in Network.

[@lorraineb.4698]

Are you sure? I saw her clips.

[@kylerobin6718]

Such class!

[@reginaldsawyer2945]

and that is why she won her 1977 Oscar for a divine passionate performance.

[@GuadalupeGuacamole]

God I loved her in Poltergeist too 🙌

[@briedewayne071]

Me me too!!!

[@GuadalupeGuacamole]

A little known/recognized role for her and she was impeccable at it🙌🙌

[@frenchyontravel]

She was so wonderful in Poltergeist ❤

[@triciajohansen7124]

Tough call, all 5 were superb performances!!!!!!

[@thomasmagnum3588]

She said a lot……an awful lot……none of it very memorable; BUT that performance, in one of my all time favorite films, certainly was memorable.

[@fanorama1]

Excellent performances by all.

[@bertroost1675]

The words used in this scene are excellent.

[@donniehagy5125]

Piper Laurie should have won--hands down.

[@DAN-lo7fz]

As deliriously campy as it was, Piper Laurie overdid it. The performance doesn’t stand up today the same way Sissy Spacek’s did in Carrie. The one who should have won was Jodie Foster, a performance scarily grounded and realistic for an actress her age at the time. None of the precocious put upon nonsense we see so often from young actresses these days. Unfortunately the Academy didn’t know what to do with a 14 year-old playing a prostitute. It was a performance no one else her age could have played as effectively.

[@sumoclift]

Agree

[@johnsaxton5281]

Totally, her Margaret White was Legendary

[@Marcel_Audubon]

your sarcasm is delightful!

[@fool4singing]

Hey, at least she was nominated. The horror genre usually gets ignored entirely.

[@romanclay1913]

They all deserved to win.

[@reginaldsawyer2945]

Beatrice Straight was the third actress to play Queen Hippolyta (Wonder Woman's Mother) in the New Adventures fo Wonder-Woman season two pilot tv film episode: The Retrurn of Wonder Woman episode one season two.

[@a_leaf]

This movie was very well written utilizing wit and intelligence in such a way that is not overwhelming or pretentious, but rather inspires one to reflect inwardly. We do not get writers like this today, sadly. The writing today is either inept or purposefully verbose. As Eminem said, 'everyone has something to say but nothing comes out when they move their lips, just a bunch of jiberish'.

[@kimthomas8717]

Wow 🤩

[@joshdrayton1230]

While Straight's performance was very good, this is one of those examples of what happens when an exceptionally strong field splits the vote so profoundly that the complete outsider ends up winning. All the other performances were more substantial than Straight's one scene showcase, and all were equally good or arguably better. This might partly explain why the win didn't do all that much for Straight's career. While all the other nominees went on to have sold, enduring careers, Straight appeared in a string of mostly unremarkable minor roles, mostly on television.

[@lorraineb.4698]

Many Oscar winners have no great feats after their win save for Nicholson and Streep

[@LuckyBastardProd]

She was in Poltergeist and Jane Champion hasn’t done a whole lot, Piper Laurie was already a big star with a solid track record and Jodie Foster was young was the most popular actor in that group at that moment and still had her life ahead of her.

[@jamesfeldman4234]

While Beatrice Straight holds the record for earning an Oscar with the shortest on-screen time, her performance, clocking it at under 6 minutes, was a marvel to behold. Pure screen magic. As for how winning an Oscar for acting affects one's career, there is no general rule that it helps. Some Oscar-winning actors and actresses have even called it a "curse."

[@lorraineb.4698]

@@LuckyBastardProd Beatrice Straight was a seasoned actress of the legitimate stage and theater

[@lindaeasley5606]

The others had Oscar caliber performances for the entirety of their films- no small feat while Beatrice Straight was essentially in Network for one scene I would have voted for one of the other actresses

[@jackilynpyzocha662]

I liked her in "Endless Love" and "Poltergeist"

[@chrisf5053]

Loved her in Poltergeist!

[@RaulAPinto]

Do you have the whole ceremony? I'd love watching it

[@rrrusty49]

She was also great in Dolores Claiborne (1995) based on Stephen King's book. King is know for horror, but his human stories are equally as good.

[@kenanderson9673]

That was Judy Parfit

[@rrrusty49]

@@kenanderson9673 My bad. I got them confused. Both equally good, but Judy has my heart.

[@HoldenNY22]

Jodie Foster was very dissapointed that she didn't win the Oscar. She said about ther loss- "I'm as Mad as Helll and I'm not go ing to take it anymore.

[@petec434]

I don't think it takes anything away from Straight to say - sitting here in 2024 - how surprising it is that she won over Foster and Laurie (I'm unfamiliar with the other two performances). I suppose some voters might have shied away from giving the win to a horror film or child actor.

[@siddharthnaagar7028]

Should had been Jodie Foster

[@lynnturman8157]

I wonder who would've won in a boxing match between Ali & Rocky?

[@infonut]

What a year. "The dark horse" wins in a race of champions. She's far too long winded though. I thought Ali was gonna drag her off stage.

[@NezPez-n9n]

Really should have been Piper Laurie's.

[@variousJnames]

@Nez Pez They always snub horror films

[@CeliniacForLife]

​@@variousJnames Back then they didn't. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, The Shining, The Exorcist, and Silence of the Lambs all won or were nominated for Oscars.

[@LuckyBastardProd]

@@CeliniacForLifeCuckoos Nest is a horror film? The Shinning wasn’t nominated for anything, that film got terrible reviews and not great box office, Friday The 13th made almost as much and it only cost 1/2 million bucks to Shinings 20 mil. Yes, they did snub horror films. They couldn’t ignore The Exorcist because it was such a phenomenon. Silence was the first horror film to win a Best Picture Oscar in ‘92.

[@letrahisondesimages]

Tough category this year.

[@josephrocha142]

Piper should have won. There going to laugh at you! There going to laugh at you!

[@ConstantGardener-q9q]

Jody Foster for Taxi should have won

[@romanclay1913]

Beatrice Straight is from the ultra-wealthy Whitney Straight family.

[@michaelverbakel7632]

Because Beatrice Straight's mother was a part of the Whitney family Beatrice Straight was a cousin of the late Gloria Vanderbilt who passed away only three or four years ago at age 95. There common connection was Mrs. Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney who became famous when they fought that famous and much publicized custody battle over little Gloria in the 1930's with Gloria Vanderbilt's mother, also named Gloria. I'm not sure, but I think that Gertrude Whitney was a sister of Gloria Vanderbilt's father whom little Gloria never really knew, he was alcoholic and died young. So the connection I make was that Beatrice Straight's mother was probably a sister or something like that to the husband of Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney but I'm probably wrong.

[@goodowner5000]

I believe Sidney Lumet ,the director of Network, was married to Gloria Vanderbilt for awhile, hence also Anderson Cooper's stepfather.

[@akrenwinkle]

I read that her speech was so long that the Oscar committee afterward got tough about long-windedness and weaponized cut-off music.

[@bingovegas4867]

ACTORS should be allowed to speak, that's why we the fans watch. Cut out the crap like bully Kimmel walking out with a donkey on stage and taking up time. Rob Lowe and Snow White were vilified many years ago for a ridiculous not funny bit that people hated after they embarrassed everyone in the first rows. Google it, it was brutal. So to this guy with your ridiculous comment, go away. 😢

[@akrenwinkle]

@@bingovegas4867 I don't know about "you the fans" but I believe most people who still watch these cornball awards shows watch to see who is aging badly, who is wearing what, who might be boinking whom, who is a beard for whom, whose titties might pop out any second, and who will make a fool of him/herself... you know, as you just did with your comment. I watched the night of this show, and recalled the critical blowback the following day, and the decision that something had to be done about time limitations.

[@ClassicalMusic2002]

@@akrenwinkle That isn't what 99% of viewers watch for you pervert.

[@paulvoorhies8821]

This was longer than her performance.

[@rgrndu]

Her speech wasn’t that long. She thanked those she wanted to thank & got off.

[@variousJnames]

Should have been Jodi Foster's win....but they give it to seasoned performers first.

[@RachelIn179]

I just don't feel anything.

[@scottallanallan]

Piper Laurie was robbed

[@hectormanuel9793]

No she wasn't, actresses voted for Straight, they know a worthy performance, Piper was over-the-top and scene by scene was no where near this performance, hers was the popular nominee for the audience that knows no better.

[@ikurrinegartzia5487]

Class ..