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Tonight’s line-up on TCM features the five films nominated in 1965 for Best Art Direction-Set Direction (Black and White). It is an impressive and diverse selection: Ship of Fools, King Rat, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, The Slender Thread, and A Patch of Blue.
My favorite Oscar races are those from the mid-to-late 1960s when the lists of nominees reflected the changes occurring in the American film industry. From choice of actor to style to content to modes of production, the nominees from these years revealed that a new breed of filmmaker was invading Hollywood. And, yet, the studios were still producing or financially supporting movies in familiar genres with mainstream actors or Golden Age stars. Big studio-based films from 1965 that ended up in the list of nominees included The Sound of Music, The Agony and the Ecstasy, The Greatest Story Ever Told, The Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, and The Great Race. They competed against gritty dramas and quirky genre busters produced by small American production companies, such as The Pawnbroker, A Patch of Blue, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, and Cat Ballou, as well as British films like Darling.
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JULIE ANDREWS REPRESENTING OLD HOLLYWOOD WITH ‘THE SOUND OF MUSIC’
This competition between the old guard and the new wave was symbolized by the two front-runners for Best Actress, Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music and Julie Christie in Darling. Only six years separated the two actresses in terms of age, but the former’s association with Broadway musicals and Disney’s Mary Poppins aligned her with Old Hollywood. The press compared her to stars of the past: The Hollywood Reporter declared, “Once there was Mary Pickford, then there was Garbo, now there is Julie.” As Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music, Andrews played a spunky, wholesome female lead that would have fit right in during the Golden Age. Set in the past, with clear-cut villains and likable leads, the film exhibited not only good, old-fashioned family values but also the ultra-glossy production values of Old Hollywood. As a headline in The Hollywood Reporter noted, “’Sound of Music’ Restores Faith in the Art of Motion Pictures.” Directed by John Schlesinger, Darling was a slice of contemporary life that exposed the empty lifestyle of the jet set. While Andrews donned a modest apron and long dress to glide over the hills of Austria, Christie’s amoral model bounced around London in the latest fashion craze—the mini-skirt. Christie became associated with youthful styles and attitudes in the press, with Newsweek comparing her look to Bardot’s and remarking on the “razorlike replies she tosses in interviews.”
The two Julies seemed unfazed by the supposed competition between them. Andrews invited Christie to stay at her home during Oscar week, though the younger Julie was unable to adjust her press schedule to take the offer. Both contended that it would be terrific to win, but they were more than happy just to be nominated.
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A MINI-SKIRTED JULIE CHRISTIE IN ‘DARLING,’ THE OPPOSITE OF MARIA VON TRAPP
The only American among the Best Actress nominees was Elizabeth Hartman for A Patch of Blue, the story of an uneducated blind girl who falls in love with the cultured Sidney Poitier. The other nominees were Samantha Eggar for The Collector and Simone Signoret for Ship of Fools. Columnist Sidney Skolsky thought Hartman would be the “sleeper” in the race, because of the topical content of A Patch of Blue. However, instead of making the rounds with the press, the young actress still lived in Youngstown, Ohio, with her family. Also, MGM did not make use of photos of Hartman in the trade papers, and they did not send a photo of her to Academy voters. Instead, they sent a pair of dark sunglasses in an envelope to remind voters that Hartman’s character was blind. The anonymity hurt Hartman’s chances to win the Oscar.
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CHRISTIE’S GOLD “PAJAMAS” DID NOT SUIT EDITH HEAD.
There were other indicators in the Oscar race that the American film industry was in the mood for change. Access to the work of European filmmakers had begun to influence young American and English directors as well as to appeal to college-educated movie-goers. In 1965, several international films received nominations outside the Foreign-Language category. Hiroshi Teshigahara was included in the Best Director category for Woman in the Dunes, while Casanova ’70 and The Umbrellas of Cherbourg were nominated for original screenplay. Cherbourg was also nominated for musical score in both the original and adapted categories.
While looking over the list of nominees, I was struck at how many of the nominated actors actually appeared in two Oscar-worthy films that year. Christie also costarred in Dr. Zhivago, which included Rod Steiger in the cast. Steiger was a Best Actor nominee for The Pawnbroker. Lee Marvin, who would win the Best Actor Oscar for Cat Ballou, also appeared in Ship of Fools. It was Oskar Werner who was nominated for Best Actor for Ship of Fools, and he had costarred in The Spy Who Came in from the Cold. Richard Burton was nominated as Best Actor for Spy, which did not enjoy nearly the box office success of his other major film of the year, The Sandpiper, costarring wife Elizabeth Taylor as a bohemian artist who falls in love with Burton’s straight-laced minister.
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LYNDA BIRD MISSED A TEST TO ATTEND THE THE OSCARS.
The suspense regarding Julie vs. Julie was settled when Rex Harrison announced Christie’s name as Best Actress. The young actress rushed onstage in her specially designed attire for the ceremony, a gold pantsuit, which some dubbed pajamas. Her outfit was even more unconventional than Andrews’ kimono-style gown and fur stole. Edith Head was not thrilled with Christie’s choice, noting, “How did I know she was going to get dressed up as an Oscar until she got up onstage? Some people are just so independent that you expect them to dress differently.”
My favorite stories surrounding the 1965 Oscars had to do with Lynda Bird Johnson, daughter of President Lyndon Johnson. Johnson had begun dating actor George Hamilton during Oscar season, and she was excited when he agreed to take her to the ceremony on Monday, April 18. The mix of politics and show business was the occasion for several jokes throughout the evening, including Milton Berle’s quip, “When I took out Woodrow Wilson’s daughter they didn’t make such a fuss.” The best line came from Johnson herself, who was attending the University of Texas at the time. When one of her professors told the class that he was giving a test on the following Monday, a star-struck Lynda Bird piped up, “I won’t be here. I’m going to the Academy Awards that night with George Hamilton.”
I would call that an excused absence if something like that occurred in my class.