ROSALIND RUSSELL in “THE WOMEN” ( 1939 )
Of course comedies never win. Who ACTS in a comedy. Well you know what they say: “Dying is easy. Comedy is hard.” Russell drives “The Women.” It’s her shenanigans of trying to get Norma Shearer to confront her husband’s lover ( Joan Crawford ) that spurs all the action. She’s loud and raucous and ridiculous and doesn’t care. She is brilliant doing it. Roz takes a hilarious bite out of comedy! And her driving force of the story should have earned her an Oscar.
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1939 WINNER and NOMINEES – BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Hattie McDaniel – Gone With the Wind
Edna May Oliver – Drums Along the Mohawk
Geraldine Fitzgerald – Wuthering Heights
Maria Ouspenskaya – Love Affair
Olivia deHavilland – Gone With the Wind