And The Winner Isn't

I think it’s a fair assumption that the results of Sunday night’s 84^th Academy Awards ceremony were – as in recent years – utterly predictable. The winners in the major categories were already winners at guild awards, which usually leaves no room for upsets, shockers or surprises. The closest race this year was the ‘Best Actress’ category. Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady versus Viola Davis in The Help. But in the end, Streep snagged her third Oscar for her portrayal of former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, after a dry spell of 29 years. Her last win was for Sophie’s Choice in 1983, which came four years after her supporting actress win for Kramer vs. Kramer in ’79.

And while 62-year-old Streep has been referred to as the pre-eminent actress of her generation, there’s a list of great actresses who have never won an Oscar. Some of the legends from Hollywood’s golden era include Barbara Stanwyck, Greta Garbo, Judy Garland, Debra Kerr, Marlene Dietrich, Myrna Loy, Mae West, Lillian Gish, Rita Hayworth and lastly, probably the most celebrated of all actresses, Marilyn Monroe.

This poses the question: Are the Academy Awards overrated? Aside from the hoopla leading up to the annual event, do they really help boost an actor or actresses career and turn them into a star? This year, actor Christopher Plummer became the oldest actor to ever win an Oscar at the age of 82, yet he’s been a Hollywood legend for as far back as his role as Captain Georg von Trapp in the 1965 hit musical The Sound of Music. Sure, winning an Oscar helps boost a few thespians careers, but can you recall who took home a gold statuette for his or her best performance, say… 10 years ago? 5 years ago? Even 2 years ago?

Some would argue that Marilyn Monroe really didn’t deserve and Oscar, yet she still proves to be known as one of the greatest film stars without ever being nominated. Personally, I believe Marilyn was overlooked in her final film, The Misfits, which was popular with critics and the public alike. Granted, she won a Golden Globe in 1960 for Some Like It Hot, and was nominated for another Golden Globe in 1957 for ‘Best Actress’ in Bus Stop, but she was beat out by actress Kay Kendall for her role in Les Girls-- Remember Kay? Yeah, me neither, but in all fairness, Kay passed away at the early age of 32, cutting short what might have been an illustrious acting career. Ironically, Marilyn died at the young age of 36, leaving an iconic impact like no other.

In a weird twist of fate, I once had the pleasure of having lunch with Marilyn’s former roommate and 2-time Oscar winner, Shelley Winters. (Shelley won two ‘Best Supporting’ actress awards for her roles in The Diary of Anne Frank and A Patch of Blue.) At the time, I was in the early stages of researching my book “Marilyn Monroe: My Little Secret,” when a friend who knew Shelley well invited me to join them for lunch at The Silver Spoon restaurant in West Hollywood. Although she was on the rebound from a stroke, Ms. Winters was everything I imagined her to be: a witty, tough-talking, gutsy, dame! For over two hours, she entertained me with stories of old-Hollywood, including a few candid stories about her love affairs with leading men back in the day, branding her as the “bad girl” of Hollywood.

Amidst our conversation – the majority of which Ms. Winters monopolized – I conveyed that I was working on a new book about Marilyn Monroe and the woman (Jane) who started her first fan club at 20^th Century Fox. With her face slightly drooping, due to repercussions of her stroke, Shelley smiled and shook her head, as if to say, “That one there.” Then, she proceeded to tell me how the studios tricked Marilyn into believing that she was nothing more than a sex symbol (keeping in mind that during the 1950’s, Shelley too was considered a “sex bomb”). She also recalled that Marilyn was afraid of growing older, something I had already learned when interviewing Jane.

In retrospect, I think Ms. Winters and Jane were both right. I can’t imagine Marilyn as an aging sex bomb, dressed in a muumuu and baseball cap, which is what Shelley wore when I had lunch with her. On the flipside, can you imagine a world where Marilyn Monroe never existed? 50 years after her death, her face still graces the cover of magazines, while new Hollywood actresses try to emulate her. In her short 36 years, Marilyn set the bar high, appearing in 30 films that made her an enduring icon. Still, she never earned her an Oscar. What she did do was earn a lot of money for those who benefited off her in Hollywood, and Marilyn knew that all too well when she was quoted as saying, “An actress is not a machine, but they treat you like a machine. A money machine.”