Official Nominations: Katherine Hepburn. Barbra Streisand. Patricia Neal. Vanessa Redgrave. Joanne Woodward.
Katherine Hepburn picked up another win for The Lion In Winter, while Barbara Streisand picked up a nomination for her first movie Funny Girl. As proof that The Academy was just making it up as it went along, Streisand was actually joint winner this year. Patricia Neal does her best in The Subject Was Roses, Redgrave globe-trots rambunctiously in Isadora, while Woodward is a polar opposite in Rachel, Rachel.
My Winner: Vanessa Redgrave
My Nominations: Jacqueline Bisset. Barbra Streisand. Claudia Cardinale. Faye Dunaway. Vanessa Redgrave.
Only Redgrave and Streisand make it over to my nominations and won’t stand a chance of winning versus my other three picks. Jacqueline Bisset made a pretty big impact in 1968 being nominated for a Golden Globe in the interesting surfer movie The Sweet Ride and appearing in the very good The Detective (based on a novel whose sequel would be adapted into Die Hard). However, it is her performance in Bullitt which earns her my nomination – she holds her own along side the veteran McQueen and ensures that the movie isn’t only remembered for him and the car chase. Also holding their own along side McQueen is Fay Dunaway in The Thomas Crown Affair, creating a smoldering partnership as the cool and intelligent Vicki. Claudia Cardinale also appeared in a bunch of movies in 1968, but it is undoubtedly Once Upon A Time In The West that she is remembered for – her performance (baked up by her theme) providing the heart and soul of the movie and is never less than captivating – make no mistake, this is a film about Jill rather than Harmonica or the others.
My Winner: Claudia Cardinale.
Who do you pick from the Official list of nominees, and who would be your choices of Best Actress of 1968 from those who were not nominated – let us know in the comments!
The Spac Hole 
Great post 🙂 I love it that you chose Claudia Cardinale for best lead actress. In Once Upon a Time in the West, she is not only beautiful, but psychologically strong as well despite everything she goes through. I love the other nominees too like Jacqueline Bisset, Faye Dunaway, Barbara Streisand and Vanessa Redgrave. Speaking of which, I can’t wait for you to get to 1971 to see If you will include Redgrave under your alternative Best Actress category for The Devils 🙂 Anyway, keep up the great work as always 🙂
I think I’ve written a few 1971 posts so far, not best actress though – I’m always a couple of years ahead before I actually publish the posts. Thanks for the comments!