Best Supporting Actress – 1973

Official Nominations: Tatum O’Neal. Linda Blair. Candy Clark. Madeline Kahn. Sylvia Sidney.

It’s the year of the kids, with Tatum O’Neal picking up a win, making her the youngest winner ever. Most would not argue against it – she is precocious and has a great rapport with her father and the rest of the cast, but I don’t think she’s necessarily better than any number of child performers through the years. Linda Blair is slightly older, but still in the child range, and gives a more varied and… energetic performance? It’s certainly the tougher role, and while a lot of it is spent lying down and behind make-up and aided by other voice actors, there is more than enough substance in her own work to warrant a win. She is put through some torturous scenes while balancing those with the early and final scenes where she is a normal girl. Candy Clark’s nomination is a strange one – you usually don’t see actors get nominated for these sort of extreme ensemble movies where there are so many performers sharing little screen time. I’ve always thought that one area where American Graffiti is lacking is in the portrayal of the female characters – you watch the movie and none of the women stick out. She did go on to play Buffy’s mum in the movie version, so that’s something. Madeline Kahn’s nomination and performance got her noticed enough that she went on to appear in a string of comedy hits, she’s good but I never felt the role to be of much consequence. Sylvia Sidney’s nomination is another veteran nod in a film most people forget about shortly after watching.

My Winner: Linda Blair

My Nominations: Tatum O’Neal. Linda Blair. Jennifer Salt. Britt Ekland

It’s another year where the roster is looking pretty thin. Jennifer Salt ably backs up Margot Kidder in De Palma’s Sisters – it’s another DePalma film and another performance deserving of reevaluation. Britt Ekland makes up the final nomination – her performance in The Wicker Man more than proving her acting chops, although her speaking and singing voices were dubbed by other people so does it really count? See, tough year.

My Winner: Linda Blair.

Let us know in the comments who you would pick as the Best Supporting Actress of 1973!