Best Supporting Actress – 1976

Official Nominations: Beatrice Straight. Jane Alexander. Jodie Foster. Lee Grant. Piper Laurie.

This should be fairly straight-forwards. Beatrice Straight was your official winner this year, but she’s the first to get dropped from my list – nothing wrong with the performance, but it’s clearly a veteran nod and she’s only in the film for a handful of minutes. Lee Grant is next to go – Voyage Of The Damned a strange film in that it has a superb case but was pretty much ignored by critics and audiences and has never found a following. It feels like a timely film deserving of being retold in today’s climate of political inhumanity and immigration paranoia. Grant is good, but nothing out of the ordinary. I feel similar about Jane Alexander in All The President’s Men. That leaves the two best picks – Jodie Foster as the young, very young, prostitute in Taxi Driver – as brave a performance as you’re every likely to see, and obvious from the first moment that she would become a star. Finally, Piper Laurie as Carrie’s mother is a terrifying vision of closet religion or Christian zealotry, using her past sins and guilt to drive her daughter to murderous insanity. After a fifteen year break from the industry, it’s one of the finest return performances in movie history.

My Winner: Piper Laurie

My Nominations: Piper Laurie. Jodie Foster. Billie Whitelaw.

If we’re nominating people for very small roles, then one of the most memorable supporting performances of 1976 is that of Billie Whitelaw as Damien’s Nanny in The Omen. Indeed, it’s the only addition I’m making this year – the creepy nanny trope has been around for decades, but Whitelaw’s performance is the pinnacle. To keep things fair, I’ll give Foster the win this time around.

My Winner: Jodie Foster

Let us know your winner in the comments!