Ellen Burstyn, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) - Faye Dunaway as the abused, enigmatic Evelyn Mulwray in Chinatown, Valerie Perrine as the nurturing, neglected comedian's wife in Lenny, and Gena Rowlands as the dangerously unstable Mabel Longhetti in A Woman Under The Influence: of all the American movies made in the 1970s, it's harder to think of three superior female performances. One turn that does survive comparison with these tours de force is Ellen Burstyn's fraught interpretation of a foresaken single mother in The Exorcist. What a shame, then, that Burstyn didn't win her Oscar for that but for Alice, so denying these era-defining performances of the acclaim they so richly deserved.
Katharine Hepburn, On Golden Pond (1981) - Katharine Hepburn won her first Academy Award in 1934 for Morning Glory. Over the course of the next 48 years, the Bringing Up Baby Star received a further 11 nominations, winning Oscars for Guess Who's Coming To Dinner, The Lion In Winter and On Golden Pond. The last of these was a hideously sentimental affair most famous for reuniting Henry Fonda (who won Best Actor for his trouble) with his estranged daughter Jane. If the film was hard to swallow, Hepburn's win was also pretty unpalatable what with her being a feted actress who didn't require further acclaim and her rival nominess including the ever excellent Susan Sarandon (Atlantic City) and that hardy perennial Mary Louise Streep (The French Lieutenant's Woman).
Cher, Moonstruck (1987) - Hollywood has a hard on for people who are good at more than one thing. That's why someone like Fred Astaire was adored even though he was a far better singer and dancer that he was an actor. Whether Cherilyn Sarkisian LaPiere is a better actress than singer is even more open to debate - it's perhaps fairest to say that stardom's what she's been most successful at. You'd certainly be hard pushed to say her turn in Moonstruck was more deserving of an Academy Award than the performances of Holly Hunter, Meryl Streep and Glenn Close in Broadcast News, Ironweed and Fatal Attraction respectively. Speaking of Close, eight nominations in and she's still to have a date with Oscar.
Jessica Tandy, Driving Miss Daisy (1989) - One way to win an Oscar is to live an awfully long time. Stoke Newington's own Jessica Tandy was a sprightly 81 when she picked up the Best Actress gong for her feisty performance in Driving Miss Daisy. As one half of a legendary Hollywood couple (she was married to Cleopatra and Cocoon star Hume Cronyn), Tandy had such a lock on the prize that some people probably don't remember that her fellow nominees included such notables as Jessica Lange (Music Box), Michelle Pfeiffer (The Fabulous Baker Boys), Isabelle Adjani (Camille Claudel) and fellow Brit Pauline Collins (Shirley Valentine). Of course, those lovely ladies were too nice to kick up a fuss. As you can see, I have no such problem breeching convention.
Helen Hunt, As Good As It Gets - Something really strange happened at the Oscars in 1998. So strange in fact that, had it still been on air, Arthur C Clarke would have had to dedicate an episode of his Mysterious World programme to it. The occurrence - so bizarre that it single-handedly eclipsed Bigfoot, the Yeti and the Loch Ness Monster - involved sitcom actress Helen Hunt picking up the Best Actress Award for her okay turn in the James L Brooks comedy-drama As Good As It Gets. And what was so weird about this? The fact that Helena Bonham Carter (The Wings Of The Dove), Judi Dench (Mrs Brown), Julie Christie (Afterglow) and Kate Winslet (Titanic) were also in the running, that's what. Expect the matter to be reassessed in a future edition of Fortean Times.