{"id":1739,"date":"2026-10-06T20:18:02","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T13:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chuyenhay360.com.vn\/?p=1739"},"modified":"2026-10-06T20:18:02","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T13:18:02","slug":"the-1962-oscars-snub-that-gave-bette-davis-a-shock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chuyenhay360.com.vn\/?p=1739","title":{"rendered":"The 1962 Oscars snub that gave Bette Davis “a shock”"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Credit: Far Out \/ Alexander Kahle<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Art shouldn\u2019t have to be a competition, but for decades, award ceremonies have left actors<\/a> fighting against one another to be crowned the greatest of their craft, something which, when it really boils down to it, is rather arbitrary.<\/p>\n

How do you determine the best performance of the year when there are so many movies, so many different kinds of performance styles, and, ultimately, personal preference at play?<\/p>\n

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Yet even some of Hollywood\u2019s biggest stars have found themselves getting fiercely competitive when it comes to awards season. Stars such as Bette Davis. The actor was an icon,<\/a> known for her incredibly nuanced performances, often presenting a rather bold and uncompromising view of femininity in all of its complexities. Getting her start when she was in her early 20s, Davis made her screen debut in 1931 with Bad Sister<\/em>, and by 1936, she\u2019d won her first Oscar for Dangerous<\/em>. Just three years later, she had another one up her sleeve for the film Jezebel<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Then came her stint as a nominee in the \u2018Best Actress\u2019 category five years in a row, making her the first star to achieve such a feat. Four more nominations would come over the rest of her career for the likes of Now, Voyager<\/em> and All About Eve<\/em>, with her final nomination coming in 1963 for the most unhinged performance she\u2019d ever given in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

You\u2019d think that with two Oscars already under her belt, she wouldn\u2019t be fazed by missing out on others, but perhaps it was the fact that this was the eighth nomination she\u2019d failed to win \u2013 24 years on from her last win \u2013 that left her feeling bitter. In particular, she wasn\u2019t keen on losing out to someone who\u2019d already had extensive experience playing their character on stage before bringing them to the silver screen.<\/p>\n

For her performance in the classic psychological horror film, which featured Davis and her long-time rival Joan Crawford<\/a>, the actor was up against Katharine Hepburn, Lee Remick, Geraldine Page, and Anne Bancroft. The Oscar went to Bancroft for her performance in The Miracle Worker<\/em>, which didn\u2019t sit well with Davis. Bancroft had already played the character of Anne Sullivan, the tutor who helped Helen Keller, on Broadway between 1959 and 1961.<\/p>\n

Bancroft had worked with the same director, Arthur Penn, and the same actor, Patty Duke, as Keller, so Davis felt her win was unjust. She\u2019d already had years of practice and familiarity with the role \u2013 how was that fair?<\/p>\n

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Further reading: Cutting Room Floor<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThere are certain performances that are suitable for an Academy Award, and when I lost out with Jane, never had I had a shock like that before,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

It was simple enough for the actor. \u201cI did feel that someone who had done a play for that many years, it\u2019s not that big an accomplishment as starting from scratch on the screen and play the character, so I was a little bitter,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

Perhaps Davis knew that she wasn\u2019t going to have many more chances to win an Oscar in her career, which makes sense considering that she didn\u2019t earn another Academy Award nomination after that, and that\u2019s why she was so upset to lose out.<\/p>\n