Meryl Streep of course has smashed the existing record for Academy Award nominations since she came along and that essentially is the topic of this post.
Streep finally was awarded an Oscar for her superb work in The Iron Lady. Now there is the inevitable talk that she is just one shy of the Best Actress record held by Katherine Hepburn. Now Kate Hepburn was a great actress to be sure, but she's nowhere near Streep, and it's pretty ridiculous that this is even discussed. But back in Hepburn's day, it wasn't all political like it is now--if you host a party or come to a popular party, you're going to win the award. Hepburn was awarded Oscars when she deserved them, unlike Streep.
I get the sense almost that the voters think "Well, Streep is nominated every year so I'm not going to give it to her--let someone else win it for a change." The problems with that are twofold: 1) Streep rarely wins because of that logic--she's only won 3 out of 19--that's less than 17% of the time she's nominated, a horrible batting average, and 2) You vote for someone because they deserve it; it should have nothing to do with how many times they are nominated.
The Academy already was shamed for not giving Streep the Oscar for Doubt
Streep's performance in Doubt was not only the best that year but one of the best acting performances of all-time and her achievement in The Devil Wears Prada was stellar as well. She got ripped off both times. Streep probably deserved it in Julie and Julia as well. So being behind Katherine Hepburn shouldn't even be an issue--Streep should probably have six or seven so far.
It's time that Streep is properly recognized as being quite simply the greatest female actress who ever lived. And it's not even close.
Streep finally was awarded an Oscar for her superb work in The Iron Lady. Now there is the inevitable talk that she is just one shy of the Best Actress record held by Katherine Hepburn. Now Kate Hepburn was a great actress to be sure, but she's nowhere near Streep, and it's pretty ridiculous that this is even discussed. But back in Hepburn's day, it wasn't all political like it is now--if you host a party or come to a popular party, you're going to win the award. Hepburn was awarded Oscars when she deserved them, unlike Streep.
I get the sense almost that the voters think "Well, Streep is nominated every year so I'm not going to give it to her--let someone else win it for a change." The problems with that are twofold: 1) Streep rarely wins because of that logic--she's only won 3 out of 19--that's less than 17% of the time she's nominated, a horrible batting average, and 2) You vote for someone because they deserve it; it should have nothing to do with how many times they are nominated.
The Academy already was shamed for not giving Streep the Oscar for Doubt
Streep's performance in Doubt was not only the best that year but one of the best acting performances of all-time and her achievement in The Devil Wears Prada was stellar as well. She got ripped off both times. Streep probably deserved it in Julie and Julia as well. So being behind Katherine Hepburn shouldn't even be an issue--Streep should probably have six or seven so far.
It's time that Streep is properly recognized as being quite simply the greatest female actress who ever lived. And it's not even close.
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