My Favorite Supporting Performances

This thread is to salute my favorite supporting movie performances. I have decided to merge men and women and pick 100 supporting performances that won Oscars, nominated for Oscars, or, IMO, should have been nominated or won. As always, these are my opinions and mine alone...here we go:

100.
Jeff Daniels, Terms of Endearment



Daniels turned in a rich performance in a very unsympathetic role as Flap Horton, the slimey, adulterous husband of Emma (Debra Winger) and son-in-law of Aurora (Shirley MacLaine). How John Lithgow received a nomination for his role in this film and Daniels didn't will always be a mystery to me.

99.
Sean Penn, The Falcon and the Snowman



The film is nearly forgotten but Penn's performance will never be. Don't know how he got by the Academy either.

98.
Eileen Heckart, Butterflies are Free



A razor sharp performance that is the definition of Best Supporting Actress and for some reason surprised some when she actually won the Oscar...no surprise to me.

97.
Robert Preston, Victor/Victoria



Preston cleverly cast against type in a tour de force performance that nailed him an Oscar nomination and he should have won IMO.

96.
Hope Lange, Peyton Place




Sweet...vulnerable...heartbreaking.

95.
Edmund Gwenn, Miracle on 34th Street



One of the most deserving supporting actor winners ever...how could you not believe this guy was Santa Claus?

94.
Charlie Martin Smith, American Garffiti



Candy Clark received a supporting nomination for this film, but I think this guy deserved one too...a quietly accurate exercise in comic timing that in my opinion, stole the movie.

93.
Robert Duvall, Network



As I've mentioned on other threads, if Duvall had been nominated instead of Ned Beatty for supporting actor, I think Network might have been the first film in history to win all four acting Oscars.

Good God. Everyday you have a new Top 100 thread of some kind. You're like a serious version of me.

92.
Lee Grant, Shampoo



This was a win that surprised a lot of people, but not me. After seeing the film for the first time during its theatrical release, I walked out of the theater and actually said to myself, "Lee Grant is going to win Best Supporting Actress for this."

Well, not every day...I do take time out for meals and sleep.

91.
Alan Alda, Crimes and Misdemeanors



Alda effectively utilized his enormously likable screen persona in playing this really despicable character. It's a great performance, you just wanna punch this guy in the face, even though he has Alan Alda's face.

90.
Paul Newman, The Road to Perdition



Pure star power working on all four cylinders.

89.
Maureen Stapleton, Airport



Another of those actresses who I thought could do no wrong...God, I miss her...I would have given her the Oscar that Helen Hayes won for the same film.

88.
Joel Grey, Cabaret



Many thought this Oscar should have gone to Pacino for The Godfather, but if the truth be told, Pacino was in the wrong category...this Oscar went to the right person.

87.
Jack Nicholson, Terms of Endearment



Garrett Breedlove was one of Nicholson's most endearing and realistic characterizations.

86.
Gene Hackman, The Firm



One of Hackman's most underrated performances...slick and undeniably charming, I don't know why he didn't even get a nomination.

85.
James Cagney, Ragtime



A classy finale to an amazing career...he should have at least been nominated.

84.
Ellen Burstyn, The Last Picture Show



She was nominated but lost to Cloris Leachman for the same film...I don't know...