Best Actress: Elizabeth Taylor II
It's going to be interesting to do a final ranking when I finish this quest, because I think Elizabeth Taylor's performance in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is going to be damn near the top when all is said and done.
This is Elizabeth Taylor in all her glorious, talented perfection. This is an actress who knows how to do it from deep in her bones. For all the scandal that swirled around her in the '60s, she at least had the talent to back up her antics. And as Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Elizabeth truly let herself free.
She gained weight, she got frumpy, she gave herself permission to push to the bounds of each scene. There's mania at the heart of most scenes in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, with Elizabeth's character nearly always leading the charge. George Segal and Sandy Dennis (who won an Oscar in the supporting category) might as well be window dressing for all the bombast of Elizabeth's performance. Even Richard Burton, who's phenomenal as George—and really should've won over Paul Scofield, in my opinion anyway. Apologies to all the A Man for All Seasons stans who may be reading this!—can spar with Elizabeth, but he never matches the way Elizabeth cartwheels away with the movie.
Told over a single night as the aging university professor and his wife hosts a hot, young professor and his vague wife, there are many points where you never want the night to end and others when you can't wait for the sunrise. As it all comes hurtling to the end, to the dénouement, you find that all you've been able to do, really, is watch Elizabeth act and react to it. When those gorgeous eyes fill with tears, when the spittle flies from her mouth, when she tosses back her shoulders and when she hunches them. No matter what George or Honey or Nick are doing, you can't help but watch Martha.
Elizabeth was nominated against Anouk Aimée (A Man and a Woman), Ida Kamińska (The Shop on Main Street), Lynn Redgrave (Georgy Girl), and Vanessa Redgrave (Morgan!). There's no question. No question. Elizabeth earned this and deserved this Oscar.
DID I LIKE WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? Did I?! Just kidding. But it is a resounding yes!
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Did you like Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? What are your thoughts on Elizabeth Taylor's second Oscar win?
Keep up with all my Rewatching the Best Actresses posts here!
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