Best Actress: Sissy Spacek

Did you know Sissy Spacek wasn't sure about making Coal Miner's Daughter and was considering another project, but her mother-in-law was like, "Pray for an answer on which one to choose," so she did, and then she went for a drive and Loretta Lynn came on the radio, deciding her fate?

via 60sgroove

I love the way fate plays into things. Imagine if anything else had been on the radio. Would someone else have won Sissy's Oscar for playing country superstar Loretta Lynn? Honestly, I doubt it. There's something so earnest about Sissy's acting that brings a depth to her characters, and her turn as Loretta Lynn is such an achievement.

I am famously anti-stand-by-your-man when he treats a woman the way Doolittle treats Loretta, so there were so many scenes where I wanted to yell at the television: "Dump his ass!" and I really enjoyed Beverly D'Angelo as Patsy Cline. So many musical biopics feature so many moments of hardship, and Coal Miner's Daughter is no different; artists struggle in their personal lives, it bleeds over into the professional, but Sissy makes you root for Loretta come what may.

Sissy was nominated against Ellen Burstyn (Resurrection), Goldie Hawn (Private Benjamin), Mary Tyler Moore (Ordinary People), and Gena Rowlands (Gloria). Of these, I've only seen Coal Miner's Daughter and Ordinary People. 

I do love Sissy's performance and I've enjoyed her in everything I've seen her in, but imagine a world where Mary Tyler Moore wins for Ordinary People. What a departure for her, what a performance. Honestly, I think I'd be tempted to vote for Mary, here, though I do think Sissy also deserved the win! 

DID I LIKE COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER? It's a great biopic, one of the rare ones that actually tells a story without looking like a highlight reel played at someone's funeral, but it's not one that I'd be clamouring to rewatch, if that makes sense?
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Did you like Coal Miner's Daughter? What are your thoughts on Sissy Spacek's Oscar win?

Keep up with all my Rewatching the Best Actresses posts here!