IT'S A WONDERFUL NIGHT FOR OSCAR, OSCAR, OSCAR, WHO WILL WIN - 1950

Every so often, the Oscars can resemble a horse race and the 1950 Best Actress in a Lead Role was just that.

The nominees were:

Bette Davis in "All About Eve"
Judy Holliday in "Born Yesterday"
Gloria Swanson in "Sunset Boulevard"
Ann Baxter in "All About Eve"
Eleanor Parker in "Caged"

Who won: Judy Holliday
Who should have won: (probably should have been a tie) Bette Davis and Gloria Swanson

Ann Baxter refused to campaign for Best Supporting Actress, her reason being that she had played the title character "Eve" and felt (rightly so) that she belonged in the Best Actress category (she had already won a Best Supporting Actress award for "The Razor's Edge" four years before). With two stars from the same film in the same category, it's believed that split the vote for them.

I'm not sure how Eleanor Parker ended up here because "Caged" is a pretty bad yet oh-so enjoyable film about a women's prison. However, it received nominations for Best Screenplay and Best Actress in a Supporting Role as well, so go figure.

Judy Holliday's performance was widely heralded, as was Gloria Swanson's "comeback" ('I hate that word, it's a return'), so I believe the race was really between the two of them. It's not known what the final vote was (the academy does not reveal the tally and this will be addressed in the 1954 Oscar race posting I will do in a few days) but I'm sure it was close.

Upon losing the award, Bette Davis was reported to have said "Good, a newcomer" although she made no secret of her desire to become the first actress to win three Oscars. Later, Ann Baxter said "I guess I should have stuck with the supporting actress category" to which Bette replied "Yes, you should have."