Best Actress 1962, Part 2: Geraldine Page and "Sweet Bird of Youth" 

I love her laugh and wig in this film, and Newman's lack of a shirt. She won the Golden Globe for this performance, having also won the year prior for "Summer and Smoke."

Such a brilliant actress. No one like her! An American treasure! Her performances stand the test of time. She is one of my very top favorite actresses! I love her work!

Excellent, and you show your wonderful research in the beginning of this episode, when you delve into the early days of Geraldine Page's career, and how the revival of SUMMER AND SMOKE was an important event in American theater, as it brought a real light to off-Broadway productions, and established Geraldine Page as a significant American actress. I should add that Tennessee Williams could often misjudge events surrounding his plays, never more so than the original Broadway production of A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. When Irene Mayer Selznick decided to produce the play, she went about lining up the cast. (Selznick's decision to produce the play came after her divorce from David O. Selznick, as he would eventually marry Jennifer Jones.) Initially, she sought John Garfield as Stanley, and Margaret Sullavan as Blanche. But Elia Kazan (contracted to direct) thought that a newcomer named Marlon Brando should be given the chance to play Stanley. (Garfield was in the midst of trying to establish himself as an independent producer in Hollywood, and he was in the middle of the films BODY AND SOUL and FORCE OF EVIL and didn't want to commit himself to the run of a play.) There's the whole story of Brando eventually going to visit Williams, and Williams agreeing to Kazan's plan. But when they had the first read-through of the play (with Brando, Sullavan as Blanche, Kim Stanley as Stella, and Karl Malden as Mitch), Brando held back. He was not as volatile as he could be, and as Williams and Kazan knew he could be. Williams guessed (correctly) that the problem was with the presence of Sullavan, and he asked her to leave the production. Sullavan (at that time, going through a lot of problems) didn't want to fight, and simply agreed to withdraw. But people who were there at the reading (and i knew some people) have said it was the most brilliant reading of Blanche that they ever saw: they couldn't believe how much Sullavan (in real life, a Southern belle) brought to the part. So what was the problem? This was the first time that Brando had ever worked with someone who knew him as a child! In 1930, Margaret Sullavan married Henry Fonda; Henry Fonda took his bride home to Omaha, Nebraska to visit his family, and, very importantly, his mentor, the woman who had introduced him to the theater, the woman who helped run the Omaha Neighborhood Playhouse, Dorothy Brando, whose three children were Lisa, Jocelyn, and Marlon Jr. (who would drop the "Jr" when he started acting). Marlon Brando knew Margaret Sullavan since he was five years old! That unnerved him, and Williams decided that Brando was more important than Margaret Sullavan, so she had to go. So (very graciously, i should add) she did. They tried to get other actresses, and Jessica Tandy was the acceptable compromise. But by the 1980s, Williams started to "misremember" the situation, and he didn't remember that he insisted that Margaret Sullavan leave the production.

She has been one of my favorite actresses since I was young. I don't even recall what late night rerun I might have seen her in. I just thought she was cool!

Love her!!!!!

What a great episode. Your research and review of Geraldine Page and Tennessee Williams is exceptional!!

Thank you so much for this most wonderful discussion of the magical Geraldine Page. Love her performance in "Sweet Bird".

Agree an out-there Page is a lot of fun to watch in "Sweet Bird," specifically in pulling off both high drama and comedy during that climatic phone call.

I love that she let the unkind remarks roll off her back.She wasn't the one with the problem .

Absolutely love all your videos, this is my third time watching this episode. You really done a great job with the in depth research into the behind the scene story and Geraldine Page’s career at that point. Keep them coming ❤

Geraldine Page gave a brilliant performance in this film. She should have won an Oscar for it!

I love Page. Doesn’t it feel like she was born “older” though? Interiors is my favorite. I actually find her fun in Whatever Happened To Aunt Alice?

Brilliant video and all the info on Tennessee Williams was fascinating.

You make such great videos. Phenomenal videos.

I cannot wait for you to cover the 1985 best actress race! Thanks Fritz 💙

ur commentary is brilliant. thank u.

A truly brilliant actor...amongst the best of her generation. Her performance in The Trip to Bountiful still has the power to break one's heart. Like Glenda Jackson, her talent gave her the kind of beauty that was just as powerful as any of that of the great beauties of the day.

Thank you for another informative and enjoyable video. It's fun learning about people who are basically just names to me, and in the context of their times.

Excellent presentation.

Delicious ❤❤❤ .My choice in a superb year for actresses.

Williams and Page were very good friends. He is even the Goddather of her twin sons

I've always thought that Keri Russell has more than just a passing resemblance to Lee Remick. Both absolutely beautiful and talented actors.

Such an excellent video I have now subscribed!

When you see a famous actor in person it can be shock. Some are so tiny you can hardly believe it---Bette Midler, Dolly Parton, Sean Penn. Others are so larger than life in body, they seem super-human---Harrison Ford, Clint Eastwood (honorable mention, Geena Davis). An actress imposing on screen can be the opposite if you pass them on the street, namely the small size of average---Faye Dunaway, Barbra Streisand. Then there was Geraldine Page. I literally did a double take when I realized who it was. The clothes should have been on a college girl. She was 57 (I researched this thoroughly, in true "Fritz syle"). Her brown hair was long and unkempt and flopped as she clonked in platform sandals, which had been in style perhaps 15 years prior. How do I describe her demeanor? It was equal parts lost-in-her-own-world and little-lost-lamb. I knew where she was headed. It was late afternoon and she on her way to the theater for "Agnes of God," in which she played a Mother Superior. So "eccentric?" Yes, I would say so. P.S. When she won her oscar for her marvelous portrayal in "Trip to Bountiful" the dress she wore to the Academy Awards was one of the costumes from a play I had also seen. In that one she played a Baroness.

She was never more beautiful, thanks in no small part to the artistry of Syndney Guilaroff.

I seem to enjoy Page more in her unnominated Oscar turns Toys in the Attic,The Beguiled & Trilogy,though she is stellar in Interiors I don't have a devotion to her like I do with other actresses,Bring on Bette.

That's not how you pronounce Inge ... or Leighton

Williams wanted actress for his plays that would spill generously the tragedy of their own private lives onto the stage. In this was his total gayness; being a ridiculous and over the top fan of the female stars. Like most gay movie goers of the time, and sadly today.

Love Geraldine but wish she had a better come up than Summer and smoke, you cannot breath without tripping with some tired stereotype and Alma grows tiring quickly

I LOVE HER !! BUT SHE SHOULD HAVE WON FOR INTERIORS !!