How Katharine Hepburn helped Judy Holliday win an Oscar 

Judy Holliday was so wonderful and talented!

This is the first program I've seen that gives FULL ATTENTION to Judy 🤩 - not just as a dark horse against Davis and Swanson, but as both long-suffering and truly deserving.

Judy’s brilliance has been overlooked in this era …thank you for making people wake up to her .,,

Katharine Hepburn has a habit of helping newbies on screen. She helped Robert Mitchum with suggestions on their film Undercurrent, and she offered suggestions to Anthony Hopkins in his maiden voyage in The Lion in Winter. She was not only a great actress but also a great human being.

Judy Holliday was flat out brilliant.

My five cents: Judy deserved this. Yes, Bette is splendid in All About Eve, arguably her best performance. She's electrifying and at the same time excruciatingly human and vulnerable. Swanson is brilliant as well. But I couldn't take my eyes for Judy. It's not just her spot-on comic timing. It's so much more than that. She gave this character so much depth and humanity. I absolutely love the performance.

Judy Holliday definitely did a great job and deserved the Oscar!!!!! Judy Holliday ROCKS!!!!!!! ❤😂🎉😢😮😅😊

Judy Holliday was so good in Adam's Rib, you tend to forget how small her part actually was. She didn't have more than fifteen minutes all told. Such was her star quality.

I'm 58 now - grew up watching old films with my Mom and always seemed to gravitate to comedic roles by women. I LOVED the Major and the Minor and The African Queen but was never a real fan of Davis or Hepburn or the other "great" females stars of that era. Of course, Ginger Rodgers was in a league of her own for many reasons. One day, about 10 years ago my husband begged me to watch Born Yesterday. I was knocked off my chair. I sat in AWE of her - every scene, her accent, how she walked, her brilliant comedic talent and timing........every move she made - I was amazed that I had never watched any film of hers or had even heard of her, that I could recall. I am sad for the short life she lived and for what she could have given the world. No disrespect to Crawford or Davis, Harlow, Hepburn, etc....but they have nothing on Billy Holiday. What a gem FOR THE AGES. I've watched this film 20 times and I will NEVER get tired of it. IF there is an after life - I want to come back as Billy (lol)

Judy Holliday was great, so sad she died so young.

Judy Holliday had an IQ of 172. Brilliant lady, talented actress, gone too soon.

I never before realized that Bill Holden was in both Sunset Boulevard and Born Yesterday. It was a golden year for golden boy.

Today Commemorates Judy Holliday's 100th Birthday

Born Yesterday was one of those films I watched peripherally for decades. Since it was always on tv, cable on AmC or TCM. One day I finally decided to see it all the way through. Wow, I was amazed at how good of a movie it was. Judy Holiday well deserved her Oscar, it's one of those films the more you see it, the more you like it. You also get to see just how great of a comedic performance Judy Holiday gave in Born Yesterday. Comedy is the hardest acting to master. You have to walk a thin thin line. Especially when it comes to switching from comdey to drama in the same movie. 1950 really was a great year for the Oscars in the female category. The Academy made the right choice.

Judy Holliday -- Gloria Swanson's stunning performance in "Sunset Blvd." notwithstanding -- fully deserved her Oscar, and "Born Yesterday" is a gem! Given American politics today,,a great many people should watch it.

Holliday was sitting next to Swanson in NYC and Holliday burst into tears when she won and not Swanson. She kept apologizing to Swanson but Swanson was very nice about it.

I’m a movie buff and I gotta say you’ve done a brilliant job here fritz …

Great information on the back story. Also, wonderful pianist.

Imagine being William Holden, so prominent in and important to both movies - but partly overshadowed by the two leading ladies. I hope he had a solid ego about it.

What a year for great female roles!

I think Judy deserved this. She was amazing.

Loved born yesterday have seen it many times!

Glad I found your channel. Thanks for the work.

Really interesting and well done! Thank you.

Judy Holliday should have won for the gin game scene alone, she was a great comedienne. I see now why Bette Davis lost for “Eve”.

Thank you, Fritz. I've never had much interest in Hollywood, but I really enjoy your videos for the historical aspect. It operates like it's own little subculture, changing with the times. And I enjoy the stories about the people, too. Theres a lot more to it than meets the eye. Hope you keep making them!

Skillful production. Wonderful presentation.

Oh, I’d never get into an argument about Judy’s win. She earned it, she deserved it - PERIOD. Bette Davis, on the other hand, lived to gather countless accolades before finally dying a scary, smoke-exhaling, contemporary-of-King-Tut mummy. I am so happy Judy was recognized for her amazing talent early on. She was gone far too soon. “Born Yesterday” is one of my Top 5 favorite movies. Despite multiple viewings, I still laugh out loud. 🥲💛 Thank you for the EXCELLENT video. I really enjoyed it (and love your accent!) Thumbs up and subscribed.

Phenomenal video, Fritz! Many thanks!

You did a very good job of reseaech here. I am /a big fan of the history of Columbia Pictures, Hollywood's most under-rated studio of the Golden Age, and I can tell you dug for the facts.

Fritz, you are phenomenal! Your commentaries are exemplary.

Bette’s performance was the best of her career. But history shows career-best roles don’t always get awarded.

You should be HUGE> I gope you grow and grow. I love your work!!

Fantastic channel and great essay. I’m one who’s loved both Bette Davis’s and Gloria Swanson’s performances since childhood. But both with this video essay and Be Kind Rewind’s on Tallulah Bankhead, put All about eve into the contemporary context of which it was released and makes me realise how difficult it would have been for Bette to win this one.

IMHO, Anne Baxter deserved the award because, if you think about it, her role was the most difficult. She was acting like she was acting. At the beginning, she conned everyone- except Birdie- into liking and pitying her. She began to change and then, here at 00:39 we see that she had been acting at the beginning and was now starting to be herself- cunning, manipulating, treacherous. Further along, she became a full-fledged biyotch. Then finally, when she got everything she wanted (except Gary Merrill), she was tired, lonely, and sullen. I know her competition was formidable and Anne didn't have a chance, but she still has my vote.

Love the video! Tiny request, but I hope subtitles for this would be allowed, even the auto-generated ones like in the newer videos. :)

I love Judy Holliday in this, but no one was better that year than Bette Davis at her best.

Congratulazioni postume sia per la grande Judy Halliday e sia per la grande Katherine Hepburn, ottime attrici, grandi interpreti e buone amiche, non è frequente a Hollywood ma neppure nella vita comune!

Fantastic job!! Thank you!!

It was lovely.

The Oscar was not going to the actresses of All About Eve or Sunset Boulevard because they both exposed the theater and movie industry. The higher ups were not amused.

I want to watch this movie!

Judy Holliday is rught up there in my favourite actresses. Very much like telhe story of Katherine Hepburn's generosity to help get Judy the much deserved exposure and limelight to jelp kickstart her Hollywood career and get her the Born Yesterday role. Of all the actresses considered, possibly Gloria Graham could have been right. Can't imagine any of the ither actresses mentioned playing the part.

'Harry Cohn was a pretty unlikable character' That's an understatement

I am so glad i discovered your channel! What a great informative vid

Judy Holiday was a once off. She had so much talent.

And Yes…I too had always heard that about Jean Arthur extreme stage fright, films and Broadway…and I truly loved Jean Arthur and Charles Coburn (Oscar Winner) and still today this George Stevens LOL ..is Still…LOL. Jean Arthur was great in Shane also. And Yes…Anne Baxter and Bette Davis Cancelled Out Each Other…Though Bette Pissed off a Plenty of Actors and Crew on All About Eve. Bette was Not a Pleasant Person ..depending on what man did her all wrong at the time of filming…🥴

When you gonna do Vivien Leigh's wins???

i adore Judy Holliday but have never thought it was fair for an actress who has performed a role on Broadway hundreds of nights, perfecting each nuance to run against actresses who create the film out of a script and their own sheer talent. The same is true of Anne Bancroft in The Miracle Worker, whose hundreds of performances allowed her to perfect every nuance of her film version.

the sad part is that Judy did not live long after - great talent - and though I'm on Dorthy parker's camp when it comes to Hepburn - I think much better of her as a person.

This review is filled with B'way-Hollywood tidbits. Almost TMI!

Hepburn's motivation was to prevent Bette Davis from getting her deserved 3rd Oscar.

I wonder if they tested Marilyn for it. I believe she was living with Harry Cohn at that time, but her star power was probably too low in 1949/1950

Hepburn didn’t want Bette Davis to win because she was jealous of her.

She probably had to do the casting couch thing with Katherine "A Different Girl Every Night" Hepburn. - Man, was she a monster. Great actress? Monster person.

Bette & Gloria were ROBBED. I could never get past Judy's excrutiatingly annoying Voice.