OVP: You Can't Take It With You (1938)

Film: You Can't Take It With You (1938)

Stars: Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart, Edward Arnold, Mischa Auer, Ann Miller, Spring Byington, HB Warner, Harry Davenport

Director: Frank Capra

Oscar History: 7 nominations/2 wins (Best Picture*, Director, Supporting Actress-Spring Byington, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Film Editing, Sound Recording)

(Not So) Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

I remember once someone said to me that watching a primary field of presidential candidates is a bit perplexing, because they all start out looking normal, like average human beings, and yet one of them is going to become immortal, putting their stamp forever on history (for the good or the bad).  The same can be said, to a degree, about a film that wins Best Picture.  You take 5, 8, 10, 12 (the number varies) movies, and then at the end of the night, one of them gets to be immortalized (and debated) forever as the "Best Picture of the Year."  This, of course, comes with some strange side effects in the same way that presidential races do.  After all, there are some Best Pictures that even with pedigree & fame, don't really amount to much historically, and you'd be forgive for thinking of You Can't Take It With You in that way.  The film, the victor in 1938, is a movie that doesn't necessarily standout in the careers of either its actors or its director, and yet despite its passed over reputation, it's a genuinely lovely (and perhaps more modern than you'd expect) movie that deserves its time in the sun.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie is about Anthony Kirby (Arnold), a business mogul in the late 1920's, who only has a mind for the matter-of-fact.  He is grooming his son Tony (Stewart) to take over the family business at one point, but there's a hiccup-Tony is in love with his stenographer Alice (Arthur), and they know nothing about her family.  It turns out that Alice's family is full of eccentrics, led by the understanding & wonderful Grandpa Vanderhof (Barrymore).  As the film continues, we see a meeting of the stuffy Kirby's with the laid-back Vanderhof's which results in all of them going to jail (due to an illegal fireworks explosion).  After this, Alice breaks up with Tony, not comfortable with the way that his family has been judging hers, but as this is a Frank Capra film, we do find a happy ending for all.  Mr. Kirby, who has been trying to buy the Vanderhof's house the whole film (and successfully does when Grandpa wants to move to be closer to Alice, who has fled), gives back the house, Tony & Alice end up together, and the family is filled with a group brimming with even more eccentrics.

I have seen You Can't Take It With You before, though it has been at least 20 years (if not longer), and it was one of the first films I caught when I started watching Best Picture winners.  I remembered relatively little about the film, to the point where I remembered a woman frequently dancing, but it wasn't until I saw the movie that I suddenly understood the "no talent" hoofer in the film is actually Ann Miller, one of the greatest dancers of Hollywood's Golden Age.  As a result, I kind of had downgraded my initially pleasant interactions with the picture because I assumed that the more saccharine elements that I had encountered with the movie would hold, perhaps over-washing them, as does on occasion happen with Frank Capra's "lesser" classics.

This wasn't the case here, though.  You Can't Take It With You is genuinely charming, and like I said, thoroughly modern.  While the film's racial politics do present some problems (the white people live a life of leisure where they pursue their dreams while the two black characters are both servants who are not given the same kind of leniency with their interests), it does show a world where people don't put all of their value in money, and more importantly, don't put it on work.  Grandpa Vanderhof occasionally indulges in libertarian conversations with random people about his dislike of taxes, but really there's a lot of socialist indulgence here which is refreshing-the movie's politics basically say "pursue your dreams-life is short, and what makes you happy is the best thing for you," and I honestly can't think of a lot of movies of this era (or any era) that say to do this, even if it doesn't mean you'll make money from it.  There's something really shocking about putting value into hobbies & interests without needing to justify it through finance that I found hit a nerve with me (a man who spends much of his time watching & chronicling movies for a blog that he gets no financial compensation for), and that resonated in a way that felt refreshingly Millennial/Gen Z.

The movie's actors have all had bigger classics (Mr. Smith, It's a Wonderful Life, On the Town, Shane), but really this cast is A+ and Capra achieves something with a call sheet that reads like a Film Twitter dream list of the 1930's.   Arthur got top billing here (Stewart was still one year away from being the eternal "first name" on the poster), and shines-if you like Jean Arthur, with her omnipresent perkiness, you'll love her here as she's at her brightest (Arthur's offscreen persona was vastly different to her onscreen one, loathing publicity & regularly struggling with even the briefest of public interactions, to the point where her later theatrical career was a series of breakdowns...she'd make a good biopic if Hollywood is listening).  Stewart is charming & lovely, given a side role but one that he manages to make affable.  Edward Arnold gets to play what would become a prototypical part for him (the large-and-in-charge wealthy villain).  Arnold had to have enjoyed this film's reputation more than anyone.  Earlier in 1938, he'd been labeled "Box Office Poison" by the Hollywood Reporter, saying he was one of the actors that theater owners most loathed seeing on a movie poster...that he ended up months later starring in a movie that won Best Picture and was a financial success had to have been great revenge.

The Vanderhof's are all great too.  Barrymore, like Arthur & Stewart, could play this part in his sleep, but that doesn't mean that we should just assume that his movie star aura is easily administered.  Spring Byington & Ann Miller are both fun in small roles as people pursuing their passions without a hint of success; Byington won the only Oscar nomination of her long career for this part, and in a lot of ways it resembles some of the "character nominations" we see even today, where a longtime side favorite gets their due in a successful Best Picture contender (think June Squibb or Laurie Metcalf).  All-in-all, this is a great ensemble, one where it's difficult to single out a specific actor, but where everyone is at peak condition.

The film's Oscar nominations are all worthy.  The cinematography is standard, but well-utilized-you get a sense from the way the camera moves that they know that the house itself (a surefire Art Direction nominee if that category had existed yet) is a great supporting player in this piece.  The writing is sharp, with silly (sometimes schmaltzy, but not too bad) dialogue, while the editing is solid-giving us enough fun moments with the Vanderhof's to get you to really know them without it ever feeling long (and at 2+ hours that was a risk for a movie that doesn't really have much of a plot to speak of other than boy-meets-girl).  The sound design is also great-the film's fireworks pop & crackle, and the regular musical interludes play perfectly.  I honestly had a great time-this isn't a landmark Capra film (it's not quintessential like It Happened One Night or It's a Wonderful Life), but if all of the Best Picture winners are "immortal," similar to my presidential theory above, this is one that feels like a president you didn't realize was impressive as history books would have led you to believe.

OVP: The Devil and Miss Jones (1941)

Film: The Devil and Miss Jones (1941)
Stars: Jean Arthur, Robert Cummings, Charles Coburn, Edmund Gwenn, Spring Byington
Director: Sam Wood
Oscar History: 2 nominations (Best Supporting Actor-Charles Coburn, Original Screenplay)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

On Day 3 of our week devoted to the category of Best Supporting Actor, we're going to go way back, all the way to 1941, just six years into the category even existing.  This nomination happened during the peak of Jean Arthur's career, when she was practically printing money for the studio, and indeed, with The Devil and Miss Jones, Arthur was getting another hit.  I've always found Arthur's career to be kind of fascinating (she'd make an awesome "Saturdays with the Stars" figure in the future), considering her onscreen persona (bubbly, warm, the girl-next-door) was so different than what she was like in real-life (extremely private, bordering on the antisocial).  In many ways she was more comparable to Greta Garbo than Carole Lombard offscreen.  Her films oftentimes got nominated for major Oscars, though only once for her (1943's The More the Merrier), and that was the case for The Devil and Miss Jones, where Charles Coburn would get the first of his three Oscar nominations in the 1940's.

(Spoilers Ahead) The film is about John P. Merrick (Coburn), a tightfisted, cranky old millionaire who owns a string of department stores in New York.  He is trying to bust open a union that is forming in his store, which could deprive him of his profit margins, and so he goes undercover as a shoe clerk named Thomas.  There he finds out that the managers treat the employees very poorly, and his only friend is a woman named Mary (Arthur) whose boyfriend Joe (Cummings) is the union ringleader.  He also starts to fall in love with an elderly store clerk Elizabeth (Byington), and appreciate the travails of his employees.  However, when his identity is found out (and Mary & Elizabeth feel betrayed by his lying), he is forced by the board to choose between supporting his employees or continuing his lavish (lonely) lifestyle.

As you might imagine (this is a Classic Hollywood movie, after all), Merrick chooses to help his employees, marrying Elizabeth and living happily ever after (if a good deal less rich than before).  The movie is sweet, if totally predictable.  It's the kind of film where if you're open to a good time and something pleasant, it'll satisfy you, but if you can't take saccharine that day, I'd avoid.  The script is predictable but humorous (my favorite sight gag being when Merrick has to bribe a child to buy the most expensive shoes in the store...and she still doesn't want to wear them because they're so hideous), and the cast is charming.

The film has Arthur & Cummings as its leads, but they aren't really the central figures in the story.  Today Coburn's nomination would surely be accused of category fraud, as he's undoubtedly the film's central character and thus I'm going to take a point off for him being the lead as is my wont in these situations (though unlike, say, Brad Pitt, Coburn was in the category that most of his roles would end up being, just not this one).  Coburn is warm, curmudgeonly, and gives a full performance.  I feel like this is the type of performance he almost always ends up giving (he was definitely typecast), but that doesn't mean it's not effective within the script.  His cold thaw is the best part of the movie, and while this isn't legendary acting, it's sturdy character work that builds up a picture, which is what you'd hope for in a Supporting Actor.

OVP: Only Angels Have Wings (1939)

Film: Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
Stars: Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Richard Barthelmess, Rita Hayworth, Thomas Mitchell
Director: Howard Hawks
Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Special Effects)...there's some confusion over whether this film was also cited for Best Cinematography, and I'd love if someone reading this might help me out on what is "official" in terms of nominations, as IMDB and Inside Oscar list this as being one of ten nominees for Best Black & White Cinematography in 1939, but the AMPAS Database officially doesn't list it, saying the only official nominees were Wuthering Heights and Stagecoach.  I defer to the AMPAS database as my source-of-truth for the OVP, but if anyone has more clarification or sources, I'd love to read them.
Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

I'm sure there have been dozens of books and podcasts and articles about 1939, and it being the "greatest year in the history of the movies," but I always get a thrill getting to cross one of that year's movies off the list, as there's just that extra sheen of "one of the best" that comes with it.  Only Angels Have Wings is not one of the Best Picture nominees of 1939, but looking at that cast list & director, you have to assume it was close.  Jean Arthur had been on a stampede in recent years with Mr. Deeds Goes to Washington & You Can't Take it With You, while Cary Grant & Howard Hawks had made arguably one of the greatest comedies of all time the year before with Bringing Up Baby.  Combine in a "newcomer" in the form of Rita Hayworth & Thomas Mitchell the year he won his Oscar, and this is a pretty pedigreed movie.  What's surprising about it in hindsight, is how groundbreaking some of the effects are and occasionally deep the cast makes the picture.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie is about Geoff Carter (Grant), who runs a piloting company in South America that delivers mail.  His flyers, including a pilot in the opening scenes, regularly die-this is a dangerous job, and one that Geoff loves, even when he hates it.  Of course, you can't have a film like this without a beautiful woman, and that's spunky Bonnie Lee (Arthur), who is a piano player who comes to this corner of the world and falls in love with Geoff.  Geoff eventually hires his former nemesis McPherson (Barthelmess), who let his partner "Kid's" (Mitchell) brother die in a plane crash, and coming with McPherson is his new wife Judy (Hayworth), who used to be romantically-involved with Geoff (and yes, this is the closest that Cary Grant ever came to the "Judy, Judy, Judy" line, though he only ever says the name to Hayworth twice-in-a-row, so that's an apocryphal quote in Grant lore).  The film continues with McPherson making a daring plane landing, this time initially saving the Kid's life (though he ends up dying of injuries eventually), and Geoff not being willing to admit to Bonnie that he wants her to leave.  However, he makes a bet with her with a trick coin (that only has heads) that she should "stay if it lands on heads," and once Bonnie realizes this is the closest he'll ever get to saying he loves her, she decides it's enough and stays with him.

Only Angels has some superfluous parts.  You know me-I love me some Rita Hayworth, but she's completely unnecessary to the plot of this movie, and you have to assume she got such key billing & the scenes she did because Harry Cohn was pushing for her.  The ending is also a bit saccharine for my tastes-I don't like women who are coming across as doormats, and Arthur isn't Lauren Bacall or Joan Crawford-we don't really know that she's "choosing to stay" even though she'd be fine on her own.  She plays Bonnie as too precious for my taste.

However, I liked Only Angels a lot.  It was disturbing initially to see Cary Grant play someone other than a gentleman, admittedly.  The way he doesn't instantly charm Arthur's Bonnie, you wonder if you've entered some sort of twilight zone, but as the movie progresses, he does a good job with this part.  Geoff is probably in love with Bonnie, but he's more in love with danger & the camaraderie of these men at the outskirts of their world, a makeshift family that understands the suicidal risks they need to take to feel alive.  It's a darker film than the call sheet & director would suggest, but that darkness, that underbelly, especially in Grant's performance, is what sells it.

If the film wasn't going to get in for Best Picture, Oscar paid attention to the nomination it did deserve (Special Effects) and the category it was shortlisted for but (apparently) wasn't nominated for (Cinematography).  The cinematography here is incredible.  The aerial shots are amazing, particularly through the mountains, and they blend perfectly with the special effects.  Yes, in hindsight you can see the strings attached (metaphorically) to the plane crash sequences, but given the time these are incredible shots, and the cinematography in my opinion doesn't age at all.  Unlike many sort of "stunt" films of Classical Hollywood, where the nomination (look at something like Beneath the 12-Mile Reef for an example) came just for the impressive sequences, this is still beautifully shot on the ground too.

AFI's 25 Greatest Actresses, Part 4

We have now counted through the women on the American Film Institute's 25 Greatest Actresses list (click here and here and here and then return to us so that you're all caught up with the actress love-in that has sprung up this week in celebration of the life of Lauren Bacall).  You may be asking what's next?  What else could you possibly have to say about a 15-year-old list?  The answer is, well, plenty.

Since the internet was in its toddler stage fifteen years ago and because this blog didn't exist yet, I wasn't able to discuss that most critical of questions-who just missed the cut?  The requirements at the time were that it had to be a woman that had made her film debut in or before 1950, or had completed their body of work (had died).  With only 25 women listed, certainly a number of the overall nominated women (250 actresses were contenders, all listed here) just barely missed the cut, and Ava, Mary, and Carole probably had some stiff competition.

The question is-who was in 26th place just waiting to be given this honor (it's worth noting that every single one of these 25 women have the "greatest star" title listed on their Wikipedia page, so clearly some of these women probably would have wanted the citation, even posthumously).  Looking at the list, you find that the AFI isn't just weighing the 25 greatest actors of the era, but also those that had significant cultural impact and longevity within the public consciousness.  Someone like Grace Kelly, for example, didn't have a particularly robust filmography, but her position in Hollywood was astronomical.  Therefore, in choosing the ten women below, I didn't just go for strong actors, but also for people that have permeated modern movie consciousness and some who were more celebrities or stars than they were thespians.  I have listed the ten below in alphabetical order, as well as my postulation as to why they missed the cut.  In the comments, if you're feeling inclined, take a guess at which of these women were the closest to making the list and which one I'm insane for assuming could be so close to the AFI's greatest.

(Side note before we get in-I get a teensy bit negative in the "Why She Missed" sections, so keep in mind that this isn't my opinion that they should have missed (I'll save my favorite actresses of this era list for a different (very distant) day), but simply why I think they were skipped by the collective AFI voting committee; conversely, the "Why She Was Close to the List" section is arguing why they would have voted for these women, not whey they should have)

Jean Arthur (1900-1991)

Oscar Nominations: One nomination, for The More the Merrier (she lost to Jennifer Jones)

Why She Was Close to the List: Like Carole Lombard, she was one of the leading ladies of the 1930's in comedies, and in particular starred in three major motion pictures from Frank Capra: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, You Can't Take It With You, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.  She was a major star of the screwball comedy and a significant box office draw in her day (she even starred late in her career in the classic western Shane).

Why She Missed: Arthur had a short reign in Hollywood, but unlike some of the other short reigns, hers was self-designed.  Arthur was an intensely private person and loathed interviews, and so as a result her public persona is almost entirely based on what she brought to the screen, unlike most of the other women that made the list.  I mean, she spent a good chunk of her late career as a teacher rather than a performer (she actually taught a young Meryl Streep at Vassar).

My Favorite Performance: Surely her bubble gum snap in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town is the quintessential Jean Arthur performance (though Shane is by far my favorite of all of her films...and one of my favorite films, period).

Glaring Miss in Her Filmography: Probably the George Stevens' classic The Talk of the Town with Ronald Colman and Cary Grant, which would go on to win a Best Picture nomination.

Tallulah Bankhead (1902-1968)

Oscar Nominations: Ms. Bankhead never received an Oscar nomination or win.

Why She Was Close to the List: If you're going for iconic stars whose work still stands (Theda Bara isn't on this list because almost none of her films still exist to perpetuate her legend), you cannot get much better than deliciously scandalous Tallulah.  The daughter of Speaker of the House William Bankhead, she was a sensation both internationally and in the United States for her daring private life and fluid sexuality (almost every major star of the era has been rumored to an affair with her).  She also had an extremely iconic role in Alfred Hitchcock's Lifeboat.

Why She Missed: While Mae West was also more known for her bawdy behavior and celebrity, she did manage to make a film or two.  Bankhead was more noted for her stage work, and in particular for originating roles that would go on to be played onscreen by Bette Davis (Dark Victory and The Little Foxes).

My Favorite Performance: I mean, isn't everyone's favorite performance by Tallulah in Lifeboat?  You'd be hard-pressed to find a more significant film in her oeuvre.  

Glaring Miss in Her Filmography: It'd have to be Devil and the Deep, an early film in her career where she managed to get top billing over Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, and Charles Laughton (quite the combination).

Doris Day (1922-Present)

Oscar Nominations: Despite a dazzling career and being a major public draw for fifteen years, she only received one nomination in 1959 for Pillow Talk (she would lose to Simone Signoret).  Every year, though, like clockwork, the rumors spread that she'll win an Honorary Award.

Why She Was Close to the List: Probably the most surprising exclusion from the list, Day was at one point the most financially successful actress in Hollywood.  A Box Office superstar, she was all the public could demand from the mid-1950's to the mid-1960's and starred in a string of romantic comedy hits.  Even today her name is extremely well-known with audiences (even if her movies aren't necessarily) and everyone knows her as one of America's Sweethearts.

Why She Missed: It may be that her role and persona could be too dated?  Most of the other women toward the bottom of the initial list had either more artistic (such as Gardner or Lombard) or pioneering (Pickford) credit that Day, who was merely a titan of her industry.  Still, this is definitely the most surprising exclusion and was (my hunch) 26th place.

My Favorite Performance: I've seen many Doris Day films through the years (my mom was a big fan of hers), so I'm going to go with a childhood favorite right now in Calamity Jane.  It doesn't age particularly well (some of the songs are pretty sexist), but the music and sets and in particular Day are incredibly game and "Secret Love" is heavenly (and an oddly resonant coming out song for anyone who reads between the lines).

Glaring Miss in Her Filmography: There's a few options here, but since I've seen some of the biggest pictures of her career, I'm going to go with one that intrigues me most: Move Over, Darling, where Day is united with James Garner and Polly Bergen.  The film was a huge hit and kept the lights on at 20th Century FOX after Cleopatra (not to mention I want to see how Day does in a role that was originally intended for Marilyn Monroe).

Olivia de Havilland (1916-Present)

Oscar Nominations: De Havilland would receive five Oscar nominations during her career, winning twice in 1946 and 1949 for To Each His Own and The Heiress, respectively.

Why She Was Close to the List: Both Olivia and her sister Joan Fontaine could arguably have made this list without much fuss, but despite Joan being Hitchcock's great muse in Rebecca and winning the Oscar first, it was Olivia who enjoyed the more enduring star.  The second female lead in the great Gone with the Wind, she was a major movie star in the 1930's with her wildly successful string of eight pictures with Errol Flynn (the most critically-celebrated of these being The Adventures of Robin Hood) and had a long line of highly successful dramatic pictures in the 1940's and early 1950's.  Plus, considering that the AFI collected film scholars and actors, most of them would be aware of her landmark 1943 legal victory which gave greater control to performers in their contracts with studios.

Why She Missed: De Havilland was always seemingly sharing the spotlight with someone, and frequently another actress.  Whether it was playing second place to Vivien Leigh (it doesn't help that on a list of actresses where all 25 were leading ladies, de Havilland's most famous role was a supporting one) or her longtime feud with her sister, she never seemed to take the spotlight entirely onto herself.  Her name endures more today with casual film fans for Gone with the Wind and her longstanding rivalry with Joan rather than her initial celebrity.

My Favorite Performance: I'm going to go cliche with her bravura work as Melanie Wilkes in Gone with the Wind, though I've always had a soft spot for her work as Catherine Sloper in The Heiress.

Glaring Miss in Her Filmography: I have never seen The Adventures of Robin Hood, which is one of the few classic films of that era that I haven't caught yet that I'm genuinely looking forward to seeing, and I believe that it's actually toward the top of my Netflix queue, so we'll be getting there pretty quickly.

Greer Garson (1904-1996)

Oscar Nominations: A staggering number of them in her career, she received seven nominations, including five of them consecutively, and won as the titular Mrs. Miniver in 1942's Best Picture.

Why She Was Close to the List: Seven Oscar nominations is a spectacular number for lead actress, and Garson was one of the most significant stars in the MGM lot throughout the 1940's when she was amassing that collection.  She starred in a number of iconic roles during this period, particularly Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice (had she been Oscar-nominated for that role, which very well could have happened considering the critical acclaim, she would have been nominated seven years in a row).  The only other actress with a five-in-a-row streak was Bette Davis, and she landed in slot number two.

Why She Missed: For some reason there are actresses from every era that seem to slip into the background of history (think Garbo, Crawford, and then Norma Shearer), and Garson's luster never was quite as iconic as Davis's and Hepburn's following this time period.  It probably doesn't help that her frequent collaborator (all of the women of this era seemed to have one) was Walter Pidgeon, a name that is far less known than Garson's today (whereas Hepburn got someone like Spencer Tracy).  Garson also was almost exclusively a dramatic actress during her years at the top, and most of the women on this list either have a comic off-screen persona (Davis) or frequently starred in comedies onscreen (the Hepburns).

My Favorite Performance: Probably Mrs. Miniver, which was the exact right moment to give a major motion picture star her Oscar, as she totally nailed that role (and managed to carry it to a Best Picture win).

Glaring Miss in Her Filmography: I have long thought that if I ever actually saw it Random Harvest would be the sort of Waterloo Bridge-style picture that I would latch onto pretty quickly, so I'll say that.

Lena Horne (1917-2010)

Oscar Nominations: Ms. Horne never won an Academy Award nomination or trophy during her long career, though one could have argued pretty validly that she deserved an Honorary Oscar toward the end there.

Why She Was Close to the List: I may get an eyebrow raise here as Lena Horne wasn't particularly well-known outside of the 1940's and even then had only a handful of film roles, but A) Grace Kelly had less roles in the movies and she made the list and B) as we've seen with a few women on the list, it's not just about the size of their filmography, but also their historical importance.  Horne was a pioneer during her era, the first African-American performer to sign a long-term contract with a Hollywood studio, and likely the most important black actress of her generation.  She starred in a couple of major MGM musicals, including Stormy Weather and The Cabin in the Sky.

Why She Missed: Her filmography, as I illustrated above, is pretty light when you throw out those two movies, and she didn't seem as smitten with Hollywood in the years after her heyday, instead preferring music and the stage.

My Favorite Performance: I'll admit right now, I have never seen a Lena Horne movie, though I've seen her perform many times in television specials and will sing her version of "Stormy Weather" in the shower at least once a week.

Glaring Miss in Her Filmography: Either Stormy Weather or The Cabin in the Sky would seem appropriate, though considering that shower comment I'll probably select the former.

Deborah Kerr (1921-2007)

Oscar Nominations: Six nominations for Best Actress, never winning.  Only Thelma Ritter and Glenn Close have been nominated as an actress as many times and never won (and Kerr is the only person to have done so exclusively in the lead category).  She won an Honorary Academy Award in 1993 "in recognition for a full career's worth of elegant and beautifully crafted performances."
Why She Was Close to the List: Like Greer Garson, Kerr has a long history with the Academy Awards and is widely recognized as an actress of great talent and poise from this era.  Unlike Garson, though, Kerr has some films that have actually survived in the modern popular culture.  Films like The King and I, An Affair to Remember, and of course From Here to Eternity are frequently referenced today, and her wave-soaked make-out session with Burt Lancaster in the latter film in particular has been lampooned as frequently as Janet Leigh's shower and Darth Vader's paternal confession.  Kerr was also a frequent collaborator with Robert Mitchum, who did make the cut on the men's side (most of the famous cinematic "pairs" made it on both sides of this list-Kerr/Mitchum is one of the few that didn't).
Why She Missed: Like Garson, she isn't quite the iconic figure that some of these other women were, particularly offscreen where she had a relatively stable marriage for the latter half of her career to Peter Viertel (and she was never married to a movie star, which helps in boosting your legend).  It also has to be said that Kerr was always a bridesmaid with Oscar, and winning an Oscar does tend to help the immortal ones have an extra aura.
My Favorite Performance: I could and probably should go with Anna, but An Affair to Remember is one of my all-time guilty pleasure movies, and I love the way that only Kerr can sell some of the clunky and yet terribly romantic dialogue.
Glaring Miss in Her Filmography: Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison, much like Random Harvest, is one of those movies I'm near certain that I will love, and probably will as soon as I get to it, so I'll go with that.

Myrna Loy (1905-1993)

Oscar Nominations: Loy is one of the most famous cases of the Oscars completely missing a major star (she's frequently toward the top of the list of actors who were never nominated).  Loy never received a competitive Oscar nomination, but the Academy made up for it in 1991 when she received an Honorary Academy Award for career achievement.
Why She Was Close to the List: Wildly popular in her day, she is survived today by her indelible Nora Charles, the drunken half of one of the cinema's best-known detective teams.  Even if it weren't for The Thin Man, she would have a pretty solid filmography with The Best Years of Our Lives and Cheaper by the Dozen amongst them, and was one of the most significant leading ladies of the 1930's and 1940's.  She was also insanely well-liked in Hollywood (something not all actresses can claim), and was noted for her work with the United Nations.
Why She Missed: She never had that "star turn" moment that seems to transcend all decades.  While very beautiful, she wasn't a glamour doll like Marilyn and she lived a fairly conventional life, even if she went through husbands and lovers with Liz Taylor-like regularity.  I guess she's the sort of actress that everyone slaps their forehead and says "of course, include her on a greatest list," but not necessarily when they aren't prodded to do so.
My Favorite Performance: Of course it would be Nora Charles in The Thin Man, one of the funniest movies I've ever seen-her chemistry with William Powell in these films was electric.
Glaring Miss in Her Filmography: I have seen Myrna Loy with Gable and Powell, but never with Cary Grant, so I'd be interested in seeing her in the classic comedy Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, which was cited by AFI for the Best Comedies list the year after the stars list was made.

Maureen O'Hara (1920-Present)

Oscar Nominations: Despite starring in a host of Oscar-nominated films (including the lead in a Best Picture winner, making her the extremely rare actress to not get nominated despite leading a Best Picture winner), O'Hara herself has never won or been nominated for an Oscar.  Like Doris Day, every year cinephiles complain that she should get one, but unlike Day I think she'd actually show up to receive it so I don't know what the hold-up is here.
Why She Was Close to the List: Iconic for her red hair and fiery onscreen personality, O'Hara has starred in a number of classic films through the years.  How Green Was My Valley, Miracle on 34th Street, and The Quiet Man are toward the top of the list, but like several women on both the official list and this "runners-up" list, she's starred with almost every major leading man in Hollywood.  Also, like Bacall, Kate Hepburn, and Ginger Rogers, she had a frequent onscreen collaborator in John Wayne (who did make the male list), making her a likely candidate to make it (if Wayne made your ballot...).
Why She Missed: For some reason I've never been entirely certain of, O'Hara hasn't ever had the sort of respect with cinephiles or awards bodies that she seems to have deserved.  I don't know if it's because she gave up her career for stay-at-home-momdom (unlike someone like Bette Davis or Ingrid Bergman who kept working right up until the end) or if it simply was that her skills were too comedic, but she's never quite landed compared to some of her dramatic counterparts.
My Favorite Performance: Sure, everyone's going to pick The Quiet Man, which is a great movie, but I grew up watching McLintock! at every family get-together, so if I'm going to go with a personal film, it would have to be this one.
Glaring Miss in Her Filmography: Most assuredly it would be The Hunchback of Notre Dame (seriously, another classic-get on this AMPAS!), uniting her with her pre-John Wayne frequent collaborator, Charles Laughton.

Natalie Wood (1938-1981)

Oscar Nominations: Wood received three Oscar nominations in her career, though she lost for all three.
Why She Was Close to the List: Iconic actress still referenced today.  Check.  Critically-acclaimed.  Check.  Incredible beauty.  Check.  Tragic demise.  Sad check.  Wood manages to hit all of the things that the AFI was going for, and was a star in three absolute classics of American cinema (Miracle on 34th Street, Rebel without a Cause, and West Side Story).
Why She Missed: Perhaps she was too young?  While she technically qualified under the rules, she'd have one of the smaller filmographies of any of the actors on the list and would be easily the youngest.  Plus, she had most of her impact in 1960's cinema, toward the end of Classical Hollywood, and Sophia Loren was really the only person on the list who could boast that.
My Favorite Performance: I mean, can you really top the sexual frustration of Splendor in the Grass?  Completely mesmerizing work, with Wood going through all of the stages of youth (and being driven insane by the prospect of losing a 1961-era Warren Beatty...which is surely understandable).
Glaring Miss in Her Filmography: I've honestly seen all of the major pieces of Wood's filmography, so I'm going to go with Gypsy, which she has a supporting part in if only for the curiosity of how Rosalind Russell handles one of the most iconic roles in the American theater.

And there you have it-my guesses as to the ten runners-up for the AFI list.  We've got one more quick addendum to this series, but before we go-which of these women do you think was the closest to AFI's list?  Which do you think I'm off my rocker for assuming was close?  And what other women do you think may have been in strong contention that I don't check-point?  Share in the comments!