Best actress Oscar

Some years they really should award two best actress or best actor awards -- because two people so richly deserve it that it seems cruel for one to wind up as an "also-ran."   One such time was 2006, when Phillip Seymore Hoffman won Best Actor for his portrayal of Truman Capote over Heath Ledger's equally stunning (I would say superior) role as Ennis Del Mar in "Brokeback Mountain."

This year it was two marvelous actresses.   Meryl Streep won as Margaret Thatcher in "Iron Lady" over Viola Davis' extraordinary performance in "The Help."   I was passionately hoping that Davis would win, just as a I had been for Ledger to win.

 Yes, I know that Meryl Streep has been nominated for 17 Oscars and that it has been over 20 years since she won the last of her three.  But, as great as Streep is at what I have come to think of as "impersonations," I am always aware of watching Meryl Streep be marvelous.  Never for a minute did I lose the thought that I was watching her impersonate Julia Child or Margaret Thatcher, as brilliant as she was in both.

In contrast, in watching "The Help" for the third time last week, there was just no question in my mind that Viola Davis was Abilene down to the very core of her being.

That's the difference.  Streep impresses me with her brilliant impersonations.   Davis is the character.   The same was true of her other nominated role in Doubt.   The same was true of Hoffman and Ledger.   Hoffman gave a brilliant impersonation of Capote;  but Ledger just simply was Ennis.

For the record:  Davis was voted Best Actress by her peer actors in the Screen Actors Guild award.

Ralph