Number 35: Hattie McDaniel as Mammy in "Gone with the Wind" (Best Supporting Actress Ranking)

In 1940, Hattie McDaniel created Oscar-historical past by getting to be the initial African-American to acquire the coveted award – this may have observed like a large phase forwards but it did not open up any new opportunities for Hattie McDaniel as an actress nor did it enhance the roles for African-People in america in basic. And the reality that Hattie McDaniel won the Oscar for actively playing a devoted slave also does not truly point out any development – but in the stop, all these inquiries really don't subject when it comes to judging her overall performance.

Like every single other aspect of Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel is completely 1st-class as Mammy, the loving slave and later on servant of Scarlett O’Hara. She could typically get pushed in the background but the basic real truth is – the character of Mummy is almost certainly just as well-known as that of Scarlett O’Hara. And all this is thanks to Hattie McDaniel’s talent to change a one-dimensional character into a 3-dimensional, memorable person.

Gone with the Wind is basically Vivien Leigh’s show but the movie is epic and extended enough to allow each character glow. And Hattie McDaniel’s Mammy is a whole lot of items at as soon as: she is the movie’s comic relief, a task that Hattie McDaniel fulfils with utmost simplicity, she is a loving and faithful slave, a task that she fulfils yet again with utmost ease many thanks to her warm and robust display existence, but she is also the conscience of Scarlett, a woman who more than once states the items that Scarlett does not want to hear. Hattie McDaniel’s natural performance might typically appear fairly simple but a appear nearer at the character of Mammy displays a whole lot of unexpected and wealthy operate.

Hattie McDaniel also works wonderful with the other cast associates, specifically Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable. Mammy is not afraid to say to Scarlett what she thinks and Rhett Butler describes her as one of the handful of people whose viewpoint he values. And Hattie McDaniel’s performance crafts a character that is justified to generate this large opinion. She is ready to make you smile and look quite sensible at the very same time even though never betraying the character she performs.

But Hattie McDaniel does not only provide laughs and offers great tips, she is also a great actress, displayed in so several scenes. When she tells Scarlett about her mother and attempts to give her braveness when items turn out to be virtually also difficult for Scarlett to manage them. But of training course, her fantastic spotlight is when she tells Melanie about the loss of life of Bonnie and what has happened amongst Scarlett and Rhett. In this quick scene, she has to make the entire tragedy obvious for the audience and succeeds on all stages. A heartbreaking second due to the fact of what Mammy states but even more because of how she claims it.

When Scarlett returns property to Tara, Mommy is one particular of the initial man or woman to welcome her – and we recognize really rapidly that we missed her just as significantly as she did. Contemplating the limitations of the function and the target of the movie, this is a grand accomplishment by a fantastic actress!