Oscars best actress race a battle of the oldies?
2007-01-24

People Lauren Bacall Helen Mirren Judi Dench Meryl Streep Penelope Cruz Juliette Binoche Halle Berry Nicole Kidman Charlize Theron Kate Winslet Julia Roberts Gwyneth Paltrow Event 2007 Oscar Awards Movie Notes on a Scandal The Devil Wears Prada Shakespeare in Love

After overlooking women older than 50 for nearly two decades, the best actress race for Oscars gold is set to be a contest between three veteran stars known as the "silver foxes."

You have to go all the way back to 1990 to find the last time an actress past her 40s won the leading actress Oscar on Tinseltown's biggest night, an 80-year-old Jessica Tandy prevailing for "Driving Miss Daisy."

Since then the best actress award has been a veritable roll-call of Hollywood's young and beautiful.

According to Tom O'Neil, an awards pundit with the Los Angeles Times' theenvelope.com, there is a straightforward explanation for the trend.

"It's simple," O'Neil told AFP. "They go for the babes. It's shameful but the Academy is comprised of a bunch of straight old white geezers who lust shamelessly after babes.

"Look back at recent winners -- whether it's Halle Berry, Charlize Theron, Julia Roberts, Gwyneth Paltrow or Nicole Kidman. There's a pattern and it's very obvious."

Writing in his online column, O'Neil added: "It's OK for wrinkled guys to win (James Coburn, Jim Broadbent, Michael Caine), but nearly every time we think a mature woman will prevail -- like, say, Lauren Bacall ("Mirror Has Two Faces") -- a babe like Juliette Binoche ("English Patient") pops up."

The under-50 trend has been mirrored in the best supporting actress category over the past decade, with British actress Judi Dench the only woman to break with tradition, winning an Oscar in 1999 for "Shakespeare in Love."

In fact, in the past 10 years, no-one older than 39 has been honored with the best actress Oscar statuette.

This year however, Oscars voters are set to break with tradition when they weigh up votes for best actress.

British star Kate Winslet, 31, who received her fifth Academy Award nomination on Tuesday for her portrayal of an adultress in "Little Children," fits the profile of recent female Oscars winners, as does Spanish nominee Penelope Cruz, 32.

Yet the front-runners for this year's accolade are two grande, and greying, dames of the film world, 61-year-old Helen Mirren, the heavy favourite for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in "The Queen" and Meryl Streep, 57, for her turn as a bitchy fashion magazine editor in "The Devil Wears Prada."

An outsider is another veteran, 72-year-old Dench, who has been nominated for her performance as a lonely teacher who develops a crush on a young colleague in "Notes on a Scandal."

According to Mirren, the troika of veterans reflects a growing recognition of older actresses within the film industry.

"I think there is a growing acceptance of the fact that women actually make up 50 percent of the population, and that women of our generation are an economic force," she said in a recent interview.