“The sexpot goes serious, and the serious actresses go sexpot…it’s a weird year in 1961!”
Over at his Who Should Have Won the Oscars? blog, Robert James looks at the Best Actress category for 1961, noting that the nominations included two stars hitherto more celebrated for their beauty than acting – Audrey Hepburn (for Breakfast at Tiffany’s) and Sophia Loren, who won for Two Women. While I believe Sophia was a worthy winner, I agree that Marilyn should also have been nominated for her great performance in The Misfits. (She is also noted as deserving of a nomination for Some Like it Hot at the previous year’s Oscar ceremony, and I would argue that her earlier performance in Bus Stop should also have been recognised.)