r.i.p. gloria stuart
it has always been fashionable to hand out oscars and oscar nominations to actors who everyone thinks might die soon. there is this inescapable trend of awarding careers before it's too late, and there isn't anything necessarily wrong with that. i was a little annoyed by alan arkin, for example, beating eddie murphy and jackie earle haley for for the best supporting actor award in 2007, but i admit it was kind of nice seeing paul newman getting his last career-capping nomination for road to perdition. nobody really thought christopher plummer gave the best supporting performance in 2009's the last station, but everyone was happy to finally see him get nominated.

that being said, gloria stuart was an amazing performer who without a doubt gave the best performace by a supporting actress in 1997 as the elder rose in titanic. unfortunately she lost to crackpot kim basinger in a tiny downer of a movie that nobody watches anymore, but stuart's performance will be watched and loved forever. gloria stuart may be the oldest oscar nominee, but she is also among the more deserving. she will be missed.  ¶ 9/28/2010 09:27:00 PM