Eighteen Brilliant But Unawarded Acting Performances
15. Ingrid Bergman – Casablanca
This 1940s romantic drama won an Oscar for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay Writing, but none of the performers were awarded for their acting.
Humphrey Bogart was nominated for Best Actor and Claude Rains for Best Supporting Actor, but Ingrid Bergman was entirely dismissed.
The classically lovely Bergman pulls together all the elegance and femininity that a stylish ’40s lady should have, while giving her character, Ilsa Lund, the real emotion that makes for a believable and endearing performance.
Trapped in a marriage and separated forever from her true love, Humphrey Bogart’s character Rick Blaine, Ilsa and Blaine unexpectedly meet again after an unwelcome turn of events puts Blaine in possession of some papers that Ilsa’s husband wishes to purchase.
Bergman artfully portrays a sense of nostalgia that is recognizable to anyone who has regrets, without detracting from the underlying fear and anxiety that consumed early World War II Europe. She won three Oscars and four Golden Globes during her career, but her most notable success in “Casablanca” went unnoticed by the Academy.
