Number 73: Mary Astor as Sandra Kovak in "The Great Lie" (Best Supporting Actress Ranking)

The first time I ranked all the winners in this category, Mary Astor made it to position number 58 but this time I was less generous. The last time I appreciated a certain level of entertainment that she showed in her role but this time I found myself only being distracted by her over-the-top acting that consisted mostly of camp effects than anything else.

In The Great Lie, Mary Astor played Sandra Kovak, a famous pianist, a temperamental diva – and the secret mother of Pete Van Allen’s (Bette Davis’s husband) baby. The Great Lie is one of those typical, melodramatic movies from the 40s – in fact, even worse and only the involvement of actresses like Bette Davis and Mary Astor helped to get this picture some serious reputation. But even those two actresses aren’t able to turn The Great Lie into something better. I admit that the movie does entertain – it’s the kind of movie that makes Bette Davis-fans scream with joy while all fans of old Hollywood movie-acting also won’t be disappointed. It’s a two-hour-long bitch-fight between two skilled actresses – surely more than enough people are willing to love this movie just for this. But I am not among them.

The Great Lie is full of clichés and unbelievable over-the-top moments. And Mary Astor’s performance fits very well in the context of the movie – over the top and unbelievable. In her first scene we see her in full diva mode – complaining about everything, slapping her servants and acting superior to everyone around her. Sorry, but Mary Astor is not the kind of woman to pull that off – there are actresses who are believable as a diva, but Mary Astor simply misses that certain quality. In her performance, it all comes actress as pretentious and somewhat laughable.

She is always better whenever the movie doesn’t force her into this kind of performance – in her more quiet moments, she is able to communicate her character’s feelings and thoughts much more effectively than in any loud, over-the-top scene. She does have a great moment when she looks at the pictures of her child but she lets it go so quickly that all the effect is ruined before it truly started.

Her biggest success and probably the reason why the movie achieves a level of entertainment is her chemistry with Bette Davis – her acting choices may too often be exaggerated but these two actresses still know how to work together. A rather astonishing fact is that Mary Astor was not overshadowed by Bette Davis – but the reason is less Mary Astor but rather Bette Davis who is surprisingly pale and boring as the loving wife. Mary Astor has the juicier part, that’s for sure, but she, too, suffers from a lack of screen presence and rather negligible acting.

What is probably the movie’s highpoint is unfortunately also Mary Astor’s low point – her scenes with Bette Davis in a little cabin in the desert where Sandra is supposed to have the baby that the other woman will raise as her own. Mary Astor’s failed attempts to portray a true diva become very noticeable here – her constant complaining, her behaviour that changes all the time from grown woman to little child and especially her

incredibly over-the-top screaming scene are a complete failure. Again, I won’t deny that Mary Astor’s performance works extremely well in the context of the whole movie – but that theatrical, over-the-top style is just not for me, especially when that’s all the actress has to do. There is no real character, no real emotion, it’s mostly just being a bitch.

It’s a thankless part that Mary Astor tried too hard to fill with life – but some successful line deliveries to Bette Davis or some more powerful quiet moments can’t make up for all the over-the-top choices she did in The Great Lie.