Making history as the first actress to be nominated in both lead and supporting categories at the 1938 Academy Awards, the down-to-earth Fay Bainter played many a loyal mate and supportive mother throughout her career.

Always a savant for the text, Bainter was able to transform herself into controlling, dangerous women, as well. 

Indeed, in The Shining Hour, an MGM film packed with strong female artists, Bainter was able to show a skilled duality. As Hannah Lindon, the matriarchal figure of a wealthy dynasty, she effectively showed compassion and love for sister-in-law Judy, played by the ever authentic Margaret Sullavan. Her reaction to Joan Crawford’s Olivia Riley, a NYC showgirl who unexpectedly marries into the family, is one filled with derision and virulence, though.

Dramatically, her character’s hatred of Olivia eventually leads her into a moment of fiery mania. This act of violence inadvertently changes Judy’s life forever and gives Bainter a chance to utilize a more expressive energy than was typical in her many acclaimed performances. 

While her portrayal of the very vocal, very prejudiced Mrs. Amelia Tilford in The Children’s Hour (1961) earned her another Academy Award nomination, it is her role in Dark Waters (1944) that is decidedly her most lethal.

There, as the seemingly kindly Aunt Emily, she soon puts amnesiac heiress Merle Oberon’s life in danger. It is a subtly cool performance that is all the more effective for Bainter’s spidery sweetness.

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Career Retrospective:

Any Bainter marathon should definitely include Jezebel, containing the performance that she actually won the Oscar for, and Cry Havoc!, a surprisingly effective war drama that also features such names as the above-mentioned Sullavan, Joan Blondell and Ann Sothern.

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