Great post Don. I'd have rather ANY of the other actresses nominated that year win the Oscar than Miss Christie. I admire her talents but DARLING did nothing for me.Guessing they considered her work in ZHIVAGO, a better film and- I think- a more memorable performance. Vivien Leigh should at least have been up for an award for her work as Mrs Treadwell in SHIP OF FOOLS. Samantha Eggar reportedly had a very unpleasant time under William Wyler (my favourite director of all time but apparently he could be a bully at times). I'm sure the fact that she gives a very good performance in spite of this makes me place her as my next favourite after Miss Hartman.

I agree too. A Patch of Blue was a wonderful, important, and uplifting film, even being fully aware of her real-life fate. It's the kind of performance they would always nominate but never award a great character but defined by her circumstances more so than the actor's performance; also a newcomer with uncertain longevity, up against the new "It Girl." Even today, we see the same politics with Gabby Sidibe in Precious losing to Sandra Bullock, while her costar Mo'Nique won for a turn similar to Shelley Winters's in this film. It's a shame because I didn't care for Darling one bit. Even though Julie Christie has had a nice, long career, I don't think that highly of her as an actress. Her Oscar-winning role was inferior to Hartman, Andrews in The Sound of Music (considering how iconic the film and her performance in it are), and Samantha Eggar in The Collector. In fact, Eggar, like Hartman, was another newcomer in a very meaty, physically challenging role, but the Academy didn't go for her film as much as they did for Darling, and she just wasn't headed for the same degree of stardom as Christie.
Simone Signoret and the not-nominated Vivien Leigh were also terrific that year in Ship of Fools, while Catherine Deneuve was ripped off for a classic turn in Repulsion, but that's something they would never go for.
As for other performances by a lead actress in 1965: Christie of course was winning for Doctor Zhivago as much as for Darling, but I don't think there was much to her character or performance in that more memorable film. I haven't seen Anne Bancroft in The Slender Thread, but I did see Bette Davis in The Nanny, and she was her typical haunting latter-day self. Carroll Baker did a better job than expected in the obscure Sylvia, and Jane Fonda and Natalie Wood were as charming as ever in Cat Ballou and The Great Race.

I agree. I liked "Darling", but Elizabeth Hartman's role was much more difficult, and she should have won the Academy Award that year.

Yes and this was her first screen role!

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