Women to Watch on Oscar Nomination Day

I want to mention a few films and female accomplishments before the Oscar nominations came out.  One of my Top 5 favorite films of all-time is George Cukor's 1954 remake of A STAR IS BORN. A rare case in which the remake was just as good if not better than the original, it boasts a bravura musical drama performance by Judy Garland in a dazzling screen comeback role as Hollywood's new star. There's an excellent performance by James Mason in the lead role of alcoholic fading movie star, Norman Maine, the man who discovers and falls in love with the new star. The current remake of A STAR IS BORN is a box office champ with another dazzling female lead performance. This is one is delivered by Lady Gaga. Her leading man, Bradley Cooper, also directed the film.

Every actress who has starred in A STAR IS BORN went on to get an Oscar nomination for her work in the film.  Notice the word "work." For the 1937 original A STAR IS BORN, Janet Gaynor was a nominee for Best Actress.  For 1954's A STAR IS BORN remake, Judy Garland was a nominee for Best Actress. For the 1976 remake starring Barbra Streisand, she won the Oscar for co-writing the Best Song ("Evergreen").  Lady Gaga could be an Oscar nominee in both the Best Actress and Best Song categories.

Millions of us grew up with the Best Picture category having five nominees. In 2009, the Academy upped the number of possible nominees to ten.  In the 1930s through the mid 1940s, there were ten Oscar nominees for Best Picture. Ten. However, now that we can have ten Best Picture contenders again, we've never had ten nominees. We've had more than five but less than ten. That has been extremely frustrating to me.  If we can have ten Best Picture nominees, give us ten Best Picture nominees. Good strong critically-acclaimed films like Ryan Coogler's FRUITVALE STATION, F. Gary Gray's STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON, Dee Rees' MUDBOUND and Patty Jenkins' WONDER WOMAN were not in the running. I hope Ryan Coogler's BLACK PANTHER will make the cut along with Spike Lee's BLACKkKLANSMAN and IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK from director/screenwriter Barry Jenkins.

And let's see if this African-American actress who has made Oscar nomination history will make history again in a different category.

Take 4 minutes to watch my video -- and tune in to see the Oscar nominations when they're announced live on GOOD MORNING AMERICA on ABC.