BLACK ACTRESSES / OSCAR GOLD

 The amazing Angela Bassett made Hollywood history this year. She is currently a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee for her regal performance in BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER. This is Bassett's second Oscar nomination. Her first came for her stunning work as Tina Turner in 1993's WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT.

Angela Bassett is now one of the few Black actresses in Oscar history to have more than one Oscar nomination to her credit. Whoopi Goldberg was deservedly a Best Actress Oscar nominee for 1985's THE COLOR PURPLE. She won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for 1990's GHOST and then, for about 20 years or so, reigned as the most Oscar-nominated Black actress in Hollywood history. Viola Davis matched Whoopi's record when 2011's THE HELP brought Davis her second Oscar nomination. Her first was for 2008's DOUBT with Meryl Streep. Oscar nominations for DOUBT, THE HELP, FENCES and MA RAINEY'S BLACK BOTTOM have made Viola Davis now the most Oscar-nominated Black actress in Hollywood history. She took home the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for FENCES. Octavia Spencer took home her Best Supporting Actress Oscar for THE HELP. Thanks to her performances in HIDDEN FIGURES and THE SHAPE OF WATER, she has three Oscar nominations on her resumé.

But the majority of Black actresses who got an Oscar nomination -- or even won like Hattie McDaniel for 1939's GONE WITH THE WIND --  were frustrated by Hollywood's lack of good script opportunities after it.  This goes from Hattie's Oscar-winning 1939 work to Ethel Waters  for 1949's PINKY and Dorothy Dandridge for 1954's CARMEN JONES. The magnificent Cicely Tyson was a Best Actress Oscar nominee for 1972's SOUNDER. After it, she had to turn to TV movies for strong lead roles to play. Hollywood had no good script opportunities for her. The same goes for Diahann Carroll, Alfre Woodard and Marianne Jean-Baptiste (of 1997's SECRETS & LIES) down to Taraji P. Henson and Gabourey Sidibe. Even Rita Moreno said that she had no Hollywood employment for six years after she won her Oscar for 1961's WEST SIDE STORY.

Viola Davis told press that she did the hit ABC TV series, HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER, because she got no Hollywood script opportunities after she'd received her second Oscar nomination. Gabourey Sidibe was a Best Actress Oscar nominee for her awesome work as the physically abused, nearly illiterate, introverted and pregnant high school student in the 2009 drama, PRECIOUS. She revealed that, following her nomination, she didn't get the same amount of Hollywood love that Caucasian Anna Kendrick got. Kendrick was a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee for that same year. Sidibe turned to TV work. Kendrick had the 2010 releases SCOTT PILGRIM vs. THE WORLD and THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE followed by PITCH PERFECT and the musical INTO THE WOODS.

This week, VANITY FAIR magazine reported that Angela Bassett had no work offers for 18 months after her Best Actress Oscar nomination for WHAT'S LOVE GOT TO DO WITH IT.

Brava to Bassett for her second Oscar nomination.

The frustration that actresses of color have endured after having received an impressive Oscar nomination, a frustration actresses of color have experienced for decades, has never been investigated or covered by entertainment journalists. The Hollywood story carries overtones of racial exclusion and the lack of equal opportunities and equal pay.

As I wrote earlier, Viola Davis now reigns as the most Oscar-nominated Black actress in Hollywood history with her four nominations. She matches that same number of nominations that Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence has. Lawrence, one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood, is 32. She got her fourth nomination when she was 26. Viola Davis got her fourth nomination when she was 56. Jennifer Lawrence never had to look to TV for employment after her first or second nomination.

Only four Black actresses are multi-Oscar nominees. None of them has matched or topped the number of Oscar nominations received by living actresses Jane Fonda, Jessica Lange, Glenn Close, Cate Blanchett, Amy Adams or Michelle Williams. (Meryl Streep, with her 20 nominations, is in a dimension all her own.)