Oscars mystery: How did Glenda Jackson win Best Actress #2 for ‘A Touch of Class’ anyway?

“I felt ashamed of myself for watching. No one should have a chance to see so much desire, so much need for a prize. And so much pain when [it] was not given … I felt disgusted with myself. As though I were attending a public hanging.”

Those were the words of the late Glenda Jackson, as she described to The New York Times her recent experience watching the Academy Awards on television in 1979.

Ironically, it was well after she had already been gifted with two Best Actress Oscars herself. She was not present to accept those honors — for 1970’s “Women in Love” and 1973’s “A Touch of Class.” She was also absent when she was Best Actress-nominated for 1971’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and 1975’s “Hedda.” (She did, however, make an appearance to present the 1974 Best Actor Oscar to Art Carney for “Harry and Tonto.”)

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I have to wonder if Miss Jackson ever watched the now-infamous clip of her winning her second award at the 46th Academy Awards in 1974. Past Oscar recipients Susan Hayward (Best Actress of 1958 for “I Want to Live!”) and Charlton Heston (Best Actor of 1959 for Best Picture “Ben-Hur”) were invited back to announce the year’s Best Actress prize. When Hayward opened the envelope and read Jackson’s name, the reaction from the losing ladies was arguably more entertaining than anything that they did in their nominated performances.

Ellen Burstyn, who played an actress resorting to desperate measures to save her demonically possessed daughter in “The Exorcist,” reacted as if Satan had taken control of her. Marsha Mason, who was cast as a single mother and prostitute in “Cinderella Liberty,” looked like Cinderella’s jealous stepsister. Joanne Woodward, who portrayed an unhappy New York City housewife in “Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams,” appeared even more confused than she did as the title character in 1957’s “The Three Faces of Eve” (which earned her the Best Actress Oscar). The fourth losing face was not shown on camera. Barbra Streisand, who starred as an anti-war liberal young woman in love with her polar opposite (played by Robert Redford) in “The Way We Were,” hid backstage the entire show to avoid the public embarrassment of losing. I have no idea what she said at the time, but I think that it’s safe to say that it wasn’t “Hello, gorgeous.” (Her funny words upon collecting her Best Actress Oscar for 1968’s “Funny Girl.”)

That was a few years before I started watching (and obsessing about) the Academy Awards, so I didn’t have an official prediction. Based on my conversations with veteran Oscar watchers who followed the derby that year, it seemed like the race was between Burstyn and Streisand. Mason was probably in third place. Jackson was likely fourth — or even last.

It wasn’t that she wasn’t wonderful as a British divorcee who begins a tryst with a married American businessman (played by George Segal) in “A Touch of Class.” It’s just that it didn’t seem necessary to reward Jackson three years after “Women in Love,” especially for a fluffy romantic comedy.

So how did she pull off that shockeroo? Here are my five best guesses.

1. She was Glenda Jackson.
After her victorious turn in “Women in Love,” she was revered like few other actresses of her day. She wasn’t a movie star. She wasn’t a celebrity. She was a genuine actor. Her fierce dramatic skills brought her both admiration and awe from her peers and the public. Sure, academy members didn’t have to give her another trophy so soon after “Women in Love.” But since Jackson was a woman so uniquely loved, they did so so anyway.

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2. She was the only Brit in the bunch.
We all know the iconic phrase “The British are coming!” as associated with Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride in the late 18th century. It took on a whole new meaning with the introduction of the Academy Awards more than a century and a half later. There’s just something so darn refined about a proper English accent. And in the years before 1973, a number of big British talents had received lead Oscars. Those included Julie Andrews in 1964’s “Mary Poppins,” Rex Harrison in 1964’s Best Picture “My Fair Lady,” Julie Christie in 1965’s “Darling,” Paul Scofield in 1966’s Best Picture “A Man for All Seasons,” Maggie Smith in 1969’s “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,” and Jackson in “Women in Love.” Jackson proved that she was still in her prime with “A Touch of Class.” As the definitive British broad up against four everyday Americans, Jackson was simply in a class of her own.

3. She was still riding high on the success of  “Elizabeth R.”
She tackled the role of Queen Elizabeth I in the acclaimed BBC television drama series in 1971. And at the Emmy Awards the following year, she might have still been referred to as “her royal highness.” She won the Emmy for Best Drama Actress as well as Best Actress in a Single Episode (where she was nominated twice). Between her Oscar for “Women in Love” and her pair of Emmys for “Elizabeth R,” Jackson had become undisputed Hollywood royalty. So with a completely different role in “A Touch of Class,” voters were eager to crown her once again.

4. “A Touch of Class” was a Best Picture nominee.
The movie made the final five, alongside “American Graffiti,” “Cries and Whispers,” “The Exorcist” and eventual winner “The Sting.” It was also nominated in four other categories, including Best Actress for Jackson, Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Dramatic Score and Best Song (“All That Love Went to Waste”). That’s a pretty impressive Oscar scorecard for a romantic comedy. The academy didn’t want all that love for the film to go to waste. Overall support for “A Touch of Class” helped Jackson get the touch of extra votes that she needed to prevail.

5. There was no clear frontrunner.
As I explained earlier, it seemed as if smart money was on either Burstyn or Streisand. While “The Exorcist” possessed 10 nominations, it coughed up only two, for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Sound. Voters might have been afraid to give the controversial picture much more. That burst Burstyn’s bubble. Streisand had been recognized for “Funny Girl” just five years earlier, and “The Way We Were” missed out on Best Picture and Best Director bids. That being the way it was was bad news for Babs. Mason had waltzed off with the Golden Globe for Best Film Drama Actress and was something of a Cinderella story. If only her had film had been cited for other major awards, then she might have been the belle of the ball. And Woodward was another previous winner whose chilly movie and character probably left many cold. So in that fractured field, Jackson and her magic “Touch” did the trick again, putting her in a rare “Class” of double Best Actress Oscar champs.

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