Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role 1976
Plays Three Characters That Are Related To The Sex Trade Industry
Carmen in The Balcony 1963
Suzy In Terror In The City 1964
Lizzie in The Respectful Prostitute 1964
All Three Characters Are Prostitutes
Lee Grant in The Balcony 1963, Terror In The City 1964, and The Respectful Prostitute 1964
In The Balcony was based on a play written by Jean Genet. This film stars Shelley as Madame Irma. Her character runs a bordello that offers men a chance to act out their S&M fantasies. Lee Grant is the head prostitute, who is now relegated to the administrative side of the business. Despite her standing within the organization, Carmen wants to go back being just one of the girls.
Watch clip of the film “The Balcony” with fellow Oscar winner Shelley Winters
But prior to The Balcony, Lee Grant had the lead role in Terror in the City (originally titled Pie in the Sky). Though filmed in 1962, it sat on the shelf until 1964. Here she plays a hooker who keeps an eye out for a nine-year-old runaway. This movie has never been released on DVD.
One year later Lee would play another hooker in The Respectful Prostitute. This was a play that was filmed as a segment of BBC drama anthology series The Festival. Lee Grant plays the title character of Lizzie. She is a prostitute who agrees to pin the blame on a black man for attempted rape. Even though a white man actually did the crime. No clips are available online of her portrayal.
Watch scene from the movie version with Barbara Laage in the role of Lizzie.
To read more about this prostitute role & other Oscar actresses playing a hooker pick up
If you know of this actress playing more than one prostitute role please comment below and let me know! I’ll gladly add it to the page here. If the video has been removed please leave a comment below to let me know.
She also played a prostitute in Terror in the City (1964) directed by Allen Baron who gave us Blast Of Silence (1961)