Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role 1939
Fay Bainter Jezebel 1939
SEX WORKER ROLE
Alice Drave in Move On, Sister 1933
Character Is A Prostitute
Fay Bainter in Move On, Sister 1933
Fay was the first actress in Academy Award history to be nominated in both the lead and supporting actress categories in the same year. Nominated for “White Banners,” she lost the Lead Actress Oscar to her “Jezebel” co-star Bette Davis. However, Bainter won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in that same film. Five years earlier, she played a hooker in the 1933 stage production of “Move On, Sister,” written by Daniel N. Rubin. In the play, Fay plays the role of Alice Drave. After her boyfriend terminates their relationship, she turns to prostitution to make a living. Years later, Alice is stunned to learn she has inherited her former boyfriend’s fortune worth millions of dollars. The play flopped on Broadway and closed after only one week for a total of seven performances.
Publicity Still of Fay Bainter in Move On, Sister 1933
To read more about other Oscar-winning actresses playing characters working in the sex trade industry, please continue perusing Oscar Hookers