Annie Hayworth
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Suzanne Pleshette
brianweaver — 14 years ago(March 30, 2012 08:22 AM)
She was Annie Hayworth, that Suzanne. I think Hitchcock wanted her to be a complication of sultriness, sexy and mixed it up with her being an elementary school teacher, sometimes seeming common, warm in disguise of being a predator (like The Birds)that will eventually kill her (Melanie represented the beginning of Annie's demise). Pleshette's performance was so central, complicated in the brief screen time she had, much as Janet Leigh in Psycho. Pleshette's performance had layers, and, while it never got the attention it deserved at the time, it has had the Hitchcock scholars and historians draw attention to her performance ever since. How tragic it was when she was killed, there was not a thing on the surface of her character that deserved such a brutal death, it was a very sad and dramatic momentmuch as when Janet Leigh was slashed , yet the audience all knew Marion was guilty of stealing money, and tried to redeem herself before it was too late. But it was too late. Pleshette became a victim of her own passion, obsession with Mitch , followed Mitch to Bodega Bay almost as a predator much as Janet Leigh resorted to committing a crime to keep her affair going with John Gavin. Annie/Pleshette's disguise was brilliant and she became a little unraveled when Melanie arrives on the scene, in her territorywarm and cold, and threatenedso subtle, WHAT A PERFORMANCE! Others have said here in this forum that Pleshette seemed older than her actual age of 25. Well that was the brilliance of the makeup, hair style, Edith Heads costume designshe was such mixture as I have already said, of sexy, sultry and common Have a look at Pleshette during the same time period, other films like Rome Adventure etc for The Birds, Hitchcock tried to glam her down in comparison to the worldly, tabloid star Tippi, but only to a certain extentthat was the brilliance of her being cast in contrast to Tippi and the brilliance of Pleshette's performance. Pleshette was robbed by not being nominated for an Oscar as Best Supporting Actress. For me I will always remember her most for her performance in this movie, though while equally justified, most people will only remember her for comedic abilities as Emily Hartley. Either way, history will show that she was a talent who never had all the recognition and attention that she deserved.
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SimplemindedSociety — 13 years ago(November 19, 2012 11:28 PM)
'Annie/Pleshette's disguise was brilliant and she became a little unraveled when Melanie arrives on the scene, in her territorywarm and cold, and threatenedso subtle'
While I appreciate Pleshette's performance,I didn't see her role as that of a predator which has a negative connotation ,nor deserving of an Oscar nomination based on the few scenes she had;the role wasn't written for Oscar. Leigh's role as the female lead in PSYCHO was much more central to the plot than Pleshette's.