Somebody on Facebook has asked for votes on the five Best Supporting Actor nominees of 1964. I can settle this right fucking now.

The guy who should have won, hands down, was Lee Tracy for his performance as ex-president Art Hockstader (a character roughly based upon Harry Truman) in Franklin J. Schaffner and Gore Vidal‘s The Best Man.

The winner was Peter Ustinov for his amusing but lightweight performance as the bumbling Arthur Simpson in Jules Dassin‘s Topkapi. Ustinov’s Oscar was more about charm and likability than anything else.

The second most deserving was Edmond O’Brien‘s portrayal of an alcoholic southern Senator in John Frankenheimer‘s Seven Days in May.

John Gielgud‘s King Louis VII of France in Peter Glenville‘s Becket was more of a cameo than a supporting performance — a pleasing but minor thing.

Nominating Stanley Holloway‘s performance in My Fair Lady was (a) a joke and (b) an insult to the other four contenders.