Oscars - Best and Worst Supporting Actress - 1936-1999

15 Best Nominees:

1. Billie Burke - 1938 - Merrily we live
2. Olivia De haviland - 1939 - Gone with the Wind
3. Ann Baxter - 1946- The Razor's Edge
4. Marjorie Main - 1947 - The Egg and I
5. Hope Emerson - 1950 - Caged
6. Jean Hagan - 1952 - Singing in the Rain
7. Grace Kelly - 1953 - Mogambo
8. Thelma Ritter - 1953- Pickup on South Street
9. Elsa Lanchester - 1956 - Witness for the Prosecution
10. Janet Leigh - 1960 - Pyscho
11. Jocelyne LaGarde - 1966-  Hawaii
12. Carol Channing - 1968 - Thoroughly Modern Millie. 
13. Helen Hayes - 1970 - Airport
14. Terri Garr - 1982 - Tootsie
15. Dianne Wiest - 1994 - Bullets over Broadway

10 Worst Nominees: 

1. Gale Sondergaard - 1946   - The King of Siam
2. Ann Revere - 1947 - Gentleman's Agreement 
3. Shelly Winters - 1965 - A patch of blue
4. Ingrid Bergman - 1974 - Murder on the Orient Express
5. Lee Grant - 1975- Shampoo
6. Piper Laurie - 1976- Carrie
7. Candice Bergen - 1979 - Starting Over 
8. Olympia Dukakis - 1987 - Moonstruck
9. Whoopi Goldberg 1990 - Ghost
10. Lauren Bacall - 1996- The Mirror has two faces 

I only picked 10 "worst nominees" - I could have easily picked 25. The supporting actress category - with a few exceptions - is pretty good until about 1965, and then it becomes a dumping ground for "life time achievement awards", affirmative action picks, and Hollywood establishment favoritism.  Of course, the roles - in male dominated Hollywood - for actresses got worse and worse. So, there's that. 

But how else to explain Bergman in 1974, Lee Grant in 1975, or Bacall in 1996? And after 1965, some of the nominees are so obscure, I can barely remember them. And I watched the movie!