Sandy Dennis as Honey in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Best Supporting Actress at the 39th Annual Oscars (1966)
Notable Quote:
“I dance like the wind.”
Synopsis:
Oh, I’m sorry, the dinner party episode of The Office wasn’t uncomfortable enough for you? I’ve got a film for you! (Alt Title: Why Straight Couples Suck, Exhibit 9003).
The character:
The characters of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? are all incredibly fucked-up, but Honey is fucked-up in a different way than the rest. When she shows up to George’s and Martha’s house, she’s timid and awkward and trying too hard to fit in. Honey radiates an insecurity that makes her pitiable but also irritating. I don’t think she ever actually snort laughs during the movie, but she seems like someone that would snort laugh. She’s married to a professor, so she moves in intellectual circles, but she doesn’t seem all that smart or interesting.
Like a lot of people who are insecure, she drinks way too much! And girl cannot hold her liquor, she barfs early on, but continues to drink and goes absolutely crazy. Like, she sits on the floor peeling labels off of bottles, she does a bizarre interpretive dance in the middle of a roadhouse: I have to believe there’s more than alcohol going on here. Anyway, she apparently pulls this shit all the time, yippee!
Notably for this movie, Honey is incredibly un-malicious. While the other characters sit around throwing incredibly pointed barbs at one another, Honey is off in her own little world. But like I said, that doesn’t mean she’s not a warped, dark character. It comes out that Nick only married her because she thought she was pregnant, and later emerges that maybe she actually was pregnant and got an abortion, but something twisted is going on beneath the surface.
The performance:
Sandy Dennis is excellent as Honey! Honey’s most important job is to be palpably awkward, even though she’s not the main character, and Dennis is excellent at this. She gets across so many of the character’s strange tics without ever being the central focus of the film. It’s an impressive embodiment of the character in the truest meaning of that term: so much of the characterization is in posture and expression and minute hesitations.
I will say that it gets to be a lot when Honey is, for instance, literally hopping around claiming to be a bunny (!?) but that’s more about the character than the actress. It’s also important to note that if we care for anyone in this movie, it’s Honey: Dennis helps to imbue her with a vulnerability that makes us feel protective of her, even as we also resent her for being so open with these horrible people.
The movie:
Let’s take some time to reflect on this film’s actors, who got Oscar nominations, but couldn’t clinch the role. (Fun fact: this is the only film to have its entire credited cast nominated!). Based on his role as George, I’m sad that I won’t get to review a Richard Burton performance for this column because he commands the screen effortlessly. Truly a fountain of charisma. George Segal is also good as Nick, although he’s very much the character that I care about least.
Was the Oscar deserved?
Yes, this is a great performance.