How Faye Dunaway’s first Emmy helped her to survive
The New Hollywood era that ruled over the film industry during the late 1960s and early 1970s saw fresh faces emerge in American cinema, like Faye Dunaway, who earned praise for her performance in the iconic Arthur Penn movie Bonnie and Clyde. Released in 1967, the film was Dunaway’s first leading role, coming after a few small parts in projects like The Happening and Hurry Sundown, and it cemented her as an exciting new figure.
She earned an Oscar nomination for her performance before finding further acclaim with films like The Thomas Crown Affair, The Three Musketeers, and Chinatown. In between these movies, Dunaway appeared in her fair share of titles that fared less successfully, but she was still well-known for her talents. The actor eventually won an Oscar for Network, released in 1976, proving that she had what it took to be an enduring icon of the silver screen.
Dunaway called her Oscar win “one of the most wonderful nights of my life” in her memoir Looking for Gatsby: My Life, but within a few years, Dunaway found herself on the receiving end of significant criticism. The late 1970s had been a successful period for Dunaway, and she consistently landed major roles as a result; yet, in 1981, her leading part in Frank Perry’s Mommie Dearest proved to be disastrous.
She played the controversial Old Hollywood star Joan Crawford in a biopic about her abusive treatment of her children, but many found her performance too over-the-top and accidentally camp. Lines like “No wire hangers!” became iconic for all the wrong reasons, and Dunaway was lambasted in the media for her portrayal of the cinematic legend.
Dunaway won ‘Worst Actress’ at the Golden Raspberry Awards for her performance, while she had been nominated the year before for her role in The First Deadly Sin. Even worse, Dunaway earned another nomination in 1983 for The Wicked Lady, and then another the following year for Supergirl. It was not a good period for Dunaway, who couldn’t seem to win over critics with her less-than-impressive performances.
In 1993, Dunaway found even more backlash with her role in the show It Had to Be You, which viewers didn’t receive well. However, she soon landed a part in another series that would change everything. Dunaway revealed, “This role that Peter [Falk] had given me in Columbo must have been a gift of fate. The movie aired Sunday, October 31st, 1993, just two days before Jeff told me he was pulling my TV series off CBS. While I was getting nothing but bad news about It Had to Be You, cards and notes and really good reviews were streaming in about Columbo.”
Dunaway’s performance in the Columbo television movie It’s All in the Game landed her an Emmy nomination, which she ended up winning, much to her surprise. The actor explained how she had “been trying to survive rough, treacherous seas that were roiled that summer. Most of those attending the Emmy dinner that night were well aware of what I had been going through. It had been such a difficult time, I debated even attending the dinner. But I had not stayed in the shadows during those difficult months, and I was determined not to retreat now.”
When she won, she was ecstatic: “Nevertheless, I could not quite believe it when I heard my name called. You always hope, and though I felt very good about the role and the way I had played it, I had not expected to win. There were other very strong performances by Stockard Channing, Laura Dern, Bonnie Bedelia, Marlee Matlin, and Penny Fuller that I was competing against. It was no small matter to have been chosen.”
From there, Dunaway found a renewed sense of confidence in herself, and she went on to appear in a variety of projects in television, film, and theatre – even starring in a documentary about herself, Faye, in 2024.
