A few years before Geena co-starred in Thelma & Louise, she won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar® for her role in The Accidental Tourist. In the film, Geena played Muriel Pritchett, a quirky woman who gets entangled in a love triangle.
Since this was Geena's first nomination, she says she had no idea how to gauge her chances of winning. The afternoon of the 1988 Academy Awards, Geena says she was sitting in front of her television eating spaghetti and saw Oprah on the screen with a panel of movie critics. "They were right in the middle of [discussing] the supporting actress category," she remembers. "They'd gone [through] everybody, and then they got to me. Each one of the five said, 'Oh, hopeless case. The least likely [to win].'"
Geena says she shrugged it off and went to the ceremony. A few hours later, she took the stage to accept the award!
Published 01/01/2006
