Rick Nelson and Claude Peck dispense unasked-for advice about clothing, etiquette, culture, relationships, grooming and more.

RN: When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its annual nominations the other day, it got me thinking about the worthy nominees over the years who should have won, but didn't. I'm talking about Judith Anderson as the creepy housekeeper from hell in Hitchcock's "Rebecca," or Jean Hagen's Kewpie doll-voiced harpie in "Singin' in the Rain." Classics, both. How did Oscar do them wrong?

CP: You are clearly about to work yourself into a lather over this. May I get you a cold compress? When I survey the Oscars online database, I see surprisingly good choices.

RN: What a refreshing change of pace for you, Mr. Glass-Half-Empty.

CP: Just last year, for example, Marion Cotillard got the nod for her heartbreaking portrayal of Edith Piaf in "La Vie en Rose." Even with great competition from Laura Linney and Julie Christie, the wee Frenchwoman deserved to win.

RN: Surely you can dive deeper into the academy's online trivia slop bucket. I'm still trying to get over Bette Davis going Oscar-free for "All About Eve." I mean, "Hello, Role of a Lifetime? Miss Davis is holding on Line 2."

CP: You don't even mention another lipstick-laden Hollywood legend who was nominated alongside Davis that year: the formidable Gloria Swanson, Norma Desmond in the cult-noir classic "Sunset Boulevard."

RN: You must have enjoyed listening to that 1950 Oscarscast, gathered around the family radio.

CP: This is the sound of me not laughing.

RN: Don't get me started on the national tragedy that is "The Turning Point." Eleven nominations -- including one for Mikhail Baryshnikov -- and not a single win. That 0-11 record pretty much killed the ballet movie for the next 30 or so years.

CP: That is about the interval that should pass between ballet movies.

RN: Hardly. For me, the They Were Robbed Hall of Fame is Judy Garland in "A Star Is Born." I mean, if you don't break down like a 7-year-old who has lost his Wii privileges when she murmurs the film's last line, "Hello, everybody, this is Mrs. Norman Maine," then you have ice water running in your veins.

CP: Either that, or you are straight.

RN: Then there's Debra Winger. I suppose Shirley "Give my daughter the shot" MacLaine merited her "Terms of Endearment" win, but the underrated Winger gives the performance with legs. Oh, and poor, oft-nominated Meryl Streep. She's always Grade A, so it's hard to pick out the loser that hurts the most. Is it "Out of Africa"? "The Bridges of Madison Count"? "Silkwood"?

CP: La Streep has had 11 nominations for best actress, and only one win, for "Sophie's Choice." I do love me some Meryl, but when she was up for "The Devil Wears Prada" in 2006, she lost to Helen Mirren in "The Queen." Pretty hard to argue with that. I think Streep's mean nun in "Doubt" this year is worth the nomination she received, but not a statue. I actually preferred Cherry Jones in the same role, on Broadway.

RN: Jones killed, which means she didn't have a prayer to land the movie. Happens all the time. Look at Julie Andrews, screwed over when Warner Bros. filmed "My Fair Lady" after she originated the role on B'way. Lucky for her, Uncle Walt came to the rescue. Disney dropped her into "Mary Poppins" and, yep, she won the Oscar. Deservedly. What sweet revenge. And yes, I am a freak.

E-mail: witheringglance@startribune.com