Which actress was the favorite to win the Oscar the year Jodie Foster won Best Actress?

In 1981 Jodie Foster won Best Actress for Silence of the Lambs but it was a toss-up of who "should have won" between Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon for Thelma & Louise.

In 1988, when Jodie Foster won for The Accused, the other nominees were:

Meryl Streep for A Cry in the Dark, Melanie Griffith for Working Girl, Glenn Close for Dangerous Liaisons and Sigourney Weaver for Gorillas in the Mist.

Griffith and two-time Oscar-winner Streep didn't really have a chance, though it was probably Griffith's best performance ever. It seemed it will go to either Glenn Close for her 5th nomination in seven years, including the previous year for Fatal Attraction -or to Sigourney Weaver who was also nominated that year as Best Supporting Actress for Working Girl. She won a Golden Globe for both roles- in the Best Actress (Drama) there was a rare three-way-tie with Foster and Shirley MacLaine for Madame Sousatzka. Weaver became the first actor/actress to get nominated for an Oscar in two categories in one year and come out empty-handed (but not the last one). Young Foster was a surprise winner for The Accused sole nomination.

In 1991, when Foster won for The Silence of the Lambs, the other nominees were:

Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis for Thelma & Louise, Laura Dern for Rambling Rose and Bette Midler for For the Boys. Though Davis won 3 years earlier as Best Supporting Actress for The Accidental Tourist, it seemed that she and Sarandon ruled each other out (stupid, but it happens). Dern had no chance for her movie. Midler seemed like a good bet, she didn't win for The Rose, she won a Golden Globe for Boys, but it came down to the fact that people really liked The Silence of the Lambs and Foster, and the movie swept the board with the top 5 awards.

First answer by Rotem. Last edit by Yonatandoron. Contributor trust: 80 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 31 [recommend question]