Performance Profile: Ronee Blakely in "Nashville" (1975)

Blakely's stunning achievement in Nashville had audiences and critics talking, gasping, and even crying. Although much of a film career never fully formed afterwards, Blakely's true talent for acting shined here, and has yet to stop glowing. Her work remains as pristine, fresh, and authentic today as it did back in '75.

Barbara Jean is without question Nashville's most essential character and is the centerpiece of the picture. She is the most beloved country music star around and she's come back to the place she calls home. Barbara Jean we soon discover is a fragile being; in her first scene Blakely conveys Barbara Jean's cheerful, positivley radiant disposition, until she collapses in public causing a frenzy of attention.

Blakely's real accomplishment in her complex role is demonstrating how Barbara Jean must always maintain the illusion that she is perfection. But when we see her out of public and away from the attention, we see Barbara Jean for the emotionally unstable, lost soul she really is. She's empty inside, yet to the world she is a true enigma; a mystery that stays solid because no one tries to solve it. Blakely honestly shows how distant Barbara Jean's two selves are from each other, and just how unnerving mental illness can be, especially on the edge of a nervous breakdown and being on the top-flight status she's on.

What I also truly admired about the performance is that, although the character is very showy by nature, Blakely does not exploit this aspect of her character and act like she owns the place. She stays true to the character, never overplays anything, and keeps her performance firmly grounded, despite the fact that Barbara Jean is a mess of a woman.

Ronee Blakely also does something that Jennifer Hudson thought she could do; singing that matches her acting all the way. I don't why she never made it big as a recording artist, but Blakely's voice is absolute perfection; the true voice of an angel. We can hear the hurt and pain in her voice as she opens her soul for her adoring fans. Blakely opens Barbara Jean's true, empty self while singing, but its disguised in a way that only she could do it. The scene at the Old Opry where she rambles on about her childhood when she should be singing, is done in a haunting, nuanced manner, and Ronee never misses a beat.

That last scene made me literally jump forward in my seat. I knew it was coming but I just didn't want it to happen, and it's because of the enduring characterization Blakely had already established.

It's a performance detailed by such sharp, pitch-perfect execution and such raw, haunting humanity, that it finds a place in your mind and soul and never leaves. Flawless work.

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