At Least They Get To Go To The After-parties…
Last year, Leonardo Di Caprio won the Best Actor award for The Revenant (personally I thought it was a catch-up award for The Wolf of Wall Street). At the time his win was deemed a must because it was his fifth nomination and he'd never actually won and it was all getting a bit ridiculous. And yes, it must be disconcerting to have to use your gracious loser face so many times - lucky he’s a good actor, then.
This year a bit of foot stomping began about Amy Adams, who has racked up five nominations in her career (and she’s only 42) and was expected to be nominated again for Arrival but in the end she didn’t make the cut, perhaps because they wanted to spare her the awkwardness. Arrival was nominated for Best Picture so it is a bit odd (but not as odd as the fact that none of her nominations were for Enchanted. Really? Who organises these things?). But next time Amy is nominated, expect an “it’s time” campaign in her favour.
Anyhoo, to those who don’t know any better it probably does seem like a lot of disappointment for these two kids. Imagine your biggest disappointment in life being that you hadn’t won an Oscar? But should those who don’t know any better look into Oscar history, they’d know that Amy and Leo are beginners when it comes to multiple nominations without a win (even though Leo’s situation was remedied).
Shirley MacLaine had to wait until her fifth nomination (for Terms of Endearment) and quipped at the podium that she was crying because the ceremony had lasted longer than her career. Paul Newman and Al Pacino both had to wait until their seventh nod before they could stop pretending it was an honour just to be nominated. In the case of Newman and Pacino, they won for lesser - but still quality - performances (The Colour of Money and The Scent of a Woman respectively) than some of their other nominated roles (eg. Cool Hand Luke or The Godfather II). Kate Winslet set something of a record by prodigiously racking up five noms by the time she was 31 before finally getting awarded for The Reader and Julianne Moore was also overlooked five times before getting her award for Still Alice (instead of Far From Heaven). But then there are those who racked up the nominations and never won such as…
Peter O’Toole, the one person who you really would want to hear reading the phone book out loud, was nominated eight (count ‘em) times without ever winning. They gave him an Honorary Oscar after seven nods, then he went and got nominated again for a movie called Venus. Still, no win.
Richard Burton got seven nominations without a win, the last being for 1984. Then before they had a chance to make it up to him he died in 1984 (the year, not the movie).
Deborah Kerr was nominated six times without winning (no, not even for The King and I) before they gave her an honorary Oscar possibly because they had learnt the lesson of Richard Burton.
In the 1950’s there was an actress called Thelma Ritter who specialised in playing women who told it as it was and she was nominated six times. No win. She joked about inviting people over to watch her not win an Oscar again. Barbara Stanwyck got four nods without ever winning either.
But there are living actors who have it worse than Leo and Amy. If anyone should be at the front of the line for an “it’s time” type campaign it is Ms Glenn Close who has six nominations without a win. Annette Bening has four nominations as has Marsha Mason. Albert Finney looks to be the successor to Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole because he has five nominations without a win. That couldn’t be right…anyway, he’s 80 years old so they’d better get on to it with the honorary Oscar. Although he’s turned down a knighthood so perhaps he doesn’t really care. When it comes to awards, we should all be more like Albert Finney.
But it isn’t just the actors who get overlooked. Songwriter and composer Randy Newman was nominated 15 times before winning (for "If I Didn’t Have You" from Monsters Inc). Martin Scorcese was overlooked until his fifth nomination for The Departed which is generally thought to be one of his lesser films. Australia’s Peter Weir has been nominated for Best Director four times (for Witness, Dead Poets Society, The Truman Show and Master and Commander) plus once for producing (Master and Commander again) and once for writing (Green Card) and nada. And spare a thought for British cinematographer Roger Deakins, who has been nominated thirteen times and is yet to win. Sometimes I wonder if these people have upset someone with a lot of clout but a very fragile ego.
Although if you think about it, the person who has had to put on a gracious loser face more than anyone else is Meryl Streep. Yes she’s won three times but she’s been nominated twenty times so really she’s a seventeen time loser*…
*It is unlikely she will win for Florence Foster Jenkins her 20th nomination.
This year a bit of foot stomping began about Amy Adams, who has racked up five nominations in her career (and she’s only 42) and was expected to be nominated again for Arrival but in the end she didn’t make the cut, perhaps because they wanted to spare her the awkwardness. Arrival was nominated for Best Picture so it is a bit odd (but not as odd as the fact that none of her nominations were for Enchanted. Really? Who organises these things?). But next time Amy is nominated, expect an “it’s time” campaign in her favour.
Anyhoo, to those who don’t know any better it probably does seem like a lot of disappointment for these two kids. Imagine your biggest disappointment in life being that you hadn’t won an Oscar? But should those who don’t know any better look into Oscar history, they’d know that Amy and Leo are beginners when it comes to multiple nominations without a win (even though Leo’s situation was remedied).
Shirley MacLaine had to wait until her fifth nomination (for Terms of Endearment) and quipped at the podium that she was crying because the ceremony had lasted longer than her career. Paul Newman and Al Pacino both had to wait until their seventh nod before they could stop pretending it was an honour just to be nominated. In the case of Newman and Pacino, they won for lesser - but still quality - performances (The Colour of Money and The Scent of a Woman respectively) than some of their other nominated roles (eg. Cool Hand Luke or The Godfather II). Kate Winslet set something of a record by prodigiously racking up five noms by the time she was 31 before finally getting awarded for The Reader and Julianne Moore was also overlooked five times before getting her award for Still Alice (instead of Far From Heaven). But then there are those who racked up the nominations and never won such as…
Peter O’Toole, the one person who you really would want to hear reading the phone book out loud, was nominated eight (count ‘em) times without ever winning. They gave him an Honorary Oscar after seven nods, then he went and got nominated again for a movie called Venus. Still, no win.
Richard Burton got seven nominations without a win, the last being for 1984. Then before they had a chance to make it up to him he died in 1984 (the year, not the movie).
Deborah Kerr was nominated six times without winning (no, not even for The King and I) before they gave her an honorary Oscar possibly because they had learnt the lesson of Richard Burton.
In the 1950’s there was an actress called Thelma Ritter who specialised in playing women who told it as it was and she was nominated six times. No win. She joked about inviting people over to watch her not win an Oscar again. Barbara Stanwyck got four nods without ever winning either.
But there are living actors who have it worse than Leo and Amy. If anyone should be at the front of the line for an “it’s time” type campaign it is Ms Glenn Close who has six nominations without a win. Annette Bening has four nominations as has Marsha Mason. Albert Finney looks to be the successor to Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole because he has five nominations without a win. That couldn’t be right…anyway, he’s 80 years old so they’d better get on to it with the honorary Oscar. Although he’s turned down a knighthood so perhaps he doesn’t really care. When it comes to awards, we should all be more like Albert Finney.
But it isn’t just the actors who get overlooked. Songwriter and composer Randy Newman was nominated 15 times before winning (for "If I Didn’t Have You" from Monsters Inc). Martin Scorcese was overlooked until his fifth nomination for The Departed which is generally thought to be one of his lesser films. Australia’s Peter Weir has been nominated for Best Director four times (for Witness, Dead Poets Society, The Truman Show and Master and Commander) plus once for producing (Master and Commander again) and once for writing (Green Card) and nada. And spare a thought for British cinematographer Roger Deakins, who has been nominated thirteen times and is yet to win. Sometimes I wonder if these people have upset someone with a lot of clout but a very fragile ego.
Although if you think about it, the person who has had to put on a gracious loser face more than anyone else is Meryl Streep. Yes she’s won three times but she’s been nominated twenty times so really she’s a seventeen time loser*…
*It is unlikely she will win for Florence Foster Jenkins her 20th nomination.
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