Actors rewarded with the wrong Oscar win

https://i.imgur.com/XUzRwtB.jpg

My comment from the Rosemary's Baby thread:

Hepburn's win for The Lion in Winter is by far the most earned of her four Oscars, but I can think of at least three other Oscar-nominated Hepburn performances I would've chosen (Alice Adams, The Philadelphia Story, Summertime, Long Day's Journey Into Night).

I can think of Paul Newman for The Color of Money instead of Hud or ymmv The Hustler. Or Russell Crowe for Gladiator instead of The Insider.

What others?

Brendan Fraser for The Whale?

That's his only nomination. I meant rewarding actors for the wrong Oscar-nominated performance.

Pacino winning for Scent of the Woman is an obvious one

^^^

A few others:

Jack Lemmon for Save the Tiger instead of Some Like It Hot
Jessica Lange for Tootsie (Best Supp Actress) instead of Frances

And Pacino beat Denzel for Malcolm X that year and you could argue his Training Day win was a decade later make good for that mistake.

Lemmon’s win for Save the Tiger is well earned imo, he’s great in that! Certainly more deserving than his Mister Roberts win

I don't remember City Slickers well enough to really judge, but there's something humorous about that being Jack Palance's win.

He was nominated for three Academy Awards, all for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, for his roles in Sudden Fear (1952) and Shane (1953), and winning almost 40 years later for City Slickers (1991).

kate winslet for the reader instead of eternal sunshine

that's an excellent choice, especially since Hilary Swank won a second time in '04.

Lemmon’s win for Save the Tiger is well earned imo, he’s great in that! Certainly more deserving than his Mister Roberts win

― waste of compute (One Eye Open)

Agreed, but in 1973 he went against Brando, Redford, Pacino, and Nicholson. I would've given it to Pacino so we don't have to worry about him again.

kate winslet for the reader instead of eternal sunshine

This would be mine as well.

Beyond that, I skimmed the list of the four acting categories, and found surprisingly little that I was passionate about. I suppose you might easily swap out Ingrid Bergman's win for Murder on the Orient Express (her third acting win) with just about of her four non-wins: the cool pick here would be Autumn Sonata, I suppose, though I'm more inclined to go with The Bells of St. Mary's.

Ingrid Bergman's win for Murder on the Orient Express is one of the worst in history.

It's a Helen Hayes in Airport performance.

Joan Fontaine for Suspicion instead of Rebecca but maybe influenced by the fact that I much prefer Rebecca as a film.

When refs do this in sports it's known as "a make-up call".

Joan Fontaine for Suspicion instead of Rebecca but maybe influenced by the fact that I much prefer Rebecca as a film.

― Josefa,

Yup. And regarded as a makeup win.

don't they usually do this when they give some oldie a best supporting oscar for something they were just okay in because they are old and they figure they should have an oscar by now so why not this one? those are dumb.

and Peter O'Toole, Richard Burton, and Deborah Kerr never won competitive Oscars

like alan arkin for little miss sunshine? was he so great in that? better than alan arkin in catch 22 or the heart is a lonely hunter or glengary glen ross or the in-laws or for heaven's sake rafferty and the gold dust twins?

morgan freeman for million dollar baby. he could have played that part in his sleep. he should have won for street smart (pauline kael will agree with me) or unforgiven. or glory even if you want oscar-bait.

I'm wondering if there are cases where someone won a relatively undeserved Oscar before a better performance that wasn't awarded. A premature Oscar, that is.

morgan freeman for million dollar baby. he could have played that part in his sleep. he should have won for street smart (pauline kael will agree with me)

100%

I'm wondering if there are cases where someone won a relatively undeserved Oscar before a better performance that wasn't awarded. A premature Oscar, that is.

No one remembers Anne Baxter's win for Best Supporting Actress in 1946. Everyone remembers her up against Bette Davis in All About Eve (they canceled each other out).

there are a lot of "lifetime achievement" oscars that fit this, like julianne moore's win for still alice instead of far from heaven (she should've beaten nicole kidman, who keeps getting nominated for her least interesting roles)

There's a few instances where a two-time winner's second victory is kinda wtf (Jack "As Good As It Gets", Dustin "Rain Man") but the former won for Cuckoo's and the latter for Kramer so it's not like stupid or anything

It is hilarious to see that Richard fucking Dreyfuss won anything for anything and Elliott Gould has only been once-nominated (for supporting), that is dumb

I'm glad Anne Hathaway won for Fantine but man she should've won for "Rachel Getting Married" but idk I'm a big fan of hers

Isabelle Adjani has been twice nominated and that's it, huh. Francophobia imo

All the 70s best actress nominees and winners are kinda otm I think. No stinky performances detected, every winner highly deserving (that includes Sally Field)

I'll defend Moore in Still Alice because Marion Cotillard aside it was a weak-ass crop.

Norma Rae's a good movie! Pretty damn liberal. And Field's win is well-deserved (Places in the Heart is not).

i would've given it to rosamund pike in 2014, but i am unable to be objective when it comes to rosamund pike

Look at this, like

1970
Glenda Jackson Women in Love
Jane Alexander The Great White Hope
Ali MacGraw Love Story
Sarah Miles Ryan's Daughter
Carrie Snodgress Diary of a Mad Housewife

1971
Jane Fonda Klute
Julie Christie McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Glenda Jackson Sunday Bloody Sunday
Vanessa Redgrave Mary, Queen of Scots
Janet Suzman Nicholas and Alexandra

1972
Liza Minnelli Cabaret
Diana Ross Lady Sings the Blues
Maggie Smith Travels with My Aunt
Cicely Tyson Sounder
Liv Ullmann The Emigrants

1973
Glenda Jackson A Touch of Class
Ellen Burstyn The Exorcist
Marsha Mason Cinderella Liberty
Barbra Streisand The Way We Were
Joanne Woodward Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams

1974
Ellen Burstyn Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
Diahann Carrol Claudine
Faye Dunaway Chinatown
Valerie Perrine Lenny
Gena Rowlands A Woman Under the Influence

1975
Louise Fletcher One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Isabelle Adjani The Story of Adele H.
Ann-Margret Tommy
Glenda Jackson Hedda
Carol Kane Hester Street

1976
Faye Dunaway Network
Marie-Christine Barrault Cousin Cousine
Talia Shire Rocky
Sissy Spacek Carrie
Liv Ullmann Face to Face

1977
Diane Keaton Annie Hall
Anne Bancroft The Turning Point
Jane Fonda Julia
Shirley MacLaine The Turning Point
Marsha Mason The Goodbye Girl

1978
Jane Fonda Coming Home
Ingrid Bergman Autumn Sonata
Ellen Burstyn Same Time, Next Year
Jill Clayburgh An Unmarried Woman
Geraldine Page Interiors

1979
Sally Field Norma Rae
Jill Clayburgh Starting Over
Jane Fonda The China Syndrome
Marsha Mason Chapter Two
Bette Midler The Rose

I've only seen 2/3rds of these but this looks really, really darn good

someone won a relatively undeserved Oscar before a better performance that wasn't awarded.

Gloria Grahame for The Bad And The Beautiful a year before The Big Heat.

only one of the films i'd quibble with in the 70s (of the ones i've seen, obv) is gena rowlands vs. ellen burstyn, but those are two all-time greats

moore was good in still alice but it was like a middling 90s annette bening role. any decent actor would have been fine playing that part. actors are really good at looking confused.

Ya and two career-peaks for both directors, too. A real... Sophie's Choice right there *cough*

xp

but if moore had won for the god-like Safe! that would have thrilled me.

Oddly enough if I had to pick any one performance from that list of 70s "best actress" winners and noms it'd probably be Jane Fonda in Klute, it's crazy how good and effortless she is in it

moore was good in still alice but it was like a middling 90s annette bening role. any decent actor would have been fine playing that part. actors are really good at looking confused.

Ya that was surprising to see. That said, what else would she have won for? Safe was pretty underground (and her performance was effective but didn't really require much I don't think) and what else? Far From Heaven?

Yeah I dunno re Safe, Moore was really good at being a simpering sucker-for-New Age and that last scene always has me choking on my emotions but I don't think it's exactly an acting tour-de-force or anything

XP Boogie Nights

Oh god yes she disappeared into that role so well I'd forgotten it was even her

boogie nights?

boogiexpost

That reminds me I still need to see May December

i liked what maisie knew. i forget what she was nominated for before winning.

would've been nice to see her win for boogie nights (over kim basinger in l.a. confidential, who i liked but come on) or far from heaven (over nicole kidman in the hours). she wasn't nominated for safe

way xp

Would've preferred Dunaway winning for Chinatown rather than Network, but that's just my hatred of the latter talking.

Otherwise, I'm cool with all the Actress winners for the decade (even Fletcher), though I haven't seen either of the Glenda Jackson films.

If I'm nitpicking, I would have gone with Christie over Fonda in '71, Rowlands over Burstyn (and Dunaway) in '74, and Adjani over Fletcher in '75, but that's purely about preference, not because I have any problem with the winning performances themselves.

ok here is one: instead of winning in 2019 for joker, joaquin phoenix should've beaten daniel day-lewis as lincoln in 2012 for his performance in the master. daniel day-lewis either could've sat satisfied with the two oscars he already had, or even better, could've beaten gary oldman as churchill in 2017 for his career highlight performance in a paul thomas anderson film (phantom thread)

meanwhile, leo dicaprio should've beaten joker phoenix in 2019 for once upon a time in hollywood, but even tho i didn't love the revenant, idk if any of the other 2014 noms deserved it more than him (matt damon? i liked his performance, sure, but should he have won the oscar?)

matt damon in the martian, i houl clarify

*should clarify

"joaquin phoenix should've beaten daniel day-lewis as lincoln in 2012 for his performance in the master."

you are assuming academy voters even sat through these movies. they might have flipped a coin. or just gone with DD-L because its DD-L playing lincoln for pete's sake they kinda had to vote for him.

we are correcting the record here! not trying to reason with the vacant craniums who complain about their ballots to variety and hollywood reporter every year

I mean, Phoenix was at least nominated, so a significant portion of the actors' branch must have watched The Master (or else just liked Joaquin Phoenix).

I'm wondering if there are cases where someone won a relatively undeserved Oscar before a better performance that wasn't awarded. A premature Oscar, that is.

― Josefa, Monday, February 10, 2025 12:28 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

If we expand this to directors, maybe Cecil B. DeMille winning for The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), only to go on to make The Ten Commandments (1956)?

The second Glenda Jackson Oscar is a travesty. A Touch of Class sucks.

ok here is one: instead of winning in 2019 for joker, joaquin phoenix should've beaten daniel day-lewis as lincoln in 2012 for his performance in the master. daniel day-lewis either could've sat satisfied with the two oscars he already had, or even better, could've beaten gary oldman as churchill in 2017 for his career highlight performance in a paul thomas anderson film (phantom thread)

Co-sign.

To remind everyone about the rules: the actor must've been nominated before or after the win to qualify. Sorry about the confusion.

I'd have to go back and look at the winners, but I'm pretty sure an overdue Oscar for the wrong film typically causes a domino effect too, which compounds the wrong. Just further reason not to care too much about competitive Oscars, but lifetime achievements are always welcome.

Pacino winning for Scent of the Woman is an obvious one

― jaymc

I am very likely in an extremely tiny minority here, but I find this to be my favorite role and performance of his. However, of all his other Oscar noms, the only one I've not yet seen Serpico.

I mean, in a just world, Nicole and Joaquin would’ve won for “To Die For”

My fave Pacino is Dog Day Afternoon, me

In 1975 I'd have gone Adjani and Pacino.

No complaints about Fletcher except the category fraud.

I wasn't super into that movie (Dog Day Afternoon) or his role/performance in it.

I have a somewhat strange nostalgic affection for Scent of a Woman, but it's definitely an Oscar-y stunt performance that exists in a different universe from something like DDA.

let alone Glengarry Glen Ross, for which he was also nominated that year.

Dick Tracy >>>>> Scent of a Woman

There's a good examp;e - I would've voted for Nicholson for 1973 ("The Last Detail") and 1974 ("Chinatown"), but he lost both years, and when 1975 rolled around, he was considered long overdue, which meant Pacino had no chance. But I would've voted for Pacino ("Dog Day Afternoon") and when he won for an awful movie in 1992, that meant Denzel Washington wasn't going to win, and I would've voted for Washington ("Malcolm X"). And on and on and on...

Or Jimmy Stewart, nominated for Mr. Smith Goes to Washington but won his only Best Actor for....The Philadelphia Story, where if you had to pick an actor it's (un-nominated, of course) Cary Grant.

Stewart in The Philadelphia Story feels like category fraud.

ouch! I just watched Scent of a Woman twice recently and loved it both times. The story is a bit trite, but Pacino makes it very entertaining.

Is anyone going to rep Serpico at all? I was thinking that might be his best, but I guess not?

Cary Grant was famously never nominated for any of his greatest performances. Back in undergrad, a friend of mine (a theater major) was a little dismissive saying Cary Grant deserve such nominations anyway because he was just "doing Cary Grant," which to me is like saying Jimi Hendrix is just doing Jimi Hendrix - it completely and wrongfully devalues everything that makes them unique (i.e. great) and yet somehow imply those unique accomplishments were neither unique or worthy accomplishments.

*Cary Grant didn't deserve

Also to be clear, he had a couple of nominations, but they were for atypical roles which says a lot.

I think Pacino's best acting in a single role was probably across all three Godfather films (yes, even the third).

That is, if you think of it as one ongoing performance, that's his best.

Yeah I def agree with that. Believe it or not I have yet to see the third, though. Need to get on that one of these years.

While pondering this it dawned on me that Jason Robards won the Academy Award for best supporting actor two years in a two, 1976 and 1977. I'm almost completely forgotten he existed.

My pick is Peter Finch, who won posthumously for Network, where he's memorable in a Nic Cage mega-acting way, but he was better in Sunday Bloody Sunday.

And of course Christopher Walken was intense in The Deer Hunter, but it's a criminal shame the Academy didn't nominate him for his performance in the classic 1996 video game Privateer 2: The Darkening, which also starred Clive Owen and Dani Behr. Together at last. His delivery of the name "malachi" haunts me to this day.

tbh any of those nominated Pacino and Nicholson perfs in their classic '70s runs would've been fine

I just saw another Jason Robards film yesterday: Reunion, adapted by Harold Pinter and directed by Jerry Schatzberg, and it certainly hits everything shameful about the U.S. right now in depicting how German society incrementally but surely accepted than embraced the Nazis, foolishly downplaying their ills before buying into them completely. I woke up this morning thinking about Robards's character, a German born Jewish teen who had never visited any other country, becoming so disgusted with his homeland that he left for the welcoming arms of America and never spoke another word of German for 55 years, even refusing to do so (at least temporarily) when he finally came back to find out a schoolmate's fate. To be on the other side of history now...really makes me sick.

Anyway, back to the Oscars. The 1960 Lumet-directed production of The Iceman Cometh was shot for TV, but if it had been done for a film, Robards would probably have deserved the Oscar.

*then embraced

And of course Christopher Walken was intense in _The Deer Hunter_, but it's a criminal shame the Academy didn't nominate him for his performance in the classic 1996 video game _Privateer 2: The Darkening_, which also starred Clive Owen and Dani Behr. Together at last. His delivery of the name "malachi" haunts me to this day.

Lol some of David Warner’s best work in that as well, criminally overlooked