The Golden Globe® nominations get announced in December every year. Then the buzz of this year’s Oscar® hopefuls will keep getting louder and louder until the Oscar® nominations come out in January. So while everybody gets excited about this year’s hopefuls, I thought I would take a look at some of the mistakes the Oscar® voters have made over the years.
This is my personal Top Ten list of classic actors or actresses that never received an Oscar® nomination for their entire career. I have added some honorable mentions at the end of those that just missed making my list. That being said, I acknowledge that there are many more people that could have made the list, but these are my top choices.
1. Joseph Cotten (1905-1994) appeared in 74 movies from 1941’s Citizen Kane (a nice way to start your film career) to 1981.
Joseph helped Ingrid Bergman win her first Oscar® in 1944’s Gaslight as well as helping Loretta Young win her Oscar® in 1947’s The Farmer’s Daughter.
Other classic movies he appeared in would include Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, Shadow of a Doubt, Since You Went Away, Duel in the Sun, and Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte.
According to film historian Danny Peary, in his book Alternate Oscars®, Cotten should have received nominations for The Magnificient Ambersons and Shadow of a Doubt.
2. Glenn Ford (1916-2006) appeared in 88 movies from 1931 to 1991. Some of the movies that Ford could have received an Oscar® nomination for: 1946’s Gilda, 1953’s The Big Heat, 1955’s The Blackboard Jungle, 1956’s The Teahouse of the August Moon, 1957’s 3:10 to Yuma and 1978’s Superman (I think he was easily the best Clark Kent dad ever!)
Ford did receive 3 Golden Globe® nominations for acting including winning Best Actor in Pocketful of Miracles. He was also nominated for 1956’s The Teahouse of the August Moon and 1957’s Don’t Go Near The Water.
My personal favorite performances of Glenn Ford were in Experiment in Terror, The Big Heat and Jubal. It would seem after 60 years of making movies that somewhere Oscar® would have come knocking at some point.
3. Rita Hayworth (1918-1987) appeared in 59 movies from 1934 to 1972. Hayworth appeared in numerous classic movies during her career.
1941’s The Strawberry Blonde and 1942’s You Were Never Lovelier helped make her a star. 1946’s Gilda turned her into a superstar. Proving she was more than a pretty lady she showed her acting skills in 1947’s The Lady from Shanghai, 1953 Miss Sadie Thompson, 1959’s They Came to Cordura and 1964’s Circus World.
Although she never received an Oscar® nomination she did receive a Golden Globe® nomination for Circus World as Best Actress. Sadly at age 42, Alzheimer’s disease limited her career to very small roles until she was almost helpless by 1981.
If I had to take one of these actors out of my Top Ten it would probably be Hope as they did after all give him 5 Oscars® along the way.
5. Myrna Loy (1905-1993) appeared in 121 movies from 1925 to 1980. She went from silent films to the “talkies” without an issue. She became one of the biggest female stars ever, yet managed not to get an Oscar® nomination.
Loy’s peak time was from 1932 to 1940, she would appear with William Powell in The Thin Man movies as well as many others with him.
Her greatest role was probably in 1946’s The Best Years of Our Lives…which was nominated for 8 Oscars® but not one for the star of the movie, Loy. Myrna Loy was also shut out of the Golden Globe® nominations as well….but she did receive an Honorary Oscar® in 1991.
6. Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962) appeared in 27 movies from 1947 to 1961. She should have easily been nominated for the classic comedy 1959’s Some Like It Hot. According to Danny Peary’s book, Alternate Oscar®, not only should she have been nominated she should have won the Oscar® for Best Actress.
Other Monroe performances that should have gotten the attention of the Oscar® voters were 1953’s How To Marry A Millionaire, 1955’s The Seven Year Itch, 1956’s Bus Stop and 1961’s The Misfits.
The Golden Globe® voters gave Monroe a little more respect than the Oscar® voters did….she was nominated twice for Best Actress….the first time was in 1956’s Bus Stop and she won the Golden Globe® for Best Actress for Some Like It Hot. So I am curious …is anybody aware the performance that won the Oscar® for Best Actress in 1959? The answer is Simone Signoret in Room at the Top.
7. Peter Lorre (1904-1964) appeared in 84 movies from 1930 to 1964. During his career he appeared in some of the most famous movies of all-time.
Some of those movies would include: 1931’s M, 1941’s The Maltese Falcon, 1942’s Casablanca, 1944’s Arsenic and Old Lace, 1953’s Beat the Devil, 1954’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and many Mr. Moto movies from the 1930s.
One of the first famous supporting actors, he always brought something extra to his roles. It is amazing that he never received an Oscar® nomination during his entire career. I think if the voters were to re-vote, Peter Lorre would receive two Oscar® nominations…his first would be for his role as Joel Cairo in The Maltese Falcon and the second would be his role as Ugarte in Casablanca.
Film historian, Steve Lensman, agrees with me 100% on the selection of Peter Lorre for this list.
8. Fred MacMurray (1908-1991) appeared in 83 movies from 1935 to 1978. One of his first big breaks was starring opposite Katharine Hepburn Oscar® nominated performance in 1935’s Alice Adams. His greatest performance was probably in 1944’s Double Indemnity….which got co-star Barbara Stanwyck a nomination but not one for him.
He followed that with more stellar performances in 1945’s Where Do We Go From Here and 1947’s The Egg and I. By the late 1950s he was appearing in supporting roles but he was still giving strong performances. 1954’s The Caine Mutiny and 1960’s The Apartment are two of his strong supporting roles that should have caused some Oscar buzz. MacMurray did receive one Golden Globe® nomination for Best Actor in 1961’s The AbsentMinded Professor.
9. Vincent Price (1911-1993) appeared in close to 100 movies from 1938 to 1990. Before Vincent Price became one of the Masters of Horror…he was having a very nice career as a supporting actor.
In the 1940’s he gave quality performances in supporting roles in 1943’s The Song of Bernadette, 1944’s Wilson, 1944’s Laura, 1944’s Keys to the Kingdom and 1946’s Dragonwyck. The 1950’s gave Price more success with 1953’s House of Wax, 1956’s The Ten Commandments and 1958’s The Fly.
Rounding out his top ten roles would be 1960’s The House of Usher and 1990’s Edward Scissorhands. Vincent Price never received an Oscar® or a Golden Globe® nomination. I think a Edward Scissorhands nomination for Best Supporting Actor would have been a nice way to reward Price for all of his time spent in movies…..but I guess nobody else saw it that way in 1990.
10. Edward G. Robinson (1893-1973) appeared in 87 movies from 1923 to 1973. The first part of his career Robinson was a leading man and gave many great performances in movies like: 1931’s Little Caesar, 1940’s Dr. Ehrlich’s Magic Bullet and A Dispatch from Reuter’s and 1943’s Flesh and Fantasy.
With Double Indemnity in 1944, Robinson started appearing in more supporting parts. I think his performance in Double Indemnity should not only have received a nomination it should have won the Oscar® for Best Supporting Actor.
Robinson would provide many more fine performances over the next thirty years….some of those movies were: 1945’s Scarlet Street, 1948’s Key Largo, 1956’s The Ten Commandments, 1965’s The Cincinnati Kid, and his last role 1973’s Soylent Green.
Despite all of these great roles….Robinson never received an Oscar® or Golden Globe® nomination.
Honorable Mentions
6 More Actors/Actresses That Never Received An Oscar® Nomination.
Errol Flynn, Dean Martin, Dana Andrews, Boris Karloff, Jean Harlow, Buster Keaton, Danny Kaye
Academy Award® and Oscar® are the registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Arts and Sciences.
[hits] Page Views
For comments….all you need is a name and a comment….please ignore the rest.
Cogerson, very interesting page. There have been some odd Oscar decisions over the years – Judy Dench in ‘Shakespeare In Love’, she’s only on screen for about three minutes when she was overlooked for Mrs Brown a much finer perfomance a few years earlier – so basically, a consolation prize! Dench has been amazing in a number of roles, amongst them Shipping News and Notes On A Scandal but hasn’t won another. Kim Basinger in LA Confidential – why? Another 3 or 4 minutes of screen time and she’s, arguably, at best, average. Paul Newman is amazing in lots of movies (The Verdict, Cool Hand Luke) and is ok in Colour of Money but I thought it was a consolation prize. Of the ones you list, E.G. Robinson should have won, Boris Karloff was pretty good as was Glenn Ford, always a very underrated actor, Myrna Loy was almost a ‘natural’ actress, very good. Not sure about Monroe, though she is very good in Misfits, her last movie and did comedy with confidence and flair.
Hey Jools99….I agree the Oscar voters have a strange set of rules….Dench and Anthony Quinn(Lust For Life) both were barely in their Oscar winning performance movies…but that did not stop the voters. I will have to do a hub on Judi Dench…as her career is pretty impressive. I just did a hub on Bette Davis…and they did not nominate her for Of Human Bondage(which was considered to be the best performance ever by an actress at the time)…so next year they gave her the Oscar for Dangerous…which is a pretty bad movie. As for Robinson, Monroe, Ford, Karloff and the rest of the people on the list…the Academy should be ashamed of themselves for forgetting these people…thanks for stopping by.
SORRY I MISSED THIS ONE. VERY INTERESTING – LOTS OF GOOD ACTORS MISSED NOMINATIONS AND WINS. AN INTERESTING MOVIE PAGE MIGHT BE THE OSCARS THIS YEAR – WHO YOU THINK WILL WIN AND WHO WINS…GOOD WORK ONCE AGAIN.
No problem BERN1960….I made the mistake of making the two titles to closely together…I have noticed many people have not realized there are two hubs versus one. As for your suggestion on a Oscar prediction hub….I did one last year and actually got 89% of the nominations correct….so I will be doing a similar hub next year as well…..thanks for finding the other half to this page.
Excellent page, as usual, Cogerson. Of course, it’s all a matter of opinion, but It’s hard to deny that most of the actors on your list above are worthy of nomination. An interesting, albeit more controversial sequel would be a list of oscar-winners that were questionable calls (I won’t say “shouldn’t have won” because, again, it’s merely opinion). Let’s face it, the Academy has made some “interesting” selections in the past. A look at some of these, along with a discussion of the other nominated performances for that year that were – arguably – better would be a good read. I don’t have the encyclopedic knowledge of movies to write that page, but you do.
Hey GDNunes…thanks for checking out this page and giving a great selection for a future hub….You are 100% correct in remembering that the Oscar voters have had a terrible track record over the years of deciding who is in and who is not….I will make sure to give you credit for the suggested idea…..and it is the perfect time of the year for an Oscar page.
Hi Bruce; you won’t be surprised to hear that I think its a crime Myrna Loy never got an oscar. She was may all-time favorite actress and she gave so many wonderful performances, so where’s the love? Poor Myrna. So Unappreciated!
Edward G. Robinson was another guy who I alwys thought deserved an oscar. i agree with you about “Double Indemnity”. That definitely deserved a ‘Best supporting actor’ nod.
Bob Hope is one of my favorite comedians ever, but I’m not sure if he ever gave an Oscar calibre performace. he was hilarious but he knew his limitations as far as acting.
In regards to your honorable mentions, Errol Flynn and Boris Karloff are also two big favorites of mine.
Great page and a nice tribute to some fine actors.
Rob
Hey Rob….yes indeed I was think about you when I selected Mryna Loy and was writing about her. At least the Oscar people finally came to their senses and gave her an Honorary Oscar…..better late than never.
I think Edward G. Robinson had double digit movies that could have gotten him a nomination…but not giving him one for Double Indemnity is a crime.
I do not think Bob Hope was too upset about not getting a nomination….especially with his trophy case filled with 5 Oscars.
Thanks for the compliment and the comment.
I agree with Marilyn and Vincent Price. Heck Marilyn should have received on just for her Happy Birthday greeting to JFK! I always sing happy birthday the Marilyn way:) Vincent Price for his rap on Michael Jackson’s Thriller CD that’s a classic! Bob Hope and Fred MacMurray gave us many laughs. Thanks for the fun memories!!:)
Hey Sunshine625….thanks for stopping by and checking out this hub. I think Monroe and Price turned into such popular figures people forget that they were playing roles so they discounted their acting abilities. Wow talking about Thriller makes me feel so old….lol.