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.
A great page, Cogerson! I agree with almost the entire list. In my mind the most shocking is Edward G. Robinson. He was an iconic Hollywood star, and an excellent actor with a wide variety of roles. You would figure somewhere along the way he would have garnered a nomination. Glad to see you include Buster Keaton in your honorable mentions. A few others I might include would be Lon Chaney Jr., John Cazale, and Joel McCrea.
Hey thatmovieguy71…thanks for checking out this hub. There are so many people that could make the list…which is a shame that many great actors went without a nomination.
I agree 100%…..all those great leading roles Robinson had over the years….and then all those great supporting roles he did…surely one of them was Oscar worthy….Little Caesar, Double Indemnity and Cincy Kid immediately popped into my mind.
I love the fact that John Cazale only appeared in 5 movies….yet all five earned Oscar nominations for Best Picture…including three wins for Best Picture….the man could pick out scripts. Thanks for the suggestions and the comments.
Hey. Another good read. Hope you are not disappointed but the only one I have seen is the one from Edward Scissorhands. Heard of some of the other ones. I saw that you are at 454 followers. Thats pretty awesome. Long way since #1.
Hey BryRog57……well at least you know Vincent Price from one movie. It was about a year ago when you became my first follower….and luckily 453 other people followed your lead…hope you are recovering from wisdom surgery…you are the man.
Hey BryRog57……well at least you know Vincent Price from one movie. It was about a year ago when you became my first follower….and luckily 453 other people followed your lead…hope you are recovering from wisdom surgery…you are the man.
Time flies. And it goes faster the older you get. I am sure you find it hard to believe that your daughter is already 4. Hope the swelling is almost gone, for your return to work.
When you consider some of the actors who’ve received Oscars since the award was initiated, it’s practically criminal that an actress of Mryna Loy’s talent should have been overlooked–especially when some of the Oscars were presented for so-so movies in order to honor an actor for all his/her movies through the years. (For example, although Henry Fonda was very good in On Golden Pond, he gave stellar performances long before that movie. That was definitely a sentimental choice.)
In addition to the Lifetime Achievement Award, I think there should be a separate category for those actors who “missed out” on a nomination for a specific really good performance because of the limit to nominations, and other actors received those.
I’m with Flora about the Academy having a ridiculous attitude about comedy. Comedy isn’t easier for an actor–it just LOOKS easier if the actor is really good. Also, drama isn’t more artistic than comedy, nor does it necessarily require better acting skills. I think it’s probably easier to make people cry or clinch the chairarm in suspense (and the musical score plays a role in heightening emotion) than it is to make them laugh out loud. What would we do without laughter? I, for one, prefer to laugh rather than to cry and will often forego seeing a tear-jerker movie because I don’t want to feel sad.
I often do not agree with the Academy’s Oscar nominations, but especially think they missed the boat drastically by leaving out Myrna Loy.
Jaye
Hey Jaye Wisdom…first of all thank you very much for such a wonderful detail filled comment you wrote. I agree 100% with you about how much the Academy missed the boat when it comes to Myrna Loy. I think you and Flora have great points about how the Academy ignores comedies…which Loy had many movies that would fall into the romantic comedy category….but they were great films filled with great acting.
Another awesome suggestion about not limiting nominations because of a limit. The last two years the Academy went to 10 Best Picture nominees but they realized that was too many…so this year there is no number quantity…which I like…hopefully that will move to other categories in the near future.
Thanks again for the comment and for stopping by.
Somehow I missed this one, but I’m glad I came back to it. I notice alot of common threads between the people you mentioned. Glenn Ford and Marilyn Monroe especially struggled with being fully accepted. Fred MacMurray and Edward G. Robinson were so modest that they didn’t campaign as much.I contrast that to today where people like Melissa Leo pretty much put themselves on a silver platter for attention from the Academy.
Another thing I notice is that the Academy is dumb about comedy like Flora said which is why some of these greats weren’t honored nearly as much. Awesome page!
Hey Alecia….you make good points in your comment. I think Monroe got penalized for being so beautiful and people not willing to see some of her finer acting…there is no way Some Like It Hot is not a worthy performance for her. I think the way it works now it is all about how good your agent is….I like that Christian Bale won last year especially when he was overseas during the entire Oscar buzz time…he arrived two days before the Oscar cermony….and he still won. I just can not see Robinson or MacMurray campaigning the way Leo did last year. Thanks for the comments and the revisit.
..well as always …. you do a world class job …. and this will be posted to my FACEBOOK page with a direct link back here so maybe more people will realize that you are the consummate film buff at the Hub and always entertain and educate your happy readers.
lake erie time ontario canada 12:39pm
Hey epigramman…thanks for the Facebook link and for your continued support it is greatly appreciated.