The Worst of the Academy Awards

Awards (By Decade):
Introduction, 1927/8-39, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s

The Academy has, with limited success, tried to limit the influences of pressure groups and promotion, box office gross receipts, and studio public relations and marketing on voting results. It has also attempted to limit votes for melodramatic sentimentality, atonement for past mistakes, personal popularity, and "prestige" or epic scale, but those influences have often had a decided effect upon the outcome of some of the poll results. Unfortunately, the critical worth, artistic vision, cultural influence, and innovative qualities of many films are not given the same voting weight.

Especially since the 80s, moneymaking 'formula-made' blockbusters with glossy production values have often been crowd-pleasing titans (and Best Picture winners), but they haven't necessarily been great films with depth or critical acclaim by any measure.

Please note: The following charts contain possible alternatives (albeit sometimes opinionated and subjective) for some of the awards given throughout Academy history. In some cases, the "worst" honoree only means that some other more deserving performer or film should have been selected.

For more information, see also Best Picture Winners.

Best Picture The Worst of the Awards (See also 'Best Pictures' Not Nominated for Best Picture)
Worst Best Picture Winners (** the worst of the worst) (+ an unexpected, upset win)	Also Nominated for Best Picture in Same Year and/or Possibly Other Deserving Options
Broadway Melody (1928/29) **	A weak year for nominees
Cimarron (1930/31)	A weak year for nominees
Cavalcade (1932/33) **	42nd Street and I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang
The Great Ziegfeld (1936)	Dodsworth possibly
The Life of Emile Zola (1937)	Lost Horizon, The Awful Truth, Stage Door
You Can't Take It With You (1938) **	The Adventures of Robin Hood
How Green Was My Valley (1941) **	Citizen Kane and The Maltese Falcon
Mrs. Miniver (1942)	To Be or Not to Be
Going My Way (1944) **	Double Indemnity and Gaslight
Gentlemen's Agreement (1947) **	An un-nominated Black Narcissus
Hamlet (1948) +	Johnny Belinda, The Red Shoes and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
An American in Paris (1951) +	A Streetcar Named Desire and A Place in the Sun
The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) ** +	High Noon and The Quiet Man and an un-nominated Singin' in the Rain
On the Waterfront (1954) - a good choice!	Rear Window (with 4 nominations) wasn't nominated for Best Picture
Marty (1955)	A weak set of nominees, including Mister Roberts
Around the World in 80 Days (1956) **	Giant, The King and I and an un-nominated The Searchers
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)	12 Angry Men, and an un-nominated Paths of Glory
Gigi (1958)	An un-nominated Vertigo and Touch of Evil
Tom Jones (1963)	A weak set of nominees, and an un-nominated The Great Escape
My Fair Lady (1964)	Dr. Strangelove, Or:
A Man for All Seasons (1966)	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
In the Heat of the Night (1967) **	Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate
Oliver! (1968) ** +	The Lion in Winter, Funny Girl, and un-nominated 2001: A Space Odyssey
Patton (1970)	Five Easy Pieces; an un-nominated Little Big Man
The Sting (1973)	An un-nominated Mean Streets and Last Tango in Paris, among others
Rocky (1976) **	Network, Taxi Driver, and All the President's Men
Annie Hall (1977)	Star Wars
The Deer Hunter (1978)	Coming Home
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) **	Apocalypse Now, an un-nominated Manhattan
Ordinary People (1980) **	Raging Bull
Chariots of Fire (1981) +	Reds, On Golden Pond, Raiders of the Lost Ark
Terms of Endearment (1983) **	The Right Stuff and Tender Mercies
Out of Africa (1985)	An un-nominated Brazil
Driving Miss Daisy (1989)	An un-nominated Glory and Henry V
Dances With Wolves (1990)	GoodFellas
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)	Beauty and the Beast and JFK
Forrest Gump (1994) **	The Shawshank Redemption and Pulp Fiction
Braveheart (1995) **	An un-nominated The Usual Suspects
The English Patient (1996)	Fargo
Titanic (1997)	L.A. Confidential and an un-nominated The Sweet Hereafter
Shakespeare in Love (1998) +	Saving Private Ryan
Gladiator (2000)	Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
A Beautiful Mind (2001) **	An un-nominated Memento (2000)
The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003)	Mystic River, Lost in Translation
Crash (2005) + **	Brokeback Mountain

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Best Director
The Worst of the Awards

Frank Borzage for Bad Girl (1931/32)
Frank Capra for You Can't Take It With You (1938)
John Ford for How Green Was My Valley (1941) instead of Orson Welles for Citizen Kane
Leo McCarey for Going My Way (1944)
Delbert Mann for Marty (1955) instead of unnominated Charles Laughton for The Night of the Hunter
Vincente Minnelli for Gigi (1958), instead of unnominated Alfred Hitchcock for Vertigo
Robert Wise for The Sound of Music (1965)
Carol Reed for Oliver! (1968)
George Roy Hill for The Sting (1973)
Michael Cimino for The Deer Hunter (1978)
Robert Redford for Ordinary People (1980)
Oliver Stone for Born on the Fourth of July (1989)
Kevin Costner for Dances with Wolves (1990)
Robert Zemeckis for Forrest Gump (1994)
Ron Howard for A Beautiful Mind (2001)

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Best Actor
The Worst of the Awards
(These either stole the award from a more deserving nominee or were consolation prizes for previous losses or neglect)

George Arliss in Disraeli (1929/30)
Robert Donat in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
James Stewart in The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Paul Lukas in Watch on the Rhine (1943) instead of Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca
Ronald Colman in A Double Life (1947)
Laurence Olivier in Hamlet (1948) instead of unnominated Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Ernest Borgnine in Marty (1955) instead of unnominated James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause
Charlton Heston in Ben-Hur (1959) instead of unnominated Cary Grant in North by Northwest
John Wayne in True Grit (1969)
Jack Lemmon in Save the Tiger (1973)
Art Carney in Harry and Tonto (1974)
Richard Dreyfuss in The Goodbye Girl (1977)
Paul Newman in The Color of Money (1986)
Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman (1992)
Roberto Benigni in Life is Beautiful (1998) instead of Edward Norton in American History X (1998)

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Best Actress
The Worst of the Awards
(These either stole the award from a more deserving nominee or were consolation prizes for previous losses or neglect)

Mary Pickford in Coquette (1928/29)
Luise Rainer in The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
Luise Rainer in The Good Earth (1937)
Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday (1950)
Grace Kelly in The Country Girl (1954)
Anna Magnani in The Rose Tattoo (1955)
Elizabeth Taylor in Butterfield 8 (1960)
Katharine Hepburn in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
Glenda Jackson in A Touch of Class (1973)
Cher in Moonstruck (1987)
Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare in Love (1998) instead of Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth (1998)
Halle Berry in Monster's Ball (2001)

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Best Supporting Actor
The Worst of the Awards

Walter Brennan in Kentucky (1938)
Red Buttons in Sayonara (1957)
Peter Ustinov in Spartacus (1960)
Ed Begley, Sr., in Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)
Joel Grey in Cabaret (1972)
George Burns in The Sunshine Boys (1975)
Melvyn Douglas in Being There (1979)
Don Ameche in Cocoon (1985)
Sean Connery in The Untouchables (1987)
Jack Palance in City Slickers (1991)
Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive (1993) instead of Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's List (1993)
James Coburn in Affliction (1998) instead of Geoffrey Rush in Shakespeare in Love (1998)

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Best Supporting Actress
The Worst of the Awards

Gale Sondergaard in Anthony Adverse (1936)
Jo Van Fleet in East of Eden (1955)
Wendy Hiller in Separate Tables (1958)
Goldie Hawn in Cactus Flower (1969)
Helen Hayes in Airport (1970)
Ingrid Bergman in Murder on the Orient Express (1973)
Beatrice Straight in Network (1976)
Maggie Smith in California Suite (1978)
Geena Davis in The Accidental Tourist (1988)
Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost (1990)
Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny (1992)
Mira Sorvino in Mighty Aphrodite (1995)
Juliette Binoche in The English Patient (1996) (surprise win)
Judi Dench in Shakespeare in Love (1998)
Angelina Jolie in Girl, Interrupted (1999)
Renee Zellweger in Cold Mountain (2003) instead of Shohreh Aghdashloo in House of Sand and Fog (2003)