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Academy Awards History (By Decade): Introduction, 1927/8-39, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s Academy Awards Summaries |
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The Worst of the Awards
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 OptionsBroadway Melody (1928/29) ** A very weak year for nominees Cimarron (1930/31) A very weak year for nominees Cavalcade (1932/33) ** 42nd Street, I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang, or The Private Life of Henry VIII 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, The Maltese Falcon, Suspicion, Sergeant York Mrs. Miniver (1942) To Be or Not to Be Going My Way (1944) ** Double Indemnity or Gaslight and un-nominated Laura and Meet Me in St. Louis The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) It's A Wonderful Life, also un-nominated The Big Sleep, Brief Encounter, My Darling Clementine, Notorious, Gilda, The Postman Always Rings Twice Gentlemen's Agreement (1947) ** An un-nominated Black Narcissus Hamlet (1948) + Johnny Belinda, The Red Shoes and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre All About Eve (1950) An un-nominated The Third Man 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! Un-nominated Rear Window (with 4 nominations, but not one for Best Picture) Marty (1955) + A weak set of nominees, including Mister Roberts, and un-nominated The Night of the Hunter, East of Eden, and Rebel Without a Cause 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) Another weak set of nominees, and an un-nominated Vertigo and Touch of Evil The Apartment (1960) A weak set of nominees (including The Alamo); un-nominated Psycho and Spartacus Tom Jones (1963) A weak set of nominees, and an un-nominated The Great Escape, Hud, and The Birds 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, or un-nominated In Cold Blood, Cool Hand Luke Oliver! (1968) ** + The Lion in Winter, Funny Girl, and un-nominated 2001: A Space Odyssey Midnight Cowboy (1969) + An un-nominated The Wild Bunch or Easy Rider Patton (1970) Five Easy Pieces and un-nominated Little Big Man The Sting (1973) American Graffiti, Cries and Whispers, or The Exorcist, and an un-nominated Mean Streets, Last Tango in Paris, The Last Detail, 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, and an un-nominated Manhattan or Being There Ordinary People (1980) ** Raging Bull, and un-nominated The Empire Strikes Back and The Shining Chariots of Fire (1981) + Reds, On Golden Pond, or Raiders of the Lost Ark Gandhi (1982) E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial Terms of Endearment (1983) ** The Right Stuff, The Big Chill, or Tender Mercies Out of Africa (1985) An un-nominated Brazil Driving Miss Daisy (1989) An un-nominated Glory, Do the Right Thing, 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) ** Apollo 13, Babe, and an un-nominated Dead Man Walking, Leaving Las Vegas, Nixon, The Usual Suspects, Toy Story, and Se7en The English Patient (1996) Fargo, or un-nominated Trainspotting Titanic (1997) L.A. Confidential and un-nominated The Sweet Hereafter Shakespeare in Love (1998) + Saving Private Ryan and The Thin Red Line, and an un-nominated The Big Lebowski, The Truman Show American Beauty (1999) An un-nominated Being John Malkovich and The Matrix Gladiator (2000) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon A Beautiful Mind (2001) ** The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, and an un-nominated Memento (2000) Chicago (2002) The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003) Mystic River, Lost in Translation Crash (2005) + ** Brokeback Mountain, Capote, Good Night and Good Luck, or un-nominated Walk the Line No Country For Old Men (2007) There Will Be Blood Slumdog Millionaire (2008) An un-nominated The Dark Knight The Hurt Locker (2009) + Avatar
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 (1941)
Leo McCarey for Going My Way (1944)
Delbert Mann for Marty (1955) instead of unnominated Charles Laughton for The Night of the Hunter (1955)
Vincente Minnelli for Gigi (1958), instead of unnominated Alfred Hitchcock for Vertigo (1958)
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)
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 (1943)
Ronald Colman in A Double Life (1947)
Laurence Olivier in Hamlet (1948) instead of unnominated Humphrey Bogart in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
Ernest Borgnine in Marty (1955) instead of unnominated James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
Charlton Heston in Ben-Hur (1959) instead of unnominated Cary Grant in North by Northwest (1959)
Lee Marvin in Cat Ballou (1965) instead of Rod Steiger in The Pawnbroker (1965)
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)
Adrien Brody in The Pianist (2002) instead of Daniel Day-Lewis in Gangs of New York (2002)
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)
Julia Roberts in Erin Brockovich (2000) instead of Ellen Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Halle Berry in Monster's Ball (2001)
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)
Cuba Gooding, Jr. in Jerry Maguire (1996) instead of William H. Macy in Fargo (1996)
James Coburn in Affliction (1998) instead of Geoffrey Rush in Shakespeare in Love (1998)
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) instead of Judy Davis in Husbands and Wives (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)
Marcia Gay Harden in Pollock (2000) instead of Kate Hudson in Almost Famous (2000)
Renee Zellweger in Cold Mountain (2003) instead of Shohreh Aghdashloo in House of Sand and Fog (2003)
