Oscar® Trivia - Part I: Oscar’s Comeback Kids
February 1st, 2006 by Andre Soares
Since the 1960s , nearly every year has had at least one comeback in the acting/directing categories. Some were veterans getting their first chance at the Oscars, while others were Oscar veterans getting their first nod in years. Here are a few examples in the last 10 years:
2005:
William Hurt, nominated as Best Supporting Actor for A History of Violence - Hurt has three previous Best Actor nominations (he won in 1985 for O Beijo da Mulher Aranha / Kiss of the Spider Woman), the last one in 1987, for Broadcast News
2004:
Alan Alda, nominated as Best Supporting Actor for The Aviator - Alda’s first nomination
2002:
Diane Lane, nominated as Best Actress for Unfaithful - Lane’s first nomination
Christopher Walken, nominated as Best Supporting Actor for Catch Me If You Can - Walken had previously won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar in 1978 for The Deer Hunter
Roman Polanski, Best Director winner for The Pianist - Polanski had two previous nominations, the last one in 1980, for Tess
2001:
Sissy Spacek, nominated as Best Actress for In the Bedroom - Spacek had five previous Best Actress nominations (she won for Coal Miner’s Daughter in 1980), the last one in 1986, for Crimes of the Heart
2000:
Jeff Bridges, nominated as Best Supporting Actor for The Contender - Bridges had three previous nominations (one as a lead, two supporting), the last one a Best Actor nod in 1984, for Starman
Ellen Burstyn, nominated as Best Actress for Requiem for a Dream - Burstyn had five previous nominations (four as a lead, one supporting; she won for Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore in 1974), the last one a Best Actress nod in 1980, for Resurrection
Albert Finney, nominated as Best Supporting Actor for Erin Brockovich - Finney had four previous Best Actor nominations, the last one in 1984, for Under the Volcano
Julie Walters, nominated as Best Supporting Actress for Billy Elliot - Walters had previously received a Best Actress nod for Educating Rita in 1983
1999:
Richard Farnsworth, nominated as Best Actor for The Straight Story - Farnsworth had previously received a Best Supporting Actor nod for Comes a Horseman in 1978
1998:
Lynn Redgrave, nominated as Best Supporting Actress for Gods and Monsters - Redgrave had previously received a Best Actress nod for Georgy Girl in 1966
James Coburn, won as Best Supporting Actor for Affliction - Coburn’s first nomination
1997:
Julie Christie, nominated as Best Actress for Afterglow - Christie had two previous Best Actress nominations (she won in 1965 for Darling), the last one in 1971 for McCabe and Mrs. Miller
Judi Dench, nominated as Best Actress for Mrs. Brown - Dench’s first nomination; on the other side of the Atlantic she’d already received several nods from the British Academy
Peter Fonda, nominated as Best Actor for Ulee’s Gold - Fonda’s first nomination
1996:
Lauren Bacall, nominated as Best Supporting Actress in The Mirror Has Two Faces - Bacall’s first nomination
As per the list above, comeback veterans who do get nominated hardly ever win.
List of the British Academy of Film 2006 nominees
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