Oscar Answer No. 6
That's Barry Fitzgerald (right, with Bing Crosby and Rise Stevens), who received best actor and best supporting actor nominations for his role as the cranky but golden-hearted elderly priest in Leo McCarey's syrupy Going My Way (1944). Fitzgerald lost the best actor Oscar to Bing Crosby, the official star of Going My Way, but won the best supporting actor award.
Academy rules were then changed to prevent any more double nominations for the same role.
Other performers who have been nominated in the same year, but for different films, are:
- Fay Bainter in 1938 (lead in White Banners, supporting in Jezebel);
- Teresa Wright in 1942 (lead in The Pride of the Yankees, supporting in Mrs. Miniver);
- Jessica Lange in 1982 (lead in Frances, supporting in Tootsie);
- Sigourney Weaver in 1988 (lead in Gorillas in the Mist, supporting in Working Girl);
- Al Pacino in 1992 (lead in Scent of a Woman, supporting in Glengarry Glen Ross);
- Holly Hunter in 1993 (lead in The Piano, supporting in The Firm);
- Emma Thompson also in 1993 (lead in The Remains of the Day, supporting in In the Name of the Father);
- Julianne Moore in 2002 (lead in Far from Heaven, supporting in The Hours);
- Jamie Foxx in 2004 (lead in Ray, supporting in Collateral);
- Cate Blanchett in 2007 (lead in Elizabeth: The Golden Age; supporting in I'm Not There)
Bainter, Wright, and Lange won in the supporting category. Pacino, Hunter, and Foxx won as leads. Weaver, Thompson, Moore, and Blanchett lost in both categories.
It should be noted that actors can't be nominated in the same category for different performances in the same year.
For example, let's say that in 2006 Meryl Streep delivered two Oscar-caliber performances in a leading role. No matter how superb Streep was in both films, she can be nominated in the best actress category for only one of them.
Here are four possible scenarios:
- After sifting through a zillion "Vote for Meryl" ads, Academy voters pick only one Streep performance among their top five.
- After sifting through a zillion "Vote for Meryl" ads, Academy voters pick both Streep performances among their top five. In that case, only Streep's top-voted performance will be nominated. In place of the less-voted Streep, actress #6 in the balloting will be added to the Academy's official shortlist of five best actress nominees of 2006.
- With the studios' publicity machine begging for Academy votes for Streep Film #1 and Streep Film #2, votes are split in two (more likely if Academy members opt not to include the same actress twice in their ballots and/or if Streep voters aren't placing her at the very top of their lists). As a result, Streep ends up nominationless.
- Oscar-savvy Streep tells one studio to push her in the best actress category, and the other studio to push her in the best supporting actress category. (The fact that she's the lead in both films doesn't really matter. Academy members tend to vote as they're told.) Thus, Streep quite likely ends up with two nominations.