Tom Cruise, Dustin Hoffman in Barry Levinson's Academy Award winner Rain Man (1988). Hoffman won the Best Actor Oscar that year; Cruise wasn't even nominated.
Biggest Oscar Snubs #8e: Non-Nominated Actors - From Charles Farrell to Rock Hudson
- Jean Simmons, Elmer Gantry (1960)
- Robert Mitchum, The Sundowners (1960)
- Fredric March, Inherit the Wind (1960)
- Fred MacMurray, The Apartment (1960)
- Leslie Caron and Maurice Chevalier, Fanny (1961)
- Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer, West Side Story (1961)
- Laurence Harvey, Summer and Smoke (1961)
- Alec Guinness, Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
- Paul Newman, Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)
- Joan Crawford, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)
- Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, Cleopatra (1963)
- Brandon De Wilde, Hud (1963)
- Susannah York, Tom Jones (1963)
- Alan Bates and Irene Papas, Zorba the Greek (1964)
- Dick Van Dyke, David Tomlinson, and Glynis Johns, Mary Poppins (1964)
- Audrey Hepburn, My Fair Lady (1964)
- Vivien Leigh, Ship of Fools (1965)
- Jason Robards and Barbara Harris, A Thousand Clowns (1965)
- Laurence Harvey and Dirk Bogarde, Darling (1965)
- Christopher Plummer and Eleanor Parker, The Sound of Music (1965)
- Terence Stamp, The Collector (1965)
- Sidney Poitier, A Patch of Blue (1965)
- Alan Bates, Georgy Girl (1966)
- Susannah York, A Man for All Seasons (1966)
- Sidney Poitier, In the Heat of the Night and Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
- Martin Sheen, The Subject Was Roses (1968)
- Mark Lester, Shani Wallis and Oliver Reed, Oliver! (1968)
- Mia Farrow, Rosemary's Baby (1968)
- Michael Sarrazin, They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969)
- Karl Malden, Patton (1970)
- Robert Mitchum and Trevor Howard, Ryan's Daughter (1970)
- Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Jacqueline Bisset and Jean Seberg, Airport (1970)
- Michael Jayston and Irene Worth, Nicholas and Alexandra (1971)
- Timothy Bottoms and Cybill Shepherd, The Last Picture Show (1971)
- Fernando Rey, The French Connection (1971)
- Michael York, Cabaret (1972)
- Max von Sydow, The Emigrants (1972)
- Diane Keaton, The Godfather (1972)
- Paul Newman and Robert Shaw, The Sting (1973)
- Max von Sydow, The Exorcist (1973)
- Ryan O'Neal, Paper Moon (1973)
- George Segal, A Touch of Class (1973)
- Geraldine Fitzgerald, Harry and Tonto (1974)
- John Huston, Chinatown (1974)
- Diane Keaton, The Godfather: Part II (1974)
- Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman, All the President's Men (1976)
- Sophia Loren, A Special Day (1977)
- Julie Christie, Heaven Can Wait (1978)
- Gregory Peck, The Boys from Brazil (1978)
- Liv Ullmann, Autumn Sonata (1978)
- Michael Douglas, The China Syndrome (1979)
- Burt Reynolds, Starting Over (1979)
- Alan Bates, The Rose (1979)
- Shirley MacLaine, Being There (1979)
- Tommy Lee Jones, Coal Miner's Daughter (1980)
- Paul Le Mat, Melvin and Howard (1980)
- Donald Sutherland, Ordinary People (1980)
- Kristy McNichol, Only When I Laugh (1981)
- Sally Field, Absence of Malice (1981)
- Ben Cross and Ian Charleson, Chariots of Fire (1981)
- Liza Minnelli and Geraldine Fitzgerald, Arthur (1981)
- Charlotte Rampling, The Verdict (1982)
- Richard Gere, An Officer and a Gentleman (1982)
- James Garner, Victor Victoria (1982)
- Kurt Russell, Silkwood (1983)
- Victor Banerjee, A Passage to India (1984)
- Kelly McGillis, Witness (1985)
- Raul Julia, Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)
- Kathleen Turner, Prizzi's Honor (1985)
- Danny Glover, The Color Purple (1985)
- Jane Fonda, Agnes of God (1985)
- Robert Redford, Out of Africa (1985)
- Helena Bonham Carter and Julian Sands, A Room with a View (1986)
- Jessica Lange and Diane Keaton, Crimes of the Heart (1986)
- Tom Cruise, The Color of Money (1986)
- Charlie Sheen, Platoon (1986)
- Mia Farrow and Barbara Hershey, Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
- John Lone, Peter O'Toole and Joan Chen, The Last Emperor (1987)
- Nicolas Cage, Moonstruck (1987)
- John Malkovich, Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
- William Hurt and Kathleen Turner, The Accidental Tourist (1988)
- Harrison Ford, Working Girl (1988)
- Tom Cruise, Rain Man (1988)
Note: The list above isn't a reflection of my personal tastes. And unlike the other posts in the “Biggest Oscar Snubs” series – which features some of the most talked-about Oscar “snubs” – this partial list of non-nominated actors is supposed to be an illustration of which performers were bypassed by the Academy while their vehicles (especially if a Best Picture winner) and co-stars (especially if more than one) were shortlisted. Some of those omissions were followed by widespread outrage; others were duly ignored.
I agree so hard on the Danny Glover and Nicolas Cage ones. esp. considering all the other nominations that came out of those films.