From Jean Simmons to Tom Cruise – Non-Nominated Actors: Biggest Oscar Snubs #8f

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.