Robbed of an Oscar
 

Well obviously not everyone agrees on the Academys decisions sometimes. What do you think are a few cases where someone REALLY deserved an Oscar but it was awarded to someone else....

1994 Best supporting actor: Samuel L. Jackson(Pulp Fiction)

1995 Best supporting actor: Patrick Mcgoohan(Braveheart)
He lost to Kevin Spacey which I can live with, but if you ask me Spacey was a lead in The Usual Suspects

1996 Best actor: Billy Bob Thornton(Sling Blade)

1998 Best actor: Al Pacino(Donnie Brasco)
Pacino at his best, while he played a gangster again, he plays a totally different role than usual. He's much more weak and vulnerable than usual, he seems more real.

1999 Best supporting actress Thora Birch(American Beauty)
Best supporting actor: Chris Cooper(American Beauty)
There were a few good movies in '99, but none even close to American Beauty

2002 Best actor: Daniel Day-Lewis(Gangs of New York)
Best Director: Martin Scorsese(Gangs of New York)
Lewis has long since deserved one since Last of the Mohicans, and come on even though I think Sam Mendes would be a good choice Scorsese definetly deserves a little gold statue.

Ok so I'm a little biased...

Agreed, entirely.
I don't agree with this one, Spacey deserved an oscar, and I believe his character could be seen as a supporting one.
I was disappointed by his performance in this, so, would have to disagree.
Definately agree here, on both, great performances.
Again, I agree. Definately Day-Lewis deserved a nod.

Anjelica Huston in The Grifters .

The four actresses that lost to Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny.

Judy Davis in Husbands and Wives, Joan Plowright in Enchanted April, Vanessa Redgrave in Howards End, Miranda Richardson in Damage.

This was the exact moment when I stopped caring about movie awards.

These are ones I thought of.

The Greatest Films website has an unbelievable list of mistakes and omissions.

http://www.filmsite.org/noawards.html

I couldn't believe it. :furious:

Great Actors Who Have Not Won
Acting Academy Awards®


Arnold Schwarzenegger (0)!!! I like the guy that wrote this, only hardcore Arnie fans would go so far as to call Arnie a Great Actor :D Arnie for Oscar!!!

Tim Dirks wrote the article.

What about his cutting edge performance in Twins? :D

Oh, sadly this is a never-ending list. The Academy routinely rewards acting performances for all the wrong reasons, and usually snubbig some just flat-out spectacular work in the process.

A few that stick in my craw the most...

• Gena Rowlands in A Woman Under the Influence
  This isn't one of those instances where the winner was completely undeserving, as Ellen Burstyn did a great job in Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, but Rowlands' performance is jaw-dropping, amazing stuff. A shame.
  
• Ellen Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream and Bjork in Dancer in the Dark
  Movie Mega-Star Julia Roberts gets her trophy for Erin Brockovich - which she was soild in, but come on! Of the four other nominees, Burstyn's heartbreaking and edgy work as the pill-popping woman spirlaing out of control is the best work of her brilliant career. But frankly, I would have given the award to Bjork, who wasn't even nominated for her acting. It was such a singular, deep performance in a singular film. The Oscars just plain missed the boat on this one. Shocking, I know.
  
• Nicole Kidman in Eyes Wide Shut and To Die For
  She finally got her recognition for The Hours and was nominated the year before with Moulin Rouge!, but Kidman should have grabbed a trophy for much better work in previous years. She was phenomenal at the center of Gus Van Sant's satirical To Die For, but though she won a Golden Globe she wasn't even nominated at The Oscars (where Susan Sarandon won for Dead Man Walking). And while Eyes Wide Shut was completely shut-out of any nominations (idiots), for me one of the most suprising of those many snubs was Kidman's very crucial and layered supporting work, which didn't even get a chance to go up against Angelina Jolie - who somehow took the statue for Girl, Interrupted.
  
• Guy Pearce in Memento
  Denzel is a terrific actor, but his work in Training Day is nothing terribly special, and the film is routine. What's worse than that though is that Pearce didn't even get a nomination! Ugh. Really, the Academy makes so many bonehead calls, it's hard to keep track!
  
• Bill Murray in Rushmore
  I love Jimmy Coburn and think he was underrated, but I'm not one for giving out acting Oscars as some kind of career achievement. He was good and creepy in Affliction, but didn't warrant any award. And this in spite of the fact that Bill Murray, who has always been dismissed as an actor, did some amazing, subtle, complicated and (what should have finally been) eye-opening work in Rushmore - yet didn't even get a nomination! Hopefully the Academy won't snub him AGAIN this year for Lost in Translation...but of course, they more than probably will.
  
• Forest Whitaker in Bird
  Eastwood's film did great at Cannes, where Whtaker was given the best actor prize, and even got some key nominations at the Golden Globes, including Best Actor for Forest. But when it came to the Academy, the film went ignored but for its amazing and innovative sound direction. Eastwood as Director and Diane Venora as Actress were also stunningly snubbed, but Whitaker's truly central performance as the brilliant but self-desructive Jazz great Charlie Parker should have been a shoo-in. I like Hoffman, what he did in Rain Man was showy but still good (though of the nominees I though Hanks' work in Big had the highest degree of difficulty and was the most singular and impressive), but there's no way Whitaker shouldn't have been on that stage.
  
• Harrison Ford in The Mosquito Coast and Working Girl
  Harrison is of course the biggest action star of his generation, but he's also an underrated and usually untested actor. Peter Weir showed what he could do in Witness, which landed Ford his only Oscar nomination to date, but he should have been nominated and won for what the two collaborated on in The Mosquito Coast just the following year. Adding to that injustice, Ford wasn't even nominated in '89 after he shifted gears with grace to play the charming, romantic comedy supporting role in Mike Nichols' Working Girl.

And on and on and on.....

Wow I figured Guy Pearce was at least nominated for Memento

I completely forgot about Ellen Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream.

What did she have to do, actually die?!

Three off the top of my head I'd go with would be...

Bob Hoskins in THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY. His Harold Shand is the part he was born to play. :D

Jeremy Irons for DEAD RINGERS. I know he got a gong a year later for REVERSAL OF FORTUNE but please!!!
:(

Kathy Bates for DELORES CLAIBOURNE. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant and one of the best Stephen King adaptations to boot!

John.

I agree. I also thought her performance in GLORIA was excellent too. The scene where her charcater wastes a car load of hoodlums is my tops "stand up and cheer" cinema moments...

John.

I don't care if they were nominated or not but the first two Lord of the Rings movies deserved way more recognition then they got! last year chicago got best picture and I enjoyed it but I still thing two towers should have won... but of course this is one of the many reasons I don't watch award shows

The only one that I've disagreed with is passing up Edward Norton for the supporting actor role in Primal Fear. Instead they gave it to Cuba Gooding Jr.

Cuba was good, but Edward's portrayal of a convict with multiple personally disorder is FAR superior than Cuba's acting in Jerry Maguire.

Norton was robbed, simply because it was his very first film.

Burstyn from Requiem is the one I always complain about. I also agree that Norton should have won for Primal Fear. I remember being totally blown away by his performance, and he just came out of nowhere.

_S

Judy Garland...in A Star is Born (1954). She was robbed big time by both the studio and the Academy.

Cate Blanchett....in Elizabeth(1998). I can’t believe Gwyneth Paltrow recieved the Oscar for Shakespeare In Love over Cate Blanchett. Gwyneth was pleasing to watch as always...but her character and performance didn't come close to the depth of character Cate portrayed. As Elizabeth, she was incredible.

Shakespeare in Love also robbed Saving Private Ryan of the Oscar for Best Picture.

totally agree that movie put me to sleep-Shakespeare "yawn" ;)

peter jackson deserved the best director and best picture award

i think jim carrey was robbed of an oscar for best actor for "man on the moon". that movie was great and his portrayal of andy kaufman was amazing!

I think Angelina Jolie atleast deserved a best actress nomination for Beyond Borders. I mean its not her fault the story had weak parts.....she was good in that movie.

Peter Jackson should have got best director for Lord of the Rings: Two Towers and Fellowship.

I think Edward Norton should have won an oscar for Primal Fear, and should have been nominated for The Score, The People Vs. Larry Flint, and Fight Club. I'm not sure, but he might have deserved the statue for American History X as well. Simply one of the best actors ever, in my opinion.

Robin Williams should have been nominated for Mrs. Doubtfire.

Speaking of nominations, the fact that Brad Pitt has only gotten one seems like a crime to me.

Here are some other performances I thought deserved to win the Oscar:

Denzel Washington for Malcolm X
Anthony Hopkins for Instinct
Jim Carrey for Man on the Moon
Russell Crowe for A Beautiful Mind

One thing a lot of people do is put too much weight on how much they liked the movie, instead of just concentrating on the particular performance in question. Hopkins in Instinct and Norton in The Score come to mind. Whether you liked those movies or not, you'd have to have a pretty strange way of gauging acting to think that those two perfomances weren't fantastic. Just my opinion.