The Three Worst Oscar Nominated Actors of All Time

It is now post Oscar 2010 and Jeff Bridges is a very happy man for having won this year's Academy Award for his role in Crazy Heart. But have you ever wondered how some of those actors manage to get nominated for the Oscars in the first place. Furthermore, have you ever wondered how some of them actually win? Here is a short list of three Oscar nominated or Oscar winning actors whose best acting jobs actually were playing the role of a good actor. In no particular order they are:

Harrison Ford

Of course I loved him as Han Solo and Indiana Jones, but as he aged, Harrison Ford found himself acting in movies like Regarding Henry and Sabrina. Even in one of my favorite movies, What Lies Beneath, Ford disappointed me when he was revealed to be the film's villain. His acting was so monotone and emotionless, I had a hard time believing that he could muster up the feelings to actually kill the girl whose ghost was haunting his Michelle Pfeiffer. Harrison Ford has never won an Oscar, but he was nominated for a Best Actor Award for the movie Witness. Perhaps Harrison Ford can only act when a hat is stapled to his head or when his supporting actor is covered with hair,

Bruce Willis

Another non-Oscar winning actor, Bruce Willis is best known for his action roles, particularly as the cop John McClane in the Die Hard movies. It's odd for the Academy to award Oscars for action roles to begin with, but even if they did, Bruce Willis will never deserve one. He's a bit better to swallow in dramatic roles, such as when he played a child psychologist in The Sixth Sense. But then his choice in scripts is his biggest liability as an actor, and his slightly better acting isn't good enough to distract us from flaws in the movies themselves. For his efforts, Bruce Willis has also never won an Academy Award, but he has won a couple Emmy Awards for his television work in shows like Moonlighting and Friends. Back in 1987, when Bruce Willis had a lot more hair and even more acting ability, he won a Golden Globe for acting the part of David Addison in Moonlighting. But like his hairline, his acting receded. By 1999 he'd won a Worst Actor Razzie for his role in Armageddon.

Mel Gibson

Mel Gibson is the only one on my list who has actually won an Academy Award. But luckily he did not win it for acting. In 1996, Mel Gibson won a Best Director Award for the movie Braveheart, which also went on to win Best Picture. That's quite an accomplishment, especially considering it managed to win with Mel Gibson as its lead actor. Gibson is quite controversial as an actor, and oftentimes his behavior on and off the set is headline worthy. But I'm only interested in his acting and so far I've only seen him playing one of two roles: warrior and misunderstood lonely man. His first role has landed him in such movies as We Were Soldiers and Braveheart. The latter has found him playing roles like an alien fighting ex-preacher in the very boring Signs, and sexist mind reading pig the slightly humorous What Women Want. What Women Want is my favorite Mel Movie only because of the scene where he's wearing pantyhose. In retrospect, I only wished that Gibson's role in We Were Soldiers had a pantyhose wearing scene. But as it was written, Mel Gibson was playing the role of John Wayne in Vietnam, that is if John Wayne was actually ever in Vietnam, or any war for that matter. I guess I shouldn't be so hard on Mel Gibson, but let me just put it this way: When I found out he was the voice of Rocky in Chicken Run, I started rooting for the pot pies.