They've Never Won an Academy Award

In just a few months the nominations for the 79th Academy Awards will be announced. As is the case every year there will no doubt be a few shocks as to who was included and who was excluded from the list. Come Oscar night the chances are at least one predicted winner will go home statue less.

Through the years one of the pleasures of the awards is the upsets such as seeing a truly deserving performance bested by a veteran receiving their first nomination or what insiders believe to be their last. How else does one explain John Wayne's 1969 win for Best Actor in "True Grit" beating out Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight in "Midnight Cowboy" and Richard Burton in "Anne of the Thousand Days?" Or Don Ameche's win for Best Supporting Actor for "Cocoon," a performance that didn't even warrant a nomination? Lee Marvin won the Best Actor Award in 1965 for playing a drunk in the comedy "Cat Ballou."

Marvin admitted that he was basically playing a variation of himself only set in the Old West. What's most shocking about his win is the caliber of performances he beat out - Richard Burton in "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold"; Laurence Olivier in "Othello"; Rod Steiger in "The Pawnbroker"; Oskar Werner in "Ship of Fools." To look back now both Burton and Steiger probably gave their best performances and Olivier in anything based on Shakespeare in going to be nothing less then brilliant.

Some year's veteran actors are nominated more for their status in the business then for the worthiness of their performance. Spencer Tracy received his ninth nomination, posthumously, in 1967 for "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?" Save for a beautiful final speech the performance is hardly worth a nomination especially when you consider that Sidney Poitier, co-star of this and another nominated Best Picture that year, "In The Heat Of The Night," was overlooked for both roles.

In the same movie veteran character actor Cecil Kellaway was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a brief role as the family priest while both Robert Blake and Scott Wilson were overlooked for their riveting roles as killers in "In Cold Blood." In 1974 Fred Astaire made the Best Supporting Actor cut for "The Towering Inferno." In 1997 Lauren Bacall finally got her first acting nomination for "The Mirror Has Two Faces" which is not one of her best performances.

Then there is the career award. It is the acting award given to someone who has lost in the past and ends up winning for a lesser (though not necessarily a bad) performance. Paul Newman finally took home the Oscar for "The Color Of Money" though few will ever believe this performance is in his top five when you consider he lost for "The Hustler," "Hud," "Cool Hand Luke" and "The Verdict" among others. Al Pacino finally won the Oscar on his eighth nomination for "Scent of a Woman" while losing for "The Godfather Part 1 & 2," "Serpico" and "Dog Day Afternoon."

Then there is the list of those who have never even won the Academy Award. Many of them are considered legends while others were simply box office superstars. It is agreed they are all good actors of varying degree.

Here is a list of some of those people. Keep in mind that some of the actors would not be considered "great" but each has given at least a few terrific performances that were either nominated and didn't win or were overlooked altogether. While this list is expansive there is no doubt a few that are not listed here that shouldn't be overlooked, but to include everyone would be much too long.

ROBERT ALTMAN - One of our best directors of the last 30 years, Altman's film work has never appealed to wide audiences due to his style of multi layered story lines and more then a few main characters often doing things that are not clear right away. Altman has been nominated seven times in his career up to this point, five of them for directing (MASH - 1970; Nashville - 1975; The Player -1992; Short Cuts -1993; Gosford Park - 2001). His other two nominations came as producer of "Nashville" and "Gosford Park," for whom the award for Best Picture goes to. Altman's stubborn refusal to conform to traditional movies has left him a Hollywood outsider but the Academy could no longer ignore his immense talent and finally awarded him the lifetime achievement in 2005.

RICHARD BURTON - Burton may best be known as the man who twice married Elizabeth Taylor but was also an accomplished stage actor who holds the record (along with Peter O'Toole) for most nominations without ever winning. Burton's career was at its height in the 1960's but alcohol and some truly awful movies (The Klansman; Blackbeard; Exorcist II - The Heretic; The Medusa Touch; Circle Of Two) lead to his career downfall in the 70's. He was nominated only once for Best Supporting Actor (My Cousin Rachel - 1951) and six times for Best Actor (The Robe -1953; Becket - 1964; The Spy Who Came In From The Cold - 1965; Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? - 1966; Anne Of The Thousand Days - 1969; Equus - 1977). Burton made a comeback of sorts with a strong supporting performance in "1984," (1984) but, sadly, died before the film was released.

JOHN CASSAVETTES - The father of the independent film, Cassavettes much preferred writing and directing to acting but acted (sometimes in awful movies) to help finance the movies he made. No slouch as an actor, Cassavettes gave memorable performances in such films as "Edge Of The City," "The Dirty Dozen," and "Rosemary's Baby." Cassavettes was nominated three times in his career in three different categories. His first was a Best Supporting Actor nomination for 1967's "The Dirty Dozen." The next year he was nominated for the screenplay for one of his own films, "Faces." In 1974 he was nominated for Best Director for "A Woman Under The Influence."

CHARLES CHAPLIN - Considered one of the great early filmmaking geniuses, Chaplin was one of the few to make the successful transition from silent films to talkies. Chaplin oversaw every aspect of each film from directing to writing to editing to acting to music. While he did receive two special awards (in 1927 for achievement in the creation of the film "The Circus" and in 1972 for lifetime achievement) Chaplin never took home the Oscar in competitive categories.

Chaplin was nominated five times. For his classic 1940 film "The Great Dictator" Chaplin received nods for Best Actor and Screenplay along with Producer for its Best Picture nomination. In 1947 his darkly comic masterpiece "Monsieur Verdoux," which tells the story of a man who marries for money and then murders his wives, received a Screenplay nomination. In what is one of the oddest nominations in Academy history, Chaplin received a 1972 nomination for his musical score for the 1952 film "Limelight." The film was never released in Los Angeles until 20 years after its completion thus making it eligible.

MONTGOMERY CLIFT - One of the best actors of his day, Clift's career was tragically cut short after a near fatal car accident and addiction to painkillers. Clift was an intense actor whose portrayals of tough characters dominated the films in which he appeared. Clift was nominated four times - three for Best Actor (The Search - 1948; A Place In The Sun -1951; From Here To Eternity - 1953) and once for Best Supporting Actor (Judgment At Nuremberg - 1961) for a one scene role as a mentally unbalanced man who was the victim of Nazi atrocities.

KIRK DOUGLAS - One of the most recognizable actors in film with his famous dimple, Douglas has had a fifty-year career giving great performances in such classics as "Spartacus," "Gunfight At The O.K. Corral," "20,000 Leagues Under The Sea," "Paths Of Glory," and "Seven Days In May." Douglas was only nominated three times (Champion - 1949; The Bad and The Beautiful - 1952; Lust For Life - 1956) and finally got his long overdue lifetime achievement award in 1995 only months after suffering a near debilitating stroke.

ALBERT FINNEY - One of the best of the British invasion of actors in the 60's, Finney has played roles as varying as a famous detective, alcoholics, romantic men and even Daddy Warbucks. Finney has given such memorable performances in which he wasn't nominated in films such as "Two For The Road," "Shoot The Moon," "Scrooge," "Gumshoe," and "Big Fish." Finney had been nominated a total of five times - four Best Actor nominations (Tom Jones - 1963; Murder On The Orient Express - 1974; The Dresser - 1983; Under The Volcano - 1984) and once for Best Supporting Actor (Erin Brockovich - 2000) but has yet to win. With an impressive performance every time out Finney is likely to be nominated again and may still take home the award.

HARRISON FORD - Ford was the biggest box office star of the 1980's thanks to the "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" movies but Ford didn't want to be typecast in action movies and chose to also do serious and comedic movies, some of which weren't very successful but all of which showed another side to Ford. Despite some terrific performances in such films as "The Mosquito Coast," "Working Girl," "Regarding Henry," "Presumed Innocent," "The Fugitive," and "Six Days And Seven Nights," Ford has thus far received only one nomination in his career for Best Actor for "Witness."

GRETA GARBO - One of the great actresses of the 1930's, Garbo is just as well known for abandoning her career in the 40's and living out her life (until her 1990 death) in seclusion. Garbo was nominated four times for best actress (Anna Christie - 1929; Romance - 1929; Camille - 1937; Ninotchka - 1939) but never won. She did receive an honorary award in 1954 but she didn't attend the awards to accept it personally.

CARY GRANT - Perhaps the most romantic leading man in the history of movies Grant was a versatile actor who appeared in romantic comedies, farces, war movies, dramas and thrillers. Grant was only nominated twice is his long career for "Penny Serenade," (1941) and "None But The Lonely Heart," (1944). Grant was overlooked for such well known performances including "Bringing Up Baby," "The Philadelphia Story," "Arsenic And Old Lace," "To Catch A Thief," and "North By Northwest." Grant received the lifetime achievement award in 1969.

ED HARRIS - One of the best actors of the last 25 years, Harris announced his emergence as a great actor in 1983 when he superbly played two radically different roles as a vicious soldier in "Under Fire" and as apple pie faced American hero John Glenn in "The Right Stuff." Incapable of giving less then a good performance, Harris has been nominated for four acting Oscars - three for Best Supporting Actor (Apollo 13 - 1995; The Truman Show - 1998; The Hours - 2002) and once for Best Actor (Pollock - 2000, which he also directed).

ALFRED HITCHCOCK - Perhaps the most recognized film director in movie history, Hitchcock's legacy has continued 26 years after his death. Even this generation is aware of Hitchcock and at least some of his work. Dubbed "the master of suspense" Hitchcock created some of the greatest film set pieces ever and even today's young directors claim to study and emulate him. Hitchcock was somewhat of a Hollywood outsider as he did his films his way always with the right to final cut. Despite that even Hollywood honored him with five Best Director nominations (Rebecca -1940; Lifeboat - 1944; Spellbound -1945; Rear Window - 1954; Psycho - 1960) but he never won. He was also overlooked for nominations for "Foreign Correspondent," "Notorious," "Vertigo," "North by Northwest," and "The Birds." Hitchcock did receive the Irving Thalberg award for his career in 1967 and Hitchcock, ever the outsider, came up to accept his award and simply said "Thank you" before walking off.

STANLEY KRAMER - Kramer, one of the most successful directors of the late 50's and 60's, began his career as a producer. Of his nine nominations his first two were for films he produced (High Noon - 1952; The Caine Mutiny - 1954). After stepping into the directing chair he received his third and fourth nominations for directing and producing 1958's "The Defiant Ones." Nominations five and six also came from producing and directing the same movie, 1961's "Judgment At Nuremberg." 1965's "Ship Of Fools" brought Kramer his seventh nomination, this time as producer only. 1967's "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?" brought Kramer his final two nominations, again as director and producer. Despite the success and recognition, Kramer never was honored by the Academy.

STANLEY KUBRICK - Technically this is a bit of a cheat as Kubrick did win an Oscar for visual effects for 1968's "2001: A Space Odyssey" but he never won a writing or directing award and is included here as he is considered one of the great directors of our time. Kubrick was nominated 12 times in the major categories and hit the trifecta of nominations (Directing, Writing, Producing) three times with "Dr. Strangelove," (1964), "A Clockwork Orange," (1971), and "Barry Lyndon" -1975. "2001" also brought him three nominations (including the aforementioned visual effects) with two of them being for writing and directing. Incredibly, even though "2001" is now considered one of the greatest movies ever made it was not nominated for Best Picture. Kubrick's final nomination was for Best Screenplay for 1987's "Full Metal Jacket."

GEORGE LUCAS - Despite creating two of the most successful film series of all time Lucas has yet to bring home the gold. He has four nominations under his belt, two for co- writing and directing "American Graffiti," (1973) and two more for writing and directing "Star Wars," (1977).

SIDNEY LUMET - One of the top film directors of the 70's and 80's, Lumet began his career in live television in the 50's and received his first Best Director nomination for 1959's "Twelve Angry Men." He began a run of very successful movies in the 1970's with "Serpico," (1973) followed by "Murder On The Orient Express," (1974), neither of which Lumet was nominated for. His next one-two punch (Dog Day Afternoon - 1975; Network - 1976) won him his second and third nominations. His fourth nomination was for his screenplay for "Prince Of The City," (1981) and he received his fifth and final nomination to date for directing 1982's "The Verdict." Lumet received the lifetime achievement award in 2004.

ROBERT MITCHUM - Known for his rough, hard edged looks Mitchum made a career of playing tough guys as both heroes (Phillip Marlowe in "Farewell, My Lovely) and villains (Cape Fear; Night of the Hunter). Mitchum was nominated only once in his career for Best Supporting Actor for the 1945 film "The Story Of G.I. Joe" but was never honored for his career by the Academy.

PETER O'TOOLE - Along with Richard Burton, O'Toole is tied for the most nominations without winning an award with seven. O'Toole was honored for lifetime achievement in 2002 and there is possibly good news on the horizon as advanced word is O'Toole's next movie, "Venus," may earn him his eighth nomination. O'Toole's seven nominations, all for Best Actor, were for "Lawrence Of Arabia" - 1962; "Becket" - 1964; "The Lion In Winter" - 1968; "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" - 1969; "The Ruling Class" - 1972; "The Stunt Man" - 1980; "My Favorite Year" - 1982.

CLAUDE RAINS - Rains was perhaps the best character actor of the 30's and 40's and always gave a film a lift with his presence. Like many character actors he never won the Oscar but was nominated for Best Supporting Actor four times (Mr. Smith Goes To Washington - 1939; Casablanca - 1943; Mrs. Skeffington -1944; Notorious -1946).

BURT REYNOLDS - Along with Clint Eastwood, Reynolds was the biggest star of the 1970's thanks to such comedies as "The Longest Yard," "Smokey And The Bandit," and "Hooper." In between doing many comedies Reynolds sandwiched in a few serious performances in such films as "Deliverance," "Starting Over," and "Breaking In," giving nomination worthy performances in each. Insult was added to injury when both of his "Starting Over" co-stars, Jill Clayburgh and Candice Bergen, were nominated while he was overlooked. It would be 30 years after his breakthrough in film before he was finally nominated for Best Supporting Actor as porn film director Jack Horner in 1997's "Boogie Nights."

THELMA RITTER - Ritter was the most dependable of character actresses in the 50's and 60's and holds the distinction of being the only woman nominated for Oscars four years in a row. Ritter ended up tallying six total nominations (All About Eve - 1950; The Mating Season - 1951; With A Song In My Heart - 1952; Pickup On South Street - 1953; Pillow Talk - 1959; Birdman Of Alcatraz - 1962) for Best Supporting Actress but never took home the award.

MICKEY ROONEY - Rooney was one of the top box office stars of the 1930's with his co-starring roles in Spencer Tracy movies such as "Boys Town" and his very successful "Andy Hardy" film series. Rooney was also one of the few to successfully graduate from child actor to adult film star. Rooney's acting talent has never been as widely recognized as it should be even though he was nominated four times for acting Oscars - two for Best Actor (Babes In Arms - 1939; The Human Comedy - 1943) and two for Best Supporting Actor (The Bold and The Brave - 1956; The Black Stallion - 1979). Rooney received the lifetime achievement award in 1982.

MARTIN SCORSESE - Not many people would argue that Scorsese is probably our greatest living director still working. His newest film, "The Departed," is likely to bring Scorsese another Best Director nomination and if sentiment plays any role he will finally take home the coveted prize that has alluded him so far. Scorsese's often-violent films about loners trying to achieve something in their lives have often turned off audiences but their superb craftsmanship cannot be denied. Much like Robert Altman, Scorsese has a total of seven nominations but only five for directing. Incredibly one of Scorsese's most famous films, "Taxi Driver," is not amongst those he has been nominated for. His five directing nominations are for "Raging Bull," (1980); "The Last Temptation Of Christ," (1988); "Good Fellas," (1990); "Gangs Of New York," (2002), and "The Aviator," (2004). His other two nominations were for Best Adapted Screenplay for "Good Fellas" and 1993's The Age Of Innocence."

NEIL SIMON - Perhaps the greatest comedy playwright ever Simon adapted many of his plays to the big screen and while he was a multi Tony award winner he has never won an Academy Award. Simon has been nominated four times for his screenplays - three of them (The Odd Couple - 1968; The Sunshine Boys - 1975; California Suite - 1978) for Best Adapted Screenplay based on his plays, and one for Best Original Screenplay (The Goodbye Girl - 1977). The Academy's penchant for not widely recognizing comedy may explain why Simon has not been recognized more.

BARBARA STANWYCK - Stanwyck was one of the most dependable of leading actresses in the 30's and 40's. She was capable of giving great performances in comedies, dramas and thrillers where she was equally adept at playing the victim or the femme fatale. Stanwyck was nominated four times (Stella Dallas - 1937; Ball Of Fire - 1941; Double Indemnity - 1944; Sorry, Wrong Number -1948) but never won. She walked away from her movie career in the mid 50's but resurfaced as the matriarch on the 1960's hit television show "The Big Valley." She also had a memorable role in the 1980's mini-series "The Thorn Birds." In 1978 Stanwyck appeared on the Academy Awards with William Holden to present an award. Holden halted the scripted proceedings by publicly thanking Stanwyck for saving his job when they were working on the 1939 film "Golden Boy," which then led to a very successful career for him. When Stanwyck received the lifetime achievement award in 1981, just four months after Holden's death, she made a memorable acceptance speech acknowledging that Holden had always wanted her to win an Academy Award. Tearfully, Stanwyck raised the award in the air, looked up to the sky and exclaimed "And so tonight, my golden boy, you got your wish."

DONALD SUTHERLAND - Sutherland has been one of our best leading and character actors for almost 40 years giving such memorable performances as Hawkeye Pierce in "MASH," the title detective in "Klute," Calvin Jarrett, the harried father trying to keep his disintegrating family together in "Ordinary People," and the Nazi killer in "Eye Of The Needle." Incredibly, despite a career of award worthy performances Sutherland has never even been nominated for an Academy Award (this despite "Ordinary People" receiving three other acting nominations).

JOHN TRAVOLTA - Travolta was the world's biggest superstar in the late 1970's but his star dropped less then a decade later. In 1994 he made a comeback and was again popular for several years but now finds himself in another career slump that he will no doubt bounce back from. Despite strong performances in such films as "Blow Out," "Phenomenon," "Get Shorty," and "Primary Colors" Travolta has only twice been nominated for Best Actor (Saturday Night Fever - 1977; Pulp Fiction - 1994).

RICHARD WIDMARK - Widmark had a steady 40-year career mostly playing tough, supervisory men like cops and upper armed forces brass. His first film provided him with what was probably his most famous role as a giggling killer in "Kiss Of Death" in which he famously throws a wheelchair bound old woman down a flight of stairs. His film debut won him a Best Supporting Actor nomination but he was never nominated again.

JAMES WOODS - Another of the most dependable actors of the last 30 years, Woods has often been cast as the antagonist and just as often has had his terrific performances overlooked by the Academy. In 1978 he captured everyone's attention with a riveting portrayal of a cop killer in "The Onion Field." Despite much critical acclaim Woods' powerful performance was not nominated. In what would become a sad trend Woods would continue giving one terrific performance after another in such films as "Once Upon A Time In America," "Cop," "The Boost," "True Believer," "Casino," and "Blood Work," without receiving Academy recognition. He has been nominated twice in his long career, once for Best Actor (Salvador - 1986) and once for Best Supporting Actor (Ghosts of Mississippi - 1996) but has failed to win. Much like Ed Harris and Albert Finney, Woods continues to deliver one strong performance after another and is likely to walk down the red carpet again.