Since their inception in 1929, theAcademy Awardshave honored some of the best performances in movie history. But with only five slots per category, there are bound to be acting accomplishments that miss out, whether because of tough competition or voters turning their noses up at certain actors and genres.
Part of the fun of following the Oscars year to year is complaining about what they got wrong, and suffice it to say, it wasn't hard to find examples of the Academy missing the mark by not nominating some truly iconic performances. From classics like Ingrid Bergman inCasablanca(1942) and Anthony Perkins inPsycho(1960) to recent favorites likeAmy AdamsinArrival(2016) and Margot Robbie inBarbie(2023), these are performances that have remained in the collective consciousness, even more than some of the Academy's nominees.
Ahead, find our ranking of the 30 biggest Oscar snubs of all time that still grind our gears.
Audrey Hepburn,My Fair Lady(1964)
Audrey Hepburn bespeaks a plucky elegance that permeates her turn from a "draggle-tail guttersnipe" into a proper English aristocrat. But it was her singing that turned out to be problematic for Oscar voters: Eliza's musical numbers were voiced by Marni Nixon (who also provided uncredited vocals for Natalie Wood's Maria in 1961'sWest Side Story). Resentment also lingered that studio head Jack Warner had given Hepburn the part over the untestedJulie Andrews. Come ceremony time, Andrews took the Oscar forMary Poppins, but Hepburn received a long ovation, proving she still won plenty of hearts.
Denzel Washington,Philadelphia(1993)
It's easy to see this as Tom Hanks' movie. It was his character who was afflicted with AIDS and suffered undue indignities from his employer and colleagues because of it, and Hanks won a well-deserved Oscar for his efforts. ButDenzel Washington, as the ambulance-chasing homophobe, had the harder task. He had to coerce audiences, ever so gently, into realizing that his character represented our own ignorance, and then drag us on his path to enlightenment.
Song Kang-ho,Parasite(2019)
Parasitemade history at the 92nd Academy Awards, becoming the first non-English language film to win Best Picture. The film also collected wins in Best Director for Bong Joon Ho, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Film Editing, but despite having a strong cast that won the Screen Actors Guild ensemble award, it didn't receive any Oscar nominations for acting.Song Kang-ho's omission is most glaring, with the South Korean veteran actor carrying much of the film's emotional weight as a beleaguered father who joins his wife and kids in scamming a rich family. His simmering resentment that boils over into a rage by the film's end is a masterclass in modulation.
Toni Collette,Hereditary(2018)
Toni Collette's Annie Graham is going through it. A miniature artist grieving the death of her mother, Annie suffers another unimaginable loss in her family that frays her nerves beyond the point of repair. As Annie further unravels, supernatural forces threaten to tear her family apart, and Collette uses her elastic face to communicate every bit of terror and anger she's feeling. If this were a more traditional domestic drama about grief, Collette would have been a shoo-in for a nomination, but the Academy's horror bias dinged her in the end.
Gary Oldman,Sid and Nancy(1986)
Playing a junkie/murder suspect/punk-rocker is difficult enough. Playing a murder suspect/punk-rocker with a substance use problem is difficult enough. Playing the most famous murder suspect/punk-rocker with a substance use problem of all time — and selling it — is borderline impossible, butGary Oldmandid just that. As Sex Pistol Sid Vicious, Oldman not only looked and sounded the part, but gave us one of the cinema's most haunting portraits of a rock & roll suicide.
Gene Kelly,Singin' in the Rain(1952)
There is the wonderful comedy ofGene Kelly's acting in Stanley Donen's candied backstage musical — the sun-browned vanity he brings to his turn as a silent-film star. Then there is the cosmic wonder of his dancing: those muscular escapes, that uplifting splash through a downpour. In contrast to Fred Astaire (prince of the effortless glide), Kelly shows you his heartiness and his heart.
Rita Hayworth,Gilda(1946)
She plays a lady with a shady past gone down to Argentina — bad news in the best way. She exudes sex, of course, but also sadistic sarcasm, slimy sweetness, and murderous contempt. She sings "Put the Blame on Mame" and makes it a prancing celebration of the femme fatale. She is unapologetic, and because Rita Hayworth swings her demeanor from the unbearably tense to the devil-may-care, we love her for it.
Gene Tierney,Laura(1944)
Jacoby was in love with her when he painted her portrait. She was worshiped, adored, warm, and vibrant. Quite a buildup for a woman who, for the first 15 minutes of the film that bears her name, exists only as a memory. Logic would dictate that because Laura is extraordinary, she must be played as such. But Gene Tierney's Laura is not a goddess — she's a firmly planted mortal (albeit one with unearthly bone structure), which makes her infinitely more intriguing. She underplays. She seems to speak so softly at times that you have to lean in to catch her lines. It's subtle, career-defining work with as many shadings as the angles of her face.
Robert De Niro,Mean Streets(1973)
Pick any scene from Martin Scorsese's big Little Italy masterpiece: Johnny Boy tossing a bomb in the mailbox and grinning. Or walking into the bar with a woman under each arm and "Jumpin' Jack Flash" on the soundtrack. Or doing an improvised duet with Harvey Keitel. Or swinging wild in a pool-hall brawl. Pick any scene and seeRobert De Niroraw, hardly seeming to act, just behaving with wild charisma.The Godfather Part IIwould put him on the Oscar map a year later — and a year late.
Katharine Hepburn,Bringing Up Baby(1938)
You'd think an actress known for playing witty, strong-willed women might have been tragically miscast as what the movie's trailer described as "a flutter-brained vixen." And you might think that Oscar voters could not have possibly overlooked an eventual 12-time nominee and four-time winner. On both counts, you would be wrong.Katharine Hepburnfits snugly in Howard Hawks' farce as Susan Vance, an impulsive heiress who sets out to snare zoologist David Huxley (Cary Grant) with the help of her pet leopard, Baby. Like the spotted cat, Hepburn is beautiful, cunning, and damn near impossible to tame.
Malcolm McDowell,A Clockwork Orange(1971)
Who knew milk and Beethoven could be so downright disturbing? Throw in a bowler hat and cane, and you have one of cinema's most indelible images of apathetic evil — an image brought to life byMalcolm McDowellin Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece of ultraviolence. But McDowell was more than simply a visual (and virulent) centerpiece. As ruthless hooligan–turned–aversion therapy patient Alex, he ran the emotional gamut — delivering riveting portrayals of both sinister charm and helpless dread.
Rosalind Russell,His Girl Friday(1940)
Perhaps the speediest movie ever made, Howard Hawks' screwball newspaper comedy has dialogue that clocks in at 100 miles per hour.Rosalind Russell's Hildy Johnson says she wants out of the news game; her instincts and Cary Grant's Walter Burns (her ex-boss and ex-husband) say she wants in. Sparring with Grant in close verbal knife fights, working two phones at once as if mechanized, nabbing a witness with a high-stepping stride and a headlong dive, Russell is the most quick-witted of all tough broads — a queen among fast-talking dames.
Donald Sutherland,Ordinary People(1980)
With Mary Tyler Moore playing so wildly against type, and Timothy Hutton hogging the psychiatric spotlight,Donald SutherlandwasOrdinary People's only star ignored by the Oscars. Which is understandable: As the devoted husband and dad in Robert Redford's Best Picture winner, the actor exists in the movie's negative spaces — the ultimate middleman, he's the glue that can't keep the Jarrett clan from coming apart. The thankless role asked Sutherland to pour his heart out as a man who finally dares to confront his unfeeling wife and mourn his cursed sons. The result was hardly ordinary.
Bette Davis,Of Human Bondage(1934)
With hair bleached a garish blond and her saucer eyes rolling insolently at sensitive Philip (Leslie Howard) and his endearments,Bette Davisplays W. Somerset Maugham's caustic cockney waitress at full throttle and without an iota of warmth. It's a turn that invites us to hiss the character while thrilling to the actress' nervy bravado. And though Davis' performance earned her overwhelming praise, she was snubbed by Oscar. The uproar forced the Academy to allow a special write-in ballot. She still lost, but nabbed the gold the next year forDangerous, a win that Davis herself considered a consolation prize.
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Orson Welles,Touch of Evil(1958)
Big as Falstaff, amoral as Harry Lime, imperious as Charles Foster Kane, Hank Quinlan is a sorry chunk of pride. WhenOrson Wellesfirst turns the camera on himself in this border-town noir, his veteran cop comes scowling out of a shadow, sucking on a cigar he will subsequently treat as if it were a candy bar. Or a pacifier. With expert intuition and a willingness to plant evidence, he is a great detective and a lousy cop — as Marlene Dietrich says at the end, "some kind of a man."
Kathleen Turner,Body Heat(1981)
With her smoldering voice, lithe body, and a temperature that runs higher than 100 degrees,Kathleen Turner's Matty Walker embodies the steamy desires of lowlife lawyer Ned Racine (William Hurt). Turner, in her incendiary film debut, drapes Matty in haughty insolence, desperate unattainability, and seductive refinement. With amazing assurance for an actress whose previous work was primarily in daytime soaps, Turner turned up the sexual heat of the classic femme fatale while bowing to her stylish '40s forerunners.
Sidney Poitier,In the Heat of the Night(1967)
As an impeccably dressed Philadelphia police officer picked up for murder in '60s Mississippi,Sidney Poitiermasterfully keeps his character's fury just below the boil, merely hinting at his power when he bellows in response to Rod Steiger's racist sheriff: "They call me Mr. Tibbs!" Steiger nabbed the Best Actor Oscar (Poitier had already gotten one for 1963'sLilies of the Field), but with Poitier's radical, barrier-breaking performance, Hollywood's first Black Academy Award-winning leading man explicitly demanded respect.
Lupita Nyong'o,Us(2019)
A star was truly born whenLupita Nyong'oemerged on the scene, with her soul-baring debut film performance in12 Years a Slave(2013) earning her an Oscar in 2014. Since then, Hollywood hasn't always known what to do with her, but Jordan Peele gave her the role(s) of a lifetime withUs, his second directorial effort. Nyong'o plays Adelaide, a woman trying to enjoy a peaceful vacation with her family until the arrival of a set of doppelgängers in red jumpsuits, who are eager to terrorize her and her family. As her own doppelgänger, Red, Nyong'o is as terrifying as Adelaide is terrified, speaking with a distinctive, hoarse voice that sends a chill up your spine. Equally as chilling is the Academy's silent response to Nyong'o's dual performances, despite her winning numerous critics' prizes that year.
Amy Adams,Arrival(2016)
With six Oscar nominations under her belt, Amy Adams has felt the Academy's love more than most actors working today, but she still feels unacknowledged because of this egregious snub. Adams' work in this sci-fi masterpiece from Denis Villeneuve is a work of lyrical beauty, portraying a linguist who is hired to communicate with an alien species that has recently arrived on Earth. Leading with empathy and grace, Adams brings a measured patience to her performance that doesn't rely on obvious emoting like screaming or crying but is heartfelt nonetheless.Arrivalreceived eight Oscar nominations, but Adams, whomVilleneuve described to EW as the soul of the movie, was shockingly not one of them.
Dennis Hopper,Blue Velvet(1986)
He got a Best Supporting Actor nomination for appearing inHoosiersthe very same year, but theDennis Hoppercharacter most likely to have left a permanent scar on your cerebral cortex is Frank Booth, the profane, fabric-swatch-loving sadist ofBlue Velvet. Before writer-director David Lynch unleashed Frank, we'd never seen a villain inflict quite such a queasy mix of physical, verbal, and sexual abuse on a victim. It's still hard to watch Frank's initial tryst with singer Dorothy Vallens, who, as played by Isabella Rossellini, seems both terrified and turned on. And as Frank swigs Pabst Blue Ribbon and huffs nitrous oxide, it's also hard not to think about Hopper's own struggles with drugs and booze, adding to the tightrope tension.
Marilyn Monroe,Some Like It Hot(1959)
She arrived late on set, flubbed her lines, and deferred to her acting coach, Paula Strasberg, over director Billy Wilder. But she wasMarilyn Monroe. And she was worth it. Sugar Kane, the ukulele-strumming, bourbon-swigging sexpot, is nothing if not pure Marilyn. Her wide-eyed, blissful sensuality is the perfect counterpart to Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon's drag show and confirmed what many already knew from 1955'sThe Seven Year Itch: that Monroe was a gifted comedian who sparkled more vibrantly than all of Sugar's sequined dresses stitched together. When she breathily boop-boop-be-doops in the middle of "I Wanna Be Loved by You," you have to wonder what fool wouldn't wanna be loved by her.
Judy Garland,The Wizard of Oz(1939)
We all knowThe Wizard of Ozis chock-full of heart, brains, and courage, but the girl who made the whole thing dance wasJudy Garland. The 17-year-old had big shoes to fill working alongside older pros like Jack Haley (Tin Man), Ray Bolger (Scarecrow), and Bert Lahr (Lion), but her wide-eyed innocence and powerful voice are what truly brought the film over the rainbow. (They also helped land Garland a specially created Juvenile Award at the 1940 Oscars, a kiddie-table honor that's no longer passed out.) Later in life, Garland would lose her innocence and concentrate more on her singing career. And though she could still light up a screen on occasion (most notably in 1954'sStar Is Born), to find one of cinema's most indelible performances, you must backtrack down the yellow brick road.
John Cazale,The Godfather Part II(1974)
Michael got the brains, Sonny got the brawn, but Fredo — poor, forlorn Fredo — what did he get? Passed over. With Mike (Al Pacino) now in charge, the middle Mafia child is all impotence. The guy can't even betray right. Pitiable, butJohn Cazalenever plays it like that. His Fredo is awkward and sweet, and so very mournful of the old days. When he finally blurts his reasons for turning on his brother, it's with the resentment of a child. "I'm not dumb! I'm smart, and I want respect!" he bellows, wobbling helplessly on a patio chair. Thanks to Cazale, who made just five feature films, all great, before his death at 42, Fredo got the heart.
Susan Sarandon,Bull Durham(1988)
What kind of woman could steal a movie about one of America's most testosterone-filled pastimes, the mustache-adorned, tobacco-spittin', butt-pattin' sport of baseball? The kind of impeccably funny, lust-lidded siren thatSusan Sarandonbecame in this role. With a Southern drawl as comfortable as a well-oiled glove, Sarandon's Annie Savoy takes on the local minor-league franchise's most promising player each season, educating him in love and "life wisdom." Combining smoldering sensuality with a gentle, protective nature, the actress slides without a drop of sweat from advising her charge (Tim Robbins) on the unfastening of garters to the wonders of Walt Whitman.
Margot Robbie,Barbie(2023)
How exactly does one play a doll — let alone the most iconic doll in the world?Margot Robbiehad no easy task as Barbie, a toy living in relative bliss until she's suddenly unmoored by an existential crisis. As Barbie sets out to the real world to meet her owner, Robbie delicately modulates her performance from a carefree life in plastic to an emotionally mature woman, curious about humanity. Her omission amongBarbie's eight Oscar nominations suggests she made it look way easier than it was.
Samuel L. Jackson,Jungle Fever(1991)
Spike Lee's inner-city melodrama is ostensibly about an affair between African American architect Flipper (Wesley Snipes) and Italian American secretary Angela (Annabella Sciorra), butSamuel L. Jacksonsteals the movie as Flipper's brother with a drug problem, Gator. In just five scenes, Jackson (who had completed real-life drug rehab mere months before filming) beams a lifetime of hurt and rage through his eyes. Wheedling money from his doormat of a mother (Ruby Dee) and tragically menacing his fallen-pastor father (Ossie Davis) with a devilish dance, Jackson fearlessly conjures his character's inner demons.
Ingrid Bergman,Casablanca(1943)
WhenIngrid Bergmanwalks into Rick's Cafe, her Ilsa is "the most beautiful woman ever to visit Casablanca." She pulls us in with a simmering-below-the-surface eroticism and an un-Hollywood freshness that makes her seem earthbound and attainable. And like all great screen actors, she made the camera an accomplice. Watch her face, held in a tight, caressing close-up, as Dooley Wilson's Sam first sings "As Time Goes By." A lesser actress might have overemoted, but Bergman restricts expression to a minimum and just lets the camera play across that gorgeous profile. It's one of those wonderfully mysterious moments when an actor, seemingly by doing nothing, lets us imagine everything.
Cary Grant,The Philadelphia Story(1940)
When Cary Grant dashed off his dashing lines, his verbal aggression could seem driven by neurosis and his voice by the crack of a silken whip.The Philadelphia Storyis about a romance between Katharine Hepburn and Jimmy Stewart, and about Grant — as the odd man out — being uncommonly needy. His C.K. Dexter Haven is more desperate than his man on the run inNorth by Northwest. Rather cruel, rather too cool, he wears his sophistication as if it were armor. It is rare to find Cary Grant heartbroken, and rarer yet to find an actor who can seem terribly lonely and still find romance a jolly game.
Anthony Perkins,Psycho(1960)
"We all go a little mad sometimes." No one can speak lines like that today without reflexively resorting to "the psycho stutter" or "the psycho stare." Such unnaturalness is only natural — after decades of serial-killer movies, we share a template for knife-wielding villains.Anthony Perkins, the pioneer, had no such roadmap. For him, the tics were organic: He approached Norman Bates as a character, not a trope. His murderous, mother-lovin' motelier is plenty creepy, but it's Perkins' disarming, oddball lack of self-consciousness that makes you believe Janet Leigh wouldn't take off down the highway after one look into those beady, birdlike eyes.
Jimmy Stewart,Vertigo(1958)
For great swaths of his career,Jimmy Stewartplayed wholesome, aw-shucks kinds of fellows who stood knock-kneed before women. That's why he remains such a revelation as Scottie Ferguson, the acrophobic, borderline-necrophilic detective ofVertigo. Stewart's Scottie is sympathetic as he becomes attracted to an unfaithful wife he's hired to tail. He's moving when he witnesses her apparent death. He's creepy when he finds another woman he wants to make over in his dead amour's image. And he's genuinely frightening when he discovers his love object may have betrayed him — all sweaty rants and shaking-hand-across-the-lip fury. Nothing gee-whiz about it.
Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly
Since their inception in 1929, theAcademy Awardshave honored some of the best performances in movie history. But with on...
