Since I'm on record as being annoyed that all anyone cares about is the EGOT and since Steve asked in the comments of the Emmy post-mortem about my preferred obsession (The Triple Crown of Acting) to date only 21 actors* have accomplished this, two of them within this very calendar year (Dame Helen Mirren and Frances McDormand). Of course this has become more commonplace than it used to be given that actors no longer feel like they should be solely a movie star, or solely a tv actor, or only a thespian of the stage. With more and more people willing to do all three, sometimes consistently, these ranks will likely swell in another 20 years.
Currently the rarified list of actors who've won The Tony, The Oscar and The Emmy for their acting reads like so...
Frances McDormand is your latest Triple Crown Winner. From Fargo (1996) to Good People (2011) to Olive Kitteridge (2014)
- Jack Albertson (Tony: 65, Oscar: 69, Emmy: 75)
- Anne Bancroft (Tony: 58, Oscar: 63, Emmy: 99)
- Ingrid Bergman (Oscar: 45, Tony: 47, Emmy: 60)
Our Ingrid Bergman Centennial was fun wasn't it? You're welcome. Ingrid is the youngest performance to complete the trinity at age 45. - Shirley Booth (Tony: 49, Oscar: 53, Emmy: 62)
- Ellen Burstyn (Oscar: 75, Tony: 77, Emmy: 09)
- Melvyn Douglas (Tony: 60, Oscar: 64, Emmy: 68)
Did you know that this Hud star was Illeanna Douglas's grandfather? I certainly didn't. - Helen Hayes (Oscar: 32, Tony 47, Emmy: 53)
(Though IMDb does not state what her Emmy was for so who knows if she's a special case or not) - Jeremy Irons (Tony: 84, Oscar: 91, Emmy: 97)
- Frances McDormand (Oscar: 97, Tony: 11, Emmy: 15)
The most recent inductee to this hall of fame. - Helen Mirren (Emmy: 96, Oscar: 07, Tony: 15)
And yes she won all three for playing Queens named Elizabeth! Though she has multiple Emmys so she's won for other roles, too. - Thomas Mitchell (Oscar: 40, Tony: 53, Emmy: 53)
- Rita Moreno (Oscar: 62, Tony: 75, Emmy: 77)
The second youngest to the Triple. She was 46 when she completed it with the Emmy for The Muppet Show - Al Pacino (Tony: 69, Oscar: 93, Emmy: 04)
- Christopher Plummer (Tony: 74, Emmy: 77, Oscar: 12)
- Vanessa Redgrave (Oscar: 78, Emmy: 81, Tony: 03)
- Jason Robards (Tony: 59, Oscar: 77, Emmy: 88)
- Geoffrey Rush (Oscar: 97, Emmy: 05, Tony: 09)
- Paul Scofield (Tony: 62, Oscar: 67, Emmy: 69)
The youngest male actor to the Triple. He was 47 when he completed it with the Emmy for Male of the Species - Maggie Smith (Oscar: 70, Tony: 90, Emmy: 03)
- Maureen Stapleton (Tony: 51, Emmy: 68, Oscar: 82)
- Jessica Tandy (Tony: 78, Emmy: 88, Oscar: 90)
Weird Statistic
The Emmy, which seems like the easiest to win since they have so many damn categories, is actually won last by the majority of Triple Crowners. How about that?
Eddie Redmayne is very young to have already won two of the big threeWho do you think will join the list next?
Of currently working stars Viola Davis, Cicely Tyson, Neil Patrick Harris, Ellen Barkin, Hugh Jackman and Bryan Cranston are just missing the Oscar which is obviously the hardest to win.
Overachiever Glenn Close has three Tonys and three Emmys but (sigh) zero Oscars. Kevin Spacey, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Dame Judi Dench, Denzel Washington and Marcia Gay Harden are just missing the Emmy. The youngest immediate threats are Anne Hathaway and Eddie Redmayne: she is only 32 and just needs a Tony; he is only 33 and just needs an Emmy... though he isn't currently doing any TV so the Triple Crown will probably have to wait.
And get this: Sally Field, Meryl Streep, Jessica Lange, Dianne Wiest and Jane Fonda who all have won multiple Oscars and multiple Emmys are all just missing the Tony though they've all worked the Broadway stage!
Depressing Three-Medium Stats: Sir Ian McKellen, a hugely lauded thespian has only won the Tony despite Oscar & Emmy nominations. The gifted Sarah Paulson who works all three mediums with regularity has not won any of the prizes and has only been Emmy-nominated. The Lovely Laura Linney, another regular three-medium threat has only won the Emmy despite multiple Tony and Oscar nominations. Marisa Tomei who works all three has only won the Oscar with no Tony or Emmy honors. Martha Plimptonwho does all three (though movies only occasionally) has only won the Emmy but has at least been nominated for multiple Tonys. Kathleen Turner who only occasionally does TV (unthinkably her work on Friends did not even win her a Guest Actress nomination) but used to be a huge movie star has been nominated for the Oscars and Grammys (once) and the Tonys (twice) but has yet to win any of the big showbiz awards beyond her two Golden Globes. Annette Bening has NONE of the top three prizes despite being nominated for all. The strange thing is that though she now regularly does stage work, she does not do it on Broadway. She could win a Tony if she came back!
* Special Cases: Notable superstars like Judy Garland (her Oscar was a non-competitive juvenile Oscar), Liza Minnelli (her Emmy was for a televised concert), Barbra Streisand (her Tony was a special award) and Whoopi Goldberg (her Emmy was not a Primetime Emmy which is all that people usually refer to when they talk about winning Emmys) won all three statues but they did not win them all in regular competitive categories or for performances exactly so they are special cases.