7 Days Until Oscar. Best Actress & Best Actor as a Package Deal
Sunday, February 19, 2017 at 11:41AM We're but one week from Hollywood's High Holy Night! With the magic number 7 today let's look at the 7 films which produced matching his & hers Oscars. This is, as you can surmise from the low number, an uncommon occurence! This rare feat requires so many perfect elements to be in place. Just being an iconic movie couple doesn't remotely cut it (notice how Gone With the Wind, Bonnie & Clyde, and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf don't appear to cite three quick examples) as it almost always requires two narratives beyond 'loving the film' as well as the absence of a formidable opponent without their own powerhouse narrative in not one but two separate categories.
Here are the 7 films which managed to win both lead acting Oscars...
It Happened One Night (1934) Clark Gable & Claudette Colbert
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) Jack Nicholson & Louise Fletcher
Network (1976) Peter Finch & Faye Dunaway
Coming Home (1978) Jon Voight & Jane Fonda
On Golden Pond (1981) Henry Fonda & Katharine Hepburn
Silence of the Lambs (1991) Jodie Foster & Anthony Hopkins
As Good As It Gets (1997) Jack Nicholson & Helen Hunt
Related Statistics....
• Interesting that romantic dramas aren't represented as well as you might expect in that his & hers list -- but that's because it's very hard for leading men to win for roles that are primarily romantic in nature.
• The last film to manage this package deal win was 20 whole years ago now. Coincidentally As Good As It Gets was the only one of the seven films to achieve this that missed a nomination in what's known as "The Big Five" (pic/dir/actress/actor/screenplay) as it wasn't nominated for Best Director.
• Only three films have ever won 'The Big Five': It Happened One Night (1934), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), and The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
• Jack Nicholson is the only actor to appear twice on this list... though Clark Gable and Katharine Hepburn probably came close to being in two winning pairs as well with Clark missing the lead win for Gone With the Wind for 1939 and Hepburn's co-star Peter O'Toole also probably narrowly missing the lead win for The Lion in Winter for 1968. But then Nicholson has multiple chances to make this happen. Half of his leading man nominations came with a nominated Best Actress co-star
• There's only one near-miss for His & Hers Leading Oscars since As Good As It Gets. That film was inarguably American Beauty (Bening would surely have joined Kevin Spacey on the podium given her SAG win had Hillary Swank not shocked everyone with her tremendous work as trans man Brandon Teena in Boys Don't Cry). Had Fences campaigned both of its leads in lead this year it might have had a solid shot at joining these seven films but the only film this year that could do it is La La Land. That would require a shocking Best Actor win for Ryan Gosling, though.
Do you have any observations about this list? Which of these winning pairs do you love most?
Reader Comments (29)
I would replace Hepburn and Fonda (On a Golden Pond) for Lancaster and Sarandon (Atlantic City).
Also Leaving Las Vegas and Blue Valentine would be his & hers on my watch. To think that Gosling wasn't even nominated
I've seen 4 of the 7 and the most I love is The Silence of the Lambs. I know Hopkins has very little screentime, but he really FEELS like a lead. Once you saw him, he's everywhere in your mind. What a character.
And I really like Helen Hunt and Jack Nicholson. Hunt's performance isn't "light" at all. She plays a very though woman, who has a sick son and has to handle this "psycho" with courage and a sharp tongue, until they fall in love with each other.
Trivia: everytime Nicholson won an Oscar, his female co-star did too. Astonishing!
It happened one night was fine and I ilke One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, but Louise Fletcher didn't feel like a lead to me, unlike Hopkins.
Also, every time Nicholson won an Oscar his co-star won Best Actress (not only Fletcher and Hunt but also Shirley Maclaine for "Terms Of Endearment").
Funny how it took 41 years to have a second couple achieve this feat and then it happened four times in seven years.
My favorite "near his-hers" would be Penn and Sarandon in Dead Man Walking".
As a pair my favorite is, by far, Foster and Hopkins, although if Holden had gotten the Oscar instead of Finch, he and Dunaway would be my favorites (not knocking Finch at all - Network is great in almost every possible way - I just don't think of Finch and Dunaway as a pair).
Only one of these paired wins has happened while I've followed the Oscars closely, and although it was 20 years ago, I still really, really, really wish Helena Bonham Carter would have won for The Wings of the Dove.
Does that mean Wiig wins for the Tony Erdmann remake.
2 Romantic Comedies (It Happened One Night, As Good as It Gets), 2 Romantic Dramas (Coming Home, On Golden Pond), 3 Other. Sounds about right.
Nathaniel: You are on fire with your trivia at the moment!
I've seen all of these pairs except for Voight/Fonda.
You say that romantic dramas aren't as represented as we might think, and that that is due to Oscar's bias against men in romantic roles, but three of these are romances - Gable, Fonda and Nicholson (in As Good...).
The stat about Nicholson winning alongside his female co-star each time is a great thing. People sometimes think of Nicholson as a hammy scenery-chewer, which I guess translates into 'self-centred', but really he's one of the most generous actors in terms of how he interacts with his scene partners.
ScottC is right to say that Finch and Dunaway don't really feel like a pair. They barely share any moments in the film. Dunaway shares her scenes primarily with Holden, Duvall and the Ecumenical Liberation Army (excellent!), while Finch shares more time with Holden, Duvall and Beatty. The true pairings are Gable/Colbert, Nicholson/Fletcher, Fonda/Hepburn, Nicholson/Hunt and, I'm guessing, Voight/Fonda. I can't quite count Foster/Hopkins, because, even though they share a lot of scenes (most of Hopkins'), the sizes of their roles are so different from each other. Twenty-five years later and I still can't decide if I think Hopkins is lead or supporting. The argument about impact is persuasive, and in other films I would argue the same about borderline cases (I even think Janet Leigh should have been considered as a lead in Psycho), but I can't quite square it with Hopkins. Hopkins winning Supporting Actor and Nolte winning Actor that year would feel like the neater fit.
If it had been up to me, Annie Hall would join this list - which would mean it would also join the Big Five list.
Swank's Million Dollar Baby win would feel justified had she lost for Boys Don't Cry.
I second the Annie Hall suggestion. Having Diane Keaton and Woody Allen win his-and-hers Oscars for that film feels correct, and warranted. (I'd say the same for Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando for A Streetcar Named Desire and Elisabeth Shue and Nicolas Cage for Leaving Las Vegas.)
Among the seven, only It Happened One Night, Network, and The Silence of the Lambs are unimpeachable. (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is debatable.)
As much as I love Annette Bening, imagine if Hilary Swank didn't win for Boys Don't Cry. Would such a powerhouse performance's losing feel as egregious as, say, Judy Garland (A Star Is Born) or Heath Ledger (Brokeback Mountain)? Methinks so.
P.S. I personally would love to see Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling win his-and-hers Oscars next week. What a treat that would be!
It really must be only 7 days till Oscar because I find myself entertaining unlikely scenarios like Gosling winning for La La Land, just to shake up the predictability. But Gosling-Stone would make sense in the big picture, wouldn't they? La La Land winning the "big 5" as part of the sweep we know is coming?
Unlike seemingly most people I don't remotely dislike Hilary Swank. But my god I can't believe Bening didn't win that Oscar in 1999. Even if you don't love American Beauty (in which case, what's wrong with you? An allergy to great dialogue, great acting or great photography?) - her work in it is just transcendent.
Goran, in my opinion it is one of her worst performances in an overrated film. The best things about it are Cooper and Janney. Otherwise pretty much non-stop ugh.
1985 had two worthy films that could've taken this rare distinction: Mask and The Purple Rose of Cairo. Both duets––Cher & Stoltz and Farrow & Daniels––were brilliant.
2 other movies I would've been thrilled if they had won both Best Actor and Best Actress are Moulin Rouge! and A Woman Under the Influence.
A very cool list though to be honest I wouldn’t have handed these wins to any of the pairs in these years. How odd that four of these pairing happened within a six year period.
Gable & Colbert are wonderful in It Happened One Night but William Powell should have taken actor & Bette Davis actress (though had Myrna Loy been nominated for Thin Man as she should have been than she and Powell should have been the first pair to stand together as lead winners.)
In ’75 Al Pacino should have taken actor for Dog Day Afternoon and Isabelle Adjani for The Story of Adele H.
In ’76 it should have been Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver, even though I hate that film his performance is astonishing. Actress should have gone to Sissy Spacek’s knockout work in Carrie.
In ’78 of the actual nominees Voight was a worthy winner, though I would have rather seen the un-nominated Brad Davis take it for Midnight Express. But there’s no way Ingrid Bergman shouldn’t have taken the actress prize for Autumn Sonata.
In ’81 there should have been a pair of lead Oscars from one of the nominated films just not the ones that won. Burt Lancaster & Susan Sarandon belonged up there from the nominees. Though my actual winners would have been the un-nominated pair of Harrison Ford in Raiders of the Lost Ark and Kathleen Turner in Body Heat.
Anthony Hopkins should definitely have won in ’81 but despite the fact that he is a pervasive presence in Silence of the Lambs there’s no way his screen time adds up to anything more than supporting. Nick Nolte should have taken the lead, Prince of Tides is a messy movie but he’s very strong. Since Sarandon and Geena Davis split the vote Jodie Foster is deserving even if I’d would have rather seen Reese Witherspoon’s unacknowledged phenomenal work awarded for her in The Man in the Moon.
Now to my least favorite winning duo and the one that completely puzzles me that nominations let along wins were even awarded. As Good As It Gets is a piece of whiny garbage and those two performances are some of the worst wins in their respective categories. While my choice for best actor, Russell Crowe wasn’t nominated it would have been great to see Peter Fonda be awarded for his career best work in Ulee’s Gold. As for actress I’m torn between Judi Dench in Mrs. Brown and Helena Bonham Carter in Wings of the Dove but either would have been a miles better decision than Helen Hunt.
If Woody Allen had won in 77 and Annette Bening in 99, then we'd also have 2 more additions to the "Big 5" club. Annie Hall definitely would fit there, not so sure about American Beauty.
Network should have easily won The Big Five. It's so weird to see 3 acting winners from a movie whose characters barely even interact with each other, if ever really. Finch, Dunaway and Straight's characters' narratives are very closely related but they almost never shared a scene as far as I can remember. In fact, they mostly shared the scene with Holden!
That said, my favorite is still Starling and Lecter. Straight up iconic..
Both Fondas. Great genes. They look like a good match with anyone.
It seems we won't get one of those package deals any time soon. I still haven't processed the consecutive snubs of Trintignant, Courtenay and Edgerton.
I hope that when JLaw wind her second Oscar, Cooper will winnhis first, too. O. Russell wins screenplay, directing and picture nd we have a big five!
Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway should have won together in 1974 for Chinatown, which should have won the "Big Five" and then some. Nicholson should have repeated with Fletcher in 1975, but 1976 should have been DeNiro and either Ullmann or Spacek.
I'll b happy if LLL sweeps the big four, Gosling will b such a nice surprise! 😀, but pls leave the screenplay to Lonergan. If thr's only one win for Manchester, let it be this one.
Swank IS the best actress in 1999 n her win is truly deserving! Bening shld've won for Being Julia. Period.
@Claran: YES, Bening in BEING JULIA over Swank in MILLION DOLLAR BABY. A fantastic performance in a movie that was conventional but really entertaining.
I think Walk the Line also probably got close-ish (and would've won both) if it hadn't been for Capote.
ken s: NO. Pacino in 74, Nicholson in 75, but for The Passenger, still Finch in 76 (sorry, but making THAT feel natural is what a Lead Acting win should, ideally, be made of, not mumbly-logues in New York about how you're disgusted about everything happening around you and you think murder is the best solution.)
joel6: I don't get hating Taxi Driver as a movie (the thing IS well made and you're supposed to, ultimately, hate Bickle (not at first, but if you don't by the end, something is deeply wrong with you), but I kind of resent Taxi Driver, the cultural artifact, represented by John Hinckley Jr.
A Streetcar Named Desire should have been the only film ever to win all 4 acting categories. Brando should have beat out Bogart, who should have won in 1943, for Casablanca.
I just love the ex-post-facto musical-chair game. For instance:
* If Liz Taylor had won for either Cat on a Hot Tin Roof or Suddenly, Last Summer, she wouldn't have won in 1960 for Butterfly 8 and Deborah Kerr finally would have had her much deserved Oscar for The Sundowners.
* 1999: Denzel Washinton (The Hurricane) instead of Kevin Spacey (American Beauty).
* 2000: Ed Harris (Pollack) instead of Russel Crowe (Gladiator).
* 2001: Russell Crowe (A Beautiful Mind) instead of Denzel Washington (Training Day).
Who come out losing in this reshuffling? Kevin Spacey in American Beauty.
If Annette Bening had won Best Supporting Actress for The Grifters (my personal choice, but no match for Goldberg's star turn in Ghost) something tells me she'd have a second Best Actress Oscar by now. Sometimes actresses break the ice and then can't stop winning awards—see Jessica Lange.
Marcos: I don't agree with that. Lead Actress, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress? Yes. Lead Actor: I'm a Kirk Douglas in Ace in the Hole boy that year. I'd give Brando 2 wins on 6 noms (Streetcar, On the Waterfront*, Guys and Dolls, One-Eyed Jacks, The Godfather*, Superman) the same ones that got him his Oscars.
In regards to Network. Dunaway, Finch and Straight have NO scenes together in any combo. William Holden is the only link between the three .
Also Hopkins & Finch were defiantly leads in their films
Their characters were just too epic and lingering after the films were over. Plus their scenes were so spread out during the films it seemed like a lead.
*** Foster and Hopkins were such a quid pro quo (sorry I had to) that it just didn't seam right that right for Hopkins to get the boot to supporting.
I participated at AD's predict the Oscars contest, honestly thinking what will win in each category, separatedly and it came to me as a shock that the perception is that "La La Land" will end winning 11 Oscars and probably is closer to a Gosling upset at Lead than expected.
And despite I don't think he deserves even the nom. for La La Land, I think that he was great enough in The Nice Guys to make up for this mistake of a nom.
I wasn't much in shock by picking Patel over Ali and Hidden Figures over Moonlight in Screenplay... I'm increasingly thinking that despite last minute buzz, Moonlight is going to end completely emptyhanded and the internet will soar for weeks, making "La La Land" - deservingly - one of the all-time-most-hated-Best-Picture-winners, along with Crash or to a lesser extent, A Beautiful Mind