List-Mania: Glenda Jackson & Lots of Triple-Crown Acting Trivia
Tuesday, June 12, 2018 at 12:19PM This is a update/reworking of two previous posts about Triple Crowns!
Glenda Jackson is the oldest performer (82) to complete the Triple Crown
Since I'm on record as being annoyed that all anyone cares about is the EGOT it's time to celebrate our preferred obsession: The Triple Crown of Acting. That's when a performer manages the Emmy, Oscar, and Tony for acting. To date only 24* actors have accomplished this, with Glenda Jackson being the most recent recipient as of this past Sunday night at the Tony Awards. Triple Crowns have become much more commonplace in the 21st century since actors move much more fluidly through the three mediums than they did in before the turn of the century. TV has totally lost its stigma for movie stars and Broadway is more welcome to very short runs freeing major stars up to continue with their movie and TV careers without as much scheduling trauma. A TRUCKLOAD OF TRIVIA AFTER THE JUMP...
ALL THE TRIPLE CROWNERS
Note: We use film years for Oscar so don't try to correct us on dates -- Emmy and Tony don't run on January to December calendar so the dates coincide with the ceremony!
- Jack Albertson (Tony: 65, Oscar: 68, Emmy: 75)
- Anne Bancroft (Tony: 58, Oscar: 62, Emmy: 99)
- Ingrid Bergman (Oscar: 44, Tony: 47, Emmy: 60)
Ingrid is the youngest to complete the triple -she did it by 45 years of age. - Shirley Booth (Tony: 49, Oscar: 52, Emmy: 62)
- Ellen Burstyn (Oscar: 74, Tony: 77, Emmy: 09)
- Viola Davis (Tony: 01, Emmy: 15, Oscar: 16)
- Melvyn Douglas (Tony: 60, Oscar: 63, Emmy: 68)
Did you know that this Hud star was Illeanna Douglas's grandfather? I certainly didn't. - Helen Hayes (Oscar: 31, Tony 47, Emmy: 53)
IMDb does not state what her Emmy was for so who knows if she's a special case or not. We recently discussed her second Oscar win in Airport. - Jeremy Irons (Tony: 84, Oscar: 90, Emmy: 97)
- Glenda Jackson (Oscar: 70, Emmy: 72, Tony: 18)
The oldest triple crowner and also the one who took by far the longest to complete it --it took her almost half a century! - Jessica Lange (Oscar: 82, Emmy: 09, Tony: 16)
- Frances McDormand (Oscar: 96, Tony: 11, Emmy: 15)
- Helen Mirren (Emmy: 96, Oscar: 06, 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: 39, Tony: 53, Emmy: 53)
- Rita Moreno (Oscar: 61, Tony: 75, Emmy: 77)
The second youngest to the Triple. She was 46 when she completed it with the Emmy for The Muppet Show. She was also the first person of color to complete the triple. - Al Pacino (Tony: 69, Oscar: 92, Emmy: 04)
- Christopher Plummer (Tony: 74, Emmy: 77, Oscar: 11)
- Vanessa Redgrave (Oscar: 77, Emmy: 81, Tony: 03)
- Jason Robards (Tony: 59, Oscar: 76, Emmy: 88)
- Geoffrey Rush (Oscar: 96, Emmy: 05, Tony: 09)
- Paul Scofield (Tony: 62, Oscar: 66, Emmy: 69)
The youngest male to Triple. He was 47 when he completed it with the Emmy for Male of the Species - Maggie Smith (Oscar: 69, Tony: 90, Emmy: 03)
- Maureen Stapleton (Tony: 51, Emmy: 68, Oscar: 81)
- Jessica Tandy (Tony: 78, Emmy: 88, Oscar: 89)
Weird Statistic
The Emmy, which seems like the easiest to win since they have so many categories, is actually won last by the majority of Triple Crowners! How about that?
WHO DO YOU THINK WILL JOIN THE LIST NEXT?
Only missing the Oscar which is obviously the hardest to win!:
(number of Oscar nominations *acting only* in parentheses)
Jane Alexander (4), Mary Alice (0), Christine Baranski (0), Ellen Barkin (0), Stockard Channing (1), Kristin Chenowith (0), Glenn Close (6), Bryan Cranston (1), Tyne Daly (0), Blythe Danner (0), Dick Van Dyke (0), Laurence Fishburne (1), Neil Patrick Harris (0), Rosemary Harris (1), George Hearn (0), Judd Hirsch (1), Hal Holbrook (1), Cherry Jones (0), Shirley Knight (2), Swoosie Kurtz (0), Anthony LaPaglia (0), John Larroquette (0), Ron Leibman (0), John Lithgow (2), Laurie Metcalf (1), Debra Monk (0), Michael Moriarty (0), Bebe Neuwirth (0), Cynthia Nixon (0), Mary-Louise Parker (0), Mandy Patinkin (0), David Hyde Pierce (0), Amanda Plummer (0), Diana Rigg (0), Tony Shalhoub (0), Cicely Tyson (1), and Jeffrey Wright (0)
Only missing the Tony:
(number of Tony nominations in parentheses. If they haven't done any theater in New York in the last 25 years they have an x after the parentheses... the people with an x will never triple crown because they never do Broadway or stopped doing it after becoming famous or retired from acting or whatnot)
Patricia Arquette (0)x, Kathy Bates (1)x, Halle Berry (0)x, Michael Douglas (0)x, Faye Dunaway (0)x, Sally Field (1), Jane Fonda (2), Louis Gossett Jr (0), Anne Hathaway (0), Dustin Hoffman (1), Anthony Hopkins (0)x, Helen Hunt (0), Holly Hunter (0), Allison Janney (2), Tommy Lee Jones (0)x, Nicole Kidman (0), Cloris Leachman (0)x, Melissa Leo (0), Julianne Moore (0), Gwyneth Paltrow (0)x, Eva Marie Saint (0)x, Meryl Streep (1), Dame Emma Thompson (0)x, Dianne Wiest (0), Kate Winslet (0)x, and Joanne Woodward (0)x
Only missing the Emmy:
(number of Emmy *acting only* nominations in parentheses)
Dame Judi Dench (3), Joel Grey (1), Marcia Gay Harden (2), Kevin Kline (2), Eddie Redmayne (0), Mercedes Ruehl (0), Mark Rylance (1), Kevin Spacey (6), Denzel Washington (0), and Catherine Zeta-Jones (0)
NOTE: Anne Hathaway (35) and Eddie Redmayne (36) will break the "youngest to a triple crown" record if they manage to win their last of the big three prizes in the next nine years.
DEPRESSING THREE MEDIUM STATS
Annette Bening and Sigourney Weaver are the only living female performers with nominations in all three fields of acting without ever winning ANY of them. ARGH! On the male side of the equation the same is true of Mark Ruffalo and Ed Harris. Shaking my damn head! (Kathleen Turner and Jude Law are almost in a similar boat having delivered stellar work in all three mediums with only 1 measly Oscar nomination and 2 Tony nominations to show for it in Turner's case, and 2 measly Oscar nominations and 2 Tony nominations in Jude's case. It still horrifies us that Turner didn't get at least an Emmy nomination for her indelible work on Friends as Chandler's dad.)
Naturally those are some of our very favorite actors. The 'business we call show' loves to torture us!
Sarah Paulson, Patricia Clarkson, Mare Winningham, The Lovely Laura Linney, Marisa Tomei, Martha Plimpton and Joan Allen -- a seismic group of women as far as talent goes -- all work all three mediums regularly but only have the Emmy or the Oscar of the three key prizes.
TONY-WIN ONLY THOUGH THEY DO NOTABLE TV/FILM WORK
Bernadette Peters & Angela Lansbury
Multiple Tonys and Other Showbiz Nominations
Matthew Broderick (2 Tonys, 1 Emmy nomination), Brian Dennehy (2 Tonys and 6 Emmy nominations), Judith Ivey (2 Tonys and 1 Emmy nomination), Nathan Lane (3 Tonys, 6 Emmy nominations), Frank Langella (4 Tonys, 1 Oscar nomination, 1 Emmy nomination), Angela Lansbury (5 Tonys, 3 Oscar nominations and 1 Honorary Oscar, 18 Emmy nominations), Judith Light (2 Tonys, 3 Emmy nominations), Patti LuPone (2 Tonys and 1 Emmy nomination), and Bernadette Peters (2 Tonys and 2 Emmy nominations)
Single Tonys and Other Showbiz Nominations
Joan Allen (Tony + 3 Oscar nominations, 2 Emmy nominations), Blair Brown (1 Tony and 5 Emmy nominations), Diahann Carroll (Tony + 4 Emmy nominations and 1 Oscar nomination), Stephen Dillane (Tony + 1 Emmy nomination), Andrew Garfield (Tony + 1 Oscar nomination) John Benjamin Hickey (Tony + 1 Emmy nomination) Sir Ian Holm (Tony + 1 Oscar nomination, 2 Emmy nominations), Jane Krakowski (Tony + 5 Emmy nominations), Sir Ian McKellen (Tony + 2 Oscar nominations, 5 Emmy nominations), Janet McTeer (Tony + 2 Oscar nominations, 1 Emmy nomination), Brían F O'Byrne (Tony + 1 Emmy nomination), Denis O'Hare (Tony+ and 3 Emmy nominations), Sophie Okonedo (Tony + 1 Oscar nomination), Phylicia Rashad (Tony + 3 Emmy nominations), Liev Schreiber (Tony + 6 Emmy nominations), and B.D. Wong (Tony + 1 Emmy nomination).
When is Sutton Foster going to be Emmy nominated? She's already deserved nominations for two separate series: Bunheads and Younger.
Multiple Tony Honors ONLY despite notable work on TV and/or in film
Jennifer Ehle (2 Tonys), Boyd Gaines (4 Tonys), Sutton Foster (2 Tonys), and Donna Murphy (2 Tonys)
Single Tonys only. Though they've done notable work on TV and/or in film they've yet to receive Emmy or Oscar nominations
Billy Crudup, Harriet Sansom Harris, Bill Irwin, Scarlett Johansson, Robert Sean Leonard, Tracy Letts (1 Tony for acting -- his other awards are for writing) and Anika Noni Rose
SPECIAL CASES
* Notable legends 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), James Earl Jones (his Oscar is an honorary) and Whoopi Goldberg (her Emmy was not a Primetime Emmy which is all that people usually refer to when they talk about winning Emmys) have all three statues but they did not win them all in regular competitive categories or for acting.
If Bette Midler, Andrea Martin, Lily Tomlin, Hugh Jackman , Philip Bosco, Helen Gallagher, Cynthia Erivo or Audra McDonald wins an Oscar or Julie Andrews or Cher win a Tony they would join this "special cases" list since not all of their prizes were for acting per se or were not Primetime Emmys or whatnot. (Lin-Manuel Miranda is far more of a threat for the EGOT -- which you can win without acting and he just needs the Oscar to complete that. He currently has 3 Grammys, 3 Tonys, and 1 Emmy but none of those statues were for acting)
Reader Comments (60)
Maybe Anne Bancroft should have an asterisk beside it because she won an Emmy in 1970 for her special Annie - The Women in the Life of a Man. She won it as the star of the special along with the two producers. So while she didn't win it in an acting category, she did win it for acting. Does it count? Discuss
And if yes, she did it at the age of 39, making her the youngest triple crown winner ever!
Nathaniel, I LOVE that you keep track of the Triple Crown. Thank you for your great work, as always.
My guess is Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield both join this list before their careers are over. And Eddie Redmayme will definitely win an Emmy one day.
Also, Denzel will win an automatic Emmy if he does a premium cable miniseries.
Cynthia Erivo also would be counted as one of those special cases if she wins an Oscar, as she was awarded a Daytime Emmy for musical performance on a daytime talk show.
I think you missed Cher in the "Missing a Tony." She has an Oscar, Emmy, and a Grammy. She needs a Tony. She could win one next June '19 as a producer of "The Cher show." Does it count if she wins a Tony as a producer?
Sorry, picky point: you say you use the film year for Oscar (as do I - it's the only way to go!) but on the above list you've used the ceremony year instead, no?
I can't believe someone like Eddie Redmayne will be joining such a fabulous legendary group.
Hi you forgot Julianne Moore in the list of people without a Tony. Which is like a big miss for you, no?
It always stuns me that Marsha Mason has never been nominated for a Tony considering how often she's done theater through the years. She'd join Bening if she could still pull it off, and would join Lynn Redgrave if she was nominated/lost as she's also a Grammy nominee.
You missed Kathy Bates, Patricia Arquette, Helen Hunt and Gwyneth Paltrow on the "missing Tony" list.
Dear God, what an exhaustive research project! Incredible work, thank you!
Whenever I ponder travesties in awards losses, Julie Andrews tops my list. How can this brilliant performer not have a Tony for either of her two iconic Broadway roles? Sigh.
John T.--that always shocks me as well.
Streep will win that Tony eventually.
Glenn Close will be the next triple crowner , and that will happen very , very soon!
DAME Emma Thompson. That made me all tingly happy to read.
There's been so much coverage of Turner lately for that NYC cabaret thing. I realized that I hadn't seen any of her major performances.
So in two days I watched Romancing the Stone, War of the Roses and Peggy Sue Got Married. Body Heat is next!
I think Anne Hathaway is most likely to join next. Or Glenn (fingers crossed). I’d love to see Julianne Moore win a Tony but I think I saw an interview where she talks about not liking stage work? Or maybe Eddie R, Catherine ZJ or Denzel? I think we can count Spacey out for sure.
IMDB doesn't identify Hayes' Emmy-winning role because the award didn't identify one. This was only the 5th annual Emmy Awards, and at this point, the acting awards were simply "Best Actor" and "Best Actress," with no particular role or performance specified. The award was given for the year's body of work, which may or may not have involved more than one role/performance.
That changed the next year, when lead and supporting categories were created (though there was still only a single award for each, with no division between comedy and drama), and nominations identified the specific series for which the performer was being lauded.
Interestingly, the supporting categories that year specified "actor/actress," while the lead category was "best male/female star," and not all of the nominations were for acting; Dinah Shore was nominated for "best female star" for hosting a variety show. It wasn't until the 7th (1955) awards that all of the acting categories were actually identified as "actor/actress."
(This has been far more than you probably wanted to know about early Emmy history.)
Stockard Channing also just needs an Oscar for the Triple Crown. Shes pretty much a regular feature on TV and has often graced the stage.
Glenn Close to complete the set this year too. It feels like she's been waiting for eternity. Interestingly shes going back to the stage, though for an Off-Broadway production with the Public Theater.
Sigourney Weaver is another one who's been nominated for all three (Emmy-3, Oscar-3, Tony-1) without a win.
I love Julianne Moore, but she is not really a theater actress, and her Broadway turn in The Vertical Hour was poorly received. But who knows--maybe she'll do more stage work in the future and knock it out of the park.
I think the following actors stand the best chances of earning the triple crown:
Glenn Close (If she wins the Oscar this year. Otherwise ...)
Bryan Cranston
John Lithgow (I could see him winning an Oscar in a supporting role)
Anne Hathaway (I saw her in Shakespeare in the Park--she is quite good on stage)
Allison Janney (She does a decent amount of stage work, yes?)
Meryl Streep
Dame Judi Dench
Marcia Gay Harden
Eddie Redmayne
Mark Rylance
Denzel Washington
It's funny--the Emmys have become so competitive now! Not that long ago I would have said that Marcia Gay Harden could win an Emmy in her sleep, but not anymore.
Should Meryl Streep ever make the jump to stage, she'll probably complete her Triple Crown.
Doesn't Kate Winslet belong in the "missing Tony" category? She has an Oscar and an Emmy (and a Grammy apparently). I know she mentioned she really doesn't want to do theater but should she still be listed?
Kathy Bates is a previous Tony nominee only missing a Tony. And a short run for her in a Lead or Feature role is entirely possible with Ryan Murphy producing plays also.
Tom. G - Yeah, I forgot to add Winslet.
Dick Van Dyke always has a Tony and multiple Emmys.
Also, considering that Judith Light also won two Daytime Emmys for her soap opera work back in the early 80s, she also could ostensibly count as one of those Triple Crown special cases if she ever were to win an Oscar.
My guess on Next To Get:
An Oscar: Cherry Jones. Not familiar enough to be taken for granted, but such a powerhouse actress. A great supporting role, and everyone will be saying, who's that? She's fabulous.
A Tony: Sally Field. Now, there's someone who is really taken for granted. But the tide is beginning to turn, and critics are saying she is one of the great American actresses.
An Emmy: tough one. Either Mark Rylance, if he does a tv role. His performances just stay with you. Or Kevin Kline, who is always so energetic and enthusiastic, and looks like he loves what he's doing.
Terrific, fascinating and exhaustive!!
If all the hubbub about Glenn Close for The Wife pans out she'll be the next to join the group.
I can't believe a couple of these stats.
Dianne Wiest has never been nominated for a Tony?! How is that possible.
Speaking of Kathleen Turner and how she was never nominated for her great work on Friends it's always boggled my mind how Harriet Sansom Harris was never recognized for her hysterically brilliant work as Bebe, Frasier Crane's barracuda of an agent on that show.
Incredible that Angela Lansbury has 18 nominations for an Emmy and no wins! How is that even possible?
It would be delightful to see The Lovely Laura Linney win all the prizes.
Poor Annette Bening!!
Oh and YEA for Glenda!! So great that she's back, now if someone would only get her back in a strong role on the screen....big or small.
Judi Dench probably just needs to show up on TV for five minutes to complete it.
I cannot believe you forgot Winslet! The insult!
As for likeliest. For the Oscar I guess Close is an actress that just needs the right timing but t her age that is increasingly hard to come by. Cranston is on a roll and his peers genuinely adore him so I think he's actually more likely as long as the ball keeps rolling, though his film work has slowed down a bit. Fishburne, Jones, Lithgow and Wright all fit the mold of respected character players who simply need to land that one role and the industry will take the opportunity to reward them (Janney, Simmons, Rockwell). I'd add Nixon too but with her career change is unlikely.
Hathaway is glorious on stage. Probably a matter of time before she explores that route and succeeds. Janney is a semi-regular of stage so her too. Streep and Kidman don't do stage, so sadly I think they're unlikely.
Harden would maybe be my guess for the Emmy since she does that frequently but she does that so much and in high profile projects it's actually surprising she hasn't already won one.
Edward L - eek. I realize you're right. I most have copied and pasted from some awful list that used ceremony year when I first started this research project because the recent ones are correct by film year. Fixing now.
Alex D -- well Kidman was on stage in London a couple of years ago and has done Broadway once. I could see her doing it again at some point. Streep used to do stage... not sure why she doesn't anymore. Her last big stage thing was Mother Courage in 2007.
Adri - I could definitely see Sally winning a Tony. She was incredible in The Goat, or Who is Sylvia (but ineligible as she was a replacement) and was well reviewed for The Glass Menagerie. I hope she does more Broadway.
everyone - thanks for the 4 or 5 people i forgot. They've been added.
Joel Dianne's lack of a Tony nod is somewhat baffling. She does a lot of theater... but i guess it's mostly been off broadway lately or ineligible for some reason. weird. Or in very short run shows that didn't take off.
Ed Harris and Mark Ruffalo have been nominated for the three awards as well without winning any.
Lee Grant only lacks a Tony but she's long retired from stage - There is an interesting podcast interview with her ("Back to One - Actors on Acting" ) where she talks about the traumatic experience that prompted her retirement from theater acting.
I am so glad yo are mainly interested in the Triple Crown. I think Streep will do Broadway at some point and will probably win a Tony.
Thanks for the multitude of work. I really enjoyed reading this.
You forgot Louis Gossett, Jr. and Halle Berry, who are both missing the Tony.
Praying that Glenn achieves the triple next year!
I can totally see winning all the people listed in the "missing Tony" list, but theatre is HARD.
Jennifer Ehle has two Tonys. (Sorry to be nitpicky)
ken s. -- She won again in 99 for Deep in My Heart
Jennifer Ehle has two Tonys. (Sorry to be nitpicky)
She's not in the running for a triple crown until she collects a nomination from either the film or TV academies. And she needs to win one from one of them.
Mark Ruffalo technically DOES have an Emmy but for producing. I guess you're not counting that.
Others who were not mentioned in the post
TONY-LESS
Michael Douglas
Faye Dunaway
Robert Duvall
Anthony Hopkins
Holly Hunter
Tommy Lee Jones
Cloris Leachman
Melissa Leo
Eva Marie Saint
Joanne Woodward
EMMY-LESS (acting)
Joel Grey
Liza Minnelli
Mercedes Ruehl
OSCAR-LESS
Jane Alexander
Mary Alice
Phillip Bosco
Helen Gallagher
Rosemary Harris
George Hearn
Judd Hirsch
Hal Holbrook
Derek Jacobi
James Earl Jones
Shirley Knight
Anthony LaPaglia
Ron Leibman
Debra Monk
Michael Moriarty
Donna Murphy
Mandy Patinkin
Amanda Plummer
Irvin -- no, as stated in the article this is about the Triple Crown of Acting so it has to be for acting.
Only last week I commented that Emma Thompson would never be a dame because she's turned down every UK honour. She's changed her tune!
I was almost sure Liza Minnelli won an Emmy as guest actress. Geez, I thought I was a huge fan of Arrested Development and I'm just an idiot. Ugh.
My statistics and trivia loving heart is SO HAPPY reading this. THANK YOU.
Another interesting trivia is that among the Triple Crown of Acting winners, only Helen Mirren won an Emmy first.
James Earl Jones has an honorary Oscar, which he certainly received for his acting. I think that should count.