Oscar Trivia: Longest gap between nods... and who might return next?
Wednesday, January 15, 2020 at 10:00PM by Nathaniel R
Tie a yellow ribbon round the ol' Oscar ceremony this year. There are a lot of "welcome back" nominations at the 92nd Academy Awards since the nominations skewed towards senior actors as it occassionally does. Seven previous winners are in play again -- Bates, Theron, Zellweger, Pacino, Pesci, Hanks, and Sir Anthony Hopkins... all of whom have been missing in Oscar action anywhere from 15 to 29 years! Surprisingly none of them are close to the all time record for “longest gap between nominations”.
Still, two decades is a big long stretch of time since most actors of either gender have all of their Oscar activity in a relatively condensed period of time; when you’re hot, you’re hot. Gaps over 20 years are uncommon. Even Lee Grant and Ingrid Bergman, famously blacklisted or exiled for a spell before returning triumphantly to Oscar’s good graces, didn’t have to wait that long. So herewith a list of the only actors who returned to the mix after a 20 year absence.
The 25 Longest Gaps Between Oscar Nominations (for Actors)
23 [TIE] Gloria Swanson & Sir Alec Guiness & Ellen Burstyn- 20 years...
GLORIA: The Trespasser (1929) and Sunset Blvd (1950)
ALEC: Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and Star Wars (1977)
ELLEN: Resurrection (1980) and Requiem for a Dream (2000)
If Burstyn magically gets another great role this year and is nominated for it she will be the first person ever to double a 20 year gap between nods.
20 [TIE] Gladys Cooper & Richard Farnsworth & Robert De Niro - 21 years
GLADYS: The Song of Bernadette (1943) and My Fair Lady (1964)
RICHARD: Comes a Horseman (1978) and The Straight Story (1999)
ROBERT: Cape Fear (1991) and Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
Though De Niro didn't land a nod for The Irishman he previously made this 'huge gap' list for his return with Silver Linings Playbook.
17 [TIE] Charles Laughton & Paul Muni & Sir Anthony Hopkins - 22 years
CHARLES: Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) and Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
PAUL: The Life of Emile Zola (1937) and The Last Angry Man (1959)
ANTHONY: Amistad (1997) and The Two Popes (2019)
Sir Anthony's return with The Two Popes adds him to the list if not the top ten longest stretches between nominations.
13 [TIE] Fay Bainter & William Holden & Mickey Rooney & Glenn Close - 23 years
FAY: White Banners and The Children’s Hour (1961)
WILLIAM: Stalag 17 (1953) and Network (1976)
MICKEY: The Bold and the Brave (1956) and The Black Stallion (1979)
GLENN: Dangerous Liaisons (1988) and Albert Nobbs (2011)
12 Peter O’Toole - 24 years
My Favourite Year (1982) to Venus (2006)
11 Julie Christie - 26 years
McCabe & Mrs Miller (1971) and Afterglow (1997)
10 Al Pacino - 27 years
Scent of a Woman (1992) and The Irishman (2019)
They sometimes take a break after an "overdue" win wears them out but that's a really long time. To be fair to Oscar, though, Donnie Brasco aside, Pacino hasn't been on his A game in a really long time barring television work (Angels in America, hello)
09 Sally Field - 28 years
Places in the Heart (1984) and Lincoln (2012)
08 Joe Pesci - 29 years
Goodfellas (1990) and The Irishman (2019)
07 Lynn Redgrave - 32 years
Georgy Girl (1966) and Gods and Monsters (1998)
06 Bruce Dern - 35 years
Coming Home (1978) and Nebraska (2013)
04 [TIE] Jack Palance & Alan Arkin - 38 years
Jack first. Though he was nominated back to back as a young actor for Sudden Fear (1952) and Shane (1953) he wouldn’t be nominated again for almost four decades with City Slickers (1991). Third time proved the charm. Alan Arkin had a similar situation nominated twice in short succession in the 1960s, the last of which was The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1968) and then not returning again until his winning role in Little Miss Sunshine (2006).
02 [TIE] Helen Hayes & Sylvester Stallone -39 years
HELEN: The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931) and Airport (1970). Miss Hayes holds the record for longest gap between two wins even if she doesn't quite hold the longest gap between two nominations record.
SYLVESTER: Stallone didn’t win either time he was nominated for playing Rock Balboa in Rocky (1976) and Creed (2015) but he does hold an additional record . He’s the only actor with multiple nominations to only have been nominated for one role. Being nominated twice for the same role is rare but when it happens it’s with someone who is an Oscar favourite and has other nominations in their filmography (like Cate Blanchett’s double dip with Queen Elizabeth or Al Pacino’s Michael Corleone)
01 Henry Fonda - 41 years
Fonda was nominated for The Grapes of Wrath when he was just 35 and returned in his 70s for his swan song On Golden Pond (1981) finally winning
WHO WILL RETURN NEXT?
This year's big crop of long-time-gone returning players makes you wonder who else is possible. Here are some actors (it's not a complete list) who are still working who haven't been nominated in a long loooong time.
THEY HAVEN'T BEEN NOMINATED IN 15+ YEARS
Russell Crowe, Michael Caine, Juliette Binoche, Diane Keaton, Sir Ian McKellen, and Dame Maggie Smith. Some of them have been in the nomination-conversation since their last nomination in the Aughts but none have actually scored again.
THEY HAVEN'T BEEN NOMINATED IN 20+ YEARS
Ralph Fiennes, Tom Cruise, and Toni Collette. None of these stars have competed again. That's particularly insane in the case of Ralph Fiennes who headlined a major nominee brilliantly (Grand Budapest Hotel) and Toni Collette who recently won big in critics awards (Hereditary). In the case of Cruise he stopped chasing the Oscar dragon entirely after that last nomination for Magnolia and resigned himself to action franchises.
THEY HAVEN'T BEEN NOMINATED IN 25+ YEARS
Liam Neeson, Angela Bassett, Samuel L Jackson, John Malkovich, Emma Thompson, Sharon Stone, Michelle Pfeiffer, Catherine Deneuve, Rosie Perez, and Vanessa Redgrave. A few of them have been close to returning (notably Emma Thompson for Saving Mr Banks quite recently, but none have managed a welcome back)
THEY HAVEN'T BEEN NOMINATED IN 30+ YEARS
Sigourney Weaver, Jeremy Irons, Shirley Maclaine, Jane Fonda, and Anjelica Huston. One can dream that any of these greats would return. But it seems sadly unlikely. We still don't understand how Shirley Maclaine missed a nomination for Postcards from the Edge (1990) 30 years ago but even that would have still have been 30 years back. It looked like a return nomination *might* happen for Fonda with Youth but the role proved too small and the film not popular enough overall with voters.
THEY HAVEN'T BEEN NOMINATED IN 40+ YEARS. Any of these working actors could theoretically beat Henry Fonda's 41 year record IF someone gave them one last great role AND they aced it AND Oscar's acting branch noticed and felt generous. That's a big theoretical we realize.
Lily Tomlin, Terence Stamp, Timothy Hutton, Faye Dunaway, Mary Steenburgen, Marsha Mason, Peter Firth, and Candice Bergen. The only ones who've ever been in the conversation since there last nomination were Terence Stamp a couple of times and Lily Tomlin for Grandma a few years back. Sadly the nomination did not materialize for either.
Which actor from this long "what if" list do you most want to see return?
Reader Comments (59)
I most want to see Jane Fonda return. I was rooting hard for Youth, a film I love and really don’t understand why some don’t like it. She was fabulous in it.
She had a great run in the 70’s but she has so much charisma that I think she just needs the right director these days. If David O. Russell would get back to family dramadies, I think she’d be good in one of those. Or maybe better would be a good character piece in a Sofia Coppola film. I want this.
Terence Stamp hasn't been cited for 58 years, and still works, and is in fact in a relatively high-profile film next year (Edgar Wright's Last Night in Soho)-could blast Hayes/Stallone's record out-of-the-water.
William Hurt was nominated in 2006 for his role in "A History of Violence" actually. So, it's been 14 years only.
William Hurt was nominated in 2005 for History of Violence.
Wait, didn’t William Hurt get nominated for A History of Violence in 2005?
It’s a shame that Mary Steenburgen didn’t get nominated this year for her song from Wild Rose because (a) it’s a damn fine song and (b) what a wonderful welcome back it’d be!
I really hope that Angela Bassett and Elisabeth Shue get Oscar nominated again in the near future. Both deserve *much* better material/opportunities; same goes for many of the actresses blackballed by that sexual predator Weinstein.
everyone -- fixed the William Hurt thing. Weird of me to forget that as I was one of the only people who predicted it ;)
Fun post! Thanks for the work that went into it.
I noticed one correction in that I think William Hurt was nominated for History of Violence in 2006.
Angela Bassett
Lily Tomlin missing for Grandma was really disappointing. While I don't know if she'll ever get a role as good as that again, I feel like if the stars align she could make it back.
Jane Fonda is great, but I don't think her acting style fits with what the Academy looks for anymore. Still, I suspect she could make it into the supporting actress race. I think Emma Thompson will easily be back, she just needs a hit film.
I suspect that Michelle will be back - it's clear that she is starring in all the right films.
William Hurt was thankfully nominated in 2005 for A History of Violence.
I would also add that, personally, every performer in the 30+ year category has given award worthy work since their last nomination: The Ice Storm, Margin Call, A History of Violence, In Her Shoes, Youth, and 50/50 respectively.
"To be fair to Oscar, though, Donnie Brasco aside, Pacino hasn't been on his A game in a really long time barring television work (Angels in America, hello)"
Disagree on this one, he also had The Insider and Insomnia during those years and he was pretty terrific in those. I also found him quite charming in Danny Collins and pretty entertaining as the villain in Ocean's Thirteen (not that I would have nominated him for those, but he was nonetheless a treat to watch). I also have soft spot for his take on Shylock in the film version of The Merchant of Venice (because I was in High School when that film came out and performed the "I am a Jew" monologue for a Shakespeare competition, so I was kind of obsessed with it at the time).
I also find it ridiculous that Ralph Fiennes hasn't been nominated since those two nominations in the 90's (especially with The Grand Budapest Hotel right there), and Toni Collette also deserved a nomination for Little Miss Sunshine. I also find it weird that Liam Neeson has only been nominated once, but I also don't know what else I would have nominated them for (which happens with several actors, they're consistently solid, you're always happy to see them, but their performances are not always standouts, or at least not when compared to whatever crop of performances are in the conversation that year).
The "Class of 25+ YEARS" is the one I am most excited about seeing getting back into Oscar love, particularly, Angela Bassett, Sharon Stone (who was robbed for Casino), Michelle Pfeiffer (also robbed for Dangerous Liaisons) and Catherine Deneuve, Too bad Cruise's lost his fire after Magnolia, still think he deserved to win for that one.
You forgot about a different Fonda on your list: Henry. There's a whopping forty-one years between his nominations for The Grapes of Wrath and On Golden Pond. (Granted, there was that producing nod for 12 Angry Men between the two so maybe that voids it altogether but still.)
Given that she's recently won a Tony, how cool would it be for Glenda Jackson to get a comeback nod and win? Recently watched my favorite of her performances, Sunday Bloody Sunday, still better and fresher than any recent suburban loneliness film. I wonder what the character is up to now!
“If nominated”? When did you write this? Lol.
Yes. Seconding Anna. What about Henry Fonda? Grapes of Wrath 1941. On Golden Pond 1982. I knew that would the #1 with 41 years between acting noms (I remember what a big deal the media made of that in 1982), and then he's missing from the list?
Emma Thompson’s in the wrong list, +25. She was last nominated in 1996’s ceremony (1995’s Oscars). That’s still 24 years.
I want Anjelica Huston back, please. She delivered two outstanding performances the year of her last nomination, and the Best Actress bid for The Grifters should have been an introduction to that category as opposed to her Oscar swan song.
Other actors I would like to see come back: Isabelle Adjani, Chloe Sevigny, Emily Watson, Miranda Richardson, Brenda Blethyn, Lena Olin, Jennifer Tilly, Sissy Spacek. Helena Bonham Carter, too, even though her last nomination was just under 10 years ago—she’s always been undervalued by awards bodies throughout her career.
Toni gets my vote. But wouldn’t it be a hoot if Angela Lansbury made a return after 58+ years?
@Richter Scale: Jesus you are so right about Pacino in The Insider & The Merchant of Venice. Especially the latter. Reading that play in college and then having us watch Pacino bring that character to life in class was incredibly memorable to me.
Grandma would have been a perfect return for Tomlin. Doubt she’ll get another great role like that, but if she does, she should totally win. Would scream if she came back to Oscar consideration
It would make my day if Joan Cusack had a role that brought her back into the conversation. Especially since her first two noms were for such fantastic and fun roles--a breath of fresh air among the bio pics and period pieces. 22+ years since In & Out.
This post is why I love this site! Thank you Nathaniel!!
Who I WISH to see return?
Maggie Smith
Jane Fonda
Ellen Burstyn
(they are in their 80s and still wonderful!!)
Then -
Sigourney
Anjelica
Marsha
Michelle
REALISTICALLY?
Emma
Ellen
Toni
But you never know!
Mafer -- lol. you caught me. I wrote the intro a week ago (since these posts take time to compile) and forgot to pull out that clause. Fixed.
I feel like Fiennes, Bassett, and Deneuve are all headed towards the honorary award. Samuel L. Jackson is probably best suited to get nominated again- he is great in almost everything he does and has worked with everybody so they know and respect him. Toni Collette has some residual love from Hereditary that might push her into a baity project. Perhaps she needs to win an Emmy or Tony award first.
How amazing if Alfre could’ve joined this list after Cross Creek...
Look, I know I'm a copyeditor at heart, but thank you thank you thank you for skipping numbers after ties in your list. A top 10 list with that ties 3 for 5th place and then goes to 6th is a top 12, not a top 10.
I do think Collette, Fiennes, Bassett, and Thompson are most likely to return - it was heartening to me that many friends of mine were interested in seeing "Hereditary" based on nothing but the fact that they think Toni Collette is amazing.
I totally agree on MacLaine in "Postcards from the Edge"; that is a strong duet of a movie, and the only way to explain her lack of a nom is that they just love Meryl that much. Also, Carrie Fischer did an amazing job in her screenplay adaptation, which was quite different from her book, and she didn't hesitate to kill her darlings. Also also - Shel Silverstein wrote the song from that and was nominated for an Oscar???!??!
"Toni Collette has some residual love from Hereditary that might push her into a baity project. Perhaps she needs to win an Emmy or Tony award first." Toni already has an Emmy for "The United States of Tara."
No love for Sally Kirkland?
Sharon Stone, Angela Bassett and Ralph Fiennes would get my vote
My dearest, you missed Lynn Redgrave, one of my favourites comebacks.
This list made me feel sad and old. Time flies!
This article made me realise that Miranda Richardson and Kristin Scott Thomas aint never getting back in the race.
It would be so great if Eva Marie Saint returns for a last great supporting role and breaks the longest-gap-between-nods record. It is weird to me that she has only been nominated once (she deserved at least another nomination for 'A hatful of rain').
On a more likely possibility, I would really like to see Dustin Hoffman returning to Oscars. He hasn't been nominated in more than 20 years and could well have a comeback in a DeNiro's or Pacino's style sometime soon.
Sigourney is the one i'd like to see win but feel she will be an 80 yr old when she gets the honorary,she does have 2 good roles coming up My Salinger Year and The Good House which reunites her with Kevin Kline.
I would have given Fonda the supporting prize for Youth.
Fiennes has been eternally undervalued since 96
Cruise really needs to do something different with his career,why did he stop?
I think Emma has sort of become Maggie Smith too much shtick.
No doubt Angela Bassett would have won BA in 2001 if she'd have taken the M/Ball role but all respect to Hunter but I really do think Bassett deserved the Award in 93.
Pfeiffer is back and just needs the role now.
Cicely Tyson hasn't been nominated since 1972's Sounder, and at 95, she's still acting.
I think Toni Colette, Anna Paquin and John Travolta (for several reasons) are going to be nominated (and probably win) whenever they land a huge role in a prominent Best Picture contender (which may happen, even if Travolta's career is soooo out of focus lately, never discard him).
From this year, Banderas, if ever nominated again, is SO winning. Phoenix is winning this year, but when dust settles, the dueness of a victory for Antonio is going to be overwhelming... it is one of the best (and most challenging) performances of the XXIst century
I somewhat feel that Diane Keaton might be the person who can beat Helen Hayes 'distance between two wins' record.
Rita Moreno (1961)!
Come to think of it George Chakiris is still alive, too, so maybe a reunion?
OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND and KIRK DOUGLAS!!!
Pacino followed with Carlito's Way, Heat, The Insider, Insomnia and The Merchant of Venice.
Worthy every time. I'd have nominated him twice, plus for Donnie Brasco. The others he's in that shortlist of runners up.
And even when not quite Oscar-worthy, he's been great in other things.
I think category confusion resulted in MacLaine's omission. It was clearly a supporting role but I bet she got some votes in Lead.
Pfeiffer and Colette will be back.
Fiennes should have WON, TWICE for Budapest & A Bigger Splash. So I don't know what more he has to do really to get nommed again.
I have a strong sense that many members of the Academy are dying to give Toni Colette an Oscar. She just needs the right vehicle for it. Hereditary, with its last 5 minutes, sort of ruined that chance for her and for the voters. Toni has worked with so many members and she has been building the good will based on her body of work. C’mon producers, give her a great leading role in something already!
Someone give Patty McCormack a baity role and she can have the record.
I love all these actors.
It makes me think, oh yeah, that’s why I loved the Oscars. It’s just the recent years that have made me feel a little disillusioned, and they aren’t on this list, because there is no gap yet.
But in general I love actors (although I love dancers more, especially dancers that act and sing) and would be delighted to see any of these actors nominated again. Although just that photo of Toni Colette from “The Sixth Sense” reminds me of how exquisitely humane her performances can be.
Michael R: She was nominated in the supporting category at the Globes but in the leading category at BAFTA, and so I think there probably was category confusion for her Oscar campaign.
That said, we should celebrate a supporting role getting lead votes! Too often it's the other way round!
Toni Collette should be cast in a musical and she will win. Maybe as the mother in "Dear Evan Hansen?"
This list is just INSANE !!
The incredible work which hasn't been recognised ... ALL THIS TALENT !
Fiennes, Emma & Toni, La Pfeiffer, Binoche & Crow - will be back FOR SURE !!
(and Glenn & Sally of course)
Stone, Neeson, Weaver, Deneuve & Stamp - should DESPERATELY be back !
... in that context it's even more insane (sorry I'm still not over that fact !!! lol) that we got nominations for the sweet woman from mexico that was filmed so beautifully by Cuaron and swept a lot - and stared a lot out of windows nicely - and I still don't want to remember her name as I know I will never see her again and it was Cuarons brilliance not hers ... INSANE ...
or Mary J Blige ? what was that ? Or Jonah Hill twice ?? and I throw in wild Quvenzhané Wallis (because I can ;-)
It’s unlikely, but Cicely Tyson is still incredibly active (at 95!) and could land a nomination if given the right role.
Bette Midler so she can finally EGOT! :(
I love this post! It seems likely Debra Winger could get nominated for Kajillionaire next year, as well as Michelle for French Exit. I remain optimistic!