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)
Diana Ross, nominated for Lady Sings the Blues (1972). Give the Boss an image-redefining supporting role, like a foulmouthed churchgoing grandma.
Great list!
Didn't Julie Christie have a long dry spell before her Afterglow nomination?
Christian -- you're right. I've added her to the list at #11
I would love if Marsha Mason would get one more killer role and just nail it and get that Oscar. Finally, the Hello Girl
And also Jessica Lange!
Who should have played Violet in the film version of AOC.
Gloria Swanson should be in the "21 club," no?
Would love to see Jodie Foster get another. Maybe Prisoner 760?
15+ years: Sir Ian McKellen - still owed
20+ years: Toni Collette - most definitely still owed
25+ years: Michelle Pfeiffer - definitely still owed
30+ years: Sigourney Weaver - still owed (of course I wouldn't mind seeing Ms. Fonda in another great role but she's been well rewarded already)
40+ years: Marsha Mason !!! {I love her and I bet she could really knock the right role out of the park!!!) (of course it would be great to see Lily get a great role on film again too)
Wendy Hiller also has a 20 year gap between her first nomination (Lead, Pygmalion 1938) and her second nomination and win (Supporting, Separate Tables 1958). She was nominated a third time for supporting in A Man for All Seasons, 1966.