Is Daniel Day-Lewis the best triple Oscar winner?
Thursday, March 12, 2020 at 10:00AM 
In the past 92 years, only a handful of performers have managed to win more than one Oscar. More than two is even rarer and more than three is a feat only ever achieved by Katharine Hepburn. In the relatively exclusive club of three-time Oscar-winning actors, we can find five names, three men and two women. Despite their golden prizes, perusing their winning performances can be a sad affair with most of them having at least one terrible victory in their collection. For Meryl Streep it's The Iron Lady, for Ingrid Bergman Anastasia and Murder on the Orient Express. Jack Nicholso's win for As Good As It Gets isn't very well-regarded and Walter Brennan's first two victories are rather dire.
Only one rises above the others as a perfect case of the Academy honoring an actor for the right performances. It's Daniel Day-Lewis, of course…
His first victory was as much a feat of great acting as of great campaigning. The much-hated Harvey Weinstein backed 1989's My Left Foot, making it the focus of one of his first and most aggressive Oscar campaigns. He even took the picture to Capitol Hill where Daniel Day-Lewis spoke in favor of the American Disabilities Act. As much as we despise the former head of Miramax and The Weinstein Company, his efforts were crucial for Day-Lewis to triumph over frontrunner Tom Cruise, who'd won the Globe for Born on the 4th of July. It also helped that, to play the lauded Irish painter with cerebral palsy Christy Brown, Daniel Day-Lewis spent months in research and lived in-character for the six weeks of shooting, breaking two ribs along the way. Such efforts were noted by critics, who showered the actor with many prizes.
None of that means the performance is devoid of merit. No matter the impact of campaigning in Daniel Day-Lewis' first Oscar victory, the actor's work is unimpeachable and deserving of Hollywood's most coveted honor. The role itself is insanely showy, but Day-Lewis never lets the spectacular physicality smother the psychology of his character. Every gesture and coughed up word, every spasm and frantic look, each inch of tense musculature is a brushstroke that lets us understand the man at the center of the story, painting a vivid picture of his frustration and joy, off-beat humor, wants, and heartbreaks. Watching Brown be rejected, first by a teenage crush then by an adult paramour, is a thing of lacerating beauty, symphonies of feeling playing in the actor's shining eyes.
18 years and three nominations later, Daniel Day-Lewis returned to the Oscar stage to collect his second prize. This time around, it wasn't for a sentimental biopic, but an austere art film directed by one of our greatest modern auteurs. Paul Thomas Anderson's 2007 grand opus There Will Be Blood is the American Dream twisted into something vile and rabid, hunger for money and power, oil and gold, corrupting the souls of all. Amid this misery, Daniel Day-Lewis anchors the film and gives it the shape of a portentous character study. He plays Daniel Plainview, an oilman, and a huckster through-and-through, always trying to sell something, be it ore or the illusion of family values drained of love.
Daniel Day-Lewis' work is a performance within a performance for Plainview is an actor of the sales pitch, always manipulating those he considers lesser. He rarely speaks his lines, preferring to intone them with a John Huston-like roar that sounds like honey laced with arsenic. Similarly, his face is a mask even more unchangeable in its fakeness. He only lets it slip once or twice and when it does, his expression sours into something ugly and dangerous. Just the fury during his baptismal humiliation would be enough to earn him the Oscar, but Day-Lewis manages to top himself with an astounding coda. In his final moments, Plainview lets any hint of fatherly love fall into a pit of resentment and his hatred for a fellow huckster, one that peddles God instead of oil, becomes full-on madness.
After the strangled speech of Brown and the demonic sound of Plainview, 2012's Lincoln plays with a shock of soft-spoken authority. Instead of taking the route of easy drama, the Irish actor underplays the American President to great effect. This version of Abraham Lincoln is a melancholic figure, a charismatic man who loves to tell stories at every opportunity, using them to cajole stubborn adversaries and to distract his audiences. Despite the notes of weary sadness hiding beneath the amiable facade, Day-Lewis never allows his character to turn into some sort of idealized saint. There's cunning in his behavior and a deliberate quality to the pauses he peppers throughout Tony Kushner's dialogue. He may be a good man, but he's also a master politician. It's a performance deserving of the Oscar, there's no doubt about that.
There Will be Blood is newly available on Netflix and you can find My Left Foot on HBO Now. Don't miss those Oscar-winning wonders.
Reader Comments (69)
I’d say absolutely. Even if there were other people one wanted to win, his achievement is undeniable and considering there was no narrative beyond the demands of the roles (admittedly that often is a huge narrative) it’s arguable he won all three mostly on merit. Whereas Bergman and Nicholson won two of their three for performances that were nowhere near their best and Streep made it pretty obvious in 2011 that she wanted to win her third Oscar finally, Day Lewis brought it to all three roles.
I’m sure someone else will tell me how wrong I am and defend Bergman’s win for orient express or something.
Completely agree, even if I wish so badly Meryl was 3/3 as well.
I'd love to see an article ranking the two-time winners as well, but I know that'd be a big undertaking!
As always, thanks for your stellar contributions to TFE Claudio!
Short answer: yes.
His second two wins are both all-time Top 25s, and "There Will Be Blood", especially, grows so much in your psyche over the passing years - what a troubling, layered masterpiece that he is the unquiet cosmic center of, human and monster, frailty and force. Just plain otherworldly.
Lincoln bores me to death but yes, he is.
The Iron Lady ruined Meryl forever.
Hepburn and Streep each have three Oscar-worthy performances, though. And then I think about Bergman in Notorious and Casablanca. And then I read about Zellweger's Oscar history. And it's simply obvious that the Academy awards the wrong performances fairly frequently.
I absolutely love DDL in Lincoln. I can't think of another actor who could have given that sort of performance.
I vote for Daniel Day Lewis.
I defend Streep's win in Iron Lady.
I was never a big fan of Bergman in Gaslight. Barbara Stanwyck should have won.
Katharine Hepburn in 1967: Any of the other 4 nominees were more deserving than her. In 1981: Streep, Sarandon or Keaton were better options.
Nicholson: Only one complaint. He is playing the same character in Terms and in As Good.
Walter Brennan: He started in Hollywood as a stunt-man and double. At the time of his 3 wins (1936, 1938 and 1940), stunt men were voting members of the Academy. So, obviously they voted for their "pal". By 1941 (his 4th nomination), they were no longer voting, so there you go.
He needs to shave his head, come out of retirement and win his 4th Oscar to complete the hair progression in his Oscar portraits...!
In the relatively exclusive club of three-time Oscar-winning actors, we can find six names, four men and two women.
It's evenly split between genders.
3/4: Walter Brennan
3/6: Daniel Day-Lewis
3/7: Ingrid Bergman
3/12: Jack Nicholson
3/21: Meryl Streep
4/12: Katharine Hepburn
I would say DDL could, and maybe should, have 4 Oscars. His Bill The Butcher in Gangs of New York is one of those performances that demand the rewatch of a flawed movie just to revel in its electricity. It’s the kind of performance that becomes the thing you remember about the movie years later and has a shadowing or sheltering effect on the less stellar aspects of the film.
My friend and I once tried to make a top 5 of such performances and came up with:
1. DDL in Gangs
2. Monique in Precious
3. Val Kilmer in Tombstone
4. Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight
5. Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean
The thing we noticed was most of these have come in the modern era. We thought a reason for that may be the studio system through the 60s, where actors and actresses were contracted and thus treated as entities that needed image protecting. Then in the 70s, the auteur age, where the director-vision trumped all, and everything was in service of a complete vision. Not sure - just theories. Interesting conversation, at least.
He richly deserved the first 2 the 3rd while he was great was some sort of foregone conclusion because of who he played a bit like Renee this year,I thought that year Phoenix,Cooper,Gere and Hawkes were better.
Yes. One of the weird thing about the group of three timers is not having a total dud of a performance in there. For him, he has one of the best wins in the category (Plainview), and two really strong wins.
Hepburn has one towering win, one solid win, and two questionable ones. Meryl is marred by the Iron Lady, and Bergman is lovely, but undeserving in "Murder." I'd say Jack has a really great win, and two solid to strong wins, but it still doesn't compare to Lewis.
If Meryl wins a fourth for a deserving performance, or if Denzel had won for Fences, then I think Day-Lewis could be upset.
I wanted to add that if Fonda, Blanchett, or Maggie Smith win a deserving third, then they'd be up there too. Each of their two wins are incredibly strong (particularly Smith).
Yes, in that all his winning performances were very worthy. If anything, he should have four (Phantom Thread).
/3rtful -- Thank you for noticing the mistake and pointing it out. It's already corrected.
markgordonuk -- absolutely
I actually liked Walter Brennan in Kentucky, even though he's better in The Westerner (haven't seen his other win yet).
He should have 2 Oscars, the 2012 was stolen from Joaquin.
But yes he's a legend and I love him.
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I should have never lost to Lincoln.
No.
Day-Lewis deserves one Oscar and that's for LINCOLN. And even there Kushner's screenplay is the real star. I'm fine with his nomination count.
@Raul - Yes! Phantom Thread should have been his fourth win. Totally.
His three should be for In the Name of the Father, Lincoln and Phantom Thread. I don't mind My Left Foot (but I prefer Morgan Freeman that year). But his John Huston karaoke stunt in There Will Be Blood can't be compared to Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises. And as for his Razzie-worthy shenanigans in Gangs of New York, I think it better to just pass over them in silence.
He really should have five, adding wins for "In the Name of the Father" and "Gangs of New York."
All of Streep's wins are deserved.
Second Joe G. If Cate gets a third and her performance is as good as her Katharine Hepburn and Jasmine, Cate will be up there with him.
No one needs 5 Oscars. No one. What a stupid thing say.
Was Nicholson's win for As Good As It Gets really that bad? I thought he played the part with a good mix of curmudgeon and charm, and he remains one of the better portrayals of OCD on screen. The resolution of his symptoms may have been unrealsitic, but that's more on the writing than his acting. I thought it was a better win than for Terms of Endearment. But that's just me.
Do you gays know that I'm married to Kushner? I rarely mention this.
Isn't My Left Foot similar to The Iron Lady? -- Harvey Weinstein backed productions that garnered wins for the leads? I can't say I would watch either of those movies again from front to back. But to answer your question, no. He is not the best actor because he barely worked.
Considering the fact the legends always win for the wrong films yes his the best of this group!
And thanks claudio for being so active I enjoy your posts so much
Ingrid is pretty great in Express. It's not a bad win by any means. She has a lot of great reaction shots in the film that really register in a large cast, among whom have many great moments.
And Julie Christie should be in this list, but she was robbed in 1997 and 2007.
@Joe G - are you referring to The Lion In Winter (Towering Win), On Golden Pond (Solid Win) and Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner/Morning Glory (Questionable Wins)?
Kate Hepburn should have won for The Philadelphia Story and Summertime. I love On Golden Pond and think she’s deserving of the win.
Best, yes. But as to that middle prize, I'm still awfully torn on him versus Viggo for 2007 - and I generally lean Viggo.
DDL bores me to death ... only performance I really care for is Gangs of New York ... Don't even get me started on Lincoln WHAT A SNOOZE FEST!!!...
Jack should have won all 3 for 3 of the best performances those categories have ever had.
I would like to see Meryl Streep have won her third Oscar for The Bridges of Madison County or The Devil Wears Prada. That didn't happen. She won for a bio pic where she humanized Margaret Thatcher, a truly despicable British Prime Minister.
It is a strong performance. I hope readers here who have not seen the film don't turn down the opportunity because of these overreactions to The Iron Lady. Here's a cute video from the talk show Ellen when Tom Hanks names The Iron Lady as one of his favorite Streep performances.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pl9oc13p534
Tom Hanks is wrong.
Hell no.
Lincoln was no good. Joaquin was way better in The Master.
DDL is a great actor, though.
I believe Nicholson deserved every one of his wins. And As Good As It Gets is an absolute delight.
i find it difficult that anyone could construct a solid argument saying Daniel Day-Lewis isn't one of the best screen actors who ever lived. all three performances were deserving of oscars. he's a brilliant craftsman with extraordinary access to his emotions. a true giant.
I love his three winning performances, but I really wish she could play a more real world character, something more relaxed, maybe Baumbach-like, or maybe something mumblecore? He's so damn serious!
He can't do comedy. He has tried and he sucks.
He couldn’t carry a tune either as he tried in Nine
When Cate gets her third one, and hopefully for a strong performance, she will be up there with DDL
I am still dreaming of DDL getting out of retirement to act in a movie with Blanchett
About DDL;
He should have been nominated for The Boxer
My favs of his are:
The Age of Innocence
In The Name Of The Father
The Last of the Mohicans
There Will Be Blood
He is crazy campy and great in Gangs of New York. That movie is so bad. It is strange to me that the movie got so many Oscar noms
Cate is bad in The Aviator
Of course, people attack Meryl's win in 2012 but in reality, by then she had lost for so many great performances that it's a shame people ignore that. Because a lot of these people had been backing some hot young starlet to win ahead of Streep so many times.
Day-Lewis is not the best three-time winner. To me, he didn't deserve his third win. To me, he doesn't have Streep's overall career. Or Nicholson's. I really want Streep to win a fourth. She deserves it.
Danton: I thought he was (intentionally) pretty funny in Phantom Thread.
All three of his wins are strong, but I would have gone with Viggo Mortensen in 2007 and Bradley Cooper in 2012. I think Nicholson deserved all of his wins, and I think he would have also been deserving for The Last Detail, Chinatown and About Schmidt. Jack at his best is priceless.
I think The Iron Lady is an awful film, squandering very promising subject matter. Nothing wrong with humanising Margaret Thatcher, but the film treats her superficially. Streep does her best but it's no good. She would have been deserving for Adaptation. and Julie & Julia.
I like Bergman in Murder on the Orient Express. I like everyone in it!
It's so silly that LINCOLN lost screenplay to ARGO.
I agree that DDL towers above the rest. Meryl's third win remains a joke. If only she had won for something like PRADA.
Having just rewatched As Good As It Gets recently, I am finally on the side of it being a terrible win. So I think that definitely leaves Day-Lewis as the best 3 time winner. He wouldn't have been my pick for My Left Foot (Morgan Freeman deserved it) but it's still a good performance.
Katherine Hepburn should have won for Alice Adams, she was completely wonderful in it.
Streep: I would have awarded her for Supporting in either Prada or Adaptation or for lead in Bridges - and would not have awarded her for Iron Lady.
DDL was awful in Gangs of New York, which is itself awful. I recall that as one of the most torturous sits I've ever endured in a theater. I kind of turned against Scorcese for a while afterwards! But all 3 of his wins I feel were deserved.
Among the three-timers, I'm definitely partial to Nicholson's trio. I would only vote for Day-Lewis in '07 - and that's mostly on the account of the crummy competition.