2 days til Oscar nominations - The rarity of father/daughter Oscar noms
Saturday, March 13, 2021 at 9:00PM by Nathaniel R
The final Oscar nomination predictions are up if you're just joining us. But if you've already discussed those, here's another discussion prompt with two as the magical number. Looking through the Oscar probabilities we don't have many familial pairs in the acting category competition this time like siblings or father/sons or mother/child etcetera. What we do have is not one but three pairs of onscreen father & daughter teams, one only spiritually but it counts:
- Anthony Hopkins & Olivia Colman - The Father
- Sacha Baron Cohen & Maria Bakalova - Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
- Tom Hanks & Helena Zengel - News of the World
How often are father/daughter onscreen teams nominated? Turns out not often at all..
James Dunn and Peggy Ann Garner both took home Oscars for A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN but hers was a "juvenile Oscar" before they started nominating kids on the semi-regular in supporting
Many of the pairs you'd think would be there, are not because one of them wasn't nominated (like the Dolittles in My Fair Lady or the stars of Paper Moon to cite just two famous examples. Oscar history has lots of mother & child, father & son, and spousal pairs. But father & daughter? Not so much.
Why is this? We assume it has something with the very gendered notions in screenplays as well as what the mainstream values in performances from men and women; We've long noted that men who play tender roles -- such as a kindhearted father or good-man romantic interest -- are passed over while their female screen partners are lauded. It's as if painting rich portraits of love is for women and men are only praised if they dabble in rougher psychology. I always think of Pride & Prejudice in this regard; Donald Sutherland was sensational as Keira Knightley's understanding father but it was a very gentle role so no acting kudos for him.
Here were the only sets of Oscar nominees we could find with the onscreen dad and daughter both nominated though we might be missing a couple.
ONSCREEN FATHER/DAUGHTER OSCAR-NOMINATED PAIRS
Usually one of them wins.
The Heiress
1931 Lionel Barrymore and Norma Shearer in A Free Soul - he won
1945 James Dunn & Peggy Ann Garner in A Tree Grows in Brooklyn - the only time both won
1948 Charles Bickford & Jane Wyman in Johnny Belinda - she won
1949 Ralph Richardson & Olivia de Havilland in The Heiress - she won
1957 Arthur Kennedy & Hope Lange in Peyton Place they both lost
1962 Gregory Peck & Mary Badham in To Kill a Mockingbird - he won
Ed Begley & Shirley Knight in Sweet Bird of Youth - he won
1970 John Marley & Ali MacGraw in Love Story - they both lost
1974 Robert De Niro & Talia Shire in Godfather Part 2 - he won. (no scenes together)
1981 Henry Fonda & Jane Fonda in On Golden Pond - he won
1987 Vincent Gardenia & Cher in Moonstruck - she won
2014 Michael Keaton & Emma Stone in Birdman - they both lost
Moonstruck
Could it really be true that there have only been 12 examples in 92 years and only 1 in the past 33 years? Perhaps our eyes glazed over and we missed one.
Reader Comments (37)
Wasn't Emma Stone Michael Keaton's daughter in Birdman? I don't remember much of that film...
Does De Niro and Talia Shire for The Godfather Part Ii counts?
1931 Lionel Barrymore and Norma Shearer in A Free Soul - he won
Luc, JC, and James -- thanks for helping fill this out!
What an interesting article and stat analysis - you always deliver!!
I almost mentioned Chinatown, but apparently Huston wasn't nominated
1962 Ed Begley and Shirley Knight in Sweet Bird of Youth - he won
Competitive Oscar nominations only please.
Douchy McDouche strikes again
I disagree with Working Stiff. I quite liked James Dunn's Oscar win, but am ignorant of his personal life. Did he do bad things or was a creep that earned him the moniker Douchey McDouche?
Only on TFE would a commenter not only know James Dunn, but hate him enough to call him mean names. Gotta say I kinda live for the niche pettiness!
Maybe he learned he was Republican (not sure if he was or not but Working Stiff can be inscrutable)? But Working Stiff I've got news for you if that gets your knickers in such a knot then there is going to be huge swaths of classic film you won't be able to tolerate because of the stars personal lives.
Ouch. One commenter, (at least) four handles = Douchy McDouche.
I was just listening to the podcast episodes of YOU MUST REMEMBER THIS about the career of Polly Platt, by Karina Longworth. According to that, Vivian Kubrick remembers, from the set of BARRY LYNDON, that Ryan O'Neil was so upset that Tatum O'Neil was nominated as the daughter but he wasn't nominated as her father that he smacked her. Maybe the little eight year old was rubbing it in. Still, that's gonna be hard to forget.
* in the film PAPER MOON (of course).
Seems like you're projecting long term douceness becoming more and more pervading your comments and hijacking threads. Chill and let others have their say. Can't be civil, just say your piece and leave it at that. We're a happy bunch to share opinions and thoughts with when you're mature and ready enough to post in good faith.
Plot twist: The commenter Walking Stick randomly went loony upon.....NATHANIEL R. ESCANDALO!!!
Ryan O’Neil is so good in Paper Moon (his best performance by a clear distance?)
Dan - that’s terrible but also made me giggle when I first read it (the petty hilarity) so I’m obviously terrible too...
I am going to go completely off-rails and call back "Maggie" as one of my fave underseen father-daughter dynamics... it was a solid performance by Abigail Breslin and a surprisingly great one by Arnold Schwarzennegger flexing his "drama" muscles taking the biggest advantage possible of his limited face expression range. A calm, quiet performance in an otherwise tense apocalyptic drama
Colman/Hopkins will be the only pairing to be nominated together this year - Baron Cohen (for "Borat") and Hanks have no chance in Best Actor anyway.
I'm surprised how rare it's been, especially recently. I can't think about many other parent/child pairings too - Weaver & De Niro/Cooper, Leo/Bale, Streep/Roberts, Metcalf/Ronan, Janney/Robbie. I guess not as many family stories are being done nowadays.
Huston should have won for "Chinatown", as far as I'm concerned, and he wasn't even nominated.
The DrMistery - and of course Miranda Richardson and Rosemary Harris in Tom & Viv.
The issue more is that loving parents roles aren’t that meaty in the end, like Sutherland in Pride and Prejudice (if the role was more like the book where it was addressed that he did fail to raise the children and was seen as improper too and not just his wife there would have been more nuance). But there isn’t that much good roles for women so they get nominated anyway.
Tracy Letts should have been nominated alongside Saoirse Ronan and Laurie Metcalf for LADYBIRD. Just sayin'. (Then we could have Oscar nominated mom, dad, AND daughter - just like Moonstruck!)
Luke, I was just thinking about the last decade. :)
@Lynn Lee so true abut Letts being nominated for Lady Bird.
The best father/daughter combo was The Heiress for me. Brutal and exhilarating performances.
How about DDL and Brenda Fricker in My Left Foot - both winners!
Oof, sorry. FATHER/DAUGHTER, not parent/child. 🤦🏻♀️
I was almost thinking about Angelica Huston & William Hickey-both Supporting for Prizzi’s Honor, but Hickey isn’t he her Grandfather? Time to overwork the brain some more and figure out the number of Grandfather/Grand-daughter nominations. Arkin/Breslin-Little Miss Sunshine...
tom -- yeah i thought of that too but looked it up. Her father is a minor characer in the movie, not william hickey.
Here are lists to address Oscars questions about parenting
Father/Son
1942 Walter Huston & James Cagney in Yankee Doodle Dandy – Cagney won
1946 Gregory Peck & Claude Jarman, Jr in The Yearling – Jarman won
1951 Fredric March & Kevin McCarthy in Death of a Salesman
1962 Melvyn Douglas & Paul Newman in Hud – Douglas won
1970 Melvyn Douglas & Gene Hackman in I Never Sand for My Father
1972 Marlon Brando & Al Pacino in The Godfather – Brando won
1972 Marlon Brando & James Caan in The Godfather – Brando won
1972 Robert De Niro & Al Pacino in The Godfather – De Niro won
1979 Dustin Hoffman & Justin Henry in Kramer vs. Kramer – Hoffman won
1980 Robert Duvall & Michael O’Keefe in The Great Santini
1981 John Gielgud & Dudley Moore in Arthur – Gielgud won
1993 Pete Postlewaite & Daniel Day Lewis in In the Name of the Father
1998 James Coburn & Nick Nolte in Affliction – Coburn won
2012 Robert De Niro & Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook
Mother/Son
1940 Jane Darwell & Henry Fonda in The Grapes of Wrath – Darwell won
1941 Margaret Wycherly & Gary Cooper in Sergeant York – Cooper won
1944 Ethel Barrymore & Cary Grant in None But the Lonely Heart – Barrymore won
1946 Jane Wyman & Claude Jarman, Jr in The Yearling – Jarman won
1947 Anne Revere & Gregory Peck in Gentlemen’s Agreement
1951 Mildred Dunnock & Kevin McCarthy in Death of a Salesman
1955 Jo Van Fleet & James Dean in East of Eden – Fleet won
1962 Thelma Ritter & Burt Lancaster in Birdman of Alcatraz
1979 Meryl Streep & Justin Henry in Kramer vs. Kramer – Streep won
1980 Mary Tyler Moore & Timothy Hutton in Ordinary People – Hutton won
1989 Brenda Fricker & Daniel Day Lewis in My Left Foot – both won
1989 Jessica Tandy & Dan Ackroyd in Driving Miss Daisy - Tandy won
1991 Kate Nelligan & Nick Nolte in The Prince of Tides
1999 Toni Colette & Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense
2010 Melissa Leo & Christian Bale in The Fighter – both won
2012 Jacki Weaver & Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook
2016 Nicole Kidman & Dev Patel in Lion
Mother/Daughter
1936 Alice Brady & Carole Lombard in My Man Godfrey
1937 Barbara Stanwyck & Anne Shirley in Stella Dallas
1941 Bette Davis & Teresa Wright in The Little Foxes
1942 Gladys Cooper & Bette Davis in Now Voyager
1943 Anne Revere & Jennifer Jones in The Song of Bernadette
1944 Claudette Colbert & Jennifer Jones in Since You Went Away
1945 Joan Crawford & Ann Blyth in Mildred Pierce – Crawford won
1948 Irene Dunne & Barbara Bel Geddes in I Remember Mama
1955 Anna Magnani & Marisa Pavan in The Rose Tattoo
1956 Nancy Kelly & Patty McCormack in The Bad Seed
1957 Lana Turner & Diane Varsi in Peyton Place
1959 Juanita Moore & Susan Kohner in Imitation of Life
1965 Shelley Winters & Elizabeth Hartman in A Patch of Blue – Winters won
1967 Anne Bancroft & Katherine Ross in The Graduate
1968 Kay Medford & Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl – Streisand won
1973 Ellen Burstyn & Linda Blair in The Exorcist
1976 Piper Laurie & Sissy Spacek in Carrie
1977 Marsha Mason & Quinn Cummings in The Goodbye Girl
1977 Shirley MacLaine & Leslie Browne in The Turning Point
1981 Katharine Hepburn & Jane Fonda in On Golden Pond – Hepburn won
1982 Kim Stanley & Jessica Lange in Frances
1983 Shirley MacLaine & Debra Winger in Terms of Endearment – MacLaine won
1986 Piper Laurie & Marlee Matlin in Children of a Lesser God – Matlin won
1987 Olympia Dukakis & Cher in Moonstruck – both won
1993 Holly Hunter & Anna Paquin in The Piano – both win
1994 Rosemary Harris & Miranda Richardson in Tom & Viv
2009 Gabourey Sidibe & Mo’Nique in Precious – Mo’Nique won
2014 Laura Dern & Reese Witherspoon in Wild
2017 Allison Jenney & Margot Robbie in I, Tonya – Janney won
2017 Laurie Metcalf & Saoirse Ronan in Ladybird
Grandparent/Grandchild
1949 Ethel Waters & Jeanne Crain in Pinky
1980 Eva LaGallienne & Ellen Burstyn in Resurrection
1985 William Hickey & Anjelica Huston in Prizzi’s Honor – Huston won
2006 Alan Arkin & Abigail Breslin in Little Miss Sunshine – Arkin won
JAMES -- wow. extra credit :)
@ James
Rex Harrison / Gladys Cooper / My Fair Lady / he won
@Working Stiff
Good catch!
John Gielgud was Dudley Moore's father in ARTHUR? Not unless I'm forgetting some bizarre end-of-film twist.
@ Dan Humphrey
Gielgud played his valet, a father figure. Thomas Barbour played Arthur's father.
See Working Stiff, you can comment on topic and not resort to mean names like your tourettes with word douche. I forgive you ruining the vibe of this blog for a while and showing true growth and contrition. Keep it up!
@Working Stiff. Sure, but the category is fathers and sons, not "father figures" and "son figures". If we open the discussion up to that, suddenly we have dozens more, like Burgess Meredith and Sylvester Stallone in ROCKY.
Wasn’t Brenda Blethyn Marianne-Jean Baptiste’s mother in Secret and Lies?