Who Doesn't Have an Oscar?

With Piero Tosi’s recent Honorary Oscar, it got me thinking about a certain record no one at the Oscars probably wants (though from the outside-in, it’s probably still better than nothing): most Academy Award nominations without a win.  Tosi is currently the living person with the most Costume Design award nominations without actually winning a competitive Oscar.  I thought it would be fun to check in with the living people with the most nominations without a win and see what the odds are that they’ll ever win a competitive Oscar.

(Notes: These totals are from Wikipedia, which is sometimes as reliable as a Republican Tea Party congressman, so if you notice any mistakes, I won’t be offended-share in the comments and I’ll correct and give you credit!  Also, unless otherwise noted, this is the record most nominations for a living person, not just in general)

Best Picture

Most Nominated Without a Win: Kathleen Kennedy

How Many Nominations? Eight

Does She Hold the All-Time Loss Record in the Category? Yes, and she’s tied as the most nominated producer, period.

Most Recent Nomination: Lincoln, in 2012

Best Shot at Winning: Hard to say.  She’s arguably in second place at least twice, potentially three times (for E.T., The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and arguably for Lincoln). 

Will She Ever Win? If Steven Spielberg ever wins Best Picture again she’s certain to take it.  Either way she’ll receive the Thalberg at some point.

Best Director

Most Nominated Without a Win: Peter Weir

How Many Nominations? Four

Does She Hold the All-Time Loss Record in the Category? No-Robert Altman, Clarence Brown, Alfred Hitchcock, and King Vidor all outdo him with five apiece.

Most Recent Nomination: Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, in 2003

Best Shot at Winning: I honestly don’t feel like he was ever truly close.  His best shot was probably in a different category (he’s been nominated for screenwriting and producing as well, but never won in any category)-1990’s Original Screenplay.  If I had to pick one, I’d say Witness in 1985, where he was possibly second and third at the worst.

Will She Ever Win? Doubtful-he’s only been on Oscar’s radar once in the past ten years (a Makeup nod for The Way Back) and as he’ll soon be in his seventies, he seems to be in the twilight of his career.

Best Actor

Most Nominated Without a Win: Peter O’Toole

How Many Nominations? Eight

Does He Hold the All-Time Loss Record in the Category? Yes

Most Recent Nomination: Venus, in 2006

Best Shot at Winning: O’Toole got put in one of those rare circumstances in 1962 where he would have won in almost any other year but Gregory Peck managed to take the trophy for To Kill a Mockingbird.  It’s very possible that he was in second place for The Lion in Winter in 1968 (I get the sense that Cliff Robertson won a close race over O’Toole and Alan Bates).  O'Toole also was nominated for The Stunt Man and My Favorite Year in the early eighties, and may have been in second or third place those years, but I doubt he could have overtaken Robert de Niro or Ben Kingsley.

Will He Ever Win? Though he does have an Oscar (an Honorary one in 2003, and O’Toole correctly protested that his career wasn’t over yet since he got another nomination three years later), he’s retired so the competitive trophy is off the table at this point.

Best Actress

Most Nominated Without a Win: Judi Dench, Marsha Mason, and Vanessa Redgrave all tie

How Many Nominations? Four

Does She Hold the All-Time Loss Record in the Category? No-Deborah Kerr had six before she died.

Most Recent Nomination: For Dench it was 2006’s Notes on a Scandal, for Mason it was 1981’s Only When I Laugh, and for Redgrave it was 1984’s The Bostonians

Best Shot at Winning: Dench surely came the closest in 1997’s Mrs. Brown, where she won the Drama Golden Globe and was in a close race with Helen Hunt (her film’s Best Picture nomination surely helped her across the finish line).  Mason won Globes for her 1973 and 1977 nominations (Cinderella Liberty and The Goodbye Girl, respectively), though I suspect the strangeness of the 1973 field probably made her closest that year.  Redgrave has never really been close to winning-all four of her years she would have been lucky to have gotten third place. 

Will They Ever Win? To be fair, Redgrave and Dench both have Supporting Actress Oscars, which surely helps the sting here.  Of the three, though, Dench is the only one who still works in the “right” kind of pictures to get nominated or win again, and may well break the tie with this year’s Philomena.

Best Supporting Actor

Most Nominated Without a Win: Jeff Bridges, Robert Duvall, Ed Harris, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Al Pacino

How Many Nominations? Three

Does He Hold the All-Time Loss Record in the Category? No-Claude Rains and Arthur Kennedy both have four a pop.

Most Recent Nomination: This is a laundry list, but they are: 2000’s The Contender (Bridges), 1998’s A Civil Action (Duvall), 2002’s The Hours (Harris), 2012’s The Master (Hoffman), and 1992’s Glengarry Glen Ross (Pacino)

Best Shot at Winning: I don’t feel like any of Bridges’ nominations came close to winning-all three had fairly well-established frontrunners.  Harris was considered the frontrunner by many in 1995 and 1998 for Apollo 13 and The Truman Show, respectively.  Duvall was surely in the conversation for Apocalypse Now! (though Melvyn Douglas had a solid lead that year) and was second to Harris from predictions in 1998 (James Coburn's surprise win was one of the biggest upsets of that decade).  Hoffman was in second place in 2008 for Doubt and probably was in the running for last year’s The Master.  And finally Pacino was surely in second place for his lead work in The Godfather, which was put in supporting to ensure Brando had a clear path to victory (and we all saw how that turned out).

Will They Ever Win? All but Harris have won an Oscar in the leading categories, and while I do feel Hoffman will get a second trophy at some point, I just don’t feel the same way about Harris.  He still works regularly and won great praise for Game Change, but he doesn’t campaign, which hurts when you want an old-age honor.

Best Supporting Actress

Most Nominated Without a Win: Amy Adams

How Many Nominations? Four

Does She Hold the All-Time Loss Record in the Category? No-Thelma Ritter does with six (she’s also the most nominated period in the category)

Most Recent Nomination: 2012’s The Master

Best Shot at Winning: I once made the comment that Amy Adams was likely in fourth place in all four of her Oscar-nominated years, and I stand by that assessment.  The tightest race was probably 2010’s The Fighter, but fourth place is not close to winning. 

Will She Ever Win? She’s got a good shot this year, but in Best Actress.  The Academy clearly adores her, but if she can’t stick the landing in a few years, she’s going to be in tough shape.

Best Original Screenplay

Most Nominated Without a Win: Mike Leigh

How Many Nominations? Five

Does He Hold the All-Time Loss Record in the Category? No-Federico Fellini won six nominations but no trophies

Most Recent Nomination: 2010’s Another Year

Best Shot at Winning: Secrets & Lies (1996) resulted in Leigh getting a Best Director nomination (one of only two in his career) and had it not been for the Coen Brothers’ Fargo, he surely would have won.

Will He Ever Win? Doubtful.  Leigh’s approach with screenplays is largely toward having his actors improvise, which can’t sit well with the writers’ branch.  But the Academy surely likes his films, so he could very well overtake Fellini’s record and has an outside shot at an Honorary Award at some point.

Best Foreign Film

Most Nominated Without a Win: Israel

How Many Nominations? Ten

Does It Hold the All-Time Loss Record in the Category? Yes

Most Recent Nomination: 2011’s Footnote

Best Shot at Winning: No idea-trying to predict the winner in this category is generally impossible-the also-rans would be a fool’s errand.

Will It Ever Win? Certainly-Israeli cinema is on the rise (four of these nominations came in the past six years), and will likely win pretty soon.

Best Cinematography

Most Nominated Without a Win: Roger Deakins

How Many Nominations? Ten

Does He Hold the All-Time Loss Record in the Category? No-George Folsey hit thirteen without a win.

Most Recent Nomination: Last year’s Skyfall

Best Shot at Winning: 2007-he received two nominations for Best Cinematography that year, and had to be a close second to Robert Elswit’s There Will Be Blood (Deakins did the Best Picture-winning No Country for Old Men).

Will He Ever Win? I’m starting to lean toward no.  He’s not terribly old (he’s 64) and works regularly (he’s had three nominations in the past five years, and has a decent shot at an eleventh this year for Prisoners), but he doesn’t lens a lot of visual effects-laden films, which seems to be the trend of this category.  He’s a genius though (I’ve given him two OVP awards already) and could be a great candidate for an Honorary Award.

Best Costume Design

Most Nominated Without a Win: Piero Tosi and Patricia Norris both tie

How Many Nominations? Five

Does He Hold the All-Time Loss Record in the Category? Yes, though the late Howard Shoup also has five.

Most Recent Nomination: Neither work frequently anymore.  Norris’s last one was 1988’s Sunset (I’d never heard of it either) and Tosi’s was 1982’s La traviata.

Best Shot at Winning: I honestly don’t feel like Tosi ever really came close, though it’s hard to say whether his earlier foreign language films had a higher rate of people seeing them (foreign films being more readily honored by the Academy in those days).  I’m going to assume that both came the closest  in 1982, when Gandhi inexplicably won this category.

Will They Ever Win? Tosi is winning an Honorary Award this year, and while Norris probably deserves to be mentioned for one as well, I doubt she’ll take it (it’ll be a while before they pick another costume designer, and she’s 82).

Best Original Score

Most Nominated Without a Win: Thomas Newman

How Many Nominations? Ten

Does He Hold the All-Time Loss Record in the Category? No-Alex North has it with fourteen nominations before his death.

Best Shot at Winning: My gut says that 1999’s American Beauty is probably the closest he came.  The Red Violin from that year was something of a surprise, and if I recall correctly, Newman was the frontrunner to beat it.

Will He Ever Win? Yes.  Newman has had an incredible bad luck streak, but he’s so regularly nominated in a field that favors default nominees that loves to re-nominate and is only 57, so he’ll time will come.  I wouldn’t be stunned if he made it an eleventh nomination in this category with the upcoming Saving Mr. Banks, for starters.

Best Sound Mixing

Most Nominated Without a Win: Kevin O’Connell

How Many Nominations? Twenty (that is not a typo)

Does He Hold the All-Time Loss Record in the Category? Yes-he’s also the most nominated person in Academy history to never win an Oscar.

Best Shot at Winning: For all the fanfare about O’Connell’s many, many snubs (it’s ridiculous), he hasn’t been close to winning very often.  I’d say he was within striking distance for 1983’s Terms of Endearment, 1996’s Twister, and 2007’s Transformers, but that’s probably it.

Will He Ever Win? Possibly, though he hasn’t gotten one in a while by his standards (for some reason he dropped out of the Transformers franchise, otherwise he’d be at 22 losses), and he typically makes the sort of films that get you nominated but don’t let you win.  He still works like crazy, though, so it could happen.  If nothing else, this is a clear case of AMPAS owing the man an Honorary Oscar.

And those are it for now.  If anyone knows who the Film Editing, Adapted Screenplay, Original Song, Art Direction, Sound Editing, Visual Effects, and Makeup leaders are let me know and I’ll add them to the list (I couldn’t find them).  And what are your thoughts-do you think any of these men or women will end their losing streaks (or at least continue them to break the all-time records?)  Share your thoughts on when they should have won, if they’ll win, or why they shouldn’t have this many nominations to begin with in the comments!