Living Oscar Nominee Trivia

Considering the traffic to Friday’s post about living members of classic films and how it’s one of our more-read posts of the week (or in a while), I figured I might as well try to apply the rule to Oscar, since I’ll be doing a lot of Oscar-watching and writing this weekend.  Below are some random interesting facts about Oscar and living lineups.  I’ve looked at the “furthest out” Oscar nominees/winners, and come up with this:

Earliest Oscars Where All Four Acting Winners Are Still Living

Jon Voight and Jane Fonda on Oscar night

1978, where Jon Voight (75), Jane Fonda (76), Christopher Walken (71), and Maggie Smith (79) all won and are still alive.  It’s worth noting that none of the actors were particularly youthful when they won (Walken had just turned 36 when he picked up the trophy and was the youngest of the bunch), and that Fonda actually outlived the youngest nominee in her lineup (Jill Clayburgh…Fonda and Burstyn are the only two living actresses of that field).  The next year after 1978 is 1980, so not too much of a gap.

Earliest Oscars Where All Five Directing Nominees Are Still Living

1980, where Robert Redford (77), David Lynch (68), Martin Scorsese (77), Richard Rush (85), and Roman Polanski (80) are all still alive.  Worth noting about this lineup is that Scorsese and Polanski would both go on to win the Oscar, and that 1986 is the next lineup to have all living directors (coincidentally, David Lynch was nominated in both years).

Earliest Oscars Where All Twenty Acting Nominees Are Still Alive

This one was tricky, but by my estimation it is 1992.  The eldest nominee of the bunch is Joan Plowright (84), followed by Gene Hackman (just a couple of months younger and also 84) and Clint Eastwood (83).  It’s worth noting that many of these nominees would go on to receive (or had already received) other Oscar nominations: only Jaye Davidson, David Paymer, Catherine Deneuve, Stephen Rea, and Plowright would make this their sole Oscar nomination (as of 2014).  You have to go another four years to 1996 to find the silver medal for this title (the eldest nominees of that year are 89-year-old Lauren Bacall and 83-year-old Armin Mueller-Stahl).

Earliest Best Actor Lineup Where All Nominees Are Still Alive

Robert Duvall winning his Oscar

1983, where Best Actor champ Robert Duvall (83) bested Michael Caine (81), Tom Conti (72), Tom Courtenay (77), and Albert Finney (78).  Duvall, Caine, and Finney would go on to be nominated again both in this category and as a supporting player multiple times in the years that followed, though by my count this is the only time they ever competed against each other.  Looking one year later, you find the next lineup of living Oscar nominees in this category, where Finney is also nominated.

Earliest Best Actress Lineup Where All Nominees Are Still Alive

1971-the Best Actress race has several advantages here, both because women statistically live longer, and because the category tends to nominate younger actresses.  The winner that year for Klute was Jane Fonda (76), who beat out Julie Christie (74…or possibly 73-she’s kept that one surprisingly hidden considering her public profile), Glenda Jackson (78), Vanessa Redgrave (77), and Janet Suzman (75).  Perhaps proving a slight point here, but all but Suzman would go on to get more Oscar nominations in the ensuing years (maybe self-esteem helps longevity).  1972 is the next year with all five living, and in fact every Best Actress nominee from 1972-1976 is still alive as of this writing.

Earliest Best Supporting Actor Lineup Where All Nominees Are Still Alive

1990, which is the most recent of any of the acting lineups for this contest.  The winner was Joe Pesci (71), who beat out Al Pacino (74), Bruce Davison (67), Andy Garcia (58), and Grahame Greene (61).  Though it’s the most recent, it is also the one with the youngest field of actors, for whatever that is worth.  1992 is the next lineup with all living members.

Earliest Best Supporting Actress Lineup Where All Nominees Are Still Alive

1975, though I have to admit I was surprised that Lee Grant (87) was still alive as well (I am being telepathic at the moment).  Grant won the Oscar that year, besting Ronee Blakley (68), Sylvia Miles (likely 81, but this is disputed), Lily Tomlin (74), and Brenda Vaccaro (74).  The next lineup after 1975 with all living members would be 1977, two years later.

Celebrity Death Match

Olivia de Havilland and Kirk Douglas

Not to get too morbid here, but there are only a couple of “last nominee standing” duels where just two of the nominees in a given year are still alive.  They are:

1949: Olivia de Havilland (97) won Best Actress for The Heiress whereas Kirk Douglas (also 97) lost Best Actor for Champion.  While there are others from the era (Bacall, Lansbury, and O’Hara spring to mind), these are probably the two most important living actors from the 1940’s.

1957: Joanne Woodard (84) won Best Actress for The Three Faces of Eve whereas Russ Tamblyn (79) lost for Peyton Place in Best Supporting Actor.

Last Nominee Standing

The below nominees are the final living acting nominees from their respective Oscars:

1936: Luise Rainer (The Great Ziegfeld)

1937: Luise Rainer (The Good Earth)

1939: Olivia de Havilland (Gone with the Wind)

1941: Olivia de Havilland (Hold Back the Dawn)

1944: Angela Lansbury (Gaslight)

1946: Olivia de Havilland (To Each His Own)

1948: Olivia de Havilland (The Snake Pit)

1950: Nancy Olson (Sunset Boulevard)

1951: Lee Grant (Detective Story)

1953: Leslie Caron (Lili)

1954: Eva Marie Saint (On the Waterfront)

1955: Marisa Pavan (The Rose Tattoo)

It’s worth noting that 1952 has three living nominees still, even though it’s been over sixty years since the ceremony: Kirk Douglas, Colette Marchand (89), and Terry Moore (85).   The same goes, stunningly enough, for 1945, where three supporting actresses are still alive, though none of them won that year: they are Angela Lansbury (88) for The Picture of Dorian Gray, Joan Lorring (88) for The Corn is Green, and Ann Blyth (85) for Mildred Pierce.

That’s a lot of Oscar trivia-did I miss anything?  Anything you’d like to add.  Share in the comments!