Oscar's Long-Suffering Bridesmaids

Glenn Close-will she go 0/7?

We are in the heat of precursor season, and while these awards are relatively pointless if all they're doing is trying to predict the Academy Awards, let's be honest-that seems to be what most of them are doing.  If that's the case, we could be looking at yet another year where Glenn Close & Amy Adams are trying to secure their long-awaited Oscars, and I thought "wait, Oscar trivia...there must be some way that I can turn that into a list!" and lo-and-behold, I was right.

A couple of things can be true about the Oscars at once-it's very hard to be nominated for an Oscar and if you're nominated once, it's likely going to be your only nomination.  However, if you can get in a couple of times, it's probable that you're also going to get a trophy.  There's almost certainly a mathematical explanation here (you can only have so many years where you've got a "20% shot of winning" and not actually win), but it's rarer, especially for living actors, for you to be nominated 3+ times and not have an actual trophy.  For women, there are currently only fifteen actresses to hold this distinction, two of them being Close & Adams.  Were they to die without having ever won, they would join a small group of actresses ranging from Irene Dunne to Thelma Ritter to Deborah Kerr, but it's a short list.  Only 11 women have ever been nominated for at least three competitive Oscars and died without winning one, so it's very probable that most of the women on this list eventually take home a trophy.  Let's take a look and guess how many will actually win, and see who has come the closest to Oscar, shall we?

Note: These are ranked first by how many nominations an actress made, and then by who most-recently got her latest nomination.

15. Saoirse Ronan (1994-Present)

Nominations: Atonement (Supporting Actress in 2007), Brooklyn (Actress in 2015), & Lady Bird (Actress in 2017)
She Lost To: Tilda Swinton, Brie Larson, & Frances McDormand
Closest to the Win: Maybe Atonement?  Brooklyn is more likely that she got second place, but Larson was so far-out-in-front that year that 2007, which was a genuine question mark headed into Oscar night, might have actually been her closest.
Well, She Still Won...: Ronan lost the Oscar for Lady Bird, but she still won the Golden Globe that year (and let's be honest, should have won the Oscar).
Is This Happening Someday?: She's 24 and already a three-time nominee who appears almost constantly in Oscar BAIT-y projects (just this year she's playing a queen who spends most of the film giving passionate speeches).  This is the easiest call of the bunch-she's probably going to win, likely in the next 4-5 years.

14. Laura Linney (1964-Present)

Nominations: You Can Count on Me (Actress in 2000), Kinsey (Supporting Actress in 2004), & The Savages (Actress in 2007)
She Lost to: Julia Roberts, Cate Blanchett & Marion Cotillard
Closest to the Win: None of these were particularly close.  The Savages was a shock nomination, and no one could beat Julia in 2000, so it's probably 2004, though she would have had to get through Natalie Portman & Virginia Madsen to even have a shot at Blanchett.
Well, She Still Won...: Linney wins Emmys, not Oscars.  Linney has been nominated for five Emmys, and taken home four of them (her only loss came to Melissa McCarthy in 2011, where she famously stood on the stage in a mock-beauty-pageant), and she's also picked up two Golden Globes, though again for her TV work, not film.
Is This Happening Someday?: Probably not.  Linney isn't as famous as Adams or Julianne Moore, where she could launch a campaign out-of-nowhere and suddenly she'd be on a stampede to Oscar, and she doesn't really make the sorts of movies that get this kind of attention, particularly with TV being considerably kinder in terms of fame than movies ever have been (she's currently starring on the acclaimed Ozark for Netflix).  Never say never for a 3+ nominee, but I don't see this happening.

13. Joan Allen (1956-Present)

Nominations: Nixon (Supporting Actress in 1995), The Crucible (Supporting Actress in 1996), & The Contender (Actress in 2000)
She Lost to: Mira Sorvino, Juliette Binoche & Julia Roberts
Closest to the Win: Surely it was Nixon, where a win was actually very much in the cards (that year was a threeway heat between Sorvino, Allen, and Kate Winslet for Sense & Sensibility).
Well, She Still Won...: While her long list of screen credits have gotten her a lot of nominations, the only major award that Allen has ever won was for her years on Broadway, taking the Tony for Best Actress in 1988's Burn This.
Is This Happening Someday?: Amy Adams, take note, as Joan Allen could very easily be your future.  From 1995-2005, Allen regularly appeared in major contenders (in addition to her three nominations, she plausibly could have been cited for The Ice Storm, Pleasantville, and The Upside of Anger), but the roles dried up as did the Academy's love of her, and she couldn't even get a surprise nomination in 2015 for playing a struggling mother in a Best Picture nominee (which would have been a gimme back in her heyday).  I don't think she is a priority for Oscar anymore.

12. Debra Winger (1955-Present)

Nominations: An Officer and a Gentleman (Actress in 1982), Terms of Endearment (Actress in 1983), and Shadowlands (Actress in 1993)
She Lost to: Meryl Streep, Shirley MacLaine, & Holly Hunter
Closest to the Win: Probably none of these.  In a different world where Sophie's Choice didn't exist I could make an argument that she could take it for Officer and a Gentleman (her career was sort of inching to an Oscar at that point, and Lange didn't need two), but she had three really impossible-to-beat actresses she had to go toe-to-toe with during her three AMPAS competitions.
Well, She Still Won...: Winger is perhaps the only actress on this list to never win a major award of any kind.  She's picked up a couple of critics prizes, but despite Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Emmy nominations, she's never won any of them.
Is This Happening Someday?: No.  Winger famously quit acting in the 1990's, inspiring the film Searching for Debra Winger, and she still has the goods to deliver a role (she was superb in 2008's Rachel Getting Married), but there's no momentum for her to win again, and she was famous for too brief of a period in the 1980's to have a "she needs an Oscar!" movement from the public.

11. Michelle Pfeiffer (1958-Present)

Nominations: Dangerous Liaisons (Supporting Actress in 1988), The Fabulous Baker Boys (Actress in 1989), & Love Field (Actress in 1992)
She Lost to: Geena Davis, Jessica Tandy & Emma Thompson
Closest to the Win: I'd assume it would be Fabulous Baker Boys, where she was the only real competition for Tandy, and had won a host of precursors that year, likely meriting the win over Tandy, who was the sentimental favorite.
Well, She Still Won...: Pfeiffer took the Golden Globe for Baker Boys as well as a BAFTA Awards for Dangerous Liaisons, so she's hardly lacking in hardware.
Is This Happening Someday?: Unlike some of our previous actresses, Pfeiffer still has a great deal of pop culture cache, and is the sort of person who is famous enough to launch a Still Alice-style campaign and actually pull it off.  One has to assume that if mother! hadn't divided critics so last year that she could have snuck in for a fourth nomination (and with Russia House, The Age of Innocence, and White Oleander as near misses, a fourth nomination has been in the cards for a while).  She's notoriously press shy & doesn't make a lot of movies, but the fame is still there if she wanted to make a run for this, and quite honestly she's the level-of-famous that she could someday take an Honorary Oscar.

10. Diane Ladd (1935-Present)

Nominations: Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (Supporting Actress in 1974), Wild at Heart (Supporting Actress in 1990), and Rambling Rose (Supporting Actress in 1991)
She Lost to: Ingrid Bergman, Whoopi Goldberg, & Mercedes Ruehl
Closest to the Win: Bergman's win in 1974 seems to have been something of a surprise, with the precursors all-over-the-map, but they do somewhat hint that Ladd was a probable favorite here along with Valentina Cortese, so I think her first outing was her best option.
Well, She Still Won...: Ladd won the BAFTA Award for Alice..., and then took a Golden Globe Award for the TV series based on Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, called Alice.
Is This Happening Someday?: I'd say no considering her age and her stature as a character actress, but if her daughter Laura Dern can get a revival for her father, why couldn't she get one last hurrah for mom?  Ladd clearly has wanted this for a while (her campaign to get a nomination for Wild at Heart is the stuff of Oscar legend).

9. Sigourney Weaver (1949-Present)

Nominations: Aliens (Actress in 1986), Gorillas in the Mist (Actress in 1988), & Working Girl (Supporting Actress in 1988)
She Lost to: Marlee Matlin, Jodie Foster, & Geena Davis
Closest to the Win: Weaver became the first actor ever to be nominated for two Oscars in the same year and lose both of them (since then it's happened three times, though only once, 2002 with Julianne Moore, did the Oscars doubly-snub someone who hadn't won before).  I would assume considering that 1988 had two winners that were somewhat surprising at the time that her best shot was that year, and perhaps she split her own vote too much to take it.
Well, She Still Won...: Weaver won both of the Golden Globes in 1988, a flip of her eventual Oscar night, and also took home the BAFTA for 1997's The Ice Storm (starring #13 on our list, Joan Allen).
Is This Happening Someday?: While she's not really famous enough to ever win an Honorary Oscar, she still is famous enough from her work in the Alien franchise to demand attention, and could get a fourth nomination if she had the right kind of movie.  Considering she's one of the few actors patient enough to work with Jim Cameron more-than-once, he owes her another juicy role in a movie at some point, if he ever stops making the nonexistent Avatar sequels.

8. Piper Laurie (1932-Present)

Nominations: The Hustler (Actress in 1961), Carrie (Supporting Actress in 1976), & Children of a Lesser God (Supporting Actress in 1986)
She Lost to: Sophia Loren, Beatrice Straight & Dianne Wiest
Closest to the Win: I'm genuinely not sure.  All of these nominations predate my involvement with the Oscars, and I haven't read any of these races as being particularly close.  Were it 2018 when The Hustler came out, she surely would have won Best Supporting Actress for the movie, denying Rita Moreno her iconic win, and proving why category fraud is so dangerous as one of Oscar's best choices would be ruled out as a result.
Well, She Still Won...: Laurie took an Emmy for 1987's Promise and won a Golden Globe in 1990 for Twin Peaks.
Is This Happening Someday?: Laurie still acts (she's seen in the Matthew McConaughey film White Boy Rick this year), but has never been a consistent presence in film, frequently taking long detours on the stage (she didn't appear in a Hollywood movie from The Hustler to Carrie), so I doubt it.  She's not well-known enough to win an Honorary Award, so I'm guessing her next mention with AMPAS will be at the In Memoriam (morbid, but accurate).

7. Angela Lansbury (1925-Present)

Nominations: Gaslight (Supporting Actress in 1944), The Picture of Dorian Gray (Supporting Actress in 1945), & The Manchurian Candidate (Supporting Actress in 1962)
She Lost to: Ethel Barrymore, Anne Revere, & Patty Duke (don't you love that there's still someone living who once competed against Ethel Barrymore?)
Closest to the Win: Lansbury was the heavy favorite for her dragon-lady mother in 1962's The Manchurian Candidate, but she had to go against Patty Duke in The Miracle Worker, which is pretty much a lead role and a sympathetic one at that, so she ended up losing as a result (Duke's very good in the movie, but nowhere near as marvelous as Lansbury).
Well, She Still Won...: Lansbury won an Honorary Oscar in 2013 for her body-of-work, a well-deserved honor that the Emmys should duplicate considering her 18 nods without a win there.  She also has five Tony Awards & six Golden Globes...Lansbury has a complicated history with awards ceremonies, with some adoring her while others consistently keep her in her seat.
Is This Happening Someday?: The Honorary Award was a great nod from Hollywood to one of its most enduring stars, but it was also an indication that Lansbury's time in the competitive categories is over.

6. Michelle Williams (1980-Present)

Nominations: Brokeback Mountain (Supporting Actress in 2005), Blue Valentine (Actress in 2010), My Week with Marilyn (Actress in 2011), & Manchester by the Sea (Supporting Actress in 2016)
She Lost to: Rachel Weisz, Natalie Portman, Meryl Streep, & Viola Davis
Closest to the Win: Probably her first at-bat?  The other films had pretty strong frontrunners, but 2005 could have gone a few different ways, including toward Williams as the "long-suffering wife."
Well, She Still Won...: Williams picked up the Globe for her work in My Week with Marilyn (I remember Seth Rogen making fun of the "hilarious" movie while presenting and then having to sheepishly hand the statue over to his Take This Waltz costar).
Is This Happening Someday?: Only 13 women have been nominated four or more times for acting without actually winning a trophy, so we're entering very good odds territory, especially for someone who works as often as Williams who has made the move from leading lady to supporting parts relatively seamlessly.  She's admittedly turning forty in a couple of years so it'd be smart to score soon, but this is still achievable.

5. Annette Bening (1958-Present)

Nominations: The Grifters (Supporting Actress in 1990), American Beauty (Actress in 1999), Being Julia (Actress in 2004), & The Kids Are All Right (Actress in 2010)
She Lost to: Whoopi Goldberg, Hilary Swank, Hilary Swank (again), & Natalie Portman
Closest to the Win: I distinctly remember there being a lot of conversation in 1999, when Bening was just north of 40, that "it's time" for her to win for American Beauty, which she didn't do but had to be close.  While in hindsight that was ridiculous considering the body-of-work she's put out since, it has to be noted that women around the age of 40 frequently have their flourishing acting careers disappear if they can't transition into playing the grittier, indy films that Hollywood's sexism relegates them toward.
Well, She Still Won...: Bening took home the BAFTA for American Beauty (Boys Don't Cry feels a more "American" story than American Beauty, so this makes sense though it's weird they didn't go with Julianne Moore for the "more British" End of the Affair), and nabbed Golden Globes for both Being Julia and The Kids Are All Right.
Is This Happening Someday?: Yeah, I think it is, though it's probably going to have to be supporting.  While Bening has missed in the past two years, she scored major precursor nominations (Globes & BAFTA) proving the love is still there, and she's the rare actress in her sixties that still headlines movies.  I think she's quite likely to get this, and it doesn't hurt that she's married to Hollywood Royalty, as Warren will clearly push for his wife to win this if she's close.

4. Jane Alexander (1939-Present)

Nominations: The Great White Hope (Actress in 1970), All the President's Men (Supporting Actress in 1976), Kramer vs. Kramer (Supporting Actress in 1979), and Testament (Actress in 1983)
She Lost to: Glenda Jackson, Beatrice Straight, Meryl Streep, & Shirley MacLaine
Closest to the Win: Straight was a big upset in 1976, with most people assuming the trophy would go to Alexander or Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver.  Her other three options she wasn't one of the main contenders, so I think this was her best option even though it's not the most memorable of parts in All the President's Men.
Well, She Still Won...: Alexander took home the Tony for the stage version of The Great White Hope and won Emmys for her work in Playing for Time and Warm Springs.
Is This Happening Someday?: No, I don't think so.  Alexander still works regularly, but mostly in TV (I'd totally buy that she has another Emmy win in her), and was never a household name in the way that Bening is, so there's less pressure to give her an Honorary trophy.

3. Marsha Mason (1942-Present)

Nominations: Cinderella Liberty (Actress in 1973), The Goodbye Girl (Actress in 1977), Chapter Two (Actress in 1979), & Only When I Laugh (Actress in 1981)
She Lost to: Glenda Jackson, Diane Keaton, Sally Field, & Katharine Hepburn
Closest to the Win: It's hard to tell, but it'd be one of her first two nominations.  Jackson's win in 1973 was considered a big surprise (if you've never seen the looks of shock and not-so-veiled disgust on Mason's, Joanne Woodward's, and Ellen Burstyn's faces when Jackson won at the 1973 Oscars, do yourself a favor).  Mason seemed happier being beaten by Diane Keaton, though considering the Annie Hall wins weren't a foregone conclusion that night (Mason & Jane Fonda were both in the running), she might have just been acting.
Well, She Still Won...: Mason picked up Golden Globes for both Cinderella Liberty & The Goodbye Girl, but is one Tony nomination away from having been nominated for every leg of the EGOT but not winning any of them (only Lynn Redgrave has ever pulled off this feat).  Considering how often she treads the boards, this is not out of the question (weirdly Redgrave also won two Golden Globes in her career).
Is This Happening Someday?: Doubtful.  Mason is very active, one could argue more active than even Alexander, but her days as a leading woman are largely forgotten by modern audiences, and so there's no way for her to easily get in on pop culture cache.  She'd need to land a really good film role, which is tough for a woman nearing eighty.

2. Amy Adams (1974-Present)

Nominations: Junebug (Supporting Actress in 2005), Doubt (Supporting Actress in 2008), The Fighter (Supporting Actress in 2010), The Master (Supporting Actress in 2012), & American Hustle (Supporting Actress in 2013)
She Lost to: Rachel Weisz, Penelope Cruz, Melissa Leo, Anne Hathaway, & Cate Blanchett
Closest to the Win: I don't think Adams has ever actually been close to a win.  Her best shot would have been in 2013, where she was competing against four former winners so a movement to "make her one of the club" was definitely possible, but it never panned out.  She's more consistently in 4th place when she's nominated.
Well, She Still Won...: Adams took an expected Golden Globe for American Hustle and then a shock win for Big Eyes (she clearly hadn't prepared even a "I can't believe I won" speech that year).
Is This Happening Someday?: Only five women have gotten to the 5+ club without taking home a competitive trophy, so Adams is in rare company if she never wins, but I kind of think she will.  Her fame and age indicate it should happen soon, and Oscar's love of her may be waning (she missed for Big Eyes & Arrival despite ample precursor attention), but Vice this year has a solid recipe for a trophy (supporting part, biopic, showy work) if its reviews don't bury her chances alive.

1. Glenn Close (1947-Present)

Nominations: The World According to Garp (Supporting Actress in 1982), The Big Chill (Supporting Actress in 1983), The Natural (Supporting Actress in 1984), Fatal Attraction (Actress in 1987), Dangerous Liaisons (Actress in 1988), & Albert Nobbs (Actress in 2011)
She Lost to: Jessica Lange, Linda Hunt, Peggy Ashcroft, Cher, Jodie Foster, & Meryl Streep
Closest to the Win: In 1988, Close was the frontrunner for this win.  Most people assumed she'd take it after a decade of headlining major films, perhaps joining Sigourney Weaver on the stage (getting two women off of this list), but Jodie Foster pulled off the upset, and Close would have to wait another 23 years before she finally was invited back to the Oscars.
Well, She Still Won...: Close has won two Golden Globes, three Emmys, and a trio of Tony Awards-the only thing left to cap off an incredible career would be an Oscar...
Is This Happening Someday?: Close joins Thelma Ritter & Deborah Kerr as the only actresses to ever hit six nominations and never win the Oscar.  As a result, it's hard not to see a movement happening for her if she gets a citation this year since she'd be in uncharted territory for a woman if she got seven nods & never won.  In a normal year, I'd argue that Olivia Colman or Lady Gaga or even Emily Blunt would have more steam than Close's quiet, introverted turn in The Wife, but that's the sort of performance that eventually won Geraldine Page her Oscar too after losing seven times previously (though Close is better than Page was in The Trip to Bountiful), and honestly at this point the movie behind her name might not matter-they are likely just voting for Glenn Close, Oscar Winner, at that point.  I think if she gets in there's a very strong possibility the Oscars decide to avoid another Richard Burton situation and just gives her the trophy.  If not, expect an Honorary Oscar soon, though Close famously wants this so I doubt she settles for an Honorary if she can help it.

Most Oscar-Nominated Actors Without a Win

With Julianne Moore's recent Oscar win, we have removed one of those actors who have long been on the "they need an Oscar" list, and got me to thinking-what other actors are nearing Juli's nomination count (or have surpassed it) that could still be included on this list?  This sounded like a fun idea, and so I figured I'd pull together a list of the most-nominated living actors without an Oscar.

I will point out a few things before we begin our Top 8.  For starters, it should be worth noting that four nominations is the cutoff for entry here, but there are a myriad of actors who still work very regularly that could make this list and are currently at three.  Actors as varied as Nick Nolte, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Pfeiffer, Tom Cruise, Bradley Cooper, and Laura Linney have amassed a trio of nominations in their careers and could always be good for one more, gaining entrance to the club.  There are actors like Kenneth Branagh, not included below, who have been nominated in other categories and therefore have four or more nominations, but not enough acting nominations without a win to make the list.  And then there's Warren Beatty (also not cited below) who has won Best Director but didn't emerge victorious on any of his four acting nominations.  Therefore, we have just a paltry eight nominees who have been nominated at least four times and have absolutely no wins yet, proving how rare this is.  Let's get started (ties are broken by whichever person achieved their latest nomination most recently):

8. Leonardo DiCaprio
Nominations: 4 (What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, The Aviator, Blood Diamond, and The Wolf of Wall Street); Leo also got a Best Picture nomination for The Wolf of Wall Street
Don't Feel Too Bad for Him...: Leo's won two Golden Globe Awards, for The Aviator and The Wolf of Wall Street
He Got the Closest On: DiCaprio decidedly got second place with The Aviator but he never had a shot of taking down Jamie Foxx.  That's still probably his closest, though, as Tommy Lee Jones, Forest Whitaker, and Matthew McConaughey were all th surest of things.
Is This Ever Happening?: I have to suspect yes, even if he continually threatens to quit acting.  The collective internet has made it their active duty to act like Leo (who is admittedly a very fine actor) not having an Oscar yet is a tragedy worthy of Shakespeare.  As you can see he is on the list, but only in eighth so there are seven other actors who are still kicking and have been waiting longer and more often than Jack Dawson for their Oscars, so everyone needs some perspective.  Though, yes, Leo needs an Oscar.

7. Annette Bening

Nominations: 4 (The Grifters, American Beauty, Being Julia, and The Kids Are All Right)
Don't Feel Too Bad for Her: Bening also has two Golden Globes, one for Being Julia and the other for The Kids Are All Right
She Got the Closest On: This is harder to tell than for Leo, though I have to believe that it was American Beauty.  Bening had an actual movement at the time to give her the Oscar because "it was time" which people frequently called ageist and sexist (since she was only 41 at the time, hardly a death's door situation).  However, she hasn't won on her two chances since then (famously losing to Hilary Swank a second time in 2004), though she may well have been in second place all four nominations.
Is This Ever Happening?: I am not sure.  Women have a tougher time past the age of fifty getting nominated and winning, as is evidenced by Julianne Moore, but who knows if Still Alice becomes a thing-people seem to have thoroughly enjoyed giving it to the long-respected Moore, which may well open up more doors down the road for older actresses who get character centerpieces.  She certainly works in prestige projects and while she doesn't headline movies with great frequency, she gets a lot more quality work than some of her peers like Sigourney Weaver and Michelle Pfeiffer.  I wouldn't bet against it in the way I would Weaver and Pfeiffer, but it's not as clear cut as Leo (the only person on this list I'm certain will win a competitive Oscar someday).

6. Ed Harris

Nominations: 4 (Apollo 13, The Truman Show, Pollock, The Hours)
Don't Feel Too Bad for Him: Harris has two Golden Globes for The Hours and Game Change
He Got the Closest On: The Truman Show-he was actually a clear 50/50 shot in 1995 for Apollo 13 and had a lot of late-breaking momentum for Pollock (The Hours was never an option), but The Truman Show he was actually the frontrunner.  Sentiment (and an admittedly strong performance) for James Coburn in Affliction upended Harris in what was clearly his best shot at the trophy (I remember Coburn being somewhere around fourth place for predictions that year, as Harris and Robert Duvall were clearly the two trying to take the trophy).
Is This Ever Happening?: Very doubtful.  It's not like Harris doesn't work anymore (he's regularly doing bit parts in movies) and clearly still has a passion for acting, but he hates awards shows and isn't going to campaign for it in the way modern awards seasons demand, and I doubt anyone is going to give him a Mo'Nique level performance that would basically mandate the politically-outspoken actor win.  An Emmy seems far more likely at this juncture.

5. Jane Alexander

Nominations: 4 (The Great White Hope, All the President's Men, Kramer vs. Kramer, and Testament)
Don't Feel Too Bad for Her: Alexander has two Emmy Awards, one for Playing for Time and another for Warm Springs
She Got Closest On: Halfway through the list we get two actresses from the 1970's who somehow managed major success but missed with Oscar and are little known today.  I suspect that Alexander, by process of elimination, was closest in 1976 with All the President's Men.  1970's Great White Hope was never a realistic shot (though you have to check out the video of it being presented just to see her dress, which looks like something out of the court of Marie Antoinette),  and Meryl/Shirley were always going to win her latter two.  1976, on the other hand, went to Beatrice Straight in a race that was pitting Alexander in a solid race against a young Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver, but the Academy's love of Network pushed the shortest performance ever into the light as a win.  Had it not, there's a decent chance that Alexander, who was a major player at the time, might have trumped future movie star Foster and taken this for a very popular film that did win Best Supporting Actor, after all.
Is This Ever Happening?: Extremely doubtful.  Alexander still works quite regularly (she turned 75 this past year), but it's almost always in bit parts or guest appearances on television.  Her moments at the Oscars are over at this point.

4. Marsha Mason

Nominations: 4 (Cinderella Liberty, The Goodbye Girl, Chapter Two, and Only When I Laugh)
Don't Feel Too Bad for Her: Mason has won two Golden Globe awards, for Cinderella Liberty and The Goodbye Girl.
She Got Closest On: I know that Glenda Jackson was a bit of a surprise in 1973 when she won her second trophy, which leads me to think it might have been that one that she came the closest on (she did pick up the Globe for Actress in a Drama).  One wonders if the Academy had known at the time that she'd be such a fixture in movies over the next decade (this was her big break) if they'd skipped Jackson, who never showed up for awards anyway, and given it to Mason who would become a mainstay at the Oscars and showed up all four times she was nominated (a rarity for a performer in the 1970's).
Is This Ever Happening?: I actually told a friend of mine that Mason was a four-time nominee and he was stunned (yes, I frequently work Marsha Mason into most of my conversations), which is sort of telling as he's a pretty connected film fan.  So this seems doubtful, but she may well do something only one other actor ever has: be nominated for all four awards in the EGOT and not win one.  Only Lynn Redgrave has ever done it, and Mason has already been nominated for (and lost) the Oscar, Grammy, and Emmy, and is constantly doing something on the New York stage.  I think she should go for it!

3. Amy Adams

Nominations: 5 (Junebug, Doubt, The Wrestler, The Master, and American Hustle)
Don't Feel Too Bad for Her: She has two Golden Globes for American Hustle and Big Eyes
She Got Closest On: Until American Hustle I claimed that Amy Adams had the distinction of being in fourth place every nomination she got.  This seemed to end with American Hustle, where she was probably in second place (considering she was the only one of the nominees that year who didn't already have an Oscar on her mantle and she was in a Best Picture nominee).  Still, beating Blanchett that year was a nearly impossible order so it wasn't a close second by any estimation.
Is This Ever Happening?: I'm starting to think no.  It's weird-no performer has been more frequently crowned in the past decade with a nomination (outside of Meryl) than Adams, and yet she's never a frontrunner for the win.  She's at that age for actresses where a lot of opportunities begin to disappear (she just turned 40), she missed for Big Eyes despite solid precursor support (her first time since Enchanted where that happened), and her only role on-deck right now is Superman v. Batman.  She clearly wants it and has been playing hard for it in the past few years (perhaps even would move to that "infrequent work" stage of her career for a while like Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon did after their wins if she got the trophy), so she might just go extremely BAIT-y in a biopic soon to get it over with (though that may have ben what Big Eyes was supposed to be).  She certainly has the momentum, but she needs to nail this down in the next year or two as Oscar will move on to another performer lwho keeps missing pretty quickly (look to Marsha Mason for proof).

2. Albert Finney

Nominations: 5 (Tom Jones, Murder on the Orient Express, The Dresser, Under the Volcano, Erin Brockovich)
Don't Feel Too Bad for Him: Mr. Finney has three Golden Globes (for Tom Jones, Scrooge, and The Gathering Storm)
He Got Closest On: Surely his first, when he was headlining a Best Picture and lost to Sidney Poitier in a threeway battle between Finney, Poitier, and Paul Newman.  He was probably also in second place for Erin Brockovich, but Benicio del Toro had that one locked up.  It's worth noting that 1974 had arguably the biggest shock in Best Actor history with Art Carney trumping not only Finney in Orient Express but also Jack Nicholson in Chinatown, Al Pacino in Godfather II, and Dustin Hoffman in Lenny (at the time none of them had won yet), so who the hell knows what order that year was in.
Is This Ever Happening?: No-Finney still works sporadically (most recently in Skyfall) and is probably legendary enough that he could pull a Christopher Plummer/Beginners if he tried, but he's famously against awards shows (he doesn't campaign and never shows up) and that's not going to fly today (even with an Honorary Award where he'd be guaranteed to have his speech).

1. Glenn Close

Nominations: 6 (The World According to Garp, The Big Chill, The Natural, Fatal Attraction, Dangerous Liaisons, Albert Nobbs)
Don't Feel Too Bad for Her: Despite famously missing one big award, Close has won three Emmys, two Golden Globes, and three Tonys.
She Got Closest On: So, so many.  The back-to-back victories by Cher and Jodie Foster over Close's first two lead nominations were in insanely rich and competitive Oscar races.  One could easily see Close winning either (particularly for the mammoth hit Fatal Attraction) without any eyelash-batting.
Is This Ever Happening?: I find it very likely that Close will end up with an Honorary Award at some point-she has the sort of stature in the filmic community to win a trophy there, and I think at this point that she will probably gladly take it.  Still, she's in that position of someone akin to Paul Newman or Al Pacino or Geraldine Page quite frankly where if she were to finally get a frontrunner nomination (not something like Albert Nobbs where it was clearly she barely made the cut but a Color of Money or Scent of a Woman or Trip to Bountiful), she'd almost certainly win.  She's too legendary to deny at this point if she just keeps trying.  If I were her I'd try for some plum supporting role and see if that turns into anything.  Cause it's a damn shame that Glenn Close doesn't have an Oscar.

And those are the Top 8-any surprises?  Who do you think is the first to make it?  Who do you think will eventually make it?  And who ends up an unhonored statistic like Richard Burton and Thelma Ritter?  Share in the comments!