Coattail Oscar Wins

Big Magilla
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Re: Coattail Oscar Wins

Post by Big Magilla »

I initially listed Nicholson as would have won anyway, but I'm not so sure he would have without either MacLaine or Winger winning.

Peggy Cass was very popular at the time of her Oscar nomination, having been a quasi-regular on Jack Par's late night show.

I added Beatrice Straight's win to the list.
Reza
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Re: Coattail Oscar Wins

Post by Reza »

I think Jack Nicholson (Terms) would have won anyway. His character and performance was the highlight of the film. A well deserved win on merit.

Peggy Cass (Aunty Mame)? She kept dragging down the movie whenever she appeared. Most annoying. I would substitute Maureen Stapleton (Lonelyhearts) instead.
Big Magilla
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Coattail Oscar Wins

Post by Big Magilla »

Since I raised this issue in another thread, I thought it might be interesting to see how many times a winning supporting performance in a film for which another performance also won, might have lost without his or her co-winner. 25 out of 38 times it would seem to me. Feel free to disagree with some or all.

Names in parentheses are those of the actors or actresses most likely in my estimation to have won without the coattail.

1938
Fay Bainter, Jezebel (Beulah Bondi, Of Human Hearts)
1939
Hattie McDaniel, Gone with the Wind (would have won anyway)
1942
Teresa Wright, Mrs. Miniver (Agnes Moorehead, The Magnificent Ambersons)
1944
Barry Fitzgerald, Going My Way (would have won anyway)
1946
Harold Russell, The Best Years of Our Lives (Claude Rains, Notorious)
1949
Mercedes McCambridge, All the King's Men (Ethel Waters, Pinky)
1951
Karl Malden, A Streetcar Named Desire (Peter Ustinov, Quo Vadis)
Kim Hunter, A Streetcar Named Desire (Thelma Ritter, The Mating Season)
1953
Frank Sinatra, From Here to Eternity (would have won anyway)
Donna Reed, From Here to Eternity (Thelma Ritter, Pickup on South Street)
1954
Eva Marie Saint, On the Waterfront (Jan Sterling, The High and the Mighty)
1957
Red Buttons, Sayonara (Sessue Hayakawa, The Bridge on the River Kwai)
Miyoshi Umerki, Sayonara (Elsa Lanchester, Witness for the Prosecution)
1958
Wendy Hiller, Separate Tables (Peggy Cass, Auntie Mame)
1959
Hugh Griffith, Ben-Hur (Ed Wynn, The Diary of Anne Frank)
1960
Shirley Jones, Elmer Gantry (Janet Leigh, Psycho)
1961
George Chakiris, West Side Story (Montgomery Clift, Judgment at Nuremberg)
Rita Moreno, West Side Story (Judy Garland, Judgment at Nuremberg)
1962
Patty Duke, The Miracle Worker (Angela Lansbury, The Manchurian Candidate)
1963
Melvyn Douglas, Hud (would have won anyway)
1966
Sandy Dennis, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Wendy Hiller, A Man for All Seasons)
1971
Ben Johnson, The Last Picture Show (would have won anyway)
Cloris Leachman, The Last Picture Show (would have won anyway)
1972
Joel Grey, Cabaret (Al Pacino, The Godfather)
1976
Beatrice Straight, Network (Jodie Foster, Taxi Driver)
1977
Jason Robards, Julia (Alec Guinness, Star Wars)
Vanessa Redgrave, Julia (would have won anyway)
1979
Meryl Streep, Kramer vs. Kramer (would have won anyway)
1983
Jack Nicholson, Terms of Endearment (Rip Torn, Cross Creek)
1987
Olympia Dukakis, Moonstruck (would have won anyway)
1989
Brenda Fricker, My Left Foot (Julia Roberts, Steel Magnolias)
1993
Anna Paquin, The Piano (Rosie Perez, Fearless)
1998
Judi Dench, Shakespeare in Love (Lynn Redgrave, Gods and Monsters)
2003
Tim Robbins, Mystic River (Djimon Hounsou, In America)
2004
Morgan Freeman, Million Dollar Baby (would have won anyway)
2010
Christian Bale, The Fighter (would have won anyway)
Melissa Leo, The Fighter (would have won anyway)
2013
Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club (would have won anyway)
2017
Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (Willem Dafoe, The Florida Project)
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