With her nomination for American Hustle this morning, Jennifer Lawrence has become the youngest actor of either gender to receive her third Oscar nomination. She is only 23. Or, if you'd like to get technical about it, 23 years 5 months and 2 days. Whether you think her work in American Hustle is great or terrible (and factions have formed on both sides) or you have a more nuanced perspective on what does and doesn't work about it, there is just no denying her screen dynamism. That's what they use to call "It".
Here's how the stats break down and which legends Jennifer is toppling. Did the performers with similar records flame out early? Read on...
Jennnifer Lawrence won't let it die - she's breaking Oscar records
YOUNGEST TO FIRST NOMINATION
actor, either category
Justin Henry for Kramer vs. Kramer (1979, Supporting). 8
runner up: Jackie Cooper for Skippy (1931, Lead). 9
actress, either category
Quvenzhane Wallis for Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012, Lead). 9
runner up: Tatum O'Neal for Paper Moon (1973, Supporting... though it's really a lead role) 10
All four of these childhood nominations were solitary, and the actors were never in the race again... though Tatum's acting fame continued through her teenage years and Jackie worked for decades. Quvenhzané is still very young so who knows...
YOUNGEST TO SECOND NOMINATION
actor, either category
1. Sal Mineo by the age of 22 with Rebel Without a Cause (1955, Supporting) and Exodus (1960, Supporting)
2. Mickey Rooney by the age of 23 with Babes in Arms (1939, Lead) and Human Comedy (1943, Lead). By this point in his career he'd also received a special Juvenile Oscar.
3. Jeff Bridges by the age of 24 with The Last Picture Show (1971, Supporting) and Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974, Supporting)
4. James Dean by the age of 26* for East of Eden (1955, Lead) and Giant (1956, Lead). In today's Oscar Category Fraud circus show, that Giant role would be demoted to a supporting since Rock Hudson was also nominated as lead. Dean's age at the time of these nominations is projected age as he never made it to 26. Both of his nominations were posthumous. Though he lived to see fame (East of Eden opened in April 1955) he died on September 30th of that same year just a month before Rebel Without a Cause was due in theaters. He was twenty-four.
actress, either category
1. Angela Lansbury by the age of 20
2. Kate Winslet by the age of 22
3. Jennifer Lawrence by the age of 22 (Winter's Bone & Silver Linings Playbook)
4. [TIE] Natalie Wood, Winona Ryder, Julia Roberts all received one supporting and one lead nomination by the age of 23... the age Jennifer Lawrence is now.
5. Joan Fontaine by the age of 24 (two leads)
YOUNGEST TO THIRD NOMINATION
actor, either category
1. Marlon Brando was 29 when he received his third consecutive nomination for Julius Caesar (1953). Pre thirty-something nominations are not common for men in leading roles so Brando's meteoric Oscar rise was remarkable.
2. Leonardo DiCaprio was 32 when he received his third nomination for Blood Diamond (2006), a strange-ish nomination given that he was so much better in the Best Picture of 2006 The Departed. He's nominated again this year for The Wolf of Wall Street ending a seven year drought.
3. Montgomery Clift was 33 when he received his third nomination for From Here To Eternity (1953)
4. Jeff Bridges was 34 when he received his third nomination (first in lead) for Star Man (1984)
5. Al Pacino was also 34 (but almost 35) when he received his third nomination for The Godfather Part Two (1974). Both Pacino and Bridges would have to wait a LONG time for an actual Oscar win.
Natalie Wood in 1963, the year of her last nominated role (Love With the Proper Stranger). Many stars with massive Oscar success in their early 20s flame out with Oscar.
actress, either category
1. Jennifer Lawrence is 23 and enjoying her 3 nomination for American Hustle (2013)
2. Teresa Wright was 24 when she received her 2nd & 3rd nominations, simultaneously, for Pride of the Yankees and Mrs Miniver (1942). She won but it was her last time at the races.
3. Natalie Wood was 25 when she received her third (and last) nomination for Love With the Proper Stranger (1963)
4 Joan Fontaine, Jennifer Jones, and Kate Winslet were all 26 when they received their 3rd nominations and only Fontaine was on her last race. So Lawrence better hope she's got more in common with these last three names than with Wood, Fontaine or Wright.
YOUNGEST TO FOURTH NOMINATION
Oh I shouldn't keep going... but this is interesting. All of the "youngest to" for fourth nominations are from people who Oscar was just obsessed -- they all achieved it with consecutive nominations -- Marlon Brando is definitely the youngest among men, achieving it by 30 on his fourth consecutive nomination (which he won) for On The Waterfront. He was, for a couple of decades at least, the youngest man ever to win the leading prize. Among women,Jennifer Jones who holds the record at 27 for her fourth consecutive nomination with Elizabeth Taylor trailing at 28 for her fourth consecutive for her winning role in BUtterfield 8 (she turned 29 a month before the ceremony)
But a more pressing question might be whether Jennifer Lawrence can win again on March 2nd?
The Golden Globes say yes but winning consecutive Oscars is not easy to do. Back-to-back acting Oscars have happened only five times previously in Oscar history: Luise Rainer (36/37), Spencer Tracy (37/28), Katharine Hepburn (67/68), Jason Robards (76/77) and Tom Hanks (93/94). But if she wins again at 23 what would there be left to do in her career?
YOUNGEST TO SECOND WIN
actor, either category
1. Robert De Niro was 37 when he won his Best Actor statue for Raging Bull (1980). He'd previously won a supporting trophy for The Godfather Part 2 (1974)
2. Tom Hanks was 38 when he won his second of back-to-back Leading trophies for Forrest Gump (1994)
3. Spencer Tracy was a month or so away from 39 when he won his second for Boys Town (1938)
actress, either category
1. Luise Rainer was 28 for The Good Earth's win (1937)
2. Jodie Foster was 29 when she won her second leading trophy for Silence of the Lambs (1991). [Tangent: Twenty-nine years of age is statistically the most common age for actresses to win leading trophies. By comparison only one man has ever won at 29 (Adrien Brody, The Pianist)]
3. Hilary Swank was 30 when she won leading lady #2 for Million Dollar Baby (2004)
4. Bette Davis was a month or so away from 31 for her second Best actress trophy for Jezebel (1938). She never won again despite her two greatest performances (Eve, Baby Jane) still a long time ahead of her.
YOUNGEST (AND ONLY) TO THIRD WINS
Walter Brennan was the first actor to win three Oscars and still the youngest to ever do it
actor, either category
1. Walter Brennan was 46 when he won his third Supporting Actor Oscar for The Westerner (1940). He won all three within a five year period!
2. Daniel Day-Lewis was 55 when he won his third Best Actor Trophy (he's the only three time lead winner among men) for Lincoln last year.
3. Jack Nicholson was 60 when he won this second Best Actor trophy for As Good as it Gets (1997) but it was his third win since he had a supporting win under his belt, too.
actress, either category
1. Ingrid Bergman was 59 when she won her third for Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
2. Katharine Hepburn was 61 when she tied with Barbra Streisand for Best Actress 1968
3. Meryl Streep was 62 for The Iron Lady (2011)
YOUNGEST (AND ONLY) TO FOURTH WIN
Katharine Hepburn's Oscars as the National Portrait Gallery
KATHARINE HEPBURN
The all time Oscar great reached this historic feat and she did it one month away from her 75th birthday. This will undoubtedly remain an unbeatable record... but maybe it's not "untieable"? La Streep is only 64 and DDL is only 56. Just sayin'.... If you're interested in Kate the Great please be sure to tune into our weekly Wednesday series "A Year with Kate" in which Anne Marie is watching all 52 of Hepburn's movies, chronologically. She's already covered A Bill of Divorcement and Christopher Strong and on the 15th, the Oscar journey begins with Kate's first win for Morning Glory.
Do you believe that it's too much too soon for Jennifer Lawrence? What do you make of these Oscar stats?