Jennifer Lawrence & The Race to Break Oscar Records
Thursday, October 22, 2015 at 5:04PM Nine year-old Jacob Tremblay (Room), fourteen year-old Abraham Attah (Beasts of No Nation), and 21 year-old Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn) are the youngest actors who appear to be in the mix for possible Oscar nominations this year. But none of them will be breaking any records if they are as younger actors have been nominated in their categories. It's actually Jennifer Lawrence, an old lady at 25 (Kidding, but she sure does like playing older women) who is the one to watch for trivia's sake. She is likely to break a record that is currently held by another Jennifer.
Jennifer in Duel in the Sun (1946) / Jennifer in Joy (2015)
Should Lawrence be nominated for Joy (talk about the new trailer here), she will have amassed an incredible four acting nominations by the age of 25. I assumed that record was held by Elizabeth Taylor but the record is actually held by one of the more forgotten superstars of the 1940s, Jennifer Jones.
A HUGE TRIVIA LIST AFTER THE JUMP...
The dark haired beauty won the Oscar on her first try for The Song of Bernadette (1943) and remained a hot property for the next handful of years winning her fourth consecutive nomination by the age of 27 for Duel in the Sun (1946).
Jennifer's star diminished afterwards and only one more nomination came her way for Love is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955) but Oscar was deeply devoted at first. You might say that Oscar, just like the rest of us, has a broad range of romantic feelings: fleeting flirtations, brief intense crushes, long relationships that suddenly fade, and lifelong passions.
YOUNGEST TO EARN MULTIPLE NOMINATIONS
All Acting Categories Included
The Picture of Dorian Gray - nomination #2 for Angela Lansbury who was 20 years old!
QUICKEST TO 2: Angela Lansbury at 20 (ru: Sal Mineo, Jennifer Lawrence, and Kate Winslet at 22, Mickey Rooney at 23)
QUICKEST TO 3: Jennifer Lawrence at 23* (ru: Teresa Wright at 24, Natalie Wood at 25)
QUICKEST TO 4: Jennifer Jones at 27 (ru: Elizabeth Taylor at 28, Winslet at 29)
Little Children - nomination #5 for Kate Winslet. She wouldn't have to wait much longer
QUICKEST TO 5: Kate Winslet at 32 (ru: Marlon Brando and Bette Davis at 33, Streep & Taylor at 34)
QUICKEST TO 6: [tie] Bette Davis* & Kate Winslet at 34 (ru: Meryl Streep at 36, Deborah Kerr at 39)
Mr Skeffington - nomination #7 (or is it #8*) for Bette Davis
QUICKEST TO 7: Bette Davis at 36 (ru: Meryl Streep at 38, Jack Nicholson at 46)
QUICKEST TO 8: Meryl Streep at 39 (ru: Bette Davis at 44, Jack Nicholson at 48)
QUICKEST TO 9: Meryl Streep at 41 (ru: Jack Nicholson at 50, Bette Davis at 54)
The Bridges of Madison County - Nomination #10 for Streep
QUICKEST TO 10: Meryl Streep at 46 (ru: Jack Nicholson at 56, Katharine Hepburn at 60)
QUICKEST TO 11: Meryl Streep at 49 (ru: Katharine Hepburn and Jack Nicholson at 61)
QUICKEST TO 12: Meryl Streep at 50 (ru: Jack Nicholson at 66, Katharine Hepburn at 74)
QUICKEST TO 13: Meryl Streep at 53 (ru: not applicable)
QUICKEST TO 14: Meryl Streep at 57 (ru: not applicable)
QUICKEST TO 15: Meryl Streep at 59 (ru: not applicable)
QUICKEST TO 16: Meryl Streep at 60 (ru: not applicable)
QUICKEST TO 17: Meryl Streep at 62 (ru: not applicable)
QUICKEST TO 18: Meryl Streep at 64 (ru: not applicable)
QUICKEST TO 19: Meryl Streep at 65 (ru: not applicable)
Norma Shearer riding to Oscar on her first... or is it second nomination for The Divorcée (1930). LOVE HER in this movie. * The Norma & Bette Anomalies
Oscar's first handful of years are filled with inconsistent stats and rulings so things get a lot messier if you count things in different ways. For example, The First Lady of MGM Norma Shearer was nominated twice in Best Actress at the 3rd Oscars (Their Own Desire, and winning for The Divorcée) and if you count that as two instead of a conjoined nomination than she ties Streep a couple of times for "fastest to" records, earning her last nomination at the age of 36 (Marie Antoinette) but was that her fifth or six nomination? Depends on how you count it. The rules were different in the first few years of Oscar in regards to multiple nominations by the same actor but they were also inconsistent / confusing. Shortly before Shearer, Janet Gaynor was cited for three roles but they were not considered separate nominations.
Similarly, if you count 26 year-old Bette Davis's write-in nomination for Of Human Bondage (1934) as her first nod -- it's not an "official nomination" but is still all over Oscar books / articles about Oscar history -- than she takes a miniature wrecking ball to the middle portions of the chart, taking a couple of these records listed above away from both Kate Winslet and Meryl Streep.
RELATED ARTICLE: The New Best Actress Hierarchy
Reader Comments (41)
Love stats posts!
I said before and I'll say it again: I find JLaw's habit of playing characters 10 years older than her terribly distracting. I just can't buy her in those performances. Go back to Winter's Bone mode, girl!
go jlaw!
Statistics are the best and go Jennifer!
and roughly 2/3 of them never won, at least competitively. Odd.
I think it's possible that The Academy has discovered their new Meryl.
Lawrence has the talent and charisma to be in for the long haul so I hope they slow down on the nominations so she doesn't suffer backlash, more than she already does, or become the lazy automatic choice nominee as Amy Adams seems to have become.
Love all the stats!
I'm glad Norma Shearer won for The Divorcee and not the creaky chestnut Their Own Desire which is rather awful and suffers greatly from the film makers getting use to the new sound technology.
I'd say Bette's write-in should count since she was considered a true competitor for the prize but the multiple in the same year would only count as one since even if they won it was for only one performance in the lineup.
For my sake just give Blanchett her second Best Actress Oscar first.
You're still missing a real Davis nomination.
1935 Dangerous
1938 Jezebel
1939 Dark Victory
1940 The Letter
1941 The Little Foxes
1942 Now Voyager
1944 Mr Skeffington, 36, 7th
You have it right to there so you're missing one of these three. It seems to be the first one!
1950 All about Eve 42, 8th (still 1st runner-up)
1952 The Star 44, 9th (ditto)
1962 What Even Happened to Baby Jane? 54, 10th; she takes 1st runner-up.
Bette's write-in nom should count.
In 1942 Teresa Wright was nominated for Best Actress and won Best Supporting Actress in the same year. She is included as the Quickest to 3 Runner Up. So I think that Norma Shearer should be counted twice because the Academy gave her two separate nominations, just in the same category.
The Janet Gaynor situation is different because the Academy gave her the award for all three of her performances, just like they gave Emil Jannings his Best Actor award for two performances.
Legend has it Rin Rin Tin won that first actor award but they decided it was not dignified enough. I think it should be bestowed upon him retroactively and get that nazi sympathizer off the records as first winner. And I do count Sheerer, Garbo, Arliss, Colman, and Chevalier as double nominees for that year. Muni and Davis are now listed as nominees by the academy but I don't mind if others don't think they should be. In any case, they both got more votes than at least one nominee. In Bette's case, Grace Moore.
I don't know if I can handle another 10-15 years of Jennifer Lawrence...I'm sorry but with every outing,either in life or on film, she's just becoming more and more obnoxious and limited to me. I hope I'm proven wrong, but I'm signing off on my previous love for her.
Lawrence is not in the same league as Davis, Hepburn and Streep. She lacks any professional education and she is from Kentucky. Davis, Streep and Hepburn are from the northeast, and Streep and Hepburn have college degrees. Oh, and they have class.
Lawrence will go the way of Jennifer Jones.
All careers have their ups and downs, just look at the history of actresses. JLaw is white hot right now but this won't last forever. What counts in the long run is persistance and versatility.
She's more of a Jennifer Jones than a Streep, Hepburn, or Davis.
Just ask Kathleen Turner, Susan Sarandon, and Emma Thompson about how fickle the Academy and Hollywood in general can be. I just think people need some perspective.
Patryk,
Free your mind.
Sincerely,
Someone not from the Northeast
The idea that Jennifer Lawrence is a great actress is one of the greatest cons ever perpetrated on the public. She seems downright inept in certain roles and I don't even think she's a charismatic screen presence. Plus, she seconds like she has a third grade education.
Love the Streep stats.
Just do not believe that Lawrence has the range or longevity.
Youngest to 4th nom:
Jennifer Jones 27.94
Elizabeth Taylor 29.00
Kate Winslet 29.31
Marlon Brando 30.86
Jodie Foster 32.24
Oldest to 4th nom:
Alan Arkin 78.80
Alec Guinness 74.87
Ethel Barrymore 70.50
Burt Lancaster 68.28
Julie Christie 67.77
----------
Youngest to 5th nom:
Kate Winslet 31.30
Olivia de Havilland 33.62
Bette Davis 33.85
Marlon Brando 33.88
Meryl Streep 34.65
Elizabeth Taylor 34.98
Oldest to 5th nom:
Morgan Freeman 72.67
Judi Dench 71.15
Robert Duvall 67.10
Michael Caine 66.92
Albert Finney 64.76
----------
Youngest to 6th nom:
Kate Winslet 33.30
Bette Davis 34.84
Meryl Streep 36.62
Deborah Kerr 39.41
Greer Garson 41.33
Oldest to 6th nom:
Judi Dench 72.12
Michael Caine 69.91
Ellen Burstyn 68.18
Robert Duvall 68.10
Maggie Smith 67.13
----------
Youngest to 7th nom:
Bette Davis 36.83
Meryl Streep 38.65
Jack Nicholson 46.82
Jane Fonda 49.14
Katharine Hepburn 49.77
Marlon Brando 49.88
Oldest to 7th nom:
Robert Duvall 84.03
Judi Dench 79.10
Robert De Niro 69.40
Ingrid Bergman 63.48
Paul Newman 62.04
----------
Youngest to 8th nom:
Meryl Streep 39.65
Bette Davis 42.86
Jack Nicholson 48.79
Katharine Hepburn 52.78
Al Pacino 52.82
Oldest to 8th nom:
Peter O'Toole 74.48
Paul Newman 70.05
Marlon Brando 65.87
Laurence Olivier 61.89
Geraldine Page 61.20
Jack Lemmon 58.02
----------
9th nom
Meryl Streep 41.65
Bette Davis 44.85
Jack Nicholson 50.82
Katharine Hepburn 55.79
Spencer Tracy 67.87
Laurence Olivier 69.72
Paul Newman 78.04
----------
10th nom
Meryl Streep 46.64
Bette Davis 54.89
Jack Nicholson 55.82
Katharine Hepburn 60.77
Laurence Olivier 71.75
----------
11th nom
Meryl Streep 49.63
Jack Nicholson 60.80
Katharine Hepburn 61.79
----------
12th nom
Meryl Streep 50.65
Jack Nicholson 65.81
Katharine Hepburn 74.75
The following will happen should these actors be nominated on 14 Jan 2016
Youngest 4-time nom:
Jennifer Lawrence 25.42
Oldest 4-time nom:
Diane Ladd 80.13
---------------
3rd Oldest 5-time nom:
Helen Mirren 70.47
---------------
3rd and 4th Youngest 7-time nom:
Kate Winslet 40.28
Cate Blanchett 46.67
2nd and 3rd Oldest 7-time nom:
Michael Caine 82.84
Maggie Smith 81.05
---------------
Oldest 8-time nom:
Jane Fonda 78.06
3rd Oldest 8-time nom:
Robert De Niro 72.06
Great stasts. But isn't Lawrence up there with Winslet and Mineo for youngest to 2 nominations?
And who do you guys think will reach 10 nominations from the actors still working? Winslet and Blanchett come to mind but not anyone else. Ronan might also have a long and Academy-friendly career but it's too early to tell. Lawrence...I don't think so. And it's also hard for Amy Adams to continue being nominated to that extent.
Jesus, Patryk, lighten up. Why does it matter that she's from Kentucky?
George Clooney, William Faulkner, Flannery O'Connor, Holly Hunter, Kathy Bates, Diane Sawyer, etc., are just a few people off the top of my head who are from the South, and I dare challenge anyone to say they are talentless or classless.
The Jersey Shore Cast, Azealia Banks, Charlie Sheen, Nicki Minaj--all from the Northeast and all seem like wretched people.
Give me a break.
I'm just happy we are talking about Jennifer Jones. I just adore her. Someone else on this site was saying she should have gotten nominated for Towering Inferno.
I love those stats!
Nothing says "class" like judging someone by where they were born.
@jay - Your critique of someone else's education would be more valid and potent if you checked your own grammar/word usage. "Plus, she seconds like she has a third grade education." She SECONDS?
I'm obviously being a nitpicky asshole but it's hard not to with comments like that.
Norma Shearer's nomination(s) in 1929-30 should be considered just one nomination. I've seen a copy of the ballot and each actor and actress was listed once, with Shearer, Garbo, Chevalier, Colman and Arliss all being cited for two movies. They weren't competing against themselves. It was impossible to vote for The Divorcee or Their Own Desire separately. The only explanation I've read for her citation for The Divorcee alone and not both is that "nobody knows" why.
As for Jennifer Lawrence, I think she still has to prove herself. Loved her in American Hustle, liked her in Winter's Bone, was unimpressive in Silver Linings Playbook, and as for the Hunger Games it was a dirty job and someone had to do it.
@Patryk - what an awful thing to say. It's fine to think Lawrence is untalented, but to somehow link that her being from Kentucky and not having any college education to her being classless with no potential for career longevity says far more about your fucked up standards than Lawrence's talent. Grow up.
Hi tom, that was me.
Nathaniel, thank you so much for this wonderful piece and your exhaustive research. Jennifer Jones is my all-time favorite, and the absolutely appalling lack of recognition and appreciation for her is an unending source of irritation for me. Here is the very first line of her biography on IMDB: "One of the world's most underrated Academy Award-winning actresses, Jennifer Jones was born Phylis Lee Isley ...." This sentence is presented as fact, as indeed it should. Her extraordinary talent equals that of Davis, Hepburn, Bergman and Streep, yet she has largely and unforgivably been forgotten. This has to do with her being an extremely private person, the fact that many of her films are not well-known, and her reduced filmography after the 1950s. Jennifer Jones worked with all the great directors--Huston and Vidor twice, Wyler, Minnelli, De Sica, Powell and Pressburger, and Lubitsch in his final film. She is one of the greatest we've ever had. Ms. Lawrence should count herself immeasurably complimented to be mentioned in the same breath as Jennifer The First.
P.S. If JLaw does beat Jennifer's record, I would still count Ms. Jones' achievement as uniquely stunning, considering her four nominations came in consecutive years. She is one of only five performers, along with Thelma Ritter, Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor and Al Pacino, to achieve this. (Bette Davis and Greer Garson did it five years in a row. Damn.)
Jennifer is a movie star, she shines in the medium. And she'll keep getting rewarded as long as she keeps getting chances to ignite the screen. I'm sure she'll slow it down at some point, but she'll probably have many resurgences over the next 20 yrs.
Hopefully her personal life with affect her public image. And the men who keep her afloat in the business will abandon her for some new over hyped twat.
Is it just me, or if Jennifer Lawrence got wavy brown hair she would actually kind of look like Jennifer Jones? Something in that Jones pic up top - the cheekbones and face shape - looks like Lawrence.
I say it's too soon to tell. Jennifer's THE star right now.
Will it last forever? I doubt it, but I wish her the best. Everyone has Ups and Downs.
Everyone.
Though no one thought at the very beginning that Bette Davis would get 10 (11!) nominations one day, or that K.Hepburn would overtake that record or that Meryl would overtake them both. She was at her third nom in 1981 when K.Hepburn scored her 12th.
Meryl's record might be broken someday, but I don't see that in her lifetime. I also wonder how much she might get overall. Nom no. 20 not this year, but I think she'll get it for Florence Foster Jenkins in 2016.
DJ DeeDay -- YAY. glad someone noticed. I was like WHOA. so i had to pair the pictures.
@brookesboy yes thank you for posting. It is interesting how some actors become forgotten or obscured over the course of time. Jones was always more family oriented than career oriented and when her husband died, she went into a almost semi retirement phase. she does deserve to be remembered better.
As for Lawrence, I hope that she doesn't fall into obscurity in the years to come.
I don't really have a long-term read on Jennifer Lawrence. I know she is popular now, just like Chris Pratt who could play her burping brother, but Joy is a big test. We will find out if her newfound appeal can stretch outside of her franchise films, and whether she can score in a hyped drama as a lead with critics, Oscar and audiences. Even if Joy is a success, is she the new Bette Davis or Meryl Streep? Not seeing that yet. Those are major Prada shoes to fill, but at the same time, there is an open path for Jennifer at this juncture. Unclear. My personal preference is to see the underdogs with actual stage acting training succeed (Chastain, Larson, Mulligan, Mara, Lupita). Scotch. Neat.
It would be so bad she wins again considering Charlotte Rampling, Saoirse Ronan and Brie Larson give so much better performances in their films. I know three people saw Joy and told me is meh, editing problems, sound problems and boring performances.
I am sorry to be a pain, Nathaniel, but I think you forgot Julia Roberts among the quickest to get two (getting them at 23 if I am not wrong).
That said, I must admit that I find Jennifer Lawrence much more similar to Julia Roberts than to Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn or Meryl Streep. A great, giant charisma but a limited versatility. Of course, this is not bad (both Lawrence and Roberts are sensational actresses), but it is far from breaking award records.
Helen - I'm a bit confused by you saying she hasn't been tested outside of franchises yet. She has three Oscar nominations (and one win) for performances outside of franchises. And her appeal isn't totally newfound. She's going into her, what, 5th year of stardom?
I see these comments and i think can people be more fickle? No. If the same question was asked before( some merciless cowards stole her photos meant for her boyfriend and made millions out of them)people here would have wanted her to break all sorts of records. I have worked as a crew member on all the three movies Jennifer has worked with DOR n i also know a lot about betty davis ,k hepburn or m streep n how they were in their lives on n off set. I will go ahead and say this ,i don't know what a great career she will have in the future( considering how much her career n popularity has been affected by photo hack ) but if Jennifer Lawrence continues to act , even without awards n stuff , she will be the most respected n revered actress offscreen in Hollywood History. There is absolutely nobody like her, she is simply a beyond extraordinary human being. So much so that if other actresses or actors go n meet her they will be belittled by her qualities. She is also a powerful person. She has a mind of a man n a heart of a tigress n a soul of a child. The greatness of a human being is not on screen but in the opinions of people working with them ,like us crewmen n support staff. Go ask the people like me who worked with her on sets like dor films or hunger games movies. Pick any top 5 best qualities you want in a human being n Jennifer Lawrence will be the touchstone for atleast four of them.Honesty,humility,kindness,authenticity n humour are my picks n jlaw ihas all of them.
Thanks for the comment Michael. Jlaw is going to break the record and be around for a very long time. Her type of success will always bring some negatvity in a comments section. (Welcome to the internet). But she is great.
J-Law isn't going anywhere anytime soon as these people commenting are proof. It doesn't matter is a person is writing a negative or positive response, it's the fact they are writing a response at all shows an interest in J-Law. When an actress can still solicit this time of attention and behavior from the general population means she still matters.
A fad would means she disappears after The Hunger Games. With upcoming movies with Aronofsky and Spielberg means that her career will only get better.
neverrrrrr ! kate winslet the next meryl streep ! sorry lawrence !