92 Days til Oscar. Some Living Trivia For Ya!

Did you know the earliest Oscar year which boasts 20 acting nominees who are still with us is 1992? It's the 25th anniversary of that year and that's the furthest back in time you can go from which all the acting nominees are still walking this earth. With the very noticeable exception of long retired Gene Hackman (no one has been able to convince him to come back to the movies -- and directors have tried!) most of them are still working, too. The lesson is simple: cherish your favorite actors while they're with us because no one lasts forever... except through their art!

The nominees that year were:

Leading ACTRESS	Leading ACTOR	Supporting ACTRESS	Supporting ACTOR
Deneuve Indochine	Downey Jr Chaplin	Davis Husbands & Wives	Davidson Crying Game
McDonnell Passion Fish	Eastwood Unforgiven	Plowright Enchanted April	Hackman Unforgiven ★
Pfeiffer Love Field	Rea Crying Game	Redgrave Howards End	Nicholson A Few Good Men
Sarandon Lorenzo's Oil	Pacino Scent of a... ★	Richardson Damage	Pacino Glengarry...
Thompson Howards End ★	Washington Malcolm X	Tomei My Cousin Vinny ★	Paymer Mr Saturday Night

If you'd like a breakdown of the earliest years for the individual categories, it won't surprise you to hear two things. First, that we're offering that list since we're trivia overachievers here at TFE . Second, those categories line up exactly like average age statistics for those races i.e. lead Actress skews youngest, then Supporting Actress, then Actor, and in last place is Supporting Actor because that's the category that's most frequently enamored of veterans. Those details are after the jump...

Just for fun we'll also list which member of each of these lineups are "closest to" the possible lineups this year... even if that distance is miles away.

Earliest Best Actress Race Where All Women Are Still With Us

1971
Julie Christie, McCabe & Mrs Miller
Jane Fonda, Klute ★
Glenda Jackson, Sunday Bloody Sunday
Vanessa Redgrave, Mary Queen of Scots
Janet Suzman, Nicholas and Alexandra

Closest to this year's race: We'll never know how close Jane Fonda was to an eighth nomination two years back for Youth (2015) -- I think close -- but this year the only one of these five who is anywhere near golden statues is Vanessa Redgrave since she has a cameo as Annette Bening's mom in Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool about the last year in the life of Supporting Actress Oscar winner Gloria Grahame.

Earliest Best Supporting Actress Race Where all the Women Are Still Us

1975
Ronee Blakley, Nashville
Lee Grant, Shampoo ★
Sylvia Miles, Farewell My Lovely
Lily Tomlin, Nashville
Brenda Vaccaro, Once is Not Enough

Closest to this year's race: Most of these actresses are retired so it'd have to be Lily Tomlin who is still a regular awards show presence.

Earliest Best Actor Race Where All the Men Are Still With Us

1983
Michael Caine, Educating Rita
Tom Conti, Reuben Reuben
Tom Courtenay, The Dresser
Robert Duvall, Tender Mercies ★
Albert Finney, The Dresser

Closest to this year's race: by association only that'd be Michael Caine who is a regular in Christopher Nolan's work. You can hear him on the radio (uncredited) in Best Picture hopeful Dunkirk though he is nowhere to be seen. 

Earliest Best Supporting Actor Race Where All the Men Are Still With Us

1990
Bruce Davison, Longtime Companion
Andy Garcia, The Godfather Part III
Graham Greene, Dances With Wolves
Al Pacino, Dick Tracy
Joe Pesci, Goodfellas ★

Closest to this year's race: Graham Greene is in Wind River, this summer's sleeper hit which has disassociated itself from the Weinstein Company, and is fighting for some awards traction. But if there's a surprise 'get' from an indigenous actor this year it would probably be for Gil Birmingham who has a richer part in that same film. 

Comments

[NATHANIEL R]

i feel like when people complain about accents are callt hem horrible they haven't seen Nick Nolte try to do Italian in Lorenzo's Oil. Please reserve "offensive" and "horrible" for people who just literally can't do it.