20 Days til Oscar. Beyond Meryl...
Monday, February 6, 2017 at 1:01PM Everyone knows that Meryl Streep is Oscar's all time acting nomination queen. This year the queen received her 20th nomination, this time for playing the worst opera singer Florence Foster Jenkins. But Streep's astonishing numbers get a little less intimidating if you break them up into supporting and lead categories. So let's do that to place Streep in a slightly different context in the history of Oscar'ed actresses.
I begged for this Crayola set as a child. pic.twitter.com/uB5CDBkXup
— Louis Virtel (@louisvirtel) February 3, 2017
We'll ignore wins in this particular exercize. Streep isn't #1 in the supporting sweepstakes, but she remains #1 by a very comfortable margin for leading actresses. More details after the jump...
Most Supporting Actress nominations
Thelma Ritter received her first nomination around her 49th birthday for ALL ABOUT EVE (1950). Five more nominations would follow
01 Thelma Ritter (6 nominations)
Maggie Smith received her last supporting Oscar nomination for GOSFORD PARK (2001). Will she nab another in her 80s?
02 [tie]
Amy Adams (4 nominations)
Ethel Barrymore (4 nominations)
Lee Grant (4 nominations)
Agnes Moorehead (4 nominations)
Geraldine Page (4 nominations)
Maggie Smith (4 nominations)
Maureen Stapleton (4 nominations)
Meryl Streep (4 nominations)
On a scale of 1-10 how hard are you rooting for another great role for Marisa Tomei. I'm at about a "15"
10 [Tie] Thirteen women have 3 supporting nominations including the following that are still working semi-regularly in theatrical features so they could return to Oscar if the stars align just so: Kate Winslet, Glenn Close, Frances McDormand, Marisa Tomei, and Dianne Wiest. Which do you think is most likely to make one more trip to the supporting shortlist?
22 [Tie] Nearly forty women have two in this category including the following that are still working regularly in theatrical features: Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, Julianne Moore, Vanessa Redgrave... though the bulk of still living actresses with two nominations in this category are now primarily found on television and thus unlikely to be in an Oscar shortlist again (examples include: Kathy Bates, Marcia Gay Harden, and Anjelica Huston)
Most Lead Actress nominations
Bette Davis in DARK VICTORY (1939). She's one of those Oscar players who won for the wrong performances with plenty of "right" options for AMPAS.
01 Meryl Streep (16 nominations)
02 Katharine Hepburn (12 nominations)
03 Bette Davis (10 or 11 nominations depending on what you think of her write-in nomination for 1934)
04 Greer Garson (7 nominations)
Jane Fonda received her last nomination for THE MORNING AFTER (1986). That's a long time ago but she's still one of the greats
05 [tie]
Ingrid Bergman (6 nominations)
Jane Fonda (6 nominations)
Deborah Kerr (6 nominations)
Sissy Spacek (6 nominations)
09 Norma Shearer (6 nominations unless you count her double in 1929/1930 as 1 in which case 5)
10 [tie] of the nine women that have 5 lead actress nominations only the following are still alive: Ellen Burstyn and Jessica Lange (who both mostly work on TV now), Susan Sarandon, and Judi Dench.
What of the future?
While no one will rival Streep in our lifetimes -- she's way too far ahead of all rivals -- there are performers still working regularly who could rival the Greer Garsons and Ingrid Bergmans and such (statistically speaking). The three most likely are probably Cate Blanchett, Amy Adams, and Jennifer Lawrence. At least at this writing.
A word of caution though: Oscar history tells us that unless you are Hepburn or Streep there are finite windows in which you can be nominated for somewhat average work. When they fall, they fall hard (see Jacki Weaver's weird nomination for Silver Linings Playbook after her statue worthy work in Animal Kingdom) but they can go ice cold without any warning. No matter how talented actors are, they sometimes find it difficult to become a flavor of the year again unless they're far gone enough in their career to have something like a "comeback" vehicle or a "career tribute" vehicle -- like what happened with Julianne Moore for Still Alice (2014); after a flurry of nominations in the late 90s and early Aughts, Oscar lost interest for over a decade despite a constant stream of fine performances. Another example: Tilda Swinton has regularly been doing transcendent work since her surprise Oscar win but not a peep from the Academy.
Was Amy's failure to secure a nomination this year a sign of things to come?
Actresses that are either in a honeymoon phase with Oscar or possibly just ending it... but we won't know the latter unless voters start ignoring them regularly:
Amy Adams (5 nominations within the past 12 years -- do the recent misses for Big Eyes and Arrival despite precursor love indicate that it's over or were they just tough breaks?)
Michelle Williams (4 nominations within the past 12 years)
Jennifer Lawrence (4 nominations within the past 6 years)
Viola Davis (3 nominations within the past 8 years)
Rooney Mara (2 nominations within past 5 years)
Emma Stone (2 nominations within past 3 years)
Brie Larson in THE GLASS CASTLE (2017). Will she become an Oscar favorite?
Actresses that could be entering a honeymoon phase but we'll only know that if they start wracking up the nominations. (They could just as easily be a Carey Mulligan or Jessica Chastain. As talented as those two are, Oscar voters seemed to move on quickly, no?)
Brie Larson, Ruth Negga, Alicia Vikander, Emma Stone, Saoirse Ronan, Naomie Harris, and... Octavia Spencer??? (it's fun to imagine grounded comforting funny presence Spencer becoming something like a new Thelma Ritter, isn't it? Not that Thelma can ever quite be replicated)
YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO PREDICT THE FUTURE OR AT LEAST JUDGE THE PAST IN THE COMMENTS
Reader Comments (72)
Well said, Frank balesteri!
@paul outlaw: Y stop at 5? Miss Bette Davis has at least 5 other terrific performances to round ip to a good ten.
All This & Heaven Too (my personal fav o her, so gd but so o/looked)
The Old Maid
Marked Woman
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (campy yes, but it was hi delicious camp!)
Of Human Bondage (dated, but Bette's breakthru perf is still a sight to behold!)
@ Claran
It's best I stop at five, because when it comes to Bette (to quote the Judy song) I could go on singing 'til the moon turns pink...
@Jono
The comparison of Amy Adams to Glenn Close is interesting because they both got a healthy chunk of their nomination tally from supporting categories. If you argue that even within that they had a weakness that almost belies the actual tally they got (the unethusiastic nomination).
I think Cate and Nicole are likely to continue with a strong presence in cinema and in the awards arena until their 70s and 80s. They seem to be flexible, exploring different art forms, taking on interesting roles and continuing to stretch their talents. People forget that Both Nicole and Cate are mothers to tweens and teenagers and they have confessed that their professional choices at this time are governed by their families and the ease of moving and the time away. I think once everyone is off to college or wherever, they will be free to Isabelle Huppert-it-up because they are both fearless and they both enjoy stealing all the attention in any room.
On Cate, she shld've alr joined the 3-gold club 3 yrs ago when she won for Blue Jasmines. She was robbed o her 1st oscar for Elizabeth by the it gal then! I blamed Weinstein relentless campaign!!
On Meryl. No actor will ever catch up w her. Cate n Kate seems the likeliest but i doubt they will ever reach 20 in their lifetime. They will probably reach at most 12 or 13.
I maybe the odd one but i wld've thot Meryl shld hav st least 4 golds in her bag by now looking at her track record. The Academy LUVs to nom her but giving her the win is entirely diff matter. She will probably rack up ano 5 noms n hopefully 1 deserving win, tying her w K Hepburn.
Florence Foster Jenkins is an average film and Meryl Streep still got nominated. I love her, she's one of the best, but I don't feel that film deserves a best actress nomination. And then there's Amy Adams with Arrival AND Nocturnal Animals resulting in no nomination. At least BAFTAs showed her some love.
I have the feeling that actors mainly win mutiple Oscars faster than actresses?
But even Meryl won two Oscars very early in her career, so every time she was nominated she calmed herself: "It's alright, I have two at home."
For a long time she thought it might never happen again and she was cool with it. Her third surprised her. Hear that squeal!
Claran: Bette Davis was nominated for Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. Are you thinking of her wild and woolly work in Hush... Hush Sweet Charlotte?
As for Meryl, I'd revoke French Lieutenant's Woman (too fussy by half), Ironweed (WTF?), Postcards from the Edge (miscast), Music from the Heart (she could have played that one standing on her head, and I kind of wish she had) and August Osage County (but maybe I'll like that one better when my anger over the Emma Thompson omission subsides). I'd add The Hours, The Manchurian Candidate and The Prairie Home Companion.
I'd almost like her to win this year just to piss off the Frank balesteri types even more!
@Troy H.
I hear you but I grow more tired of the non-stop lovefest and constant adoration and an inability to objectively view the work of Kidman, Pfeiffer and Bening. KIDMAN WAS UNIVERSALLY panned for her ignorant and careless Trump remarks and what she wore to SAG was the worst getup since Bjork Yet here she was named best dressed. And she has been overpraised for some mediocre performances.
I believe at the very least Kidman should be exempt from any rankings unless she can be accorded the same level of scrutiny as everyone else There, I've had my say. I won't come back to read the hateful reactions, nor will I remain a member of the community. I tender my resignation and wish you all good luck.
Whatever will you do when Streep stops working? She generates a lot of comments.
The only nominations of hers that stumped me in hindsight were "One True Thing" and "Music of the Heart." Those seemed like good work but not necessarily Oscar worthy? And I confess I never saw "Into the Woods."
Meryl Streep is definitely not deserving of all these nominations. It's hard to believe she's actually been nominated for so many mediocre, uninspired performances in forgettable movies over the years. By being so indiscriminate, the Academy actually cheapens her legacy and diminishes the performances that were deserving. She's lucky that she came of age at a time when AMPAS was very generous to individuals instead of spreading the wealth as it did in its earliest days. No amount of AMPAS fixating on Streep will make her career more important than those of Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Cary Grant, Liv Ullmann, James Cagney, Gena Rowlands, Greta Garbo, or many other rarely nominated but legendary performers. They starred in masterpieces, whereas Streep has few or none.
On a scale of 1-10 how hard are you rooting for another great role for Marisa Tomei. I'm at about a "15"
None of her nominated roles seem particularly great on paper. Tomei turns straw into gold. Her best role without Oscar recognition is The Perez Family – playing a Cuban woman obsessed with John Wayne.
I disagree about the classics because both good and bad films disappear for any performer. I always find that argument also nonsensical because people actually watch her films, just like they liked to watch X's films. And Angels in America, etc. preserve important writer's language.
Amy should take adventage of the fact she is seen as snubbed and try to find a Oscar bait role soon since she could very well win with that. However that she does not really do Oscar bait roles is one of the reasons I like her and her career so I have a feeling she won't. And the fact she was not nominated could be just a symtom of the growded field and her being in a sci-fi film. She might get nominated in the future too plenty of times so she might not be in a rush and have a change of getting very high on this list with noms when her career is done.
That Octavia Spencer got nominated again is what I always thought but people seemed to dismiss her for reasons I don't know. I am so delighted that she is back and hopefully she will soon overrate the incredebly overrated Viola Davis with noms. Maybe after Davis gets the Oscar people can stop acting like she had been snubbed when she had gotten nominated for every role she possibly could have been.
@3rtful - totally agree. I'd love to see Tomei get another great part that she totally nails.
Ellen Burstyn does quite a bit of independent film
Personally I'd love to see Maggie, Jane, Ellen & Vanessa all get one more nomination - all women in their 80s (!), once Oscar darlings, still working
I am so tired of all the Streep bashing. You do not have to trash her if you claim to like her. Find other target to bash. If Isabelle Huppert get 16 nomination for César Award, why cannot the great Streep get her 20th nomination??!
ฺBravo, Kevin.
"I disagree about the classics because both good and bad films disappear for any performer. I always find that argument also nonsensical because people actually watch her films, just like they liked to watch X's films. And Angels in America, etc. preserve important writer's language."
It's not a nonsensical argument. Movies fade away just like novels do, unless they are really great. People watch Streep's movies today because they are recent films and it's the fashionable thing to do. Her movies hardly bear rewatching, however, and she doesn't have classic titles that are fully successful works of art. I'm struck by how few movies she has that truly hold up to rewatch. Even The Onion noted this in a spoof article.
"I am so tired of all the Streep bashing. You do not have to trash her if you claim to like her. Find other target to bash. If Isabelle Huppert get 16 nomination for César Award, why cannot the great Streep get her 20th nomination??!"
Then go join one of the Oscar sites where all they do is gush over Streep incessantly. Or just turn on your TV to see critics gushing over her every last move. I think Streep is extremely overrated and I'll say what I damn well please (and many people agree with me).
Why shouldn't Streep get a 20th nomination? Because, first of all, not everyone agrees that she is all that "great," I'm always shocked at how many average and mediocre performances she's delivered that still secured her a nomination (that so many of these noms were for largely forgotten and forgettable movies is a strong indication they were undeserved to begin with).
And it's a matter of balance. When Henry Fonda is only nominated twice in his lifetime, when Barbara Stanwyck is only nominated four times and never wins, when Liv Ullmann is nommed twice and loses both times, that tells me the Academy's judgment is bunk. And that includes its ludicrous pedestalling of the overrated Streep.
There are many, many actors in this world better than Streep, and with better movies, but because the Academy paid them little heed they don't get perceived as great. It's the tail wagging the dog. Even when talking classic Hollywood, the names that always come up as to who the greatest actresses of that time were are Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn, simply because they were nominated more often than anyone else! People don't think, they let the Academy do their thinking for them.
Bette Davis' approach to the craft, public persona, and big eyes are partially responsible for her enduring popularity with those allergic to old Hollywood movies. Her Oscar record is more disappointing than appealing since she never received three.
@NNN
My favorite Betty Davis performance is rarely mentioned (and it kinda freaks me out!). As far as I am concerned, she gave her best performance in The Little Foxes. Withholding the life saving medicine from her husband sealed the deal for me.
Nasty girl! (Trump would definitely be on her enemy list...no medicine for him)..