Oscar Trivia: Winning the Oscar for playing a famous actor? How common is it.

by Christopher James

The name on everybody’s lips is gonna be… "MANK!"

Just kidding, people don’t really seem to be talking about the titular (and often-referenced) character, played by Gary Oldman. Love or hate the movie, everyone seems to agree that Amanda Seyfried is best in show as Marion Davies. A Supporting Actress nomination for Seyfried feels secure. The real question is: Can Seyfried win the Oscar?

While the role is prominent, the one downside from an Oscar perspective is that it is not a typical “showy” performance...

Seyfried does a fabulous job of embodying Davies and showing new shades of the actor. Will the fact that she’s playing a famous movie star of the past help or hurt her chances for the win? We took a look at the wins and nominations for actors playing real life movie stars, as well as the wins and nominations for actors playing characters whose profession is “actor.” In short, Best Supporting Actress is the most likely category where someone can win an Oscar for playing an actor. This bodes well for Seyfried’s chances.

Cate won her first Oscar playing four time Oscar winner Katharine Hepburn in "The Aviator"

In all fairness, defining roles in which actors are playing “actors” is tricky. I did not count performances where people were playing radio/TV hosting personalities (think Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood). Instead, I focused on movies that feature the character primarily defined as an “actor,” including stage acting. This stretches to include Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakespeare in Love), Nicole Kidman (Moulin Rouge) and Annette Bening (Being Julia), while technically I would not count Natalie Portman in Black Swan as she is seen as a dancing as a performer, not acting. Finally, Kim Basinger is not playing Veronica Lake in L.A. Confidential, but since her whole character exists to emulate Veronica Lake, I counted her in the overall stats. Yes, there is a degree of subjectivity. 

Actors Who Have WON the Oscar for Playing Famous Actors

1. Luise Rainer as Anna Held - The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

2. James Cagney as George M. Cohan - Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

3. Barbara Streisand as Fanny Brice - Funny Girl (1968)

4. Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi - Ed Wood (1994)

5. Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn - The Aviator (2004)

6. Renee Zellweger as Judy Garland - Judy (2019)

Actors Who Have Been NOMINATED for an Oscar for Playing Famous Actors

1. Larry Parks as Al Jolson - The Jolson Story (1946)

2. Susan Hayward as Jane Froman - With a Song in My Heart (1953)

3. Eleanor Parker as Marjorie Lawrence - Interrupted Melody (1955)

4. Susan Hayward as Lillian Roth - I’ll Cry Tomorrow (1955)

5. Jessica Lange as Frances Farmer - Frances (1982)

6. Robert Downey Jr. as Charlie Chaplin - Chaplin (1992)

7. Willem Dafoe as Max Schreck - Shadow of a Vampire (2000)

8. Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe - My Week with Marilyn (2011)

9. Kenneth Branagh as Sir Laurence Olivier - My Week with Marilyn (2011)

	Playing An Actor (Real)	Playing An Actor (Real or Fictional)
Best Actor	33%	25%
Best Actress	38%	15%
Best Supporting Actor	33%	13%
Best Supporting Actress	100%	35%
TOTAL	40%	21%

There has only been one nominee in Supporting Actress who played a real-life actor. That was Cate Blanchett, who won her first Oscar for playing Katharine Hepburn in The Aviator. Obviously going 1/1 is not a statistic you can make a prediction based on. Still, when you zoom out 40% (six out of fifteen) of actors playing real life actors win an Oscar for their performance. Isolating it to just female performers, that number goes up to 44% (four out of nine). The number also goes up to 50% (two out of four) if you just look at Supporting performances. 

Jean Dujardin beat more established competition (Clooney, Pitt) in 2011 for his performance as a silent-era movie star in "The Arist"

Jean Dujardin beat more established competition (George Clooney, Brad Pitt) in 2011 for his performance as a silent-era movie star in The Artist.

When we broaden our scope to look at any performer who has won an Oscar for playing a character who is an actor, that number goes down from 40% to 21%. Actors like Jean Dujardin (The Artist) and Emma Stone (La La Land) recently won Oscars for playing fictitious actors. However, Scarlett Johansson (Marriage Story), Leonardo DiCaprio (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood) and Michael Keaton (Birdman) are all recent examples who lost for doing the same thing.

Importantly, with more data points, Best Supporting Actress becomes the category most likely to reward actors playing actors. Other performers that won Best Supporting Actress include Kim Basinger (L.A. Confidential), Dianne Wiest (Bullets Over Broadway AND Hannah and Her Sisters) and Jessica Lange (Tootsie). This bodes really well for Amanda Seyfried. Yes, Cate Blanchett and Jessica Lange were both respected actors on the rise. However, Kim Basinger feels like she was in a similar place in her career that Amanda Seyfried is in now. Both were actresses who had been working for over a decade in movies that were big hits. Yet, they were never the focal point of any Oscar buzz for their previous films.

Glenn Close hopes eight times is the charm with her performance as Mawmaw in Hillbilly Elegy.

While there definitely is a precedent for a Seyfried win, a lot of that depends on her competition. According to Nathaniel’s current predictions, previous winners Ellen Burstyn and Olivia Colman are her closest competition. While both are great, their previous wins put them at a disadvantage. The one contender that has gotten the most press, good and bad, has been Glenn Close for Hillbilly Elegy. While her narrative is tough to beat -- she has lost seven times and she is the best part of her film -- the sour reception could keep her from a win. There are a slew of of other women fighting for spot #5 (Young Yuh-Jung, Helena Zengel, Maria Bakalova, Jodie Foster and Saoirse Ronan, to name a few), but are unlikely to win. With lighter competition and an Oscar-friendly role, this really feels like Seyfriend’s Oscar to lose.

Actors Who Have WON the Oscar for Playing An Actor (Real or Fictional)

1. Katharine Hepburn as Eva Lovelace - Morning Glory (1933)

2. Luise Rainer as Anna Held - The Great Ziegfeld (1936)

3. James Cagney as George M. Cohan - Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

4. Ronald Colman as Anthony John - A Double Life (1947)

5. Barbara Streisand as Fanny Brice - Funny Girl (1968)

6. Richard Dreyfuss as Elliot Garfield - The Goodbye Girl (1977)

7. Maggie Smith as Diana Barrie - California Suite (1978)

8. Jessica Lange as Julie Nichols - Tootsie (1982)

9. Dianne Wiest as Holly - Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)

10. Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi - Ed Wood (1994)

11. Dianne Wiest as Helen Sinclair - Bullets Over Broadway (1994)

12. Kim Basinger as Lynn Bracken (aka Veronica Lake) - L.A. Confidential (1997)

13. Gwyneth Paltrow as Viola de Lesseps - Shakespeare in Love (1998)

14. Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn - The Aviator (2004)

15. Jean Dujardin as George Valentin - The Artist (2011)

16. Emma Stone as Mia  - La La Land (2016)

17. Renee Zellweger as Judy Garland - Judy (2019)

Actors Who Have Been NOMINATED for an Oscar for Playing An Actor (Real or Fictional)

1. Bessie Love as Harriet “Hank” Mahoney - The Broadway Melody (1928/29)

2. Greta Garbo as Rita Cavellini - Romance (1929/30)

3. Ruth Chatterton as Sarah Storm - Sarah and Sons (1929/30)

4. Fredric March as Tony Caverdish - The Royal Family of Broadway (1930/31)

5. Alfred Lunt as The Actor - The Guardsman (1931/32)

6. Lynne Fontaine as The Actress - The Guardsman (1931/32)

7. Grace Moore as Mary Barnett - One Night of Love (1934)

8. Bette Davis as Joyce Heath - Dangerous (1935)

9. Andrea Leeds as Kay Hamilton - Stage Door (1937)

10. Fredric March as Norman Maine - A Star is Born (1937)

11. Janet Gaynor as Esther Blodgett - A Star is Born (1937)

12. Militza Korjus as Carla Donner - The Great Waltz (1938)

13. Larry Parks as Al Jolson - The Jolson Story (1946)

14. Dan Dailey as “Skid” Johnson - When My Baby Smiles at Me (1948)

15. Ann Baxter as Eve Harrington - All About Eve (1950)

16. Bette Davis as Margot Channing - All About Eve (1950)

17. Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond - Sunset Boulevard (1950)

18. Susan Hayward as Jane Froman - With a Song in My Heart (1953)

19. Betty Davis as Margaret “Maggie” Elliott - The Star (1952)

20. Jean Hagen as Lina Lamont - Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

21. Claire Trevor as May Holst - The High and the Mighty (1954)

22. Bing Crosby as Frank Elgin - The Country Girl (1954)

23. James Mason as Norman Maine - A Star is Born (1954)

24. Judy Garland as Esther Blodgett - A Star is Born (1954)

25. Eleanor Parker as Marjorie Lawrence - Interrupted Melody (1955)

26. Susan Hayward as Lillian Roth - I’ll Cry Tomorrow (1955)

27. Laurence Olivier as Archie Rice - The Entertainer (1960)

28. Geraldine Page as Alexandra de Lago - Sweet Bird of Youth (1962)

29. Bette Davis as Baby Jane Hudson - What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

30. Susanna York as Alice - They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969)

31. Barbara Harris as Allison - Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things about Me? (1971)

32. Ellen Burstyn as Chris MacNeil - The Exorcist (1973)

33. Valentina Cortese as Severine - Day for Night (1974)

34. Burgess Meredith as Harry - The Day of the Locust (1975)

35. Marsha Mason as Jennie MacLaine - Chapter Two (1979)

36. Meryl Streep as Sara Woodruff/Anna - The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1981)

37. Marsha Mason as Georgia Hines - Only When I Laugh (1981)

38. James Coco as Jimmy Perrino - Only When I Laugh (1981)

39. Peter O’Toole as Alan Swann - My Favorite Year (1982) 

40. Dustin Hoffman as Michael Dorsey/Dorothy Michaels - Tootsie (1982)

41. Julie Andrews as Victor/Victoria - Victor/Victoria (1982)

42. Jessica Lange as Frances Farmer - Frances (1982)

43. Robert Preston as Toddy - Victor/Victoria (1982)

44. Teri Garr as Sandy Lester - Tootsie (1982)

45. Albert Finney as Sir - The Dresser (1983)

46. Jane Fonda as Alex Sternbergen - The Morning After (1986)

47. Meryl Streep as Suzanne Vale - Postcards from the Edge (1990)

48. Robert Downey Jr. as Charlie Chaplin - Chaplin (1992)

49. Mary McDonnell as May-Alice - Passion Fish (1992)

50. Jennifer Tilly as Olive Neal - Bullets Over Broadway (1994)

51. Julie Christie as Phyllis Mann - Afterglow (1997)

52. Julianne Moore as Amber Waves - Boogie Nights (1997)

53. Willem Dafoe as Max Schreck - Shadow of a Vampire (2000)

54. Nicole Kidman as Satine - Moulin Rouge (2001)

55. Annette Bening as Julia Lambert - Being Julia (2004)

56. Robert Downey Jr. as Kirk Lazarus - Tropic Thunder (2008)

57. Michelle Williams as Marilyn Monroe - My Week with Marilyn (2011)

58. Kenneth Branagh as Sir Laurence Olivier - My Week with Marilyn (2011)

59. Berenice Bejo as Peppy Miller - The Artist (2011)

60. Michael Keaton as Riggan Thompson - Birdman (or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)

61. Edward Norton as Mike Shiner - Birdman (or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014)

62. Leonardo DiCaprio as Rick Dalton - Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)

63. Scarlett Johansson as Nicole - Marriage Story (2019)

STATISTICS

• ONLY ACTUAL FAMOUS ACTORS

  • All - 6/15 (40%)

  • All Leading - 4/11 (36%)

  • All Supporting - 2/4 (50%)

  • Male - 2/6 (33%)

  • Female - 4/9 (44%)

  • Best Actor - 1/3 (33%)

  • Best Actress - 3/8 (38%)

  • Best Supporting Actor - 1/3 (33%)

  • Best Supporting Actress - 1/1 (100%)

• ALL ACTORS

  • All - 17/80 (21%)

  • All Leading - 10/55 (18%)

  • All Supporting - 7/25 (28%)

  • Male - 5/24 (21%)

  • Female - 12/56 (21%)

  • Best Actor - 4/16 (25%)

  • Best Actress - 6/39 (15%)

  • Best Supporting Actor - ⅛ (13%)

  • Best Supporting Actress - 6/17 (35%)

Do you think Amanda Seyfried will win Best Supporting Actress? Let us know in the comments below!

Comments

[Pedro]

Very interesting post. It must have consumed quite a bit of time. Thanks!

[Dave in Hollywood]

I saw Mank the other day and I was underwhelmed. I didn't even like the cinematography as the whole thing was unnecessarily dark and murky. That being said, the only thing I really liked about it was Amanda Seyfried. She was the only thing at all that "popped" for me. I do wish she had more to do, but I think just being the best thing in a "prestige" movie should be enough for her to be nominated. As for the win, well, it depends on the competition, timing, film reception, etc.

And not to further parse this impressive list, but I think there is a difference in one person doing a straight through impersonation (Cate Blanchett, Renee Zellwegger), and someone playing an actor who also performs as a different role within the movie, i.e. can show more versatility (Meryl in French Lieutenant's Woman, Hoffman in Tootsie).

PS you better fix the spelling of Barbra before she comes after you. ;-)

[Ferdi]

I like Seyfried a lot but, c'mon, in my opinion she does nothing truly great or special in Mank.
Basinger in 1997? She was in a different position: LA Confidential was a sort of a big comeback for her, who was maybe the biggest sex symbol of the previous decade but was never really considered as a good/great actress. Seyfried, on the contrary, is already quite respected but, although a big star, she has never been as BIG as Basinger was in the 80s. So, I don't think the narratives are similar.

The supporting actress field seems very open, at the moment. No one is talking about it, but I think we are underestimating the chances of the Nomadland non-professional actresses, Linda May and Swankie.

[JF]

I mean, 8 actors have been nominated for playing real U.S. Presidents and only one of them has won—the most recent one, Daniel Day Lewis.

I don't think anyone would have said "It's dicey for DDL because the Academy never gives Oscars to actors for playing real-life presidents."

It was a meaty role in a big movie for an excellent/respected actor. And there wasn't a more powerful alternative that year. That's usually what it comes down to.

[Rdf]

I do not get an Oscar nom for Seyfried. She was ok But nothing special.

[Jesus Alonso]

Shouldn't we consider Brad Pitt's character in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, as an actor, given he is a stuntman? Or is that going the extra mile?

[Someone]

Seyfried walks, smiles and sits. And that's all. She does that gracefully, true, but this is not a role that deserves an Oscar. :) And Oldman was FAR BETTER than her.

[Erick Loggia]

I think this year we have three locks in Supporting Actress:
Ellen Burstyn
Olivia Colman
Amanda Seyfried
The others : Candice Bergen or Youn Yuh-Jung or Saoirse Ronan or ... Glenn Close ?

[Working stiff]

Okay, I love (I mean, LOVE) Blanchett, but I was never that enamored of her win for her Hepburn. It clearly seemed to be a makeup Oscar for Elizabeth and of her seven nods it's the least interesting performance. (I think of the two Elizabeths as the same performance.) I mention that to put Seyfried's potential nom/win in context. Her Davies is a similar creation.

[Shmeebs]

I think the Basinger comp is a good one and bodes well for her.

This is a comeback of sorts for her and she has always been well liked/visible in the industry, so it's not hard to see her coasting to a win without Glenn around.

[markgordonuk]

Too early to tell from here about a win if she is even nominated,Close is very subtle in a very loud messy film but so was Allison Janney.

[JJ]

The flashbacks between Oldman and Seyfried are the best parts of Mank. Their one middle-of-the-night walk-and-talk at San Simeon was the top scene of the movie.

How many Oscar winners of late have done anything "special"? Imagine saying that about 75% of the people who have taken home statuettes over the past few years, yikes. Seyfried is very good, goes way outside of her comfort zone, and provides the film with its highlights in a true supporting role. Slam-dunk nom and a true contender for the win in this year's weakest acting category by far.

No one named Amanda has ever been nominated for an acting Oscar so this will be a first.

[CCA]

Peter O’Toole was nominated twice for playing an actor, the mentioned My Favorite Year in 1982, and for Venus in 2006

[Bradley]

I prefer Cate Blanchett’s Katharine Hepburn over the actual Katharine Hepburn. Sue me.

[Andrew Carden]

Marvelous piece but I can't say I at all get the affection for Seyfried's turn. I don't even think she's the best Supporting Actress in the film (Tuppence Middleton).

[PP]

I love Mank but I really can't see why Amanda Seyfried is in discussion

[BJT]

I expect you'll hate me for bringing up another possibility but should Daniel Massey's nominated performance as Noel Coward in Star! be included?

[Travis]

Love these kind of posts - thanks Christopher!

I think she will be nominated for sure. I also currently think she feels like she could win; however, this is a crazy year, and on the Academy's current timeline, we are still Way Out ahead of the voting window.

It's a charismatic, sly performance, deserving a nom, in my opinon, but I'll hold my vote for the win until the remaining films are available for the public to see. So far my only comparison is Mawmaw :)

[Antônio]

Amanda did a great job. Thank God it is not a typical “showy” performance. She deserves a nomination.

[Jaragon]

Seyfried was he best thing about"Mank" and she deserves at least an Oscar nomination for her performance.

[goodbar]

So who is the frontrunner for supporting actress? Seyfried, who was exquisite but did nothing worth remembering, or Closr ,who was exquisite, but did nothing, but overact? Nail-biter!

Oh isn't Olivia Colman still in the running?

[Dan Humphrey]

I really like Seyfried and am fully behind her getting a nomination, but does she really deserve a win for, essentially being warm, engaging, and reminding us that Davies wasn't the idiot people might think she was who only know of her as the "real" Susan Alexander? I don't know about that. It would perpetuate the notion that the Supporting Oscars are really about popularity (Whoopi Goldberg), giving someone a substitute Oscar (Dench), or worse, for being an attractive young woman (Mira Sorvino). This is an award that should go to someone who knocks it out of the park.

[Working stiff]

@ Bradley

I want to quote Addison DeWitt, but I'll just say: Point taken (even though not the point).

[Paranoid Android]

On preferring Cate B over Kate H — yes! Just saw On Golden Pond for the first time and I couldn’t stand Hepburn’s quivering, haughty vocalizations of every line. Almost made me turn the movie off

[MJ]

Bette Davis is in the wrong category (she won her first Oscar for Dangerous). As for Seyfried, I found her performance very charming/resourceful and would be happy to see her win. I’m most curious about how Glenn Close plays into this race as the season progresses.

I’ve had a sneaking suspicion for years that Blanchett doesn’t like her work in The Aviator. We know from her reaction to the Golden Age Oscar clip that she can be self-critical, and based on how visibly excited she was to win for Blue Jasmine, I think it’s not a stretch to imagine she thought she went to big. Furthermore, she donated that first Oscar to AMPAS for display purposes not long after she won it.

[MJ]

Dan Humphrey - Two of those three narratives seem unfair. Goldberg gave a great comedic performance, and while the movie was a massive hit, Bracco gave her stiff competition. As for Sorvino, I’d wager the Allen effect or nepotism got her the Oscar before her youth did (since Winslet was actually the ingenue of that crop). Wiest had won just the year before for another Allen project and that category’s often where his films do best.

[whunk]

Seyfried was really the only thing non-technical thing I enjoyed about Mank. She would deserve the Oscar if she won it.

[Ed]

I'm all in for a Seyfried nomination, but not for a win!
In fact, I want MINARI's grandma to avenge THE FAREWELL's Nai Nai with an Oscar win

[Adam Lewis]

add Sally Kirkland in ANNA to the list

[Joel]

That's Anne, with an "E", darling. Ms. Baxter if you're nasty.

[forever1267]

Do you have some gargantuan PowerPoint to make all of these percentages and posts? It's amazing.

Seyfried was one of the few interesting things about Mank, but I don't think it was special enough for an Oscar.

And I STILL don't get how Basinger won over that lineup in 1997.

[martin]

Wow - quite a post ! So glad to read that I'm not alone .... I loved Seyfried - I think she is very talented with a fantastic repertoire - also think she's the best thing in MANK .... but I can't see the Oscar buzz for her at all - besides for her charm & charisma. Pretty similar to all the talk last year about Margot Robbie As Sharon Tate - who actually didn't do anything that I can remember besides walking down the street ...
But she will get nominated. So will Close - strangely I think she might can still pull it off this year ...

[William G Jr Carey]

Why isn't Lily Collins being mentioned during the Supp Actress discussion? Seyfried simply smirked and held a cocktail glass throughout the film. What is the big damn deal? I just don't get it.

[OpinionGiver]

It would be ridiculous for Amanda Seyfried to be nominated. She did nothing during the movie, it was basically a cameo.

[Dl]

MJ - That's a completely wild guess.
Seyfried could win a la Nyong'o. A very solid performance in the Best Picture winner - but nothing more than that.

[Poland]

If Close is nominated against Colman she will win. If not I've heard whispers Burstyn is going to campaign hard and just needs a major win along the way to make it possible.

[Michael R]

Seyfried was marvelous in Mank. Everytime she appeared on screen she jolted the movie back to life. In fact I wish the movie was called Marion.

[StellaH]

My opinion is that Amanda rightly didn't get the Oscar. From the entire list, I would single out Kim Basinger and Martin Landau. Kim, as already mentioned, remembered not so much for her acting in L.A. Confidential but for the mark on pop culture that role left. I like to explore the career path of such famous people, so I write for https://samplius.com/free-essay-examples/famous-person/ where my work helps students with writing assignments. Thanks for the statistics and such a great list. It will serve as an excellent starting point for my future research.