Best Actor & Best Actress: An Uncommon Pair
Friday, January 22, 2021 at 9:30PM by Eurocheese
Chadwick & Viola at odds in "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" -- but will they be even at the Oscars?
It’s been over 20 years since we last saw a film take home Best Actor and Best Actress on the same night. While these categories are both very competitive this season, there is a possibility that Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom could combine Boseman’s posthumous career-best performance with Davis’ flashy titular role to make it happen again.
But how often have we seen this combination in the past, and under what circumstances? Let’s take a look…
Peter & Faye... both remarkable in "Network"
There have been 37 films that have walked away from Oscar night with two acting trophies, and two more that have walked out with the highest current total: three acting wins. These two films are A Streetcar Named Desire, which took Best Actress along with both supporting trophies, and Network, which took the two lead prizes as well as Supporting Actress. Network and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom have a sad shared trait – in both cases, the leading man passed away before the Oscar ceremony. Network was a dominant player at the Oscars in its year, scoring an incredible five acting nominations and tying Best Picture winner Rocky for the most nominations overall (10). Finch and Dunaway also picked up the Golden Globe Actor and Actress wins that year, so while Straight may have been a surprising choice for her Supporting Actress win (and famously short time on screen), this combination of Actor and Actress wasn’t hard to see coming.
Network was one of seven films to pull off the Best Actor and Best Actress pairing. If you’re an Oscar trivia fan, three more of these might be easy to name as they famously swept the top five categories of their respective years, taking home Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Screenplay. The first time this happened, it was to a 1934 film built on incredibly low expectations. Both Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert resisted It Happened One Night initially, and the romantic comedy reportedly went through a series of rewrites. After completing it, Colbert declared it one of the worst films in the world, despite it eventually turning into a huge hit. Even on Oscar night, she was so sure of her loss she had to be pulled off a train last minute to accept her honor. The film was only nominated in five categories, and it won in every single one of them.
Louise vs Jack in "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"... but they both won on Oscar night.
The next sweep of the top five categories came just a year before Network, when One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) became a massive box office success. 1975’s Best Picture field is often called one of the all time great lineups (the other nominees: Barry Lyndon, Dog Day Afternoon, Jaws and Nashville) but none of the contenders proved a match for Cuckoo's Nest enthusiasm. It also took Picture, Director, Actor and Actress wins at the Globes so this outcome wasn’t a surprise to anyone by Oscar night.
The final sweep of the top five was also a major box office hit, but it was a bit of an oddball as the only horror picture to ever win Best Picture. The Silence of the Lambs (1991) caused a bit of debate by pushing Anthony Hopkins lead given his short time on screen, and the outcome wasn’t entirely clear in his race, since Nick Nolte (who had had a big year with two awards-popular hits) had won the Globe. It’s a crazy thought that such an iconic role might have missed, and watching Hopkins’ win, you can hear the crowd cheering him on before his win was announced. Through a modern lens, the Foster/Hopkins pairing is perhaps the most obvious choice among these films to receive matching Oscars.
Comparing these films to Ma Rainey doesn’t entirely seem fitting; despite its buzz, it's hard to picture the film dominating the Oscar ceremony (though it will certainly score a number of nods). The other three films to win both lead acting prizes make more sense as comparison points, though all of them revolve around romantic couples rather than coworkers at odds. The first, Coming Home (1978), was a heavy hitting drama that lost Best Picture to a far more “epic” front runner, but its character focus may be why Fonda and Voight felt likely to win once the Oscars rolled around. In Actress, Bergman was unlikely to win a fourth Oscar (just as McDormand feels unlikely for her third lead win), and the film had more momentum overall than the other Actress competitors. Actor placed a respected Voight against two former winners (De Niro and Olivier), a comedic performance (Beatty) and a film that didn’t have the same Oscar clout (The Buddy Holly Story, starring Gary Busey). If Boseman and Davis begin to emerge as front runners, this might be the most comparable model.
The final two Actor and Actress winners, On Golden Pond (1981) and As Good As It Gets (1997) did not go into Oscar night with the expectation of taking both prizes. In both cases, the Actor prize felt like a sure thing; Henry Fonda was in a box office hit and was building momentum towards his first career win, and Nicholson felt like a slam dunk at the time. Actress was a different story. Hepburn’s fourth win was a surprise in a competitive category, and Helen Hunt even mentioned in her speech that she thought she would lose to Judi Dench. These could also be similar to Ma Rainey: sentiment paired with a dynamic performance has Boseman out in front (despite tough competition), but Actress could certainly go a number of different directions. Davis strikes me as a likely candidate to follow up her supporting Oscar with a lead win, but is this the year? We’re still early in the season. Anything could happen.
What about you, dear reader? What do you think of the chances Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom becomes the eighth film to pull off dual lead Oscars?
Reader Comments (29)
It’s a shame Streetcar isn’t on this list!
This is on of those rare Oscar trivia things that actually makes sense. All of these performances are beautiful in their way even if not all of them deserved to win (cough Hunt/Hepburn).
Bushwick -- agreed. if there was ever a film to have a legacy of all four category wins, that was the place to do it!
I really like all the pairs so far. Even the reviled 97 pair is very good. Sue me.
It's a shame Gone with the Wind, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf and Dead Man Walking aren't on the list (Actor/Actress).
I’m trying to think of some movies that just missed the Big 5 Oscar sweep. Off the top of my head I have Annie Hall (Woody Allen lost in Best Actor) and American Beauty (Annette Bening lost in Best Actress). I’m sure there are others..
Nary of a chance that both or even either will win in that wanting film.
I only match Oscar in 81 and 91 for the Actor/Actress pairs. SO many amazing pairs they missed - looked at what I would have chosen and the list was too long to post.
@Paul Outlaw
You're still alive? I love you and miss you.
Davis isn't winning for Ma Rainey. There isn't enough there to warrant an actual win. And she's ghastly looking throughout which doesn't do well with the majority male voter bloc because she's not inherently desirous to them anyway. Her character is also unlikable.
All of the winning performances mentioned are great.
Would’ve loved to see Johansson/Driver get added to the list last year. Davis and Boseman would be very worthy additions.
Faye and Peter’s characters were never even in the same scene or interact with each other in NETWORK, which goes on to say how brilliang that film is.
Helen Hunt's win isn't shameful--it isn't Robert Benigni bad. It's a respectable performance that wont shock someone in 40 years if they see it and then learn it too Best Actress, but Helena Bonham Carter should have won for THE WINGS OF THE DOVE. I blame William Goldman for his article before the awards, pushing Hunt saying if any of the Brits win it will once again prove American voters stupidly think they're inferior to the English. In that case, it was true though. WINGS was Bonham Carter's greatest performance by a mile. Hunt was merely excellent.
The Silence of the Lamb duo is perfection!
As other has said, the ultimate best actor and best actress win in the same movie would have been Marlon and Vivien in A Streetcar Named Desire #dynamite
A Streetcar named desire could win all 4 Acting Awards, and maybe should, but in my World it "only" won for Brando and Leigh, supporting is Shelley winters für A place in the sun for me, cause Taylor was the main lead for me, but if you cant agree, Lee GRat is also deserving for Detective STory, way more than for Shampoo and Karl Malden, also I love him, the best was in m opinion Peter Ustinov in Quo Vadis.
On the other Hand NETWORK ist the Movie for me which I give all 4 Acting Awards. Why is Duvall missing? After the Godfather Movies he could and should easily won for Network. With Duvall also in supporting, Network got 6 Acting nominations and 4 Wins, a record, that n Movie could reach, maybe the Godfather, Of you nominate Pacino also in Lead and Cazale and Keaton in supporting or maybe easier Godfather II with Cazale for Astaire or Bridges, if you consider him a Co.-Lead.
Any thoughts? Let me guess please! ;-* Greetz from germany, still love your Side Nathaniel!
Great piece! The quality of performances from the first 5 pairs listed!! Amazing. Boseman and Davis can’t compare imo
@Greg, "Nary of a chance," Greg? What? Even in the 18th Century, that wasn't a correct sentence formation.
Careful, though That's what the QAnoners said about Biden winning the White House (in so many words). Don't be so sure.
Bogart's terrific in African Queen, and if he hadn't won, we'd all now be bemoaning his shocking lack of Oscar love. But if Brando won, as he should've, he would've had Oscars for Streetcar, Waterfront and Godfather -- three towering, seminal performances.
If Bette Davis had been officially nominated for Of Human Bondage (and not a write-in,) Colbert may well have lost, though my hunch is It Happened One Night (a perfect screwball) was going to sweep regardless.
No one was beating Henry Fonda in On Golden Pond (it was more of a coronation than a win,) and though Katherine Hepburn's win was a surprise, looking back, it makes perfect sense. How could they resist giving a pair of Oscars to two living legends in a huge hit?
Streetcar most certainly should be the champ with all 4 simply superb wins. Sometimes I think all 4 should have won an special ensemble 4-piece set of Oscars. They remain in my all time top 5 nominees in their respective categories. Had they been elevated to such a stratospheric group accolade, there were several deserving thespians who would have been respectable substitutes.
Therefore I offer you Montgomery Clift, Katherine Hepburn, Thelma Ritter and Kevin McCarthy in the extremely rare “Death of a Salesman” as alternate winners.
IMO we would be also be celebrating Taylor/Burton, Werner/Signoret, Allen/Keaton, and Lemmon/MacLaine. I’m
In my memory of 97, Hunt was the clear favorite (right age, major momentum, "America's current sweetheart") and Nicholson was in a tight race with Duvall and Fonda. His win was more surprising than hers.
As Good As It Gets was absolutely the opposite. Helen Hunt was the frontrunner, and a lot of people dismiss her performance despite the fact that it's an absolute slice of life. Jack won the SAG, but Duvall was the favorite. I was a kid but I remember, tho I thought Jack would win. Someone even called Duvall's performance one of the 10 best performances ever given.
Hunt may have thought she was gonna lose, but she also won the SAG and was the clear frontrunner.
Sorry but neither Davis or Boseman deserve it this year as competent as they both were in the film.
Page should have gone supporting in 78 and would have won.
I was there in 97 and Jack was winning the 3rd he was THE favourite of the season,Duvall should've won but it was more of a welcome back well done for getting a small movie made and seen.
95 could've had either Leaving Las Vegas or Dead Man Walking being worthy members had they not split.
Hunt won the Golden Globe and SAG so I'm sure it wasn't a total shock, even if Judi Dench did have a shot. I don't think it's a terrible win at all. There have been worse.
I'm moreso annoyed that Julie Christie was nominated over Pam Grier in Jackie Brown. But things were clearly very different back then, you can tell by looking at the telecast.
Anyone think JLo was anywhere near a nom for Selena? lol
Ma Rainey's black bottom will not win dual acting oscars. First of all Chadwick boseman while delivering a good performance just doesnt scream win at me . Plus he has two more contenders Anthony Hopkins and Gary Oldman whom I think delivered great performances. As for Viola davis she seems to he heavily overshadowed by bosemans character in the movie . She rather seems supporting to me even though she is the titular character. Frances has won practically most of the critics awards and kirby's performance is very breathtaking to me , viola while good as usual just didnt give me that best actress win feeling .it felt like her performance was missing that moment . For her to be the second black best actress winner since halle berry's 20 year historic win would be plain . Her role in the help would have been more deserving than Ma Rainey. But hey let's see how this topsy turvy awards season goes !
Ma Rainey's black bottom will not win dual acting oscars. First of all Chadwick boseman while delivering a good performance just doesnt scream win at me . Plus he has two more contenders Anthony Hopkins and Gary Oldman whom I think delivered great performances. As for Viola davis she seems to he heavily overshadowed by bosemans character in the movie . She rather seems supporting to me even though she is the titular character. Frances has won practically most of the critics awards and kirby's performance is very breathtaking to me , viola while good as usual just didnt give me that best actress win feeling .it felt like her performance was missing that moment . For her to be the second black best actress winner since halle berry's 20 year historic win would be plain . Her role in the help would have been more deserving than Ma Rainey. But hey let's see how this topsy turvy awards season goes !
Yup, the gang is right - Hunt was a heavy favorite by the time Oscar night rolled around, as was Nicholson.
@Patryk: Totally agree with you on the Lemmon/MacLaine thing. To me it's the most perfect on-screen combo I have ever seen. Wins for them also would have catapulted The Apartment into the exclusive main category sweeps club, which would have made me very happy, because it's a perfect film all-round.
And might I add another pair of wins that didn't emerge but would have made perfect sense (still can't fathom why it didn't happen) --> Peter O'Toole and Katherine Hepburn in The Lion in Winter, both in career-best performances.
My favorite: Holden/Swanson Sunset Boulevard 1950