The 25 Oldest Men Ever Nominated for Best Actor
Friday, April 2, 2021 at 10:58PM by Nathaniel R
John Wayne just misses the list. Denzel almost double dips. And Hopkins tops the list setting a new recordWe did a "Youngest Best Actor" list a few years back so we thought we should balance it out with their counterparts given the return of Sir Anthony Hopkins this year at 83 years of age with The Father. He makes history in the process as the oldest nominee ever in this category. As we all know Oscar likes some years on his men (as opposed to how he feels about women) but that doesn't mean the golden years. Oscar loves men to be in their late 30s through mid 50s (whereas with women they prefer late 20s through mid 40s) but ageism works against men, too. Just not as severely as it does against women. The roles still dry up at a certain age... though perhaps that's more on filmmakers and studios than the Oscars themselves.
LIST HAS BEEN UPDATED WITH MINOR CORRECTIONS. (04/02). And a surprising piece of trivia about this list. Only one of the top 25 oldest nominees in this category actually won the Oscar. Not a strong success rate for senior men. Oscar likes to bid them farewell but doesn't feel the need to send them off with the statue (or a second statue)...
TOP 25 OLDEST NOMINEES OF ALL TIME
IN THE "BEST ACTOR CATEGORY.
A star indicates a win
Runners up: The following men were in their sixties when they were nominated but were not old enough for this list as they were between 60 and 62: Richard Harris for The Field (1990), Peter Finch for Network (1976) ★, Jeff Bridges for True Grit (2010), Dustin Hoffman for Wag the Dog (1997), Paul Newman for The Color of Money (1986) ★, Clint Eastwood for Unforgiven (1992), George Arliss for Disraeli (1930) ★, and Charles Boyer for Fanny (1961), Denzel Washington for Fences (2016) and... just barely missing the list John Wayne in True Grit (1969) ★ who would shortly turn 63.
25 Gary Oldman (62/63) for Mank (2020)
Oldman was 62 when he was nominated but turned 63 in the long wait for the ceremony this year. His portrayal of Citizen Kane's screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz is his third nomination. He won on his second for Darkest Hour (2017).
24 Denzel Washington (63) for Roman J Israel Esq (2017)
UPDATED WITH MINOR CORRECTION HE WAS ORIGINALLY LISTED WITH THE WRONG AGE. Denzel proved how beloved he is with his eighth acting nomination (and a consecutive nod at that) for a rather tepidly received film (apart from his performance of course).
23 Marcello Mastroianni (63) for Dark Eyes (1987)
Oscar voters loved Italian master Federico Fellini and they loved his most frequent muse, too. Mastroianni is the only actor ever nominated thrice for foreign-language performances. This was his third and final nomination ... all for Italian pictures though curiously they never honored him for any of his Fellini films. He never won and seemed like a sure bet for an Honorary Oscar but Oscar waits far too long for those and if you die before you're, say, 80, you're unlikely to get one. Mastroianni died at 72.
22 Willem Dafoe (63) for At Eternity's Gate (2018)
Dafoe was the late breaking surprise of the 2018 Best Actor race (and likely booted a harder Oscar sell in Ethan Hawke's anguished sick priest) playing Vincent van Gogh in this biopic. It was his fourth nomination and if he keeps up his recent pace of intriguing projects paired with showy performances, he could show up again soon.
21 Dexter Gordon (63) for Round Midnight (1986)
He turned 64 right around the time of the nominations. This felt like a debut picture for the jazz legend but it actually wasn't. He split his time between Paris and Copenhagen in the sixties and actually acted in a Swedish film in 1968, one of only a few film roles. He died four years after this movie.
20 Paul Muni (64) the Last Angry Man (1959)
This doctor role was the Oscar winner's fifth or sixth nomination depending on how you feel about those "unofficial" nominations in Oscar history, when they used to allow for write-in votes. He had won 23 years prior for the scientist biopic The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936). In addition to being his final nomination this was also his final film. He died eight years later.
17 [TIE] Sir Laurence Olivier (65) for Sleuth (1972)
Jack Nicholson (65) for About Schmidt (2002)
Sir Nigel Hawthorne (65) for Madness of King George (1994)
We can't really decipher who was older here without intense calendar studies of the year of their births and these Oscar ceremonies as they all turned 66 shortly after their ceremonies!
Tangentia LGBTQ trivia note: Nigel Hawthorne was the first known-to-be-queer actor to bring a same sex date to the ceremony but he was "outed" during that year's Oscar hoopla. You'll read differently elsewhere because people like to rewrite history to fit with modern knowledge but Sir Ian McKellen is the ONLY out queer actor ever nominated when the Academy knew full well that the actor was part of the LGBTQ community. It's a problem we hope will change as society evolves. Elliot Page, Jodie Foster, Kevin Spacey, Leonard Frey, Lily Tomlin and the rest were not officially "out" at the time of their nominations (though some were not making efforts to hide their sexuality.) Jaye Davidson, a gay man playing a trans woman in The Crying Game was a total unknown making his film debut and a mystery to the voters and press essentially. Some argue for openly bisexual Angelina Jolie and, more recently, Lady Gaga (both of whom the Academy voters have only ever seen in high profile heterosexual relationships) but the point of this trivia is that Oscar voters (at least subconciously) resists queer performers -- even when they seem like shoo-ins due to a film's success (see Rupert Everett in My Best Friend's Wedding, a performance that 1000% would have gotten a straight actor nominated). McKellen is also the only out gay actor to ever be nominated for playing a gay character; all nominated queer and trans roles to date have been played by straight and cisgendered actors (or actors who were not known to be queer) with the arguable exception of Jaye Davidson.
16 Spencer Tracy (66) for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
Tracy did not live to the see this movie released dying six months before the release. He had not made a movie in four years when he filmed this. This social issues drama was his film film and scored him his ninth and final nomination (all in the Best Actor category). He had won twice previously early in his career.
15 Robert Duvall (67) for The Apostle (1997)
He had just turned 67 when the nominations were announced. If we recall the awards hoopla of the year correctly he really wanted to win for this indie (which would have been his second Oscar) but instead Oscar went with a third statue to Jack Nicholson for the big hit As Good As It Gets. Duvall is still alive and working at 90 years of age. Since his film he's snagged two nominations in Best Supporting Actor (A Civil Action, The Judge) for a total of seven career nominations.
14 Burt Lancaster (68) for Atlantic City (1981)
This was a comeback film/nomination for the athletic ginger movie star after three nominations and a win in his movie star heyday of the mid 50s through the mid 60s. Three of his four nominations came from Best Picture nominated films (From Here to Eternity, Elmer Gantry, Atlantic City with Birdman of Alcatraz as the sole non-Best Picture nominee). He lived another 12 years and made ten more pictures including yet another Best picture nominated film, Field of Dreams (1989) which proved to be his final picture. All in all his filmography includes six Best Picture nominees. That's nothing close to a record but it's impressive all the same since all six were in the stretch of decades where Oscar only picked five movies. (A lot of living stars have higher tallies now due to the expanded race) Lancaster died at the age of 80 in 1994.
13 Melyvn Douglas (69) for I Never Sang For My Father (1970)
He won two very deserved Oscars, one before (Hud) and one after (Being There) this nomination and both were in the Best Supporting Actor category. This was his only lead and only "losing" nomination. Gene Hackman, another Oscar favourite, played his son. Douglas died at the age of 80 in 1981 and made movies right up until the end.
12 Michael Caine (70) for The Quiet American (2002)
He was 69 at the time of his sixth nomination and 70 by the time of the ceremony rolled around. We didn't expect it would be his last nomination but surprisingly despite high profile films ever since, he rarely has a meaty role though he did try recapturing old glories once (remember that he remade his own Sleuth with Jude Law, this time taking the Olivier role). He's 88 now and still acting. He MIGHT have two meaty roles this very year though: he's wrapped filming on Best Sellers (in which he plays a retired novelist), another take on the Oliver story called Twist in the role of Fagin (which brought Ron Moody an Oscar nomination in 1968).
11 Paul Newman (70) for Nobody's Fool (1994)
He had just turned 70 when he was nominated for the eight time as Best Actor. He had won his career Oscar AND the Honorary Oscar in the 1980s so Oscar didn't feel the need to hand him a statue. It turned out to be his penultimate rather than last nomination as he was back again for Road to Perdition (2002) albeit in supporting eight years later. This ultra beloved movie star died in 2008 at the age of 83.
10 Frank Langella (71) for Frost/Nixon (2008)
He won his this Tony Award for playing Richard Nixon on Broadway and with the film transfer he scores his first (and to date only) Oscar nomination. He then won his FOURTH Tony Award nine year's later in Broadway's The Father so it must have smarted a bit when the film version went with Anthony Hopkins who is the exact same age and also on this list. Langella at least got to be part of the awards hoopla of 2020 via Trial of the Chicago 7. Though Langella, who is now 83, is much more celebrated on the stage than on film he's been a consistent presence at the movies since the 1970s.
09 Sir Laurence Olivier (71) for The Boys from Brazil (1978)
The only double dipper on this list other than Denzel Washington is also one of Oscar's all time favourite actors. This was his tenth and final nomination. He won only one competitive Oscar in his career (as the star of Hamlet) but Oscar gave him two Honorary as well, one of them at this very ceremony during his last Oscar nomination. Olivier was very active still around this time and starred in two well-received pictures the following year (A Little Romance, and playing Van Helsing to Frank Langella's Dracula). Seven more films followed, the best remembered of them being Clash of the Titans... he played Zeus of course. Olivier died in 1989 at 82 years of age.
08 Jonathan Pryce (72) for The Two Popes (2019)
While most of this list is comprised of men Oscar really loved taking their final or penultimate bows... here is one of the few (like Frank Langella) who had been working for a very long time that Oscar finally applauded in their golden years. We think it probably helped that this came directly after The Wife and Glenn Close's almost-coronation run where Pryce was The Husband.
07 Morgan Freeman (72) for Invictus (2009)
Freeman scored his fifth and to date final Oscar nomination playing Nelson Mandela in this biopic/sports drama with Matt Damon. He's 83 and still working consistently so perhaps he'll top this list one day?
06 Peter O'Toole (74) for Venus (2006)
He holds the distinction of being the only actor to ever reach 8 nominations without ever winning a competitive Oscar. Glenn Close will tie this record IF she loses for Hillbilly Elegy later this month. This final nomination for O'Toole came just three years after the Academy cried uncle and gave him the Honorary Oscar. He died in 2013 at the age of 81.
05 Clint Eastwood (74) for Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Though Eastwood is one of the most famous of all living movie stars, he is just as famous for being the man behind the camera. His only two acting Oscar nominations were for self-directed performances in Best Picture winners: Unforgiven (1992) was the first and Million Dollar Baby (2004) followed. He's 90 years old and still directing AND acting. He has the leading role in his next picture Cry Macho (2021) about a retired rodeo star and horse breeder who takes a young man under his wing, which is due on October 22nd. Could a third acting nomination follow?
04 Henry Fonda (76) for On Golden Pond (1981) ★
Henry Fonda had been a major movie star since Hollywood's Golden Age but he finally won the Oscar at the age of 76, the oldest man ever to win Best Actor. It was only his second acting nomination, the first being for The Grapes of Wrath (he holds the record of the longest gap between acting nominations!) He died about a year after this ceremony. (In addition to many great performances he also brought us Peter and Jane Fonda so we should all be grateful.)
03 Bruce Dern (77) for Nebraska (2013)
Here's another long gap between nomination. Dern was first Oscar nominated for supporting actor for the Best Picture nominated Coming Home (1978). Decades later he returned as a leading man in Alexander Payne's black and white dramedy, Nebraska. Hes now 84 and still acting up a storm with supposedly nine more movies in the can right now and two more announced for 2022. (In addition to many great performances he also brought us Laura Dern so we should all be grateful.)
02 Richard Farnsworth (79) for The Straight Story (1999)
...Like Bruce Dern, Farnsworth was also first nominated in 1978 (Comes a Horseman) and then took his sweet time returning even though he surely came close to a second nomination with The Grey Fox (1983) for which he was Globe nominated. This was one of the most satisfying Best Actor nominations of our lifetime. He's just sublime in this G rated David Lynch picture of a man riding his lawnmower a great distance to make amends with his estranged brother. For over 20 years Farnsworth held the record of "Oldest Best Actor Nominee". But this season he lost that record to...
01 Sir Anthony Hopkins (83) for The Father (2020)
You know we're huge fans of this performance from his nomination here and our coverage of The Father in general. The Father is Sir Anthony's sixth nomination. He won the prize with his first nomination for Silence of the Lambs (1991). Though he'll likely lose the Oscar to Chadwick Boseman we all win because this is one of the highest quality shortlists we've ever seen in Best Actor.
What do you make of this list dear readers. Do you see any patterns or notes of interest?
Reader Comments (32)
Great write up Nathaniel. Sorry to be that person but I’m sure Lancaster wasn’t nominated for the Rose Tattoo.
Elmer Gantry?
Yes, that's Cicely Tyson pictured with Paul Muni in The Last Angry Man (1959) in the uncredited role "Girl Left on Porch."
This is the Oscar deep dive content that always keeps me coming back.
Have you seen I Never Sang for My Father, Nathaniel? Hackman's nomination is classic category fraud.
(remember that he remade his own Sleuth with Jude Law, this time taking the Olivier role)
No, but I remember watching the Alfie remake with Law.
Actors on this list who should have won the Oscar in my opinion.
Burt Lancaster - Atlantic City
Paul Newman - Nobody's Fool
"Elmer Gantry" is correct. Burt Lancaster won his Oscar playing him in the same titled film.
Fonda being the only winner on this list goes to show the academy will nominate an older performer but will always want to award someone younger.
Lancaster is the only one from this list I think I'd award based on the lineup he was nominated against. I wonder will Hopkins break his own record in the next decade because as Plummer showed it's possible to get three nominations in your eighties and Hopkins has so far got two.
I look forward to the same lists for the other 3 categories.
Arguably, most of those actors over 70 who gave memorable performances in English language films earned their Best Actor nomination. It is those actors over 70 who gave Oscar worthy performances in foreign language films who were snubbed.
1952 Carlo Battista (69) in Umberto D
1958 Victor Sjostrom (79) in Wild Strawberries
2012 Jean-Louis Trintignant (82) in Amour
Wouldn’t Lady Gaga identify as an openly LGBTQ nominee?
I think that the nominations for "Guess who's coming to dinner" came in 1968 (for the pictures of 1967) and Spencer Tracy was already dead by then. And what about Denzel Washington? He seems to have his birthday in 1954. But great work anyway.
Fun question: what never-nominated actors do we think might break their way into this list with a first nomination, a la Langella or Pryce. You could make a case for Steve Buscemi, John Goodman, Hugh Grant, Mandy Patinkin, Alfred Molina, Tony Shalhoub, Brendan Gleeson, Jeff Daniels, John Turturro or Courtney B. Vance, although all seem obviously more likely to factor into Supporting Actor.
If I had to go with one, I might favour Brendan Gleeson or Jeff Daniels, who still find themselves with generous leading man roles and ample work.
I love the in depthness you give these lists.
Olivier had one too many late career nominations Hamlet and Boys from Brazil were Peck was better,speaking of Peck after winning he never returned as a nominee despite lots of meaty parts and good reviews and they loved him once.
I think Denzel will get to 10.
Hopkins must win all the other 4 are great to good but nothing beats Sir Anthony this year.
Dafoe needs to win soon after his momentum this past few years,he thoroughly deserved that 2018 nod.
Do you think a lot of closeted actors have won Oscars.
Leonard Frey was pretty out when he was nominated for Supporting Actor for Fiddler on the Roof in 1971.
Denzel's birthday is listed as December 28, 1954.
Amy -- according to wikipedia at least the original cast of boys in the band stayed in the closet during its run ?
Jesiter -- hmmm. oh does she identify as queer now? I assumed she was just a super ally. I lose track of the women because the famous ones who say they're bisexual only ever date men so it is easy to lose track of who says they're bi. I'll adjust the text a bit.
whunk & frankjp & timothy - fixed. just had a couple of dates wrong. but the list is mostly unchanged except denzel only has one entry on the list now.
markgordon -- i dont think many closeted actors have won, no with the big notable exception of Spacey & foster both winnig two! Most of the famous "secretly gay or bisexual" movie stars in the early 20th century didn't actually win competitively though some scored multiple nominations.
Duncan -- FASCINATING QUESTION
I think Alfred Molina is a great guess. It feels like he's been close a few times. I have given up on Goodman. I thought for a long time that would happen but now that he's back as a tv star i dont see it.It's still so sad to me (if not even remotely surprising) that Hugh Grant can't get arrested. Meanwhile he scores TV nods for one of his worst performances (Undoing)I thought for sure Jeff Daniels had been nominated, but no. Not even for The Squid and the Whale.
According to some sources, at least eight acting Oscars have been won by closeted actors: Laughton, Hepburn, Tracy, Olivier.
working stiff - haha. forgot about them. but anyway lets not get sidetracked. CURSE MY TANGENT THAT I CREATED -- what do you all think of this list?
Cash -- right?
Okay, to get back on the main topic: DONALD SUTHERLAND will be in 86 in July. Is there still a chance for him in this category (and he’d go straight to the #1 position on the list)? Doubtful, but it just takes one bullseye...
Lady Gaga might be the first openly LGBTQ out female nominee.
Olivier was bisexual and was going to write about his sexuality in his autobiography but his third wife convinced him not to include anything about that in his book. Olivier never officially came out but people knew about his sexuality.
Richard Farnsworth makes me cry in The Straight Story. Such a rewarding, touching film that still had those David Lynch trademarks. We were talking in another thread about the 1999 Best Pic lineup and this should’ve made the top 5. (If I remember correctly, Entertainment Weekly was predicting a Lynch Best Director nom in their annual predictions issue.)
PS: Farnsworth would’ve also made a fine Best Supporting Actor nominee in Misery.
working stiff -- they've never been interested even when he was in Best Pictures. So i think that recent smart Honorary Oscar will have to cover it.
Someone needs to make a John Huston biopic (but solely focused on the making of The Dead) with Sutherland as Huston. Voilà!
Charles Laughton probably the first gay among Oscar winning actors; he had a lavender marriage with the also nominated - in supporting role - Elsa Lanchester and half Hollywood knew he was gay.
I always assumed John Gielgud was out
Broadview -- it was widely known but he would not discuss it openly. He finally did in 1988 but that was after his Oscar win.
Is that 4/25 only having the one solitary career nomination? Interesting.
John Gielfud did not hide his homosexuality, he never discussed it openly either. In 1988 he publicly acknowledged his relationship with his long-time lover, Martin Hensler(who was almost four decades younger).
In 1953 a scandal almost destroyed his career: he was arrested in a public lavatory in Chelsea. Gielgud was charged with 'persistently importuning men for immoral purposes', a crime that transgressed the social taboos of the era. When the actor appeared in the dock, the name on the charge sheet was 'John Smith', but a journalist recognised the star of stage and screen, who pleaded guilty and was fined £10. His conviction caused a sensation.
The happening was dramatized in 2008 as the play "Plague Over England "by Nicholas de Jongh. The show suggests that the high-profile case helped to bring the country nearer to making homosexuality legal. It was decriminalised in 1967, freeing millions from the fear of conviction and public disgrace.
Great list but I think Gary Oldman needs to squeeze on here? He is 63 I believe.
Peter -- you are right. He turned 63 between nominations and the ceremony so he just edges John Wayne out. The list is fixed.