Before the Oscar nominations were announced, some pundits predicted as many as four posthumous nominations. Obviously, there's Chadwick's Boseman's Best Actor bid for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. His feverish take on August Wilson's Levee was indeed nominated and, at this point in the awards season, feels bound for victory. The other potential posthumous honors, those that didn't effectively happen, were Jack Fincher (Mank) in Best Original Screenplay, Chadwick Boseman again in Supporting Actor (Da 5 Bloods), and Michael Wolf Snyder (Nomadland) in Best Sound. With that in mind, it's easy to wonder how common it is for AMPAS to honor artists who have already passed.
For trivia purposes, here's a list of all posthumous Oscar nominations divided by category. Only competitive prizes were included, so no honorary awards...
BEST PICTURE
- 1959) Sam Zimbalist, Ben-Hur *WINNER*
- 1979) Robert Alan Aurthur, All That Jazz
- 1995) Mario Cecchi Gori, Il Postino
- 2008) Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack, The Reader
BEST ACTRESS
- 1928/29) Jeanne Eagels, The Letter
BEST ACTOR
- 1955) James Dean, East of Eden
- 1956) James Dean, Giant
- 1967) Spencer Tracy, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
- 1976) Peter Finch, Network *WINNER*
- 1994) Massimo Troisi, Il Postino
- 2020) Chadwick Boseman, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
- 1984) Ralph Richardson, Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes
- 2008) Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight *WINNER*
;)
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
- 1927/28) Gerald Duffy, The Private Life of Helen of Troy
- 1939) Sidney Howard, Gone with the Wind *WINNER*
- 1945) Tess Slesinger, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
- 1991) Carol Sobieski, Fried Green Tomatoes
- 1995) Massimo Troisi, Il Postino
- 2011) Bridget O'Connor, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
- 2016) August Wilson, Fences
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
- 1954) Lamar Trotti, There's No Business Like Show Business
- 1979) Robert Alan Aurthur, All That Jazz
BEST EDITING
- 1963) Frederic Knudtson, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
- 1971) Stuart Gilmore, The Andromeda Strain
- 1981) Robert L. Wolfe, On Golden Pond
;)
BEST ART DIRECTION/PRODUCTION DESIGN
- 1958) William A. Horning, Gigi *WINNER* (Color)
- 1959) William A. Horning, Ben-Hur *WINNER* (Color)
- 1959) William A. Horning, North by Northwest (Color)
- 1959) Richard H. Riedel, Pillow Talk (Color)
- 1960) Eric Orbom, Spartacus *WINNER* (Color)
- 1963) William Ferrari, How the West Was Won (Color)
- 1965) David Hall, The Greatest Story Ever Told (Color)
- 1973) William Kiernan, The Way We Were
- 1982) Dale Hennesy, Annie
- 1986) Boris Leven, The Color of Money
- 2006) Gretchen Rau, The Good Shepherd
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
- 1945) Allen Davey, A Song to Remember (Color)
- 1948) Joseph H. August, Portrait of Jennie (Black-and-White)
- 1965) William C. Mellor, The Greatest Story Ever Told (Color)
- 1969) Harry Stradling, Hello, Dolly!
- 1980) Geoffrey Unsworth, Tess *WINNER*
- 2002) Conrad Hall, Road to Perdition *WINNER*
BEST COSTUME DESIGN
- 1951) Gile Steele, Kind Lady (Black-and-White)
- 1951) Gile Steele, The Great Caruso (Color)
- 1952) Gile Steele, The Merry Widow (Color)
- 2007) Marit Allen, La Vie en Rose
- 2012) Eiko Ishioka, Mirror Mirror
BEST SCORE
- 1942) Frank Churchill, Bambi
- 1945) Jerome Kern, Can't Help Singing (Musical)
- 1956) Victor Young, Around the World in 80 Days *WINNER*
- 1970) Alfred Newman, Airport
- 1972) Raymond Rasch and Larry Russell, Limelight *WINNER*
- 1976) Bernard Herrmann, Obsession
- 1976) Bernard Herrmann, Taxi Driver
BEST ORIGINAL SONG
- 1937) George Gershwin, "They Can't Take That Away from Me" from Shall We Dance
- 1942) Frank Churchill, "Love Is a Song" from Bambi
- 1945) Jerome Kern, "More and More" from Can't Help Singing
- 1946) Jerome Kern, "All Through the Day" from Centennial Summer
- 1946) James V. Monaco, "I Can't Begin to Tell You" from The Dolly Sisters
- 1951) Bert Kalmar, "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" from The Strip
- 1956) Victor Young, "Written on the Wind" from Written on the Wind
- 1991) Howard Ashman, "Beauty and the Beast" from Beauty and the Beast *WINNER*
- 1991) Howard Ashman, "Belle" from Beauty and the Beast
- 1991) Howard Ashman, "Be Our Guest from Beauty and the Beast
- 1992) Howard Ashman, "Friend Like Me" from Aladdin
BEST SOUND
- 1976) Harry W. Tetrick, King Kong
- 1976) Harry W. Tetrick, Rocky
- 2014) Walt Martin, American Sniper (Mixing)
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
- 1972) Arnold Peri, Malcolm X
- 1978) Albert Lamorisse, The Lover's Wind
- 2013) Gil Friesen, 20 Feet from Stardom *WINNER*
BEST ANIMATED SHORT
- 1968) Walt Disney, Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day *WINNER*
- 1977) John Hubley, A Doonesbury Special
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
- 1992) Thomas C. Goodwin, Educating Peter *WINNER*
- 2011) Gail Dolgin, The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement
BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT
- 1945) Joseph O'Brien, Your National Gallery
- 1952) Gordon Hollingshead, Desert Killer
- 1952) Gordon Hollingshead, Thar She Blows!
Looking over this data, we can count 78 posthumous nominations divided by 63 nominees. The gender disparity is immense, both within the acting races and in general. Only eight women have ever been nominated after death, while men are as high as 55. Once the nomination is secured, 15 of these honors resulted in wins regarding the probability of victory. Percentage-wise, around 19% of posthumous nominations result in gold.
In terms of individual superlatives, Howard Ashman is the person with the most posthumous nominations. By the time this great lyricist passed away, he was already an Oscar winner, thanks to The Little Mermaid. Beauty and the Beast would nab him three other nods and one win, while Aladdin conquered him a fourth and final posthumous nomination. Still, William A. Horning rules in terms of Oscar after-death. The production designer would conquer three post-mortem Academy Awards for his opulent work in Gigi and Ben-Hur. The 1959 Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color has the most posthumous nominees of any lineup, counting three nominations for individuals no longer living. Of course, Horning counts for two of those.
The most represented category is Best Production Design, with all its different permutations, and Best Original Song. In both cases, we can count 11 nominees. That being said, while three designing Oscars were won posthumously, only one songwriter did. On the opposite end of the spectrum, five of the still-existent categories never featured any posthumous honor. They are Best Director, Supporting Actress, Makeup & Hairstyling, Visual Effects, and Animated Feature. International Feature doesn't count since, technically, no individuals are singled out by those prizes, only countries.
Overall, I was surprised by how common this Oscar phenomenon is, though there are some important facts to point out. Death doesn't automatically mean a victory, not by any means, not even when the nominated artist is as famous, beloved, celebrated as James Dean or Spencer Tracey. Furthermore, one can notice a vague decrease in the number of posthumous nominations as the decades go by. In the so-called "above the line" categories, the 2010s featured only a pair of nods, and even that is only true if one calls screenwriting above the line. That's nothing compared to some earlier periods like the 1950s, for example.
;)
I apologize for the morbidity of such awards-focused explorations. While I'm not trying to trivialize death or diminish the honor of these posthumous Oscar nominees, it may be easy to arrive at such unsavory conclusions. This write-up isn't meant to discredit these marvelous artists' worthiness, the value of their work, or the extraordinary nature of their post-mortem achievements. While an untimely demise helps construct an awards narrative, we shouldn't believe it's all about that. The showiness of craft, the quality of artistry are also important. As far as I'm concerned, if Boseman wins, he'll be one of the most extraordinary Best Actor winners in some time. I have to go back to Daniel Day-Lewis to find another victorious performance I love more in the category's chronology. What I'm saying is that when/if Boseman becomes the second leading actor ever to win an Oscar, I'll be one of the people applauding from home.
What about you? Are you excited about a potential Boseman win?