by Nathaniel R
1971 BEST ACTRESS (50 years ago) is the furthest back you can go to get a category (any category) where all the nomines are still alive: Julie Christie, Jane Fonda, Glenda Jackson, Vanessa Redgrave, and Janet Suzman
Loyal readers know we are always irritated that the Academy cares more about imaginary audiences than the one they have so we're thinking of the awesomeness of Hollywood and Oscar history today (since they won't). You've seen our lists of the "oldest living screen stars" and the "oldest living Oscar nominees" but we're aware Oscar is never going to do anything cool like a "family album" again, a great moment from the broadcast. BUT THEY SHOULD. If the Academy leaned back into tradition rather than pretend it didn't exist, they could harness more respect and enthusiasm again. Institutions become institutions for a reason. Institutions aren't "cool" by nature since they're like giant time-worn machines that you're parents and grandparents know even better than you but they do command respect if they believe in themselves. The Academy shouldn't be doing 'we're just like you!' Gen Z cosplay but merely flex their own hard-won nearly century old brand.
So here's something a little different: A list of the furthest back you can go in each Oscar category and still have a year where all the nominees still walk among us. Imagine if Oscar invited or celebrated even two or three of them (which is nothing really!) to honor their past. It would be so fun...
Please note: this list excludes the categories wherein multiple people are always prone to share a nomination (Picture, Production Design, Sound, Original Song, Visual Effects, Makeup) as those would be take weeks and weeks to research.
For fun we've listed the categories in order of oldest year to most recent year...
Earliest Best Actress Race Where All Women Are Still With Us
1971
Julie Christie, McCabe & Mrs Miller
Jane Fonda, Klute ★
Glenda Jackson, Sunday Bloody Sunday
Vanessa Redgrave, Mary Queen of Scots
Janet Suzman, Nicholas and Alexandra
Back in 1971 this was a race between early thirtysomethings (all very close in age) and only two of them showed up at the ceremony!!! Crazy. They're all in their 80s now. Janet Suzman and Julie Christie have retired. The others are still very active with Glenda Jackson, the oldest at 85 (she'll be 86 in May), finishing her acting Triple Crown a few years ago with a Tony for Three Tall Women. Jane Fonda is of course still extremely famous to multiple generations.
Earliest Best Supporting Actress Race where all the women are still with us
1977
Lesley Browne, The Turning Point
Quinn Cummings, The Goodbye Girl
Melinda Dillon, Close Encounters
Vanessa Redgrave, Julia ★
Tuesday Weld, Looking for Mr Goodbar
This was historically a very young year for the category (youngest ever collectively?) since Redgrave was the oldest nominee at 40, Lesley was a teenager, and Quinn was just 10. Neither of the youngsters stuck with acting. And the reason both actress categories are the earliest races to feature in this survey is because the nominees in those fields tend to be much younger than in other Oscar fields. (We've discussed it many times in the age disparities of male and female actors in Hollywood.)
Only Vanessa Redgrave is still working today and she has a complicated relationship to the Academy given her politics but it would sure be nice if they let her take the podium one less time.
Earliest Best Live Action Short Film Field Where All the Nominees Are Still With Us
1978
A Different Approach, Jim Belcher, Fern Field
Mandy's Grandmother, Andrew Sugarman
Strange Fruit, Seth Pinsker
Teenage Father, Taylor Hackford ★
Taylor Hackford (aka Mr Helen Mirren) is one of those rare Best Short Film winners to go on to a robust mainstream Hollywood career, afterwards. Here's a fun bit of trivia: He's not the only famous director to emerge from the short film category, but he's the only winner in this race ever to later secure a Best Director nomination at the Oscars (for Ray, 2004). Isn't that crazy? Other winners of this category have landed Best Picture nominations after their short film win, though, like Walt Disney (Mary Poppins), Claude Berri (Tess) and Martin McDonagh (Three Billboards).
Earliest Best Animated Short Film Field Where All the Nominees Are Still With Us
1983
Mickey's Christmas Carol, Burny Mattinson
Sound of Sunshine, Eda Godel Hallinan
Sundae in New York, Jimmy Picker ★
Earliest International Feature Film Race Where all the Directors Are Still With Us
Yes we're aware that it's technically the country which is nominated but we've always viewed it as the director
1985
Agnieszka Holland, Angry Harvest (West Germany)
Emir Kusturica, When Father Was Away on Business (Yugoslavia)
Luis Puenzo, The Official Story (Argentina) ★
Coline Serreau, Three Men and a Cradle (France)
István Szabo, Colonel Redl (Hungary)
Szabo and Holland both directed more than one Foreign Film nominee. Szabo had four nominated films (!) in the 1980s (Confidence, Mephisto, Colonel Redl, Hanussen) winning once, and Holland two during her career (Angry Harvest in '85 and eventually In Darkness in 2011) with an additional nomination for writing Europa Europa (1991), a huge arthouse hit in its day and Golden Globe winner in their parallel category, but which was not submitted to the foreign film category that year for some reason. Puenzo won the category and was also nominated for Screenplay. 1985 was a big year for this category with a lot of success at the specialty box office for most of these films.
Earliest Best Director Race Where All the Men Are Still With Us
1986
Woody Allen, Hannah and Her Sisters
James Ivory, A Room With a View
Roland Joffé, The Mission
David Lynch, Blue Velvet
Oliver Stone, Platoon ★
None of them have officially retired though only Woody Allen is the only one still directing regularly (though now shunned by Hollywood). David Lynch is the youngest at 75. Our biggest wish is that James Ivory -- who we've long idolized -- would get behind the camera again.
Earliest Best Film Editing Race Where All the People Are Still With Us
1989
Noëlle Boisson, The Bear
David Brenner and Joe Hutshing, Born on the Fourth of July ★
Steve Rosenblum, Glory
William Steinkamp, The Fabulous Baker Boys
Mark Warner, Driving Miss Daisy
Interesting year for Best Editing since only 2/5 nominees were from a Best Picture contender. That's highly unusual.
Earliest Best Supporting Actor Race Where All the Men Are Still With Us
1990
Bruce Davison, Longtime Companion
Andy Garcia, The Godfather Part III
Graham Greene, Dances With Wolves
Al Pacino, Dick Tracy
Joe Pesci, Goodfellas ★
Pacino and Pesci both recently returned as co-nominees to this very category for The Irishman (2019) 29 years later.
Earliest Best Original Screenplay Race Where all the Men Are Still With Us
1990
Woody Allen, Alice
Barry Levinson, Avalon
Bruce Joel Rubin, Ghost ★
Whit Stillman, Metropolitan
Peter Weir, Green Card
A super rare occurence there in that the following year's Best Actor and Best Actress were presenting together like a prophesy. Silence of the Lambs came out in February 1991 so it was already a hit when the Oscars for the previous year happened. And speaking of blockbusters, Ghost won. Peter Weir and that year's winner Bruce Joel Rubin appear to have retired but the rest have worked semi-recently. Stillman is the youngest. He was only 31 when his dazzling debut Metropolitan emerged.
Earliest Best Costume Design Race Where All the Nominees Are Still With Us
1990
Milena Canonero, Dick Tracy
Gloria Gresham, Avalon
Maurizio Millenotti, Hamlet
Franca Squarciapino, Cyrano de Bergerac ★
Elsa Zamparelli, Dances With Wolves
A strange coincidence that 80% of them have Italian last names (though Zamparelli wasn't Italian). Canonero (who costumed The French Dispatch this season) and Millenotti are still working but the others have retired (at least from cinema).
Earliest Best Cinematography Field Where All the Nominees Are Still With Us
1992
Stephen H Burum, Hoffa
Jack N Green, Unforgiven
Robert Fraisse, The Lover
Tony Pierce-Roberts, Howards End
Phillipe Rousselot, A River Runs Through It ★
None of these men were ever nominated again in the category (though Pierce-Roberts and Rousselot had been nominated previously). The only one of them who has worked recently is Rousselot, who is now 76, and shot Without Remorse this past year.
Earliest Best Actor Race Where All the Men Are Still With Us
1992
Robert Downey Jr, Chaplin
Clint Eastwood, Unforgiven
Al Pacino, Scent of a Woman ★
Stephen Rea, The Crying Game
Denzel Washington, Malcolm X
All of them are still active in the entertainment industry. 1992 is also the furthest back in time you can go to an Oscar race where all 20 acting nominees are still alive. The oldest acting nominee from that particular year, Gene Hackman (Unforgiven) in Supporting Actor, just turned 92. Clint Eastwood will be 92 years old soon. The youngest at the time, Jaye Davidson (The Crying Game), is now 54 and no longer acts.
Earliest Adapted Screenplay Race Where all the Nominees Are Still With Us
1994
Forrest Gump, Eric Roth ★
Madness of King George, Alan Bennett
Nobody's Fool, Robert Benton
Quiz Show, Paul Attanasio
Shawkshank Redemption, Frank Darabont
Eric Roth recently received his 7th Oscar nomination (6th for writing) this season for helping to adapt Dune.
Earliest Best Original Score Race Where all the Men Are Still With Us
1994
Forrest Gump, Alan Silvestri
Interview with the Vampire, Elliot Goldenthal
The Lion King, Hans Zimmer ★
Little Women, Thomas Newman
Shawshank Redemption, Thomas Newman
All of these nominees returned at least once, most more than that, after this robust competition. Curiously this Oscar battle brought Hans Zimmer his only win. Can he finally snag a second trophy with Dune this weekend?
And that's that. Which of these films or people would you love to see at the Oscars again?