Readers Poll: Who would you love to see as the next... ?
Tuesday, April 7, 2026 at 9:28PM H
ere we are again. I'll give you all one more day to vote (or convince a friend) to vote on this "who should be the next Amy Madigan?" poll, cutting that poll off this Thursday night (04/09). In the meantime though, let's honor the men despite our perpetual actressy focus! Same parameters apply as the last poll-- only one Oscar nomination, more than 20 years ago, still alive, over 50, still Oscarless -- the latter meaning that an Honorary Oscar still disqualifies you. So who should it be? Here are the actors who fit the brief.
While a man isn't going to be able to win Best Supporting Actress like Amy Madigan, it's still fun to contemplate a similar scenario. It wasn't that long ago that it happened for Robert Downey Jr. in Oppenheimer (2023). Judd Hirsch also managed to return after an even longer time away from his first nomination though his role in The Fabelmans (2022) wasn't substantial enough to spark a winning narrative like Madigan or RDJ.
OK, ready? VOTE BY SUNDAY, APRIL 12TH AND SHARE THE POLLS WITH FELLOW OSCAR / MOVIE / ACTING LOVERS.
Reader Comments (18)
Hmm... And I HAVE to pick 10?
jk
Let's go Tom Berenger!
I LOVE that Jaye Davidson has an unknown age. We love a mysterious diva!! They get my vote.
Sometimes I think Supporting Actor is almost as popular as sound mix editing with Oscar completists.
Diverging a little here these are 5 men I think should have had at least 1 nomination by now John Turturro Scott Glenn Kevin Bacon Eddie Marsan and Danny Glover
Those i'd like to see return are
Harvey Keitel
Albert Brooks
Kevin Costner
David Strathairn
Matt Dillon
Laurence Fishburne
Haley Joel Osment
Bill Murray
Thomas Haden Church
Samuel L Jackson
It is... wild to me that Harvey Keitel has only been nominated for an Academy Award once in his entire career. When we think of the actors most closely associated with the New Hollywood Movement, guys like Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, and Warren Beatty are usually the guys who come up, and all of them have Academy Awards of their own.
But Keitel was right there with them, appearing in quite a few of the defining films of that era. He's acted in movies directed by Jane Campion, Paul Schrader, Ridley Scott, Quentin Tarantino, Wes Anderson, and, of course, Martin Scorsese. He's been doing this for over fifty years! And yet, no Oscar. Not even a "career honor" awards-baiting role gifted to him in his advanced age as far as I'm aware.
I don't get it.
Two guys who feel like they should be on this list but aren’t: Frank Langella (two years too soon) and John Malkovich (one nomination too many).
David Strathairrn: Should have been nominated for Limbo or A Map of the World,
Langella and Keitel have of course been great for decades (Youth deserved more awards love).
Albert Brooks seems to fall into that "he always plays himself" critique, which I don't agree with. He's a lot more nuanced than that.
There's an embarrassment of riches in this list of actors; if people were as into actors as much as actresses, I think you'd have veritable levels of Patricia Clarkson- or Toni Collete-fandom attached to some of these names: Keitel, Roth, Straithairn, Cromwell. Often supporting, but always able to match and enhance the material.
I think Brad Dourif may be among my favorite actors, and if horror movies got more respect, he would have been in the running for Exorcist III, which, although it's a bit before my time, I'm willing to guess he wasn't. He so good, and creepy in different ways, in Wise Blood, Ragtime, Blue Velvet and the LOTR trilogy.
I'd like to think he could get a win in a horror movie a la Madigan, but his signature role being Chucky probably means he gets less respect than he should.
1. Clive Owen
2. Don Cheadle
3. John C Reilly
4. Ken Watanabe
5. Thomas Haden Church
6. Gary Sinise
7. David Strathairn
8. James Cromwell
9. Albert Brooks
10. Tom Berenger
I'm genuinely surprised these people only have one nomination.
I tried to make my picks realistic. As fun as it would be for Ann Blyth and Armin Muehller-Stahl to get another nomination- they aren't working anymore and hopefully are enjoying retirement.
Is there an admin setting (short of moderating all comments) to filter out the army of bots that seems to be increasing exponentially?
Anyway...
Top 20 (top 10 in bold):
David Strathairn, Don Cheadle, Edward James Olmos, Laurence Fishburne, Liam Neeson, Sam Waterston, Stephen Rea, Terence Howard, Tom Conti, Brad Dourif, Bruce Davidson, Clive Owen, Elliott Gould, Harvey Keitel, Ken Watanabe, Matt Dillon, Thomas Haden Church, Tim Roth, Tom Berenger, William H Macy
Harvey Keitel
Klaus Maria Brandauer
Ken Watanabe
Don Cheadle
Tim Roth
James Cromwell
David Strathairn
Laurence Fishburne
Clive Owen
Stephen Rea
But I would be fine with nominating Harvey Keitel in all 10 places.
The Best Actor list starts in 1978 but wouldn't Giancarlo Giannini also count? One-time nominee, for 1976's Seven Beauties. He's still pretty active and could have a Skarsgardian type of late-career role.
Jordan -- FIXED. whoops. sorry i missed him. I *love* him in SEVEN BEAUTIES
I think Alec Baldwin could totally win if he's nominated again. It's a comeback, a sympathy vote, etc.
It says that the form is no longer accepting responses.
DennisJY -- that is fixed now sorry about that
The fact that Alan Alda didn't get nominated for Marriage Story. Opening old wounds.
Not that I would vote for him anyway but doesn't Mark Wahlberg have two nominations already and therefore ineligible? Seems wrong that he has two while Ewan MacGregor,has none.
I was surprised not to see Harrison Ford on the list (he was going to be my top choice), does he not fit? Maybe he has an Honorary I forgot about?