Oscar Trivia: When the Academy Nominates Lovers Together

by Cláudio Alves

Love is in the air…at the Oscars. Both lead and supporting acting categories feature a nominated couple. Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem are on the hunt for their second statuette with Parallel Mothers and Being the Ricardos, respectively. Then, there are Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons, who played a married couple in the movie that finally earned them long-deserved Oscar nods. The Power of the Dog stars are the first real-life romantic partners to earn nominations for playing an on-screen couple since Michelle Williams and Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain – though, of course, the Burbanks have a better marriage than the doomed Del Mars. 

But how often do couples get nominated together at the Academy Awards? As it happens, much more often than you'd think...

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1933 Flashback: Kate vs. May vs. Diana

by Cláudio Alves

For the last few years, Kevin Jacobsen's And the Runner-Up Is has been one of my favorite movie podcasts. After examining every Best Picture race, from 2020 to 1927, the podcast will now focus on the Best Actress category, exploring the nominated performances, the actresses' legacy, and how each race turned out. Who were the likely runners-up?

It's with great pleasure that I announce that I guested on the 1932-33 episode - a dream come true. The nominees were Katharine Hepburn's Oscar-winning turn in Morning Glory, May Robson in Frank Capra's beloved Lady for a Day, and Diana Wynyard in the much-maligned Best Picture-champion Cavalcade. While the trio isn't AMPAS' most inspired selection, there's a lot to talk about. In the episode, Kevin and I unravel Hepburn's major Rachel Berry energy and drunk acting mastery. We talk about the short story that inspired Robson's awards bid and her unlikely stardom. There's also much to analyze in Wynyard's misbegotten flick, including bizarre adaptation choices and the art of performing listening. If you're a Wynyard fan, you might want to avoid this. That being said, I did see some of her other movies, so it's not all hate. I'd go so far as to say that she's as good as Ingrid Bergman in the original 1940 Gaslight. Please give it a listen!

Who would you vote for in this lineup? Also, if you have a dream 1933 Best Actress ballot, please share that too.

3 days til Oscar. Who is the best three time winner?

Best Actress predictions change daily but where are we in regards to Frances McDormand's third Best Actress Oscars? Happening or not? I'm tentatively saying it will. That's where my brain is today at least. Frances would be only the seventh actor to manage three Oscars for acting in the 93 years of Academy history and become only the second woman to win three leading Oscars (after Katharine Hepburn).

The others who've won three acting statues:

Fargo (96), Three Billboards (17), Nomadland (20)

1. Walter Brennan -Come and Get It (36), Kentucky (38), The Westerner (40) - all in supporting
2. Ingrid Bergman -Gaslight (44), Anastasia (56), Murder on the Orient Express (74)
3. Katharine Hepburn - Morning Glory (34), Guess Who... (67), Lion in Winter (68), On Golden Pond (81) - all in leading 
4. Jack Nicholson - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (75), Terms of Endearment (83), As Good As It Gets (97)
5. Meryl Streep - Kramer vs Kramer (79), Sophie's Choice (82), The Iron Lady (11)
6. Daniel Day Lewis - My Left Foot (89), There Will Be Blood (07), Lincoln (12) - all in leading 

COMMENT PARTY QUESTION: Removing all other performances and movies from your brain (I know it's difficult) how would you rank these six packages of performances? 

COMMENT PARTY QUESTION 2: Are there any two-time winners not in the race this year that you could see winning a third?

87 years ago today... Katharine Hepburn & the Academy began their one-sided romance.

On this day, March 16th in 1934, the 6th annual Academy Awards were held honoring the films of 1933. The event was little like it is today, not yet televised, and with only 13 categories (3 of them for short films). There were only six acting nominees. Cavalcade won Best Picture and it shared the "most nominations" stat, four in total, with the war drama A Farewell To Arms and the Capra comedy Lady for a Day...

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Almost There: Anthony Hopkins in "The Lion in Winter"

by Cláudio Alves

As the Oscar nomination morning approaches, it seems certain that Anthony Hopkins is about to receive his sixth nod. Seeing as he's considered a wizened old thespian of stage and screen, it may be difficult to recall the days when he, like so many others, was a young actor. In 1968, Hopkins was nearing his 30th birthday when his second ever feature premiered. Thanks to that film, he got the first brush with film awards and might have even come close to an Oscar nomination. In Anthony Harvey's adaptation of James Goldman's The Lion in Winter, Hopkins plays Richard, future king of England, son of Henry II…

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