The historic Oscar stats tell a tale that questions fairness and that does not truly reflect how these bald guys are handed out. It also clouds the judgement of us writing and talking about it, as well as those Academy members who are required to vote. There are 101 reasons over the course of the Academy’s history as to why he or she has won and he or she has not. Sometimes it is who you are up against, or the film, about time or place, the right ones. Sometimes it just does not happen.
On the flip side, some actresses like Vivien Leigh and Hilary Swank are double winners with their only nominations. Lucky devils. The following victorious females are ripe for the taking when it comes to who should have won what and when. No, we’re not wholly satisfied that these are bona fide Best Actress winners, not when the talk of the town is those over juicy roles they did not win for. Some not even nominated.
Susan Sarandon
It may have started in 1981 with a Best Actress nomination for Atlantic City, but Susan Sarandon encountered a brief Oscar journey that had a distinct air of inevitably. The Thelma & Louise (1991) nods for her and Geena Davis might be the most tragic voting split in the Academy’s history – when it could have been the most joyous tie. Sarandon’s Best Actress Oscar finally came for Dead Man Walking (1995) – directed by her beau Tim Robbins – the year after her fourth shortlist for The Client (1994).
Without diminishing the popular win for Emma Thompson (Howards End) in 1992, Susan Sarandon really shone brightest in the deeply moving Lorenzo’s Oil. Her stunning, devastating turn in one of George Miller’s sinfully forgotten films carries all the weight and emotion on-screen of a woman faced with immeasurable turmoil. Nick Nolte is terrific, sure, but with every breath and motion, Sarandon makes a mother’s heartache as real as we could never imagine. — Robin Write
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman, an iconic actress who, over 30 years ago was a relatively fresh face on the arm of one of the most famous stars at the time- Tom Cruise. Since then, she has risen to become a true Hollywood movie star in her own right, tackling difficult characters and joining forces with infamous directors along the way, earning her quite the well deserved Best Actress Oscar in 2002 for her role in The Hours. The Academy Award was fit for the star, but some entertain the opinion that perhaps it wasn’t quite fit for the role…
Kidman is phenomenal as Virginia Woolf in the film, there is no question there; she expertly portrays a numb yet brusque and depressed character and ultimately leaves a heartbreaking impact. Despite this, it could be argued that Kidman’s depiction of a showgirl in Moulin Rouge! (2001) was her most theatrical and glitzy performance that shot her from the title of actress to megastar coveted screen queen. In the film, Kidman is mesmerizing and glamorous yet emotion-evoking and tragic; she has stated that working on this film was some of the most fun she’s had on set and it is apparent while watching her shine. Although she landed a Best Actress nomination for this portrayal, she unfortunately would have to wait another year to gain her well deserved golden statuette. — Anna Miller
Jennifer Lawrence
In 2012, Jennifer Lawrence surprised everyone when she became an Oscar winner at the age of 22 with David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook. While the film is a personal favourite thanks to the performances of Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro and Jackie Weaver, and its chaotic humour, I believe that Lawrence was miscast (too young and too overstated) in the role of a widow with a mysterious mental illness that falls in love with Cooper’s character. At that year’s Oscars, the ingénue beat the likes of Emmanuelle Riva (Amore) and Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty), much stronger performances.
In another turn of events, Lawrence’s performance in Mother! as the titular character was astoundingly ignored by the Academy in 2017. While Darren Aronofsky’s film, loved by some and hated by many, has its passionate – and small – circle of defenders myself included), it is no surprise that it turned out to be too wild and on the face for the sensitivities of the Academy. Still, this film stands its ground because of Lawrence. She goes through literal hell, including a self-centred and arrogant husband, home invasions, births, and wars inside her home in order to offer a more-than-ever relevant story about our relationship with nature. This role, covering naiveté, heartbreak and full-blown terror, is simply Jennifer Lawrence’s best performance to date. — Alessandra Rangel
Cinema Sevens: Oscars Should Have Beens – Actor in a Leading Role
Ellen Burstyn
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences were more inclined to collectively hand Glenda Jackson her second Best Actress Oscar in four years than Ellen Burstyn’s first for her remarkable turn in The Exorcist (1973). That’s how the cookie crumbles in Hollywood’s awards game – Marsha Mason knows those rules oh so well. Luckily for Burstyn, her time would come the very next year for Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974). Although there was certainly nothing controversial about that win for the actress – even in a crowded field that year – Burtsyn is often spoken of in Oscar circles for two crucial roles she did not win for. And look closely, her Oscar résumé is crammed with varying, high calibre portrayals of motherhood.
Ellen Burstyn’s turmoil-driven performance as Chris MacNeil in William Friedkin’s horror masterpiece is one for the ages. But an entry on Burstyn is pretty much null and void should you not cite even deeper nightmarish bravura like that in Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream (2000). Sara Goldfarb might not have been the name to slip off the tongue as much as Erin Brockovich, but few would argue that Burstyn’s extraordinary work here was a far greater motivation than being simply Julia Roberts’ time. Had Burstyn also been nominated for the much-fancied Pieces of a Woman last year, she would have been the oldest nominee in the Academy’s history, adding to her only previous Best Supporting Actress nod for The Last Picture Show in 1971. — Robin Write
Renée Zellweger
Almost 20 (!) years ago, Chicago deservedly swept the Oscars, but, sadly, couldn’t take its brilliant leading lady along for the ride. The marvellous Renée Zellweger lost Best Actress to Nicole Kidman for The Hours, which, as Anna mentioned, was somewhat of a consolation prize for Kidman having lost the previous year for Moulin Rouge. So, what did the Academy do? They gave Zellweger a sympathy win the following year for Best Supporting Actress for her work in Cold Mountain.
Did Zellweger truly deserve to win that year? Look, it wasn’t a particularly strong year for female supporting performances. And she was the best damn thing about the tepid Cold Mountain. In 2019, Zellweger made a triumphant return to the big screen with the generic biopic Judy. Zellweger’s transformative performance as Judy Garland shines above the film’s nauseatingly cliché narrative and it was hardly surprising she waltzed off with the Best Actress win that should have been hers back in 2002.
What Zellweger delivers in Judy is nothing compared to what she accomplished in Chicago. Roxie Hart is a difficult character to capture. She’s an adulterous murderer who lies, cheats, and manipulates her way out of trouble. She’s essentially a power-hungry, attention-seeking sociopath. In the hands of a lesser actor, Roxie would be wildly unlikeable. But Zellweger is so damn loveable and effervescent and her performance is so ridiculously mesmerising, you strangely can’t help but want to see Roxie succeed. That in itself is a cinematic miracle and should have earned Zellweger a little gold man. — Doug Jamieson
Elizabeth Taylor
“Maggie the Cat is alive!” may be one of the most famous declarations in cinematic history, but it didn’t move the Academy to award Elizabeth Taylor an Oscar. Instead, she won two years later for her portrayal of a “professional girl” in BUtterfield 8 (1960). Taylor herself stated many times that she only won because she survived a near-fatal illness and it seems that perhaps the Academy was also acknowledging their own error in not awarding her a more deserving award for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958).
While she oddly had no chemistry with her male co-stars in BUtterfield 8, Laurence Harvey (The Manchurian Candidate, 1962) and her own husband, Eddie Fisher (it was a brief marriage), Taylor ignited the screen opposite Paul Newman in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. The root cause of the sexual tension between them may have been obfuscated by those pesky Hollywood censors, but Taylor’s longing looks could melt the Rock of Gibraltar. It is a real shame she and Newman didn’t team up on further projects but Cat is a tour de force of Taylor showing off her range as well as her undeniable sex appeal. Newman was also nominated and didn’t win, but that is a subject for another entry here. — Joan Amenn
Kate Winslet
By the time British darling Kate Winslet was handed her first Academy Award in 2009 – her sixth nod – we had already asked ‘Why has she not won an Oscar yet?’ many times over. Given there are countless movie roles the actress was not even nominated for, it was only a matter of time before the Academy collectively caved. Focusing here on the Leading Role awards winners and missers, I’m unable to rattle on passionately about how on Earth no Oscar nominations came her way for Hamlet (1996) and Quills (2000), for instance.
Which kind of brings us to The Reader. For which Winslet won with relative ease it would appear amidst some iffy campaigning and category switching. You still won’t get a straight answer now from most as to whether her role here was purely lead or support, but that late leap from the latter to the former during the crucial voting meant Winslet’s road to glory would be for Best Actress in a Leading Role for The Reader after all. No doubt it was an oh-so-close thing for Meryl Streep grabbing her third Oscar, but the narrative for Kate Winslet’s win was the more stranger because it was, ultimately, herself she defeated in the end.
Once upon a time, her reuniting with Leonardo DiCaprio in Revolutionary Road was a genuine awards contender in the early months. Sadly, the Sam Mendes drama faded out of the Academy’s peripheral vision, and even got pummelled down the snub food chain by The Dark Knight. What almost lasted the distance was Winslet’s harrowing, brilliant central performance, devouring every scene in Revolutionary Road, whether she screams to the rooftops or hardly moves a muscle. Ask many awards folk or movie fans, and they’ll agree that it was this film that should have unequivocally earned her gold finally. — Robin Write
