Given that two of the film industries greats are up (yet again) for Oscars this year, I thought I might revist some Oscarblogging I've done in previous years. I did the look for Marty's history back in 2005 and the same for O'Toole, though I mentioned him alongside the other British actor who never felt the love - Richard Burton (who died without ever winning one - a sure travesty!)
A couple of interesting notes before the awards that concerns both men - no Director has been nominated more than five times without a win. Thus, it looks to be a sure shot - finally - for Martin Scorsese. As for O'Toole - no actor has been nominated more than seven times without a win. The last person that approached that was Al Pacino in 1992 who won for the wrong film (he received his 7th and 8th nominations that year for Glengarry Glen Ross, which he lost for Best Supporting Actor and Scent of a Woman for which he won Best Actor.) Unfortunately, things do not look as sunny for Peter O'Toole this year given that Forrest Whitaker seems to have things locked up. I have yet to make my pick for the winners, but only due to still being truly up in the air on a few catagories. Look for that in the next week. Until then, take a look at the history for these two great figures of cinema. They are absolutely among my favorites.
Martin Scorsese
Marty is among the finest directors to ever grace us with his talent and yet, he has never won an Academy Award. Part of that is due to his unfortunate history of running up against incredible films from first time directors, and part is due to some not respecting his work as much as they should, in my opinion. First let's look at those films he was nominated for (and I will also note who he lost to):
- Raging Bull (lost to Robert Redford for Ordinary People)
- The Last Temptation of Christ (lost to Barry Levinson for Rain Man)
- Goodfellas (lost to Kevin Costner for Dances With Wolves)
- Gangs of New York (lost to Ron Howard for A Beautiful Mind)
- The Aviator (lost to Clint Eastwood for Million Dollar Baby)
- The Departed (no winner yet)
And now those he was not nominated for:
- Mean Streets
- Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
- Taxi Driver
- The King of Comedy
- The Age of Innocence
- Casino
- Kundun
- Bringing Out the Dead
Now, at least after 1980, he has a fairly solid record for being nominated for the films that truly deserved it. Casino did not deserve a nomination, and the others were possibly not as good to warrent one when compared to what else was out there for the year. But prior to 1980, both Mean Streets and certainly Taxi Driver are among his finest and it seems a total miss that he did not get the nod.
But to gain some perspective, let's look at what was nominated in 1976 instead of Taxi Driver - John G. Avildsen for Rocky (the winner), Ingmar Bergman for Face to Face, Sidney Lumet for Network, Alan J. Pakula for All The President's Men and Lina Wertmuller for Seven Beauties. I might have dropped Bergman or Wertmuller to give Marty the nod but he may still have lost to Avildsen.
But his poor luck is mainly in coming up against former actors turning director. If you look at all of these that beat him, they all are, though only Costner and Redford were directing for the first time. (And before you ask, Levinson was an actor first - see High Anxiety and the infamous "shower scene" of that film.) Of those, I would have to say that as good as Ordinary People was, Marty deserved the win that year. I would love to say the same about Goodfellas and Dances with Wolves, but the latter is so darn good that I can concede the win. The loss to Eastwood was unexpected but most likely warrented as both The Aviator and Gangs of New York were not as good (though enjoyable) as his previous work. But this year certainly seems the year. So will he have luck this year against even with Eastwood at it again? There are no other actors turned directors. And Eastwood already has two. Only time will tell.
Peter O'Toole
At least O'Toole is still alive and working, but his work of late is not up to snuff with his earlier performances. Here are the nominations:
- Lawrence of Arabia (BA) (lost to Gregory Peck in To Kill A Mockingbird)
- Becket (BA) (lost to Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady)
- The Lion in Winter (BA) (lost to Cliff Robertson in Charly)
- Goodbye, Mr. Chips (BA) (lost to John Wayne in True Grit)
- The Ruling Class (BA) (lost to Marlon Brando in The Godfather)
- The Stunt Man (BA) (lost to Robert De Niro in Raging Bull)
- My Favorite Year (BA) (lost to Ben Kingsly in Gandhi)
- Venus (BA) (no winner yet)
The first thing that strikes me about the list is that each and every one of them were Best Actor nominations - no supporting roles there. As well, he seems to have been up against Burton a few times in his career - and both lost. Maybe they cancelled each other out. Still - again losing to Harrison and Wayne? O'Toole shouldn't have even been nominated for My Favorite Year. It's good, but not that good. His best performances are in Lawrence of Arabia in which he had no shot to beat Peck and in The Lion in Winter in which he should have won! But what O'Toole has that Burton does not is a further list of films that might have seen a nomination:
- Lord Jim
- What's New Pussycat?
- Creator
- The Last Emperor
And here is where my biggest amount of disgust appears - if there was ever a chance for him to take home a statue, it was in 1987 when The Last Emperor swept. He could have easily beat Sean Connery if only he had been nominated. He still has time, unlike Burton, but the older he gets the less he has a shot at winning. His performances are not near as good anymore. But I still think he has that one last great role ahead of him. At least I hope so. He is one of my all time favorites!
Hope you enjoyed these and look back for my picks later in the week. That is all.
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