Never Nominated...Are You Kidding Me?

We know that the Academy has made colossal blunders in the past like Saving Private Ryan losing to Shakespeare in Love even though Steven Spielberg won Best Director that year. Or that they gave Best Actor to Paul Newman for The Color Of Money but not for The Hustler, when he played the same character of Eddie 20 years earlier and better. But I came across this article that lists several big time actors and actresses who were never even nominated a single time. Which is a lot more heartbreaking than never winning like Cary Grant or Deborah Kerr did. But I was amazed at the ones who never received a single nomination their entire career. Just amazing and unbelievable. So here is some of the ones I came across to make a Top Ten list of Oscar's biggest blunders.

1. Marilyn Monroe - I know some may dispute her acting ability but you can't deny Monroe's presence in any film she ever did. Her Sugar Kane in Some Like It Hot is iconic and she gave a very strong performance in Bus Stop. But then for her final film, The Misfits, she gave the type of performance that Oscar would normally be salivating at, a tortured turn by a popular actress trying to show her dramatic skills. But alas, no nod for the overlooked Marilyn Monroe.

2. Joseph Cotten - Really? This is a total shocker right here. Cotten was a proven actor and was sometimes the best thing going in some of his films. He had several out right classics like The Third Man, Citizen Kane, and what I thought would have been an automatic nod was his highly effective performance as Uncle Charlie in Hitchcock's Shadow Of A Doubt. This omission is a real head scratcher.

3. Myrna Loy - No way. Not Nora Charles. Those entertaining films aside, she gave an understated yet touching performance as a postwar wife trying to keep her family together in the classic film, The Best Years Of Our Lives. Unbelievable. I will be saying this word a lot during this blog.

4. Errol Flynn - I guess the Academy overlooked Flynn because of the all derring and swashbuckling he did and he made it look so easy. But toward the end of his career and after the notorious scandal, he wowed his peers with his performance in The Sun Also Rises, which was pretty much autobiographical.  A man who once had it all, and then to lose it through alcohol and bad choices. But no nomination for our man Flynn.



5. Maureen O'Hara - The glorious redhead who entertained audiences for over 50 years never got love from the Academy. Her pairings with John Wayne are legendary, especially as Mary Kate Danaher in the rollicking The Quiet Man.


6. Edward G. Robinson - Let me tell ya something, when a actor can play a volatile gangster in Little Caesar and then later on play a middle aged painter who falls for a hooker in Scarlet Street, he has to get a nomination. This guy had some range and could play more than the tough guy gangster which I guess a lot of people judged him by. Also had a strong supporting turn in Double Indemnity.


7. Fred MacMurray - Which leads to Mr. MacMurray who also gave a memorable performance in Indemnity. Then he backed that up with another solid role in The Apartment. I guess after feeling no love from The Academy, Fred bolted to TV for a long run on the enjoyable series My Three Sons.


8. Kim Novak - May have been judged early on as a Monroe knock off and doesn't have a long resume. But she gave one hell of a performance as two distinct characters in Hitchcock's Vertigo. Oscar - please.


9. Peter Lorre - What? Are you kidding me? His accent alone is worthy of a nomination. Of course everyone knows his big roles in Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon. But Lorre was sensational as the child serial killer in the classic film, M.


10. Donald Sutherland - The Dirty Dozen. MASH. Klute. Don't Look Now. Ordinary People. Anyone of those films should have netted Sutherland a nod. But no such luck.
 

So there you have a list of 10 actors and actresses who didn't receive much love from the Academy. And I'm sure there are lots more that have been overlooked. If anyone has anymore, feel free to chime in.