NoScars

These great film performances didn’t win an Oscar – so who cares? The Oscars have been a joke for decades, and the presentation doesn’t even live up to Johnny Carson’s famous description: “2 hours of sparkling entertainment packed into a 5-hour show.” Most of us know that when it comes to the Oscars, those people ain’t right.

Disclaimer: When we say, for example, that De Niro gave a great performance in Taxi Driver, we are not having a shot at Peter Finch, who won the Oscar in that year. On the other hand, when Judy Garland didn’t win in 1954…..TVC recalls that Bob Hope described the statuette as “a bookend with a sneer.”

HERE’S OUR LIST of GREAT NoSCAR PERFORMANCES (many not even nominated) [with the actual Oscar winner in the relevant category in the same year, for comparison, without extraneous comment by us]:

Judith Anderson in Rebecca [Jane Darwell, The Grapes of Wrath]

Mary Astor in The Maltese Falcon [Mary Astor,The Great Lie]

Alan Bates in The Fixer [Cliff Robertson, Charly]

Karen Black in Five Easy Pieces [Glenda Jackson, Women in Love]

Cate Blanchett in Tár [Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once]

Dirk Bogarde in Death in Venice [Gene Hackman, The French Connection]

Dirk Bogarde in Our Mother’s House [Rod Steiger, In the Heat of the Night]

Dirk Bogarde in The Servant [Sidney Poitier, Lillies of the Field]

Humphrey Bogart in The Caine Mutiny [Marlon Brando, On the Waterfront]

Charles Boyer in Algiers [Spencer Tracy in Boys Town]

Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire [Humphrey Bogart, The African Queen]

Victor Buono in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? [Ed Begley in Sweet Bird of Youth]

Richard Burton in Equus [Richard Dreyfuss in The Goodbye Girl]

Richard Burton in Nineteen Eighty Four [Haing S. Ngor, The Killing Fields]

Richard Burton in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? [Paul Scofield, A Man for all Seasons]

Austin Butler in Elvis [Brendan Fraser, The Whale]

Ronald Colman in Lost Horizon [Spencer Tracy, Captains Courageous]

Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind [Jamie Foxx, Ray]

Glenn Close in Reversal of Fortune [Kathy Bates, Misery]

Olivia Coleman in The Lobster [Brie Larson, Room]

Joan Crawford in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? [Anne Bancroft, The Miracle Worker]

Russell Crowe in The Insider [Kevin Spacey, American Beauty]

Tom Cruise in Jerry Maguire [Geoffrey Rush, Shine]

Tony Curtis in Sweet Smell of Success [Red Buttons, Sayonara]

Willem Dafoe in At Eternity’s Gate [Rami Malek, Bohemian Rhapsody]

Bette Davis in All About Eve [Judy Holliday, Born Yesterday]

Bette Davis in The Little Foxes [Joan Fontaine, Suspicion]

Bette Davis in Now, Voyager [Greer Garson, Mrs. Miniver]

Bette Davis in Of Human Bondage [Claudette Colbert, It Happened One Night]

Judy Davis in Husbands and Wives [Emma Thompson, Howard’s End]

Olivia de Havilland in The Snake Pit [Jane Wyman, Johnny Belinda]

Robert De Niro in Awakenings [Jeremy Irons, Reversal of Fortune]

Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver [Peter Finch, Network]

Colleen Dewhurst in The Nun’s Story [Shelley Winters, The Diary of Anne Frank]

Leonardo DiCaprio in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? [Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive]

Melinda Dillon in Absence of Malice [Maureen Stapleton, Reds]

Kirk Douglas in Ace in the Hole [Humphrey Bogart, The African Queen]

Kirk Douglas in Paths of Glory [Alec Guinness, The Bridge on the River Kwai]

Brad Dourif in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest [George Burns, The Sunshine Boys]

Irene Dunne in The Awful Truth [Luise Rainer, The Good Earth]

Jasna Đuričić in Quo Vadis, Aida? [Frances McDormand, Nomadland]

Ralph Fiennes in Schindler’s List [Tommy Lee Jones, The Fugitive]

Albert Finney in Under the Volcano [F. Murray Abraham, Amadeus]

Henry Fonda in Twelve Angry Men [Alec Guinness, The Bridge on the River Kwai]

Robert Forster in Jackie Brown [Jack Nicholson, As Good as it Gets]

Clark Gable in Gone With the Wind [Robert Donat, Goodbye Mr. Chips]

Greta Garbo in Camille [Luise Rainer, The Great Ziegfeld]

Judy Garland in A Star is Born [Grace Kelly, The Country Girl]

Judy Garland in Meet Me in St. Louis [Ingrid Bergman, Gaslight]

Bruno Ganz in Wings of Desire [Michael Douglas, Wall Street]

Marissa Gibson in Samson & Delilah [Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side]

Richard E. Grant in Withnail and I [William Hurt, Kiss of the Spider Woman]

Alec Guinness in Tunes of Glory [Burt Lancaster in Elmer Gantry]

Gene Hackman in The Conversation [Art Carney, Harry and Tonto]

Jean Hagen in Singin’ in the Rain [Shirley Booth, Come Back, Little Sheba]

Glenne Headley in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels [Geena Davis, The Accidental Tourist]

Katherine Hepburn in Long Day’s Journey into Night [Anne Bancroft, The Miracle Worker]

Dustin Hoffman in Midnight Cowboy [John Wayne, True Grit]

William Holden in Network [Peter Finch in Network]

Ian Holm in The Sweet Hereafter [Jack Nicholson, As Good as it Gets]

Anthony Hopkins in Shadowlands [Tom Hanks, Philadelphia]

Leslie Howard in Pygmalion [Spencer Tracy, Boys Town]

Trevor Howard in The Heart of the Matter [William Holden, Stalag 17]

Trevor Howard in The Third Man [Broderick Crawford, All the King’s Men]

Walter Huston in Dodsworth [Paul Muni, The Story of Louis Pasteur]

Hugh Jackman in Prisoners [Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club]

Scarlett Johansson in Under the Skin [Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine]

Angelina Jolie in A Mighty Heart [Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose]

Deborah Kerr in Black Narcissus [Loretta Young, The Farmer’s Daughter]

Nicole Kidman in To Die For [Susan Sarandon, Dead Man Walking]

Burt Lancaster in Atlantic City [Henry Fonda, On Golden Pond]

Burt Lancaster in The Leopard [Sidney Poitier, Lillies of the Field]

Martin Landau in Crimes and Misdemeanors [Daniel Day-Lewis, My Left Foot]

Angela Lansbury in The Manchurian Candidate [Patty Duke, The Miracle Worker]

Charles Laughton in The Hunchback of Notre Dame [Robert Donat, Goodbye Mr. Chips]

Piper Laurie in The Hustler [Sophia Loren, Two Women]

Janet Leigh in Psycho [Elizabeth Taylor, Butterfield-8]

Jack Lemmon in The Apartment [Burt Lancaster in Elmer Gantry]

Ray Liotta in Goodfellas [Jeremy Irons, Reversal of Fortune]

Carole Lombard in Nothing Sacred [Luise Rainer, The Good Earth]

Peter Lorre in The Maltese Falcon [Donald Crisp, How Green Was My Valley]

Michael Madsen in Reservoir Dogs [Gene Hackman, Unforgiven]

James Mason in Lolita [Gregory Peck, To Kill a Mockingbird]

James Mason in Odd Man Out [Ronald Colman, A Double Life]

Ben Mendelsohn in Animal Kingdom [Christian Bale, The Fighter]

Robert Mitcham in The Night of the Hunter [Ernest Borgnine, Marty]

Yves Montand in The Wages of Fear [William Holden, Stalag 17]

Cathy Moriarty in Raging Bull [Mary Steenburgen, Melvin and Howard]

Carey Mulligan in Never Let Me Go [Natalie Portman, Black Swan]

Paul Newman in Absence of Malice [Henry Fonda, On Golden Pond]

Paul Newman in Hud [Sidney Poitier, Lillies of the Field]

Jack Nicholson in Five Easy Pieces [George C. Scott, Patton]

Nick Nolte in Affliction [Roberto Benigni, Life is Beautiful]

Laurence Olivier in The Entertainer [Burt Lancaster, Elmer Gantry]

Laurence Olivier in Richard III [Ernest Borgnine, Marty]

Peter O’Toole in The Stunt Man [Robert De Niro, Raging Bull]

Al Pacino in The Godfather II [Art Carney, Harry and Tonto]

Geraldine Page in Sweet Bird of Youth [Anne Bancroft, The Miracle Worker]

Guy Pearce in Memento [Russell Crowe, Gladiator]

Lee Remick in Anatomy of a Murder [Simone Signoret, Room at the Top]

Lee Remick in Days of Wine and Roses [Anne Bancroft, The Miracle Worker]

Paul Scofield in A Delicate Balance [Jack Lemmon, Save the Tiger]

George C. Scott in Anatomy of a Murder [Hugh Griffith, Ben-Hur]

George C. Scott in The Hustler [George Chakiris, West Side Story]

Peter Sellers in Being There [Dustin Hoffman, Kramer vs. Kramer]

Peter Sellers in Dr. Strangelove [Rex Harrison, My Fair Lady]

Elisabeth Shue in Leaving Las Vegas [Susan Sarandon, Dead Man Walking]

Jean Simmons in Elmer Gantry [Elizabeth Taylor, Butterfield-8]

Sissy Spacek in Badlands [Glenda Jackson, A Touch of Class]

Kim Stanley in Séance on a Wet Afternoon [Julie Andrews, Mary Poppins]

Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity [Ingrid Bergman, Gaslight]

Meryl Streep in The Deer Hunter [Maggie Smith, California Suite]

Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard [Judy Holliday, Born Yesterday]

Max von Sydow in Hour of the Wolf [Cliff Robertson, Charly]

Jack Thompson in Sunday Too Far Away [Jack Nicholson, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest]

John Travolta in Primary Colors [Roberto Benigni, Life is Beautiful]

Liv Ullmann in Shame [Katherine Hepburn, The Lion in Winter; Barbra Streisand, Funny Girl]

Alida Valli in Eyes Without a Face [Elizabeth Taylor, Butterfield-8]

Charles Vanel in The Wages of Fear [Frank Sinatra, From Here to Eternity]

Conrad Veidt in Congress Dances [Wallace Beery, The Champ; Fredric March, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]

Conrad Veidt in The Cabinet of Dr Caligari [Oscar not born yet]

Jon Voight in Midnight Cowboy [John Wayne, True Grit]

Denzel Washington in Flight [Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln]

John Wayne in The Searchers [Yul Brynner, The King and I]

Dennis Weaver in Duel [Gene Hackman, The French Connection]

Orson Welles in Citizen Kane [Gary Cooper, Sergeant York]

Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense [Kevin Spacey, American Beauty]

Debra Winger in Terms of Endearment [Shirley MacLaine, Terms of Endearment]

Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind [Hilary Swank, Million Dollar Baby]

Kate Winslet in Heavenly Creatures [Jessica Lange, Blue Sky]

Shelley Winters in Lolita [Patty Duke, The Miracle Worker]