The 2014 Academy Awards, which were decided on March 2, inspired me to post a series of blogs on movies that are based on research I’ve done recently for clients.
My first movie blog was entitled "Movie Audiences Like Actresses Less Than Actors." The title is based on the fact that the top 12 highest-grossing actors (and 78 of the top 100) are men. My second movie blog was entitled "Ten Highly-Acclaimed Sports Movies."Three of the movies were about baseball, three about boxing, two about basketball, one about track and field, and one about billiards.
On March 2, I watched the Academy Awards, hoping that natives of England would win so research I did was more relevant. However, Best Actor nominees Christian Bale of “American Hustle” and Chiwetel Ejiofor of “12 Years a Slave,” Best Actress nominee Judi Dench of “Philomena,” and Best Supporting Actress nominee Sally Hawkins of “Blue Jasmine” all lost. Cate Blanchett, who won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance in “Blue Jasmine,” isn’t English. She’s Australian.
Despite the failure of English actors to win Oscars, I decided my research can help the readers of Storeboard.com’s readers win bets and trivia contests so I now present my third blog on movies.
The Martins Part III
According to Wikipedia, 27 English people have won Best Actor or Best Actress Oscars.
The 14 Best Actor winners in chronological order are George Arliss, Charles Laughton, Victor McLaglen, Robert Donat, Ronald Colman, Laurence Olivier, Alec Guinness, David Niven, Rex Harrison, Paul Scofield, Ben Kingsley, Daniel Day-Lewis, Jeremy Irons, and Colin Firth.
The 13 Best Actress winners in chronological order are Vivien Leigh, Joan Fontaine, Greer Garson, Olivia de Havilland, Audrey Hepburn, Julie Andrews, Julie Christie, Maggie Smith, Glenda Jackson, Jessica Tandy, Emma Thompson, Helen Mirren, and Kate Winslet.
Anyone who looks at this list probably has a few questions. Here are some answers.
* Cary Grant never won a Best Actor Oscar although the American Film Institute (AFI) rates him as the second best actor of all time behind Humphrey Bogart. He was nominated twice.
* Charlie Chaplin, the AFI’s 10th best actor ever, was a two-time winless nominee and was never nominated as a director. (England’s Alfred Hitchcock was nominated five times, but never won).
* Anthony Hopkins is from Wales. Thus, he is British, but not English. Great Britain includes England, Scotland and Wales.
* Richard Burton is from Wales AND never won a Best Actor Oscar despite six nominations.
* Peter O’ Toole never won a Best Actor Oscar despite eight nominations and he’s not listed as English anyway. O’ Toole told people he didn’t know whether he was born in Ireland or England.
* Michael Caine never won a Best Actor Oscar despite four nominations. He did win two Best Supporting Actor Oscars.
* Elizabeth Taylor is not listed as English on any list I saw. She won two Best Actress Oscars.
Now that I have improved your ability to win a trivia contest, here is more information on 12 of the 27 English Best Actor Oscar winners. They are listed alphabetically.
JULIE ANDREWS (1935- ): Andrews was favored to win two straight Best Actress Oscars after winning for “Mary Poppins” (pictured above) in 1964 and getting nominated for “The Sound of Music” in 1965. “The Sound of Music” replaced “Gone with the Wind” (1939) as the highest-grossing movie ever, but Christie’s performance in “Darling” won. Andrews also was nominated for “Victor Victoria” (1982).
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS (1957- ): Day-Lewis is the only actor of any nationality to win three Best Actor Oscars. He won for "My Left Foot" (1989), "There Will Be Blood" (2007), and "Lincoln" (2012).
OLIVIA DE HAVILLAND (1916- ): De Havilland, 97, was the first of three English women to win two Best Actress Oscars. She won for “To Each His Own” (1946) and "The Heiress" (1949). She‘s best known for her Best Supporting Actress nominated performance in "Gone with the Wind" (1939).
ROBERT DONAT (1905-1958): Donat won the Best Actor Oscar for his 1939 performance in "Goodbye, Mr. Chips." He beat Jimmy Stewart ("Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"), Clark Gable ("Gone With The Wind") and Laurence Olivier ("Wuthering Heights").
COLIN FIRTH (1960- ): Firth won a Best Actor Oscar for playing King George VI in "The King’s Speech" (2010). In 2009, he was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for his role in "A Single Man."
ALEC GUINNESS (1914-2000): The 1957 Best Actor Oscar winner for "The Bridge on the River Kwai" also was a 1977 Best Supporting Actor nominee for playing Obi-Wan Kenobi in "Star Wars."
GLENDA JACKSON (1936- ): Jackson became the third English actress with two Best Actress Oscars after wins for "Women in Love" (1970) and "A Touch of Class" (1973). She last acted in 1992 and has been a Labour Party Member of Parliament since then.
CHARLES LAUGHTON (1899-1962): The 1933 Best Actor Oscar winner for "The Private Life of Henry VIII” also was nominated for playing Captain Bligh in "Mutiny on the Bounty" (1935).
VIVIEN LEIGH (1913-1967): The second English winner of two Best Actress Oscars, Leigh was Scarlett O’Hara in "Gone With The Wind" and Blanche DuBois in "A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951).
LAURENCE OLIVIER (1907-1989): Olivier and Spencer Tracy share the record for Best Actor Oscar nominations -- nine. Olivier won for "Hamlet" in 1948. He was nominated for "Wuthering Heights" (1939), "Rebecca" (1940), "Henry V" (1946), "Richard III" (1956), "The Entertainer" (1960), "Othello" (1965), "Sleuth" (1972), and "The Boys from Brazil" (1978).
MAGGIE SMITH (1934- ): Smith won Oscars for "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" (1969; Best Actress) and "California Suite" (1978; Best Supporting Actress), and was nominated for "Othello" (1965), "Travels with my Aunt" (1972), "A Room with a View" (1986), and "Gosford Park" (2001).
KATE WINSLET (1975- ): Winslet won a Best Actress Oscar for "The Reader" in 2008. She was nominated for "Sense and Sensibility" (1995), "Titanic" (1997), "Iris" (2001), "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" (2004), and "Little Children" (2006).
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