The only actors to be nominated for Oscars over five different decades
To win an Oscar is perhaps the ultimate dream for any actor. To stand on that stage, a gold statuette clasped in your hand, giving an acceptance speech to an audience of Hollywood’s elite… it’s an extraordinary experience for any performer to win an Oscar. There’s a good reason so many are reduced to tears of joy and gratitude when accepting an award. That being said, even being nominated is a dream for any actor.
Well, there are a small group of actors who have not only been nominated more than five times but have been recognised across five different decades. That’s an absolutely astonishing, nigh-on unthinkable achievement, but believe it or not, eight different actors have actually managed to pull off this ultra-rare feat. Put it this way: if any achievement gives an actor bragging rights, it’s this.
While the Oscars aren’t without criticism or controversies, their significance in celebrating and recognising achievements in the film industry remains profound, making them a pivotal event that continues to captivate audiences and industry professionals worldwide.
As for the eight who’ve joined this extremely exclusive club, they are absolutely incredible talents with astonishing careers. Some of them are among our greatest living actors, and although a few of them are no longer with us, their incredible work is immortalised in celluloid, and their legacy lives on.
So, who are the eight?
Actors nominated for Oscars over five decades:
Frances McDormand
Starting off the list, we have Frances McDormand, easily one of the finest acting talents of her generation and one of the most successful actors ever at the Oscars. McDormand now has three ‘Best Actress’ Oscars to her name. These are for her beloved turn as the eccentric, lovable police chief Marge Gunderson in Fargo, her masterful, perhaps career-best performance in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and most recently for her lead role in Nomadland. In the case of her second win, she gave what is easily one of the greatest Oscar acceptance speeches in recent memory.
McDormand has also been nominated for three ‘Best Supporting Actress’, once in the 1980s and twice in the 2000s. Her first-ever nomination was for her memorable supporting turn in Alan Parker’s effective albeit historically nonsensical historical drama-thriller Mississippi Burning, and the other two were for Almost Famous and North Country, respectively. Aside from these performances, McDormand has actually been nominated for seven Academy Awards as she was a producer on the ‘Best Picture’ nominated Women Talking, in which she also played a small acting role.
Denzel Washington
Up next is Denzel Washington, who, much like Frances McDormand, has received Oscar nominations in every decade from the 1980s onwards. He’s now on a staggering nine Oscar nominations, making him one of the most-nominated actors at the Oscars in history, which isn’t surprising given that he’s one of the finest actors working today. Washington has won twice: ‘Best Supporting Actor’ for his role as a black American Civil War soldier in Glory and ‘Best Actor’ for his turn as a corrupt cop in Training Day.
His other nominations (one other for ‘Best Supporting Actor’, the rest were for ‘Best Actor’) include four portrayals of real-life figures: Anti-Apartheid activist Steve Biko in Cry Freedom, Civil Rights activist Malcolm X in a 1992 biopic of the same name, professional boxer Rubin ‘The Hurricane’ Carter in The Hurricane and defence lawyer Roman J. Israel in a biopic of the same name released in 2017.
Washington was also nominated for his lead role as an alcoholic airline pilot in Flight, his searing lead turn in Fences, an adaptation of August Wilson’s play of the same name that Washington also directed, and his ferocious performance as Macbeth in Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth. There are no doubt more nominations on the horizon.
Meryl Streep
You knew this one was coming. Meryl Streep is the most nominated performer in the history of the Academy Awards, with a starring 21 nominations to her name. It’s even become a bit of a joke among film buffs that if Streep appears in anything in a year, she’s getting nominated for it. Streep is one of the greatest actors alive, so if anyone deserves to have reached such a milestone, it’s probably her. Some of her nominations have been more justified than others, though; her ‘Best Supporting Actress’ nod for Into the Woods was a bit much.
Streep has won three times in total, crowning achievements for work on Kramer Vs. Kramer as a woman undergoing a divorce, for Sophie’s Choice as a traumatised Polish Holocaust survivor, and most recently, for her performance as British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. She hasn’t been nominated for anything in the 2020s so far, given that it’s been a quiet few years for Streep, with her most recent movie appearance being her regrettable role in Don’t Look Up, which is one of the very, very few times she’s even been underwhelming in a feature film. Nonetheless, from the 1970s to the 2010s, she was nominated at least twice per decade. Her most recent nomination was for The Post in 2017.
Paul Newman
The late, great Paul Newman is yet another one of the most nominated actors in Oscar history. He was nominated for nine Oscars over the years – in the 1950s, ’60s, ’80s, ’90s and ’00s. Interestingly, he was awarded an Honorary Oscar in 1986, having been nominated six times already for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Hustler, Hud, Cool Hand Luke, Absence of Malice and The Verdict. Despite his many acclaimed performances during this period, particularly in Cool Hand Luke, Newman had never actually won… and then, the very next year, he reprised his Hustler role as ‘Fast Eddie’ Felson in the film’s sequel The Color of Money, and he finally claimed that elusive Oscar.
Newman also won the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the 1994 Academy Awards. As for acting roles, he was nominated twice more for ‘Best Actor’ in Nobody’s Fool and for ‘Best Supporting Actor’ in Road to Perdition, in which he played a small but memorable role as an ageing gangster. This late-career turn garnered a lot of attention for the screen legend and served as a lovely reminder of his talent. His final role in a significant film was voicing Doc Hudson in Pixar’s Cars.
Michael Caine
The brilliant Michael Caine, who recently retired from acting at the age of 90, has also been nominated across five decades. This is particularly satisfying, given that Caine was often underrated as a dramatic actor in the past, so it’s nice to see that the Academy recognised just what an acting powerhouse he really is.
Caine has been nominated for six Academy Awards, twice in the 1980s and once in the ’60s, ’70s, ’90s and ’00s. He went on to win two ‘Best Supporting Actor’ Oscars for his efforts. Firstly, for the 1986 Woody Allen classic Hannah and Her Sisters, sadly, he could not pick up that Oscar because of his commitments filming the infamous turkey Jaws: The Revenge. He then won his second Oscar for 1999’s period drama The Cider House Rules, and thankfully, this time, he was able to collect the Oscar in person and gave a famously good speech at the ceremony.
Caine was nominated in four other roles. These were his absolutely legendary turn as an unpleasant womaniser in Alfie, his leading role in the mystery thriller Sleuth, his turn as an alcoholic professor in Educating Rita, which reunited him with Alfie director Lewis Gilbert, and finally, his leading turn in the political drama The Quiet American.
Jack Nicholson
This is another one that comes as no surprise. Jack Nicholson, as well as being one of the greatest actors of them all, is also an Academy favourite. He has been nominated a staggering 12 times and has won thrice. He was first recognised in the 1960s for Easy Rider, four times in the 1970s for Five Easy Pieces, The Last Detail, Chinatown and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, four times in the 1980s for Reds, Terms of Endearment, Prizzi’s Honor and Ironweed, twice in the 1990s for A Few Good Men and As Good as It Gets, and finally, once in the 2000s for About Schmidt.
The three roles that earned victories were One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Terms of Endearment and As Good as It Gets. The former is perhaps his most acclaimed role, although unfortunately, another one of his best turns – Jack Torrance in The Shining – got no Academy attention. The Oscars are notoriously dismissive of horror cinema.
Laurence Olivier
The legendary Sir Laurence Olivier was a giant of stage and screen and truly is one of the greats. To this day, the biggest auditorium in London’s National Theatre is named after him, and London’s Theatre Awards are named the Laurence Olivier Awards. He ultimately won three Oscars – two honorary and an acting one for Hamlet, in which he played the title role and also directed. He was nominated for ten other Oscars – nine for acting and one for directing.
These include acting turns in the 1930s for Wuthering Heights, the 1940s for Rebecca, Henry V and Hamlet, the 1950s for Richard III, the 1960s with The Entertainer and Othello, and the 1970s for Sleuth, Marathon Man and The Boys from Brazil.
Also, in 1979, Olivier won his second honorary Oscar, which he described as follows: “To Laurence Olivier for the full body of his work, for the unique achievements of his entire career and his lifetime of contribution to the art of film.” Leaving behind an extraordinary legacy, Olivier died in 1989 at the age of 82.
Katherine Hepburn
Last but not least is Katherine Hepburn. The only actor who could possibly rival Meryl Street regarding Oscar success, Hepburn not only received 12 Oscar nominations but also won four Oscars. That makes her the most decorated actor in Oscar history. She received nominations in the 1930s, ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s. After no nominations in the ’70s, she won her final Oscar for the 1981 family drama film On Golden Pond. Her three earlier victories were for Morning Glory, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and The Lion in Winter.
Hepburn was nominated for eight other movies: Alice Adams, The Philadelphia Story, Woman of the Year, The African Queen, Summertime, The Rainmaker, Suddenly Last Summer and Long Day’s Journey Into Night. She focused on television later in her career, with her final role in a film being a rare supporting part in 1994’s Love Affair. Hepburn is deservedly remembered as not only one of the all-time Oscar champs but one of Hollywood’s finest actresses, not to mention an absolute cultural icon.
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