The only times three family members have ever been nominated for the same Oscar
Much like any other industry, Hollywood tends to leave its doors open for creative minds to follow in the family business, with several notable clans having achieved Academy Awards glory to create an Oscar-winning multi-generational dynasty.
No less than seven individual members of the sprawling Coppola family tree have won Oscars, while Henry and Jane Fonda sit alongside Diane Ladd and Laura Dern as the only parent-and-child duos to have been nominated for co-starring in the same feature for On Golden Pond and Rambling Rose respectively.
Nine-time winner Alfred Newman is part of a heavily-decorated musical lineage that’s seen his nephew Randy win two of his own, while his brother Lionel and sons Thomas and David were all composers as well, with Thomas having racked up 15 Oscar nominations to no avail so far.
Whether through blood or marriage, the Farrow, Coen, Voight, Zanuck, Huston, Horner, Affleck, Garland, and Douglas families are just some of the established names to have split Oscars glory between two members or more, but there are only two surnames that have ever found a trio of relatives competing for gold.
The first time it happened was via the less-heralded means of sound design after Disney’s groundbreaking Tron landed itself on the shortlist for ‘Best Sound’. Keeping it in the family, siblings Bob and Lee Minkler were nominated with their nephew Michael and collaborator James LaRue, even if it wasn’t their names read out on stage when E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial emerged victorious.
Bob already had an Oscar under his belt for George Lucas’ Star Wars, and while Lee would never find himself competing for a ‘Golden Baldie’ ever again, Michael has done very well for himself after winning three for Black Hawk Down, Chicago, and Dreamgirls out of 13 nominations in total.
It would be another 20 years before the feat was replicated, and a semi-autobiographical drama was a fitting way of going about it. Jim Sheridan’s powerful In America saw stars Samantha Morton and Djimon Honsou receive nominations for ‘Best Actress’ and ‘Best Supporting Actor’, but it was the film’s third and final nomination for ‘Best Original Screenplay’ that meant the most to the filmmaker.
Having penned the screenplay alongside daughters Naomi and Kirsten, the Sheridans became only the second – and so far last – family to have three individual members nominated for the same Oscar. Nepotism may continue to run rampant in Tinseltown as it’s always done, but as of yet more than two decades have passed without another trio sharing a last name vying for one of the most coveted prizes on the calendar.
Fathers, sons, mothers, daughters, in-laws, cousins, and virtually any connection imaginable have been recognised by the Oscars, but only twice has it happened to three separate members of a close-knit family on the same night, and neither the Minkler nor the Sheridans managed to win.
