Who is the oldest person to ever win an Oscar?
Hollywood worships youth. It is, after all, an industry built on image, and movies centred on fresh-faced twenty-somethings just tend to be more bankable than, say, a film about octogenarians. In 2023, Michael Caine retired from acting after an illustrious six-decade career, citing the lack of leading roles for people in his age group. If someone like Sir Michael Caine can’t find the type of parts he deserves, there’s no hope for anyone else.
And yet, the Academy Awards have handed over statuettes to an astonishing range of actors and filmmakers over the years, from young children to people old enough to be their great-great grandparents. Eight-year-old Justin Henry became the youngest nominee in 1980 for his performance in the divorce drama Kramer vs Kramer, while ten-year-old Tatum O’Neal became the youngest-ever winner for her performance in Paper Moon in 1974.
Anthony Hopkins is often cited as the oldest winner, having won the Oscar for ‘Best Actor’ in 2021 at the age of 83 for his performance in The Father. However, he’s a spring chicken compared to the people tied for the distinction – James Ivory and Ann Roth.
In 2018, Ivory became the oldest-ever Oscar winner when he took home the prize for ‘Best Adapted Screenplay’ at age 89 for his work on Call Me by Your Name. Three years later, costume designer Ann Roth matched him when she won an Oscar for her work on Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. If you want to split hairs, Ivory comes out on top. He was 89 years and eight months old when he took home that little gold man, while Roth was a mere 89 years and five months old.
That said, Roth beats Ivory where it matters. She’s won two Oscars throughout her career so far (the first one was for 1996’s The English Patient), while he was a first-time winner for Call Me by Your Name. But who’s counting?
What about the honorary Academy Awards?
The honorary awards are where we start to see some truly impressive numbers – ones that almost have three digits. This category of awards is non-competitive and is usually granted to people in their twilight years who have either never won a competitive Oscar or have made such a significant contribution to their craft that they deserve another.
Paul Newman was famously miffed when he was given an honorary award in 1986 at the age of 61. In truth, the Academy was probably panicking about how many times they’d dropped the ball with him. He’d been nominated seven times at that point and hadn’t won a single award. A year later, he finally got that ‘Best Actor’ trophy after all, and the honorary one from the year before looked a bit premature. The Academy thought it had had the last word when it gave him yet another honorary award in 1994, but he turned around and nabbed another nomination (his tenth) in 2003 for Road to Perdition. A victory if ever there was one.
At 61 and 69, respectively, Paul Newman was nowhere close to the oldest person to win an honorary Oscar. That distinction goes to Robert F Boyle, who was 98 years and 137 days old when he took home the hardware. Boyle was being honoured for his extensive work as a production designer, having worked on films ranging from 1959’s North by Northwest, 1968’s The Thomas Crown Affair, and 1980’s Private Benjamin. After four nominations, he was due.
