The worst Oscar-winning actor in cinema history, according to science
By default, bad actors don’t tend to win an Oscar. After all, if they’ve given a performance that their peers decided on as the best of the preceding 12 months, they’ve clearly done something right.
However, the ‘Oscars curse’ is also very real and something plenty of stars have struggled to overcome. Even beyond the performative categories, some truly bizarre winners have emerged from the ceremony during its near century of existence.
For example, the terrible comic book blockbuster Suicide Squad is an Oscar-winning movie, Three Six Mafia is an Oscar-winning group, and Shakespeare in Love beat Saving Private Ryan to ‘Best Picture’ to name just three. All strange anomalies, indicating that on the night, anyone is capable of an upset.
Some Oscar wins are lauded as overdue, while others are savaged as undeserving. It’s entirely up to the Academy who takes the podium to collect their trophy, and the annual bash doesn’t feel complete unless there’s at least one major snub, surprise, or shock.
Hundreds of actors have been able to check the box marked ‘Oscar winner’ on their CVs, but only one of them was named as the worst ever by science. It might sound harsh, but by crunching the numbers and calculating the metrics, one shiny gong from the biggest night on the Hollywood calendar isn’t enough to overcome an entire career comprised largely of misfires.
Stats Significant used several methods to settle its findings: To qualify, an actor needs to have been the top-billed name on at least five pictures with a budget of at least $5 million, which was then balanced against online reviews of their work from a number of different platforms, how much money their filmography made or lost at the box office, and how many Razzies they may have won.
A combination of profile, earning power, and acclaim is a solid way of separating the performative wheat from the chaff, even if it doesn’t make good reading for Kim Basinger. The star, who scooped ‘Best Supporting Actress’ at the Oscars for her turn in Curtis Hanson’s period-set crime thriller LA Confidential, has the unwanted distinction of being the worst Academy Award-winning actor in history.
The seven-time Razzie nominee and one-time winner for 2017’s Fifty Shades Darker does at least boast a 100% track record at the Oscars after winning on her solitary nomination, but that isn’t enough to save her from the unfortunate accolade.
Her top-billed turns in I Dreamed of Africa, Bless the Child, Elvis Has Left the Building, and While She Was Out – the first two of which were her first roles post-LA Confidential – were all declared dead on arrival at the box office and dragged round the back and beaten to a pulp by critics, making her a dream for the scientific algorithm.
Science may not have declared her as the single worst actor of all time, but in terms of Oscar winners, Basinger sits firmly at the bottom of the pile.
