Most undeserving acting oscar winner ever

Rami Malek's diarrhea performance in Bohemian Tragedy. That was a bad impersonation rather than a nuanced performance.

There are so many. I'll add Helen Hunt to the long list.

Happily, we've been able to escape each threatened possibility.

And the oscar for best Harvey Weinstein cocksucker goes to Jennifer Lawrence.

Helen Hunt

I also came here to post Helen Hunt. Jennifer Lawrence wouldn't have even be nominated in a more competitive year, let alone win.

Jean Dujardin for The Artist

Roberto Benigni for Life is Beautiful, especially given his competition that year.

Jean Dujardin, The Artist

No, OP. There are many placing first.

Portman and Emma Stone, Helen Hunt and Sandra Bullock and Reese Witherspoon. I give every earlier actress award a pass, because they make sense, at least, beyond a studio-power and career-nod reason.

Actor? Malek, Oldman, Redmayne, McConaughey, Jeff Bridges, Forest Fucking Talentless Whitaker, Brody, Benigni (Jebus Christ), Dustin "Hambone" Hoffman - TWICE, Pacino for what he won for, and Paul Muni.

Supporting categories don't count because they've always been a mess, but the execrable, hateful and inauthentic Walter Brennan winning three shows that the craft people really should never have gotten the vote.

Emma Stone's win for playing herself was a joke and total waste.

I would not include Jeff Bridges, R9. He's a fine actor and always has been. Undeserving on the level of McConaughey? No.

Helen Hunt

Natalie Portman

Mary Pickford in Coquette

Loretta Young in The Farmer's Daughter

Spencer Tracy in Captains Courageous and Richard Dreyfuss in Goodbye Girl.

What about Goldie Hawn for Cactus Flower? How soon we forget.

McConaughey and Portman

Soon? R15, that was 50 years ago!

Nicolas Cage in "Leaving Las Vegas."

Helen Lawson in The Boys in the Band

Zellwegger in Cold Mountain. Goop for Shakespeare in Love.

Helen Lawson for The Christine Jorgensen Story

Amazing that Portman was almost a foregone conclusion when Black Swan came out and they claimed she'd done most of her own dancing. Have people's opinions changed since it emerged her stand in did much more on screen than they gave credit for?

Al Pacino for Scent of a Woman

Kate Winslet and Reese Witherspoon are far from the worst but they really did not deserve their Oscars for those performances. Nor did Julia or Sandy Bollocks

"Spencer Tracy in Captains Courageous and Richard Dreyfuss in Goodbye Girl."

Tracy was a great actor but I don't see why he was awarded for Captains Courageous. He was awful in it.

Sandra Bullock (and I generally like her) got her depiction of the most Latrn of southern Katens. But as one of my students explained to me, “You font understand—she DYED her HAIR!”

I didn't think there was anything special about Gary Cooper in Sergeant York

I love her in a lot of the film noir movies she did but I don't think Gloria Grahame was very good in The Bad and the Beautiful

r22 I liked Portman's performance. The Oscar is for acting, not dancing.

My vote goes to Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side. r26 beat me to it — there's nothing difficult about playing a Karen. Perfect example of rewarding the career instead of the performance because that movie SUCKED. She should have won for Gravity a few years later.

Sandra Bullock winning for a bad accent and wig. People say this was a career win but I don't get it. Up until that point she known mostly for trashy commercial films.

I disagree- I think Kate Winslet gave a great performance in The Reader.

There was absolutely no need for Kate to show her saggy titties and hairy clunge in The Reader. That was visual abuse of The Viewer.

r28, they only gave her the Oscar because they thought she did her own dancing. They like to award performances where they think someone put in a ton of work learning a skill (like dancing) or effort doing something else (like gaining or losing a ton of weight)

R32 is right. Also see Hilary Swank training like a boxer, Goop as a man and straights playing gay

I disagree about Spencer Tracy, and I don't get this about Walter Brennan : "execrable, hateful and inauthentic Walter Brennan" ...hateful? We're talking about acting. He was one of the best character actors of all time.

Sandra Bullock

R34 He was also a publuc, unapologetic racist who broke into a dance of joy on set when he learned that MLK had been murdered. As for rewarding the performance, look st the other nominees each year. It’s generally acknowledged that he won because extras could still bote (Brennan began as one). It was in part because Brennan won 3 of the first 5 Sup Acting Oscars that the rules around who could vote were changed.

[quote]My vote goes to Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side. [R26] beat me to it — there's nothing difficult about playing a Karen. Perfect example of rewarding the career instead of the performance because that movie SUCKED. She should have won for Gravity a few years later.

I agree, she should have won for Gravity. The Blind Side reminded me of a Disney Channel tv movie. Afterwards, there were several other theatrical movies that seemed more like made for cable movies. I thought Spotlight was overrated and reminded me of an HBO movie.

John Wayne...True Grit. Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight split the vote for Midnight Cowboy. Also, Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole.

[quote]He was also a publuc, unapologetic racist who broke into a dance of joy on set when he learned that MLK had been murdered.

Oh well that means he was a terrible actor who didn't deserve acting awards in the 1930s then.

How has no one mentioned Grace Kelly?

There are too many to mention. HEre's a few:

Gwyneth Paltrow

Halle Berry

Helen Hunt

Roberto Benigni

Kevin Spacey (for American Beauty)

Elizabeth Taylor (for Butterfield 8)

Whoopi Goldberg

Tatum O'Neal

Cher

Cuba Gooding Jr.

Jennifer Hudson

Renee Zellweger (both times)

Angelina Jolie

Kim Basinger

Catherine Zeta-Jones

George Clooney

Anna Paquin

Jennifer Lawrence

Sandra Bullock

Goldie Hawn

Geena Davis

Penelope Cruz

Mercedes Ruehl

Marlee Matlin

Nicole Kidman

Octavia Spencer

Charlize Theron

R40=Judy

MOST UNDESERVING ACTOR.

One.

What's worth the lists?

ONE.

*What's up with the lists?

(Fixed)

And obviously it can be a male or female actor.

One.

If you look at the Oscar as Consolation Prize, is that more undeserving than just plain old bad? In other words, Bette Davis in Dangerous--undeserving. The most undeserving? Would have to see the list of other nominees.

Or most under deserving because they fucking suck--that to me, is the more interesting question.

My immediate response was Helen Hunt. But Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump really takes it out of her hands.

R42 Elaborate please

R46, see R40.

r41 is just listing every recent winner, when there are tons of undeserving winners in the past.

I take it no one here has seen Coquette

Is that like pommes Coquette?

I did, R48.

The question is: which of the two Oscar wins did Helen Hayes least deserve it for, Coquette or Airport?

Kim Basinger in L.A. Confidential. Not a bad performance, but certainly nothing notable or Oscar worthy.

Ginger Rogers, Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, Walter Brennan, Michael Douglas, Cher, Jodie Foster, Judi Dench....

R50, COQUETTE was Mary Pickford. Hayes won for THE SIN OF MADELON CLAUDET.

I stand corrected, R53. Of course, that's right.

Hayes and Pickford were both undeserving

Stapleton should have been the Airport winner that year, not Helen Hayes. She was unforgettable. Helen’s stowaway character was just sort of kitschy and ridiculous while Stapleton was heartbreaking and real. It’s almost as if they were performances in two separate movies.

R56 That scene at the end as the passengers from the plane are disembarking and Maureen Stapleton is walking through the crowd sobbing and saying, "I'm sorry" was heartbreaking. Best scene in the whole movie.

Coquette was awful and Pickford truly awful. I saw Madeline Claudet on TCM a few weeks ago (somehow never had before) and while I agree Hayes is terrible in Airport, I actually found her touching in Madeline and thought there was a character arc. She had stiff competition that year—Marie Dressler in EMMA (she had just won for Min and Bill) and Lynn Fontanne in her only film other than guest cameos, in The Guardsman (with Lunt, also nominated)—a bit arch and stagey, which is understandable. I think Lunt and Fontanne needed the live audience for their magic to work.

R41 You are wrong about eight of those. I'm too busy trying not to get looted to elaborate so you figure it out yourself.

Grace Kelly

Judy Holliday

Norma Shearer

Norma Shearer in The Divorcee was nothing special. I just saw this, I bought a collection of movies from the pre-code era. She's one of my least favorite stars from that era.

Going back to the 30s, I don't think Luise Rainer was particularly good in either of the roles she won for

Ginger Rogers for Kitty Foyle

Just to add, Joan Fontaine should have won over Rogers in 1940 for "Rebecca" thus giving Bette Davis the chance to win her much desired third Oscar for 1941's "The Little Foxes".

That fucking guy in The Artist and Helen Cunt.

Helen Hunt - I think we have a consensus here based on the number of times she has been mentioned. But, I'll also say - Jack Nicholson didn't deserve his Oscar for that film either.

The film was not that good. But the other actor nods that year were piss poor. The actress nods were really good - Helena Bonham Carter, Julie Christie, Judi Dench, and Kate Winslet.

I guess they didn't want to give it to a Brit that year. But the other 4 actress performances wiped the floor with Helen Hunt's uneven performance.

Dame Judi was robbed!

[quote]Sandra Bullock (and I generally like her) got her depiction of the most Latrn of southern Katens. But as one of my students explained to me, “You font understand—she DYED her HAIR!”

What are you trying to say, dear? Or am I missing some sly reference? I font understand either.

R65 Not only did Helen Hunt not deserve her Oscar for that movie, she gave one of the worst performances of the year. The way she kept slipping in and out of an already terrible New York accent made me cringe.

Timothy Hutton.

[QUOTE] The way she kept slipping in and out of an already terrible New York accent made me cringe.

If I recall correctly, Hunt’s (maybe Southern?) accent in Cast Away disappeared during the movie.

R68: She was basically playing the character she played on Mad About You. Also, her New York accent sucked.

Bette Davis was a great actress, but the two roles she won for weren't even close to being her best performances

Is it possible that people in the Academy were familiar with Helen Hunt's Dad - and that helped? Or her presence on TV?

I'm just scratching my head - or do you think the votes were so divided among the other 4 that she eked out a win (like 25% of the votes)?

Halle Berry

Ginger Rogers for "Kitty Foyle".

Especially against this competition . . .

Katharine Hepburn

The Philadelphia Story

Martha Scott

Our Town

Bette Davis

The Letter

Joan Fontaine

Rebecca

Ginger Rogers

Kitty Foyle

Goop

Helen Cunt

Gwyneth Paltrow

Katherine Hepburn in any of her wins

They all sucked.

Marisa Tomei is a good actress but no way did she deserve an Oscar for "My Cousin Vinny." Her win was so surprising that an urban legend cropped up about it. Jack Palance presented the award for Best Supporting Actress that year; the urban legend was that he said the wrong name and the award was given to Tomei instead of the real winner. Which is totally ridiculous. If he'd said the wrong name the mistake would have been rectified immediately, like the fiasco where Faye Dunaway said "La La Land" instead of the real winner, "Moonlight." At any rate, people were amazed she won. Why DID she win? Because she was the only American nominated; I think that's way.

R78 totally disagree. Tomei deserved her win in a hilarious performance that still holds up almost 30 years later. Pure comedy performances hardly ever win, so I was shocked but delighted she pulled it off. I think in Hunts case, voters just got lazy and voted for both her and Jack. It’s still quite baffling that Dench didn’t pull it off, but it may be a case of not enough voters seeing Mrs. Brown.

Tomei's performance was fluff. Amusing, but not Oscar worthy at all. I thought Miranda Richardson should have won.

Helen Lawson in The Exorcist

Lassie

Frances McDormand's second oscar win. She's played that role a million times before and her performance was disgusting.

[quote] Sandra Bullock (and I generally like her) got her depiction of the most Latrn of southern Katens. But as one of my students explained to me, “You font understand—she DYED her HAIR!”

I hope you don't teach those students either English or typing!

Elizabeth Taylor for her hammy performance in "BUtterfield 8." She got it purely for sympathy because of her life-threatening tracheotomy. She actually DID deserve (quite richly) her Oscar for "Virginia Woolf," though.

Halle Barry. That was the start of the academy awarding for social justice reasons. sissy spacek deserved that award 100%. In the bedroom was an incredible film and her performance was sensational

Jennifer Lawrence

R86: Of the nominees, Spacek deserved it. In the Bedroom is so underrated. Naomi Watts was the true winner and she wasn’t even nominated. Halle won because she showed her tits in the movie.

R87 she deserved it. It was a great performance and she had no competition. The person who shouldn’t have won that year was Daniel day Lewis. Bradley Cooper deserved the award. DDL have a predictable and boring performance. Yawn.

Frances McDormand didn't deserve to win an Oscar either time. Her performance in 'Fargo" was cartoonish and her performance in that "Billboard" movie was nothing but overkill.

"She deserved it. It was a great performance and she had no competition. "

No, Jennifer Lawrence DIDN'T deserve it. Emmanuelle Riva should have won that year.

Cooper doesn't belong in the same room with an acting award of any kind.

I would have even gone for little Quvenzhané Wallis that year over JLaw. JLaw was miscast and too young for the part.

Brad Pitt. All he did was play himself and drive around LA.

John Wayne in the original True Grit

He beat Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole, Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman.

Joe Pesci should have beaten Brad Pitt this year. I thought he was incredible in The Irishman, playing a character far out of his usual range.

John Wayne’s Oscar was a joke. So were Walter Brennan’s three Oscars, for basically playing the same role in every fucking movie.

Agree about Brennan and Wayne

After Brennan won his third Oscar, they stopped letting the Extras vote. The little people loved him.

He was a good character actor but with little range and undeserving of three Oscars. He could surprise on occasion, such as in the Bob Hope movie The Princess and the Pirate, in which he is almost unrecognizable and goes over the top.

Bob is surprisingly cute in that photo.

^^ It's one of Hope's best movies, before he turned into a complete asshole on screen.

R89. Excuses-moi?

I meant “excusez,” but since I think of you as an inferior, “excuses” is not inappropriate,

Rami Malek. I actually think Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side was better than him.

"After Brennan won his third Oscar, they stopped letting the Extras vote. The little people loved him."

Bette Davis griped about extras voting. She said 'you'd buy them ice cream for a week" and they'd vote for you.

R105 She must not have bought them enough ice cream on "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane."

DiCaprio. He shouldn't have even been nominated. All he did was roll around in the snow and mud.

Most have been named. The ones that stand out for me are

Reneé (Cold Mountain)

Helen Hunt

Sandra Bullock

Emma Stone

Jennifer Lawrence

Rami Malek

Halle Berry

Matthew McConaughey

Cuba Gooding Jr

Whoopi Goldberg

Brad Pitt

Gwyneth Paltrow

R1, Your tasteless. Be gone

R109 "You're."

Alan Arkin. I think he won because his character dies in Little Miss Sunshine.

Julia Roberts. I remember her horrible acceptance speech. She wouldn't shut up. I wanted to throw a brick at her head.

Alan Arkin got the "I deserve it 'cause I'm old" award.

"She must not have bought them enough ice cream on "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane."

Bette Davis was not the type to buy ice cream for extras. I think she would have found cozying up to extras distasteful.

R112: While it’s probably her best performance ever, she didn’t deserve it all. She won because she was an overrated bitch and the biggest movie star at the time.

Art Carney. Pacino should have won for Godfather II.

"Alan Arkin got the "I deserve it 'cause I'm old" award."

No, he won it because he gave a great performance, which he always did. Eddie Murphy thought he was a shoo-in to get it, and when Arkin won he left in a huff. Tough titty, Eddie.

Anne Hathaway. She sang a couple of songs and died. So what? And her career has really stalled.

I noticed a lot of actresses once they get an Oscar. They have a hard time getting good roles after. They think they're going to get offered a lot of parts and it just doesn't happen. Not sure why.

Well, I certainly never had that problem.

Philip Seymour Hoffman should not have won for that IMPERSONATION of Truman Capote over Heath Ledger’s magnificent performance in Brokeback Mountain.

If Manchester by the Sea had came out a year later, that pervert Casey Affleck would not have even been nominated, much less won. #MeToo That Oscar should’ve gone for the far more deserving Denzel Washington for Fences.

Another Denzel snub. Al Pacino knows damn well he should return that Oscar he stole from Mr. Washington. Washington’s performance in Malcolm X was one of the best performances of all time. Pacino’s Scent of a Woman was trash.

Philip Seymour Hoffman should not have won for that IMPERSONATION of Truman Capote over Heath Ledger’s magnificent performance in Brokeback Mountain.

If Manchester by the Sea had came out a year later, that pervert Casey Affleck would not have even been nominated, much less won. #MeToo That Oscar should’ve gone for the far more deserving Denzel Washington for Fences.

Another Denzel snub. Al Pacino knows damn well he should return that Oscar he stole from Mr. Washington. Washington’s performance in Malcolm X was one of the best performances of all time. Pacino’s Scent of a Woman was trash.

Philip Seymour Hoffman should not have won for that IMPERSONATION of Truman Capote over Heath Ledger’s magnificent performance in Brokeback Mountain.

If Manchester by the Sea had came out a year later, that pervert Casey Affleck would not have even been nominated, much less won. #MeToo That Oscar should’ve gone for the far more deserving Denzel Washington for Fences.

Another Denzel snub. Al Pacino knows damn well he should return that Oscar he stole from Mr. Washington. Washington’s performance in Malcolm X was one of the best performances of all time. Pacino’s Scent of a Woman was trash.

Cher. Mother-fucking Cher.

Brie Larson. That was a TV movie of the week and she is not that good. Lesbian

Brad Pitt. HE CAN’T ACT.

Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote was brilliant.

[quote]Brad Pitt. HE CAN’T ACT.

Why do you think all those people have been buying all those tickets for all these years? To look at his blue eyes? Apparently they enjoy his acting. And whenever someone says an actor is "just playing himself" I know that person doesn't know shit about acting.

Well, I think pretty much every Oscar winner has now been named as undeserving.

[quote]Tomei deserved her win in a hilarious performance that still holds up almost 30 years later. Pure comedy performances hardly ever win, so I was shocked but delighted she pulled it off.

R78 I agree. I saw the movie for the first time a few months ago and laughed out loud at the great ensemble cast. It was about time comedic talent was acknowledged as art...

r78 r130 But Fran Drescher could've done the role so much better.

R125: The little boy outacted and had more screen time than her.

R11, Jeff Bridges was terrible in the role he won for. I like him a lot, but not in that.

Anyone who lists Paul Muni but not Emil Jannings or Bing Crosby is a cop.

Benigni won because he was an indie favorite and well liked, plus the late 1990s were incredibly shallow, cinematically speaking. Spacey won for the egregious American Beauty the next year, for god's sake. I'm not saying it's right, but at least you know why it happened.

There is no way Russell Crowe should have won in a year that included Hanks, Harris, Rush and Bardem.

More recently, Eddie Redmayne and Rami Malek have been thoroughly embarrassing winners, both giving clumsy impressions instead of acting.

[quote]Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote was brilliant.

He was good and PSH is one of my favorite actors of all time, but I still think Toby Jones was a better Capote than Hoffman.

In 2006, if Alan Arkin hadn't won, it would have been Jackie Earle Haley, both actors the Academy felt had done their time and deserved a win.

Eddie Murphy was fantastic in Dreamgirls, but the Academy doesn't take him seriously. He should have been nominated for Dolemite is My Name and Bowfinger, too.

R121: Phoenix and Ledger were much more deserving than Hoffman.

Back when Hollywood was pushing Jodie as the next big thing they gave her an Oscar for The Accused. Then they gave it to her Silence of the Lambs. Both were bland performances.

Judi Dench was barely IN that movie....ridiculous.

Luise Rainer won an Oscar for talking on the phone in one scene.

IIRC, Judi seemed almost embarrassed to be winning the Oscar that year.

Jessica Lange winning for "Tootsie" was a joke.

Even she's said she won it as a consolation prize for not winning for "Frances."

Re: Tootsie, Teri Garr was more deserving of that Supporting Actress award than Jessica Lange.

R141, Lange was terrific in Tootsie, one of the greatest comedy films ever made. I’ll never understand why so many people are so dismissive of comedies or acting in comedy films.

Teri Garr was better in Tootsie than Jessica Lange was. I think this was the one that Glenn might have been closest to winning. Ironic as it was her first nomination.

R143 She wasn't bad in Tootsie at all, but her performance certainly wasn't memorable, and certainly not Oscar-worthy.

Teri Garr was definitely better in the movie and had a much more fun character to play.

R144 are you crazy?!

R146, some of us never thought Glenn would win for The Wife. First problem there was that no one liked the film.

Yes but Glenn was without question a close second. I'd love to know, at the very least, the runners up for each award. They used to announce them when the awards first began

I will never get over what's-his-English-name stealing the Oscar from Michael Keaton. Disgraceful.

I agree, R149. I actually thought Redmaybe was actively awful in that movie. Keaton was perfection in Birdman and absolutely should have won that year. I think there was a video of him at the time sadly going forward his speech in his pocket and then tucking it back in when he realized he had lost.

"Why do you think all those people have been buying all those tickets for all these years? To look at his blue eyes?"

A lot of his movies have bombed. Look at Ad Astra

William hurt won in 86. Any of the fine performances in Pizza Boy...He Delivers should have prevailed!

Who in their right mind would put Philip Seymour Hoffman on this list?

He was one of the most consummate actors our our time.

One acting Oscar win that upsets me whenever I think about it is the one Allison Janey for I, Tonya. Allison is talented. I'll give her that but that bitch went around town and kissed a lot of ass to get the award that should've gone to the faaar more deserving Laurie Metcalf for her MAGNIFICENT performance in Lady Bird. Gold Derby.com (headed by that racially insensitive fuck Tom O'Neal) has on numerous occasions confirmed that Allison "played the promotional circuit". I mean the woman actually baked cookies for one function. I wish the Oscar voters wasn't so susceptible to that. Give it to the nominee who gave the better performance period.

Eddie Redmayne was known to have done the same thing as Allison for his Oscar as well.

[quote]I wish the Oscar voters wasn't so susceptible to that.

Oh, dear.

R149: Redmayne's win was a lazy, pure Oscar bait choice. He practically sat in a chair while the computer spoke for most of the movie. It was also a bit of a waste because he hasn't exactly been in demand since he won.

R156 Redmayne copied and pasted Daniel Day Lewis's My Left Foot performance then edited it to produce a lazy, muggier and vastly generic version of it to avoid plagerism.

I thought Redmayne was superior in The Danish Girl but that Alicia girl (who has since vanished) soaked up all the buzz from that movie.

She should have been nominated for Ex-Machina.

At least Alicia gets to enjoy Michael Fassbender's big pendulous willy!

Eddie is okay but really not Oscar calibre, he must have had a great deal of studio heft behind him.

R154 I agree, it's so embarrassing to be so desperate for the Oscar you stoop so low.

Kate Winslet disgraced herself by being so desperate to win, she's actually a brilliant actress but really showed her desperation that Oscar season. Should have been Meryl, playing the poisonous nun.

r159, I'm telling you. It wasn't so much "studio heft" as it was what was stated in r154.

I thought Olivia Coleman, whom I generally love, was horrific in The Favourite: Just a caterwauling nightmare -- I found it virtually unwatchable. But I loved every minute of Glenn Close in The Wife. I will never understand why anyone voted for Coleman.

R95...see R38.

R161: I don’t understand why Colman got so much acclaim. The role was not challenging for her at all. On the other hand, Glenn Close was boring in The Wife and I don’t think she deserved to win either.

Helen Lawson for Flora the Red Menace

I think Melissa McCarthy gave the best performance out of those nominated that year and should have won easily.

Colman have a SUPPORTING performance anyway.

According to the DL, every performance sucks and is overrated! You act like these wins happened in a bubble or that they were just chosen because of Oscar campaigns, but most of these performances were widely acclaimed by critics

Is that you, La Winslet, at R166?

Not Winslet, I just think it's funny how someone like Colman, Redmayne, or whoever can give a performance that's acclaimed by all the critics, then people here pretend that no one liked those performances but the Oscar voters.

The same people will claim Jennifer Lawrence only won an Oscar because of Harvey, even though all the critics love her. I guess she not only blew Harvey, she also blew every major critic in America (including the female ones)

R166: The reality is most actors working in Hollywood today are overrated and actors win oscars for the wrong reasons all the time.

Just because you don't personally like certain actors doesn't make them "overrated"

R166, "acclaimed by critics" is not the criteria for approval among free-thinking, knowledgable DLers. What are you? A cow swinging its tail in unison with her elders?

Most awards ARE chosen in a bubble - the bubble of the moment when the nominations and votes go out and in. Quality, competition, popularity in the business, grudges, backstories, a sense of things being owed, lack of popularity or the existence of controversies - all these things and more go into it.

So?

The thread is about "undeserving" winners. That's a judgment call. And the fact that some judgments here are off is nothing new. Look at R166, after all.

Emil Jannings was brilliant in "The Last Command." As he was in other films.

That he also was a belligerent, spiteful, weird, bullying Nazi is beside the point.

I expect people here to say actors are undeserving because they don't like them.

It's people who say actors are undeserving because the've never heard of the actors who are in that special category of "waste of breath."

Please.

R171, I'd trust the word of the critics over many of the people here. According to this thread, every single actor who ever won an Academy Award sucks

^^^Chronic over-stater

[quote]Her performance in 'Fargo" was cartoonish and her performance in that "Billboard" movie was nothing but overkill.

I only saw Fargo a couple of times in the 90s. Last year, I watched it on TV, I think it was IFC and I also thought her performance was cartoonish.

Renee Zellwegger for Cold Mountain

Robert Donat, for "Goodbye, Mr. Chips." His performance was nice but forgettable. Clark Gable should have won for "Gone With The Wind", but the Academy rallied to give it to Donat in order to make "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" bigger box office. Gable was perfect as Rhett Butler. He was really robbed.

Gable was just playing Clark Gable. He didn't even bother with a Southern accent. He had a ton of charisma, but come on.

Julia Fucking Roberts own this thread. I don't care if that was the performance of her life, she is not comparable with Ellen Burstyn in "Requiem for a dream" what a fucking joke.

"Gable was just playing Clark Gable. "

He WAS Rhett Butler. And the delivery of his final line in the film ("Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn") was perfect.

I keep forgetting if Don Ameche actually won for Cocoon or if he was just nominated. He didn’t deserve either for that forgettable performance.

Yes, Don Ameche won an Academy Award for "Cocoon." I guess it was one of those "sentimental" wins, like those of John Wayne and Art Carney.

R171 make love to me

[quote]Emil Jannings was brilliant in "The Last Command." As he was in other films. That he also was a belligerent, spiteful, weird, bullying Nazi is beside the point. I expect people here to say actors are undeserving because they don't like them.

Bitch, are you saying I said Jannings was terrible just because I don't like Nazis? I said nothing about his personality or politics. He was terrible in The Last Command, hammy and schmaltzy without depth, and embarrassing in Der Blau Angel. There was nothing about his method that was unique in any way; he was Rudolf Klein-Rogge with less makeup.

He also won for The Way of All Flesh that year which is now lost, so it's possible he gave a good performance there. We'll probably never know.

Anna Magnani won an Oscar because she was ugly. Should have been Katharine Hepburn for her amazing spinster in SUMMERTIME.

r185, Bitch, please! That was a stupid statement. Anna Magnani was one of the greatest actresses that ever lived. Her performance in The Rose Tattoo was magnificent. Kate got 4 Oscars. Gurl, bye!

Marisa Tomei.

Bye r186 you’re ugly too.

A lot of his movies have bombed. Look at Ad Astra

I don't know what flopped Brad has been working steadily for some reason...Seven Years in Tibet, Interview With The Vampire, Legends Of The Fall, Fight Club, Oceans Eleven, Troy, Inglourious Basterds, Moneyball. etc.

I've been impressed with Brad Pitt's career overall. He's worked with some heavyweights - Robert Redford, Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins (multiple times)... I think he was good in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, but didn't think it was Oscar-worthy.

Personally I think Leonardo should have won, though it was a tough category with very strong lead performances. Joaquin's win was deserving for sure.

There are so many undeserving wins to choose from... Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls, Allison Janney in I, Tonya, Sandra Bullock, Hillary Swank (both times), Gwyneth Paltrow, Roberto Benigni, Jean Dujardin...

Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls. Do I need to say more?

Jennifer was competent, but no more. Joke of jokes was Matthew Knowles complaining about racism keeping Beonstage from getting nominated. Um, yeah, no.

R192 I remember Beyonce throwing subtle shade at Jennifer in an interview after Jennifer got her "Dreamgirls" nomination:

"I wish I could've played Effy, but I wasn't right for the role."

Read as: "I'm not a big fat pig."

Beyoncé is a horrible actress. She made Whitney Houston in THE BODYGUARD look like Cicely Tyson in SOUNDER.

R194 When she tried to play Etta James in "Cadillac Records?" Oh, boy, that was a shit show.

I know it was only a supporting role, but can someone tell me what was so great about Martin Balsam in A THOUSAND CLOWNS?

R194, Miss James deserved better.

R195, Miss James deserved better.

[QUOTE] Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls

Really? Who do you think should have won among those nominees? Rinko Kikichi? That lineup was pretty weak, to be honest.

Which makes it even more aggravating that they didn’t nominate Catherine O’Hara (For Your Consideration) or Phyllis Somerville (Little Children).

[QUOTE] I know it was only a supporting role, but can someone tell me what was so great about Martin Balsam in A THOUSAND CLOWNS?

I liked him in Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams.

[quote]I know it was only a supporting role, but can someone tell m what was so great about Martin Balsam in A THOUSAND CLOWNS?

I forget but didn't he play the long-suffering brother of this eccentric guy (Jason Robards)? Or something? I think he was the character the audience identified with, and also - wasn't it a breakout role? Like, before that he did boring roles like Arbogast in Psycho and the police guy in Cape Fear? Oscars are of the moment. Like there's already been a comment about Judy Holliday. Frankly I think she was as deserving, she was as good as Davis or Swanson, it just was comedy, and some people don't think comedy is acting,. (Or you don't deserve Oscars in musicals if the main thing you did well was sing - J. Hudson). But she was a new face and brilliant. Audrey Hepburn was a new face. People claim Red Buttons was undeserving. Or Miyoshi Umeki (both in Sayonara). Because they're not "great" actors who acted up a storm. But -of the moment - the WWII-Korea generation identified with their stroryline and it was very moving.

Brad Pitt. For the life of me I don't understand what they saw in that role.

Allison Janney. Laurie Metcalf was right there.

Arbogast in Psycho isn't boring!

Balsam was a well-known and well-loved character actor with a slew of fine performances under his belt, and One Thousand Clowns was one of those movies enjoyed by the Academy set, so they thought it would be a perfect time to give Balsam his due. I love Balsam in it, his one speech is tremendous, but I honestly think Barry Gordon was even better in a supporting role. He was such a fantastic child actor and was never even nominated for anything, a real shame.

If Frances had come out in 1981 Jessica Lange would have won for her best ever performance. Or better yet, come out in 1983 and beat Shirley Maclaine!

Her wins for Tootsie and Blue Sky aren't bad, they are very good. The just aren't remarkable.

Balsam said backstage when he won in 1966 that he thought he won because he didn’t get nominated for Breakfast At Tiffanys. I’m sure that played into it. He was a well known respected character actor at the time. He was better in BAT than ATC. I probably would’ve voted for Tom Courtenay for Dr. Zhivago, but I don’t begrudge Balsam his win either.

I've struggled with many of these nominations, for various (pointless) reasons. I'm a huge fan of Barbara Hershey, so it's impossible for me to ignore her. Natalie spent much of her childhood in my town, but to be honest, that never made her a 'home-town girl'. I'm a huge ballet fan, and had to fight to get my brother to watch the movie with me. The truth is, the movie made me cry, and that's an automatic thumbs up from me, even when I'm sneering (slightly at the movie itself). I'm a not-so-proud pushover. I' glad I didn't miss it.

Omg these silent movie queens are killing me. Surely they caught Cocquette during its initial run at the Nickelodeon.

[quote}Arbogast in Psycho isn't boring!

Well it wasn't Oscar-worthy either, I guess that's what I meant. Barry Gordon was great.

[quote]Omg these silent movie queens are killing me. Surely they caught Cocquette during its initial run at the Nickelodeon.

As opposed to you who probably watches Nickelodeon.

Kate Nelligan should've won the supporting Oscar in 1991 for Frankie and Johnny. And she wasn't even nominated.

ALL of them! Everyone! EVERYTHING is TAINTED, it's ALL TAINTED!!!

Well, I was watching Shampoo recently, a movie I went to see (got in somehow) when I was about 12 or 13 and loved. And I didn't think it aged well. But I wondered why Lee Grant got the Oscar for that. Wouldn't say she was the most undeserving of all time but it seemed like a kind of simple role without a 'big scene' or anything. Did it have to do with her comeback and being previously blacklisted, at all?

R213 I saw "Shampoo" on TCM last year and didn't like it at all. Overly long, meandering, no sympathetic characters.

Lee Grant was fine in it, but yes, it wasn't an Oscar-worthy performance. It may well have been a consolation prize for her body of work and her previous blacklisting.

I’d have given Lee Grant the Oscar for her role in VOYAGE OF THE DAMNED. She was brilliant as the Jewish refugee whose family falls apart while awaiting entrance to Cuba. A heartbreaking story and performance.

r213, Lee Grant gave a far better performance in Shampoo Director Hal Ashby’s first film The Landlord. I love this film and she was an absolute scene stealer.

R216 I always try to watch that film but Beau Bridges (I think?) is not my favorite. Anyhow I thought she was great in In The Heat Of The Night. I think she last-minute replaced another actress, or something. Way earlier, in Detective Story, she was fun but really overdid it a bit.

[quote] I saw "Shampoo" on TCM last year and didn't like it at all. Overly long, meandering, no sympathetic characters.

Lee Grant was fine in it, but yes, it wasn't an Oscar-worthy performance. It may well have been a consolation prize for her body of work and her previous blacklisting.

When I mentioned I saw Shampoo in a theater - it was a big place in the suburbs and it was packed, we had to sit in the front row. The audience really loved it. Big laughs, even. I loved it. Saw it again like you on TCM and it was just nothing. Meandering - exactly - I don't get it. Except it was new and different, then. And the stars and supporting actors were all very popular then.

R211, Nelligan actually was nominated that year though...for The Prince of Tides.

The Oscars are not necessarily given for "acting" but also to make up for previous omissions, for star turns and memorable characters. Examples:

Zellwegger did nothing extraordinary in Mountain but she was overlooked for Chicago so the Academy gave her a consolation prize and all went home happy.

Roberts may not have deserved one for Brocovich but hers was a star turn of the first caliber (I'm not a fan, incidentally) and she made many people a lot of money, so there.

Marisa Tomei may not be a better actress than the four other English actresses nominated that year but who remembers their characters? Marisa's was unforgettable.

And then of course there was fucking Harvey. That could always get you an Oscar.

R220: The scars are not about talent at all. People win oscars for wrong reasons all the time. There are a variety of factors such as campaigning, overdue narrative, personal narrative, the academy wanting to be politically correct, the academy wanting to give a particular film something, and yes in even some cases buying an oscar during the Weinstein era.

R220: Edits: The Oscars are not about talent at all and yes even in some cases buying an oscar during the Weinstein era.

Laura Dern. I get mad everytime I think about that terrible win.

Lee Grant has said that of all her nominated performances she thinks she won for the worst of them.

r154 What did Tom O'Neil of Gold Derby do that was racially insensitive? Is he known to be a fuck as you say? I've heard people say they had bad experiences dealing with him.

Helen Lawson in "I Never Promised You a Shaved Snatch"

Laura Dern did nothing special whatsoever to win that award. I'd be embarrassed if I had a catalogue of great performances and won for one that required little effort other than wearing killer heels and being spunky.

Glenn Close in The Wife......oh wait. Never mind.

Adrien Brody. Total jackass. Was one of the first people to defend Woody Allen. Is now dating Harvey Weinstein's ex.

Adrien Brody's performance in "The Pianist" was exceptional.

I don't give a fuck who he's dating lately and I defend Woody Allen myself.

Liz Taylor for "Butterfield 8"

Shirley MacLaine lost to a tracheotomy.

Least deserving... oy.

Helen Hunt

Hilary Swank - both times

AnnE Hathaway

Julia Roberts

Begnini

McBongo

Nic fucking Cage

(R230) Excuse me, Alec Baldwin. And by the way, I love Match Game.

[QUOTE] Adrien Brody's performance in "The Pianist" was exceptional.

I just watched The Pianist again recently and, my god, it really is an exceptional performance. One of the most deserved Oscars of the ‘00s (and that was a relatively strong lineup with Brody up against four former winners).

R229 is a woke wannabe vulgarian and an idiot.

Eddie Redminge

Cuba Gooding Jr

Pia Zadora!

R237 But her acceptance speeches for her several wins were great.

George Clooney. All he did was gain weight and grow a beard. I don't have a clue why people fawn over this arrogant prick.

Kim Basinger.

Stand there and look beautiful.

Check!

Streep winning a third for the horrible The Iron Lady

R239. Thank you I've been saying this for years. I don't know what he did that was all that special in Syriana. And the gratuitous weight gain I always thought was just his attempt at an Oscar. It's not the character he portrayed was know enough that an extra 20 pounds was gonna make any difference to anyone.

Helen Hayes in Airport. You can also include her in the overall worst performance in film history thread.

Why do people say Helen Hayes was bad in Airport? Didn't she play the character correctly? What other way should she or anyone else have played that character?

...Seemed like a good performance to me.

I love Helen Hayes in Airport. (Maureen Stapleton too.)

Maureen Stapleton, yes, real and honest and great. Helen Hayes, ridiculous, hammy and awful.

Was Maureen any good in Reds, for which she won an Oscar?

Maureen was great in Reds. As was Nicholson, who I think gives one of his best performances.

The problem with As Good as it gets is that the initial exchange between Nicholson and Hunt is so mean spirited that it kind of wrecks the rest of the movie. Plus it's a very depressing movie. It was promoted as some quirky love story at the time, but it's really a slog to get through . Hunt's distant, cold as ice performance doesn't help matters and makes the movie even more bleaker than it should have been. Holly Hunter was the initial choice for the role, and that made sense. It needed someone a little more light hearted and quirky. But it's not as good as Terms of Endearment or Broadcast News.

"Was Maureen any good in Reds, for which she won an Oscar?"

R248 She was just OK, very unmemorable, non-demanding role, but they owed her one for Interiors.

R249: I can't believe Nicholson and Hunt won for their cartoonish and sitcom performances. Nicholson is the most overrated actor ever.

I don't think Nicholson is overrated at all. His first two Oscar wins are justified.

ASAIG would have worked better had they lightened it up a little more. I think Holly Hunter would have played off Nicholson better. I never got the praise for Helen Hunt in the 90's. She won umpteen Emmys for that TV show she did with Paul Reiser, and it's practically unwatchable now.

Gloria Grahame should have gotten it for one of her great film noir peformances. She's fine in "The Bad and the Beautiful" but it's a 10-minute role without even the great scene of a Beatrice Straight win.

What role should Glo have won for?

R254 The Big Heat or In a Lonely Place

I didn’t think that Ingrid Bergman was all that in GASLIGHT.

I don't think Gaslight was Bergman's best role (although she was good especially in her final scene with Boyar where she was pretending to be crazy), but I don't think it is anywhere near the most undeserving Oscar. She really should have at least been nominated for Notorious.

I would have given it to Barbara Stanwyck for her role as the murderous ubercunt in DOUBLE INDEMNITY.

Sean Penn for 'Milk'.

I want to pick Laura Dern because of recency bias (ScarJo should have won) but it’s clearly Rami Malek (I would have preferred Banderas).

Wow R245 I haven't seen Airport in many years but that is an incredibly bad, amateurish performance. Stapleton should taken that, she put Hayes to shame.

Correcting myself, Banderas was nominated a different year than when Malek won.

r261 the linked scene you are talking about has Hayes purposely not acting well. She is part of the plot the pilot cooks up to get the suitcase away from the guy next to her which has the bomb. Her tears are intentionally overdone.

It was a very popular performance. The comic relief of the film.

but Stapleton was excellent too.

She wasn't acting well before she knew what the plot was R263

We have different opinions. I think she did a good job playing the eccentric old woman.

Well, she didn't.

Did Helen get her tits out in Airport?

The old pervs of the Academy were very keen to award sexy ladies showing off their hooters and coochie-coochie-coo around the time she won!

[QUOTE] I want to pick Laura Dern because of recency bias (ScarJo should have won)

ScarJo was wonderful in Jojo Rabbit.

R265 Before she does the deliberate overacting I don't see anything "hammy" - she practically does nothing and when she does, it's reacting, which is what screen acting is. Incidentally there is nothing wrong with Maureen Stapleton's performance but I don't think it was Oscar-worthy. She always gave that performance. She was great in Plaza Suite, actually.

Did anyone here get to see Maureen Stapleton in “The Little Foxes”? I have always heard she stole the show.

R269 Yes, you're right, Hayes was brilliant and masterfully subtle. Jesus Christ, let it go. She stinks. She always stunk.

R270 Yes, I was lucky enough to get to see that production of The Little Foxes. Stapleton was honestly great and heartbreaking. And Elizabeth Taylor acquitted herself quite well (as opposed to her Private Lives, which was embarrassing. Despite Burton being great fun.)

Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher. A highly mannered performance of an awful woman politician. And she looked like a clown in her bouffant wig.

Best Picture: Braveheart

Best Actor: John Wayne, Rami Malek, Joaquin Phoenix

Best Actress: Grace Kelly, Renee Z

Best Sup. Actor: Brad Pitt

Best Sup. Actress: Mira Sorvino, Renee Z

[quote] Yes, you're right, Hayes was brilliant and masterfully subtle. Jesus Christ, let it go. She stinks. She always stunk.

Oh ok opinionated old queen who saw The Little Foxes so long ago everyone in it is dead now.

Renee Zellweger. The second time. Judy must be rolling in her grave. I just don't get why they wanted to reward her for just an OK performance in a mediocre film.

The mouth breathing nitwit, Jennifer Hudson.

NOT R271 here, Just an impartial bystander observing that R274 is a little twat.

Laura Dern is one of the weakest in memory, she did nothing of note. In fact she was a bit OTT.

Pretty much every actor that has won in the past two years.

Malek - The Academy should be ashamed of itself. The worst of the bunch.

Colman - The role was not that challenging for her

King - she did absolutely nothing. This was a career win.

Ali - he stole Richard E. Grant's much deserved oscar.

Phoenix - too much effort; too little payoff

Zellweger - she only won because they never rewarded Judy Garland when she was alive. I still can't believe she's a two time winner.

Pitt - all he did was drive around LA and look handsome.

Dern - injustice that she won for reading a cringeworthy, over the top monologue

This year it appeared both Best Actor and Best Actress were off their titz on drugs, considering their rambling, nonsensical speeches.

Zellweger's second win stings because Theron, Ronan, and Johansson all outacted her. Even those who weren't nominated like Lupita, Mary Kay Place, Alfre Woodard, Elizabeth Moss all outacted her too.

"Oh ok opinionated old queen who saw The Little Foxes so long ago everyone in it is dead now."

R274 What a retarded comeback. Go learn yourself some zing, hon.

I've always liked Cliff Robertson, but his win for Charly isn't my favorite.

It should have gone to Peter O'Toole that year.

I love Renee's Judy win - great performance.

Cold Mountain - no, Renee's first Oscar wasn't deserved. But when I go look at the other nominees I have no idea who should have gotten it - REALLY WEAK YEAR for supporting.

(I hated House of Sand and Fog so no, not Shohreh Aghdashloo)

It’s funny that both of Renee’s wins are for weaker performances. Her win this year seemed to have more to do with how much we all like her than anything else.

r285 The Judy movie was shit. It was so full of inaccuracies. And no one cares about the last 2 years of her life, because we already know what she was doing.

I believe Renee Z. won for Judy for almost the same reason that Liza Minnelli won for Cabaret. It was Hollywood awarding Judy Garland in an tired attempt to get over their guilt for not awarding such a legendary talent. Granted I do think Liza gives a better performance and was in a better film than Renee but Liza should not have won over fellow nominees Cicely Tyson (Sounder) and Diana Ross (Lady Sings the Blues) who gave far superior performances. #BlackLivesMatter

R283 Either O’Toole or Alan Bates in “The fixer” (which I finally watched toda) or Alan Atkin in “The heart is a Lonely Hunter” (he won some critics awards, but I’ve learned hisASL is not very authentic) would have been better choices. Robertson was far from bad, but the script and direction didn’t help much. 11-year-old me would have wanted Ron Moody to win.

Frances McDormand. The second time. She was offensive, disgusting, and one-note.

I thought Margot Robbie was going to win that year for I, Tonya. I thought she was revelatory in that role.

Frances McD is nuts.