THINK ON THESE – The elusive Oscar

Finally, screen heartthrob Leonardo DiCaprio received the elusive Academy Award. The Revenant was his sixth nomination and many thought he would get it. And he did. He received his first Oscar nomination for a supporting role as a mentally challenged boy in the drama What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993). In 2004, he was recognized for playing Howard Hughes in The Aviator. In 2007, he got another Best Actor nomination for Blood Diamond. In 2014, he received two nominations: as Best Actor and producer of Wolf of Wall Street. While DiCaprio took the Oscar statuette, I was reminded of the late Paul Newman (yes, the blue-eyed actor who co-starred with Robert Redford in Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid and The Sting). Newman won his Oscar for his performance in The Color of Money (1986). It was his seventh nomination, having been nominated previously for 1958’s Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, 1961’s The Hustler, 1963’s Hud, 1967’s Cool Hand Luke, 1981’s Absence of Malice, and 1982’s The Verdict. Newman received two more nominations after winning the Oscar. In 1994, he got a Best Actor nomination for Nobody’s Fool and a Best Supporting Actor nomination for Road to Perdition (2002). In both nominations, he was defeated by Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump) and Chris Cooper (Adaptation), respectively. Then, there was Al Pacino. He took home the prestigious award on his eighth nomination: for Scent of a Woman (1993), which most observers think was not his great role ever. He was also nominated that year for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Glengarry Glenn Ross. Pacino also received nominations for his lead roles in 1974’s Serpico, 1975’s The Godfather Part II, 1976’s Dog Day Afternoon, and 1980’s … And Justice for All. He also received nominations for his supporting roles in 1973’s The Godfather and 1991’s Dick Tracy. At least, DiCaprio, Newman and Pacino won Oscar for their performances. But there were two equally great actors who were nominated several times but never received the Oscar until death caught up with them. First, there was British actor Richard Burton, the husband of London-born American actress Elizabeth Taylor (who received two Oscar awards). Burton was nominated six times for an Academy Award for Best Actor and once for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. His first nomination, for My Cousin Rachel (1952), was for Best Supporting Actor. His subsequent nominations all came in the Best Actor category. He was nominated as Best Actor for The Robe in 1954, but did not receive another nomination until 1965, for Becket, at which time he was one of the most famous actors in the world, due to his relationship with Elizabeth Taylor. Considered a favorite in the 1966 and 1967 contests for The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965) and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), he lost to Lee Marvin and Paul Scofield, respectively. His performance in Anne of the Thousand Days (1969) was bested by John Wayne in True Grit and his comeback performance in Equus (1977) was topped by Richard Dreyfuss in The Goodbye Girl. Irish actor Peter O’Toole, on the other hand, received eight Oscar nominations. In 1962, he got his first nomination as T.E. Lawrence in Lawrence of Arabia (he lost to Gregory Peck, who starred as lawyer Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird). Two years later, he got a nomination as King Henry II in Becket (but Rex Harrison got the Oscar for My Fair Lady). For the same role as King Henry II in The Lion in Winter (1968), O’Toole got another nomination but Cliff Robertson won the award for his touching performance in Charly. The following year, his role as Arthur Chipping in Goodbye, Mr. Chips earned him another nomination. In 1972, his performance in The Ruling Class was defeated by Marlon Brando, who was great for his lead role as mafia patriarch in The Godfather. Robert De Niro (Raging Bull) defeated his performance in The Stunt Man (1980) and his Alan Swann in My Favorite Year was no match for Ben Kingsley’s Gandhi. His last nomination was for Venus (2006), but it was the year when Forest Whitaker played the brutal Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland. Perhaps the most nominated actress who never took home the award was Deborah Kerr. She was nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Actress: Edward, My Son (1949), From Here to Eternity (1953), The King and I (1956), Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957), Separate Tables (1958) and The Sundowners (1960). She received one Academy Honorary Award for her career in 1994. Katharine Hepburn was the most Oscar awarded performer. She won four for her leading roles in 1993’s Morning Glory, 1967’s Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner?, 1968’s The Lion in Winter (where she shared the honor with Barbra Streisand who was equally great in Funny Girl), and 1981’s On Golden Pond. Hepburn was also nominated eight times: 1935’s Alice Adams, 1940’s The Philadelphia Story, 1942’s Woman of the Year, 1951’s The African Queen, 1955’s Summertime, 1956’s The Rainmaker, 1959’s Suddenly, Last Summer, and 196’2 Long Day’s Journey Into Night. But the most nominated performer is Meryl Streep. She received 19 nominations, winning three: as Best Supporting Actress in 1980’s Kramer Vs. Kramer and two Best Actress awards for 1983’s Sophie’s Choice and 2012’s The Iron Lady. Streep also received a nomination for her supporting roles in 1979’s The Deer Hunter, 2003’s Adaptation, and 2014’s Into the Woods. The rest of her nominations were for Best Actress: 1982’s The French Lieutenant’s Woman (which was exhibited at the Manila International Film Festival), 1984’s Silkwood, 1986’s Out of Africa, 1988’s Ironweed, 1989’s A Cry in the Dark, 1991’s Postcards from the Edge, 1996’s The Bridges of Madison County, 1999’s One True Thing, 2000’s Music of the Heart, 2007’s The Devil Wears Prada, 2009’s Doubt, 2010’s Julie and Julia, and 2013’s August: Osage County. With 12 Academy Award nominations, Jack Nicholson is the most nominated male actor. He has won the Academy Award for Best Actor twice, one for the drama One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975) and the other for the romantic comedy As Good as It Gets (1997). He also won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the comedy-drama Terms of Endearment (1983).