# Consolation Oscars **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 19, 2009, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consolation-oscars/521872 "2009-12-19T17:45:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consolation-oscars/521872/21 "2009-12-20T20:30:52Z")
Jessica Tandy, for \*Driving Miss Daisy. \*Though it was certainly deserved, it seemed like their last chance to give her an Oscar . . . the one award she hadn’t already won. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consolation-oscars/521872/22 "2009-12-20T21:09:48Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Elizabeth Taylor had been nominated three times and then gotten seriously ill (legend has it she damn near died) so she won for _Butterfield 8._ > > Now seriously, looking back on Elizabeth Taylor’s career, does anyone even remember _Butterfield 8_? I do! It’s a great, old-fashioned performance. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consolation-oscars/521872/23 "2009-12-20T23:55:19Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > I do! It’s a great, old-fashioned performance. Better than her performances in _Raintree Country, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof_ or _Suddenly Last Summer_? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consolation-oscars/521872/24 "2009-12-21T00:02:52Z")
Better than her performance in _Raintree County_, yes. Camille Paglia has written, “A cardinal film of my adolescence, _Butterfield 8_ imprinted me forever with its Babylonian vision of carnal woman.” ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consolation-oscars/521872/25 "2009-12-21T01:29:37Z")
Butterfield 8 huh? Well now I know what movie to rent and watch on Christmas, thanks 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consolation-oscars/521872/26 "2009-12-21T01:33:06Z")
I don’t know whether this counts or not, but surely all the Oscars won by _The Return of the King_ were for the trilogy as a whole, and not because that film was so much more Oscar-worthy than the other two. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consolation-oscars/521872/27 "2009-12-21T16:16:49Z")
It cannot be said that an Oscar is a “consolation” Oscar if the performance which wins it is worthy of winning, unless that performance won against a performance the same year which, in any other year would have been a hands-down, no-question-about-it winning performance. Thus, to assert that an Oscar is a “consolation” prize, you have to (IMHO) demonstrate one of two things: the performance was not really Oscar worthy, but won anyway, or the performance was Oscar worthy, but beat out a performance that in any other year was a hands-down winner. Otherwise, while sentiment may have played a part, it’s unfair to the winner to say that it was a consolation Oscar, when in fact they acted well enough to win, regardless of who they were. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/consolation-oscars/521872.md?page=1)