# Eight Best Actor Oscars for playing a musician... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 6, 2017, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eight-best-actor-oscars-for-playing-a-musician/800904 "2017-11-06T18:42:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eight-best-actor-oscars-for-playing-a-musician/800904/21 "2017-11-07T11:05:22Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > Hot dog: I think I have a wiener! Chiwetel Ejiofor for _12 Years A Slave_! Solomon Northrup, when he was free, was a violinist! > > :: pant pant:: Well, I was thinking, “Actor, scientist, president, fur trader, another actor, AIDS activist, or however you classify Ron Woodruff…Hey, what did Solomon Northrup do before, when he was free?” I haven’t seen 12YaS, but according to Wiki, his being a musician comes into the story a bit. So that must be it. Well, leaving aside that he didn’t win the Oscar. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eight-best-actor-oscars-for-playing-a-musician/800904/22 "2017-11-07T11:46:10Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > (Hey, there’s another trivia tidbit: how many people overall have won for playing royalty? And how many broken down by category?) Heck, the _first_ Best Actor Oscar went to Emil Jannings, in part for his performance as Grand Duke Sergius Alexander in _The Last Command._ Of course, that depends on whether or not one counts a Grand Duke as royalty rather than nobility. Plus Sergius Alexander was in exile and poverty, ten years after the Russian revolution. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eight-best-actor-oscars-for-playing-a-musician/800904/23 "2017-11-07T17:40:50Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Well, leaving aside that he didn’t win the Oscar. :smack: You know, I think I am just gonna go back to bed. 😉 Crimey crumbcake, I remember McConaughey winning the Oscar; I’d forgotten that was the 12YaS year. > [@Rilchiam](#): > > “Actor, scientist,” Aaaaand I misspoke here. The actor (Michael Keaton, _Birdman_), **lost** to the scientist (Eddie Redmayne, _The Theory of Everything_). Well, it does happen sometimes, Best Actor being in the Best Picture: Colin Firth, _The King’s Speech_, Jean Dujardin, (the other actor) _The Artist_. And to further cloud things, Ben Affleck did not get an acting nomination for _Argo_, but he was one of the producers. So he has an Oscar, just not for acting. Anyway, I’d forgotten the lousy timing for Keaton, with the consensus being that he’d earned an Oscar, but it wasn’t going to happen, what with Redmayne being unbeatable due to playing a) a real person who b) was disabled. So Keaton and Ejiofor’s movies won; they did not. P.S. **Bryan Ekers** , since I counted a duchess, I’d have to count a grand duke. So there’s one more! ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eight-best-actor-oscars-for-playing-a-musician/800904/24 "2017-11-07T17:43:10Z")
Rilchiam, do you remember which issue of EW the quote regarding the OP was in? ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eight-best-actor-oscars-for-playing-a-musician/800904/25 "2017-11-07T17:46:16Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > This might be a stretch, but according to the plot summaries Emil Jannings’ character in _The Way of All Flesh_, although a bank clerk, teaches his son to play the violin. The only lost Oscar-winning movie. Less than 5 minutes of this film are known to exist. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eight-best-actor-oscars-for-playing-a-musician/800904/26 "2017-11-07T17:56:37Z")
Warner Baxter was a singing cowboy in\*\*\* In Old Arizona…\*\*\*. but that’s a stretch. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eight-best-actor-oscars-for-playing-a-musician/800904/27 "2017-11-07T17:56:50Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > Rilchiam, do you remember which issue of EW the quote regarding the OP was in? Yes, February 3/10 of this year; the Oscar preview issue. In the subsection on Best Actor nominees, it’s in a sidebar. “4 total Affleck-family nominations – 15 Best Actor nominees who have also played superheroes – 8 Best Actor winners who played musicians.” I’m fairly certain they mean winning the Oscar for that specific performance. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eight-best-actor-oscars-for-playing-a-musician/800904/28 "2017-11-07T18:03:59Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Warner Baxter was a singing cowboy in\*\*\* In Old Arizona…\*\*\*. but that’s a stretch. The problem here is the bias against singing cowboys by the academy. How many have ever even been nominated? And here we are coming for their guns too. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eight-best-actor-oscars-for-playing-a-musician/800904/29 "2017-11-07T18:31:01Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > 8 Best Actor winners who played musicians." I’m fairly certain they mean winning the Oscar for that specific performance. I’m sure you’re correct. Surely there have been at least a few more Best Actor winners who played musicians in other movies. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eight-best-actor-oscars-for-playing-a-musician/800904/30 "2017-11-07T19:08:44Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > I’m fairly certain they mean winning the Oscar for that specific performance. On second thought, maybe they did mean in other performances. James Cagney played George M. Cohan in _Yankee Doodle Dandy_. > [@](#): > > George Michael Cohan (July 3, 1878[1] – November 5, 1942), known professionally as George M. Cohan, was an American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer and producer. > **[George M. Cohan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_M._Cohan)** > > George Michael Cohan (July 3, 1878 – November 5, 1942) was an American entertainer, playwright, composer, lyricist, actor, singer, dancer and theatrical producer. > Cohan began his career as a child, performing with his parents and sister in a vaudeville act known as "The Four Cohans". Beginning with Little Johnny Jones in 1904, he wrote, composed, produced, and appeared in more than three dozen Broadway musicals. Cohan wrote more than 50 shows and published more than 300 songs during his lifetime... Are singers generally considered musicians? Maybe EW did mean in other performances. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eight-best-actor-oscars-for-playing-a-musician/800904/31 "2017-11-07T19:18:09Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > Darn! Ninja’ed by mere moments! That’s what I was going to suggest. Sure, Father Chuck was a priest, but he also played piano, sang, and wrote songs. It’s been a while since I’ve seen this movie, but IIRC, a former girlfriend of Father Chuck shows up and she’s surprised he’s become a priest. I think she says something about his having been a musician. I know that she’s a singer in the film. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eight-best-actor-oscars-for-playing-a-musician/800904/32 "2017-11-07T20:35:04Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > On second thought, maybe they did mean in other performances. James Cagney played George M. Cohan in _Yankee Doodle Dandy_. Right, and he got Best Actor for it. **Dendarii Dame** , I’unno. Julie Andrews got Best Actress for _Mary Poppins_ so (allowing that the trivia tidbit was about actors, not actresses), the logic that says Crosby qualifies could also say she qualified. I don’t, though. Mary was a nanny who used her singing to get the children to behave (and to get their father to pull the stick out of his ass). But she also used magic for that purpose, and I wouldn’t say her character was a magician or a singer; she was a nanny who used music and magic in her work. So they may have meant Crosby, but I still say that a priest who uses music to reach his congregation (and who plays golf in his spare time) is not a musician (or a golfer). He’s a priest who sings and plays piano (and plays golf). At any rate, this is fun! Keep 'em coming, and I’ll let you know when/if I hear back from EW. (A thank-you-for-contacting us bounced back almost immediately. “For all other inquiries, we will do our best to respond in a timely manner.” Who knows when that will be.) ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eight-best-actor-oscars-for-playing-a-musician/800904/33 "2017-11-07T20:48:34Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > The only lost Oscar-winning movie. Less than 5 minutes of this film are known to exist. Not true–Ernst Lubitsch’s **The Patriot** (also with Emil Jannings) won a Writing Oscar and is also Lost. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eight-best-actor-oscars-for-playing-a-musician/800904/34 "2017-11-07T22:54:52Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > Right, and he got Best Actor for it. I know, I’m wondering if EW possibly isn’t counting James Cagney’s role as it’s one of a dancer/singer, which IME, is not typically thought of as a “musician.” Maybe EW meant Best Actor winners who played musicians, but not necessarily in the role that they won Best Actor for. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eight-best-actor-oscars-for-playing-a-musician/800904/35 "2017-11-07T23:38:18Z")
If you take out Cagney, that’s one less, bringing the count down to six. Anyway, Cohan, IRL and as played, was also a composer, and that’s sure as heck a musician. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2017, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eight-best-actor-oscars-for-playing-a-musician/800904/36 "2017-11-07T23:52:41Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > If you take out Cagney, that’s one less, bringing the count down to six. Which is why I’m bringing up the possibility that EW may have meant Best Actor winners who played musicians, but not necessarily in the role that they won Best Actor for. > [@](#): > > Anyway, Cohan, IRL and as played, was also a composer, and that’s sure as heck a musician. If I were naming Best Actor winners who played musicians, I wouldn’t include Cagney in _Yankee Doodle Dandy_. That may just be me, though. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eight-best-actor-oscars-for-playing-a-musician/800904/37 "2017-11-08T00:12:11Z")
> [@x-ray\_vision](#): > > If I were naming Best Actor winners who played musicians, I wouldn’t include Cagney in _Yankee Doodle Dandy_. That may just be me, though. Since that’s my mother’s all-time favorite movie, I saw it a lot of times growing up. Like, a _lot_ of times. Which is to say, _almost as if it were a religious ritual_. So when I say I’m wondering what the heck _else_ he could’ve done in that flick to qualify, realize that I’m not enjoying how there’s now a song stuck in my head. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eight-best-actor-oscars-for-playing-a-musician/800904/38 "2017-11-08T00:25:08Z")
…aaaaaand now another. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eight-best-actor-oscars-for-playing-a-musician/800904/39 "2017-11-08T00:26:58Z")
It can’t be for other films as there would be too many, starting with Forest Whitaker in “Bird,” Denzel Washington in “Mo Better Blues,” Sean Penn in “Sweet and Lowdown” and surely many more. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2017, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eight-best-actor-oscars-for-playing-a-musician/800904/40 "2017-11-08T00:30:59Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > It can’t be for other films as there would be too many, starting with Forest Whitaker in “Bird,” Denzel Washington in “Mo Better Blues,” Sean Penn in “Sweet and Lowdown” and surely many more. Okay, there goes that theory. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eight-best-actor-oscars-for-playing-a-musician/800904.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eight-best-actor-oscars-for-playing-a-musician/800904.md?page=3)