# First-time Oscar winners **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 26, 2006, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366 "2006-04-26T22:08:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mike\_ahndembroak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mike\_ahndembroak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mike_ahndembroak)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/21 "2006-04-27T02:44:02Z")
John houseman best supporting actor in the paper chase ---
**Author:** ![Acqua\_Minerale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f6c823/32.png) [@Acqua\_Minerale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acqua_Minerale)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/22 "2006-04-27T03:06:03Z")
He was in a couple things before Paper Chase including one of the before mentioned Welles shorts. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/23 "2006-04-27T03:08:35Z")
John Houseman had a small but pivotal role in _Seven Days in May_, nine years before _The Paper Chase_. There has also been a tie in the Best Actor category: Fredric March in _Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde_ tied with Wallace Beery in _The Champ_ in 1932. **Winning Debuts** Gale Sondergaard\* for _Anthony Adverse_ (1936) Katina Paxinou\* for _For Whom the Bell Tolls_ (1943) Mercedes McCambridge\* for _All the King’s Men_ (1949) Shirley Booth for _Come Back Little Sheba_ (1952) Eva Marie Saint\* for _On the Waterfront_ (1954) Jo Van Fleet\* for _East of Eden_ (1955) Barbra Streisand for _Funny Girl_ (1968) Tatum O’Neal\* for _Paper Moon_ (1973) Haing S. Ngor\* for _The Killing Fields_ (1984) Marlee Matlin for _Children of a Lesser God_ (1986) Geoffrey Rush for _Shine_ (1997) - Supporting roles. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/24 "2006-04-27T03:15:28Z")
I would hesitate to include the two short films that Welles directed on 16mm in the 1930s. I recently saw the first, _The Hearts of Age_, and it reminded me of movies I used to make with my Super 8 camera when I was a teenager. The other was made as a filmed prologue for a stage production of the comedy _Too Much Johnson_. ---
**Author:** ![Acqua\_Minerale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f6c823/32.png) [@Acqua\_Minerale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acqua_Minerale)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/25 "2006-04-27T03:19:51Z")
Rush was in some things before Shine. One thing I remember was a film version of a play he was in. It was basically just the play filmed one night, but it was a movie. ---
**Author:** ![Acqua\_Minerale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f6c823/32.png) [@Acqua\_Minerale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acqua_Minerale)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/26 "2006-04-27T03:22:37Z")
Looking on IMDB Rush was in a lot of stuff pre-Shine. > **[Geoffrey Rush - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001691/)** > > Geoffrey Rush, Actor: The King's Speech. Geoffrey Roy Rush was born on July 6, 1951, in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, to Merle (Bischof), a department store sales assistant, and Roy Baden Rush, an accountant for the Royal Australian Air Force.... ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/27 "2006-04-27T03:23:07Z")
[Kevin Costner’s](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000126/) debut directorial release was _Dances With Wolves_. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/28 "2006-04-27T03:27:28Z")
> [@Acqua Minerale](#): > > Brooks wrote The Critic. Not really. He ad libbed his part, but did not write a script. It also won an Oscar due to him. More (the writing awards are full of first-timers): Ben Afflick, Matt Damon: Best Original Screenplay for “Good Will Hunting” (their first screenplay). Pierre Boule: Shared Best Original Screenplay for “The Bridge on the River Kwai.” (even though he did no work on the screenplay). Mario Puzo: Shared Best Adapted Screenplay for “The Godfather.” William Saroyan: Best Adapted Screenplay for “The Human Comedy.” D.M. Marshman: Shared Best Original Screenplay for “Sunset Boulevard.” Steve Tesich: Best Original Screenplay for “Breaking Away.” And, of course, Robert Rich. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/29 "2006-04-27T03:29:45Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > I would hesitate to include the two short films that Welles directed on 16mm in the 1930s. I recently saw the first, _The Hearts of Age_, and it reminded me of movies I used to make with my Super 8 camera when I was a teenager. The other was made as a filmed prologue for a stage production of the comedy _Too Much Johnson_. One of the problems with the IMDB: it doesn’t differentiate between student work and an actual film. Forgot Emma Thompson: Best adapted screenplay for “Sense and Sensibility.” ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/30 "2006-04-27T05:03:19Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Um, what? It’s a Mitch Hedberg standup bit. I just happened to buy this CD on Tuesday. “Alcoholism is the only disease you can get yelled at for having. ‘Dammit Otto, you’re an alcoholic.’ ‘Dammit Otto, you have lupus.’ One of those doesn’t sound right.” ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366/31 "2006-04-27T09:38:29Z")
Although he had done television work before, Ben Kingsley won a Best Actor Oscar for his first time big screen role in “Gandhi.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/first-time-oscar-winners/354366.md?page=1)