# Least successful Best Actor/Actress winners **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 14, 2012, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-successful-best-actor-actress-winners/621868 "2012-05-14T10:21:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-successful-best-actor-actress-winners/621868/21 "2012-05-14T16:20:18Z")
Cliff Robertson didn’t have a huge film career after “Charly”. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-successful-best-actor-actress-winners/621868/22 "2012-05-14T16:25:47Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Peter Finch never made any more films after winning for _Network_. 😉 > > It’s hard to say that Al Pacino is not successful, but since winning his Oscar for _Scent Of A Woman_, has he made anything that wasn’t crap? _Heat_, _Donnie Brasco,_ _Insomnia_, _the Insider_ and arguably, the _Devil’s Advocate_. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-successful-best-actor-actress-winners/621868/23 "2012-05-14T19:57:05Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > Jessica Tandy - Except for _Fried Green Tomatoes_, a string of minor films after her Oscar. She won it at 80 years of age and died within 5 years having secured a nomination for best supporting actress for the above mentioned film. I’m not sure how many weighty lead roles for octogenarian women there are floating around Hollywood, but I think Jessica Tandy did the best she could in the time she had. Hey, what ever happened to that Heath Ledger fellow? Talk about resting on your laurels after winning the statue. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-successful-best-actor-actress-winners/621868/24 "2012-05-15T01:55:50Z")
I know it goes against what the OP asked for by naming a supporting actor but there is Harold Russell from “Best years of Our Lives”. But then he was told there were not many roles for an actor with no hands. > **[Harold Russell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Russell)** > > Harold John Avery Russell (January 14, 1914 – January 29, 2002) was an American World War II veteran and actor. After losing his hands during a demolition training accident during his military service, Russell was cast in the epic drama film The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), which earned him an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He was the first non-professional actor to win an Academy Award for acting and the first Oscar recipient to sell his award. > Harold Russell was born in North S... ---
**Author:** ![crypto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@crypto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crypto)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-successful-best-actor-actress-winners/621868/25 "2012-05-15T03:44:43Z")
Just talking about this the other day, and the two names that immediately came to mind were: Adrien Brody Halle Berry Neither have done much. I though Brody was ok in Hollywoodland, but that’s it. I saw him recently doing commercials for a razor or something. Berry, let’s face it, isn’t much of an actress. She’s eye candy. I didn’t expect much from her, but I didn’t expect her to fall off the map. I’ll through one more man and woman that don’t immediately come to mind. Sissy Spacek Kevin Spacey ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-successful-best-actor-actress-winners/621868/26 "2012-05-15T04:14:05Z")
Estelle Parsons won for _Bonnie & Clyde_ yet is probably far better known for her appearances on _Roseanne_. Between her Oscar win and that movie she did lots of episodic television guest appearances, which is kind of a comedown from the highest profile acting honor in the U.S… Mercedes Ruehl certainly isn’t that successful in movies or TV. Probably her highest profile thing since _Fisher King_ was a recurring role on _Frasier_ that didn’t last long and wasn’t that popular. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-successful-best-actor-actress-winners/621868/27 "2012-05-15T12:00:18Z")
> [@Zeldar](#): > > Without doing any research to support my guess, I would think the reverse list would be more impressive: “Which Actors/Actresses Have Done Their Best Work After Winning An Oscar?” I’m struggling to think of any! Fredric March can be added, he won for “Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” in 1932 and won again in 1946 for “Best Years of our Lives”. His most remembered role today is probably 1960s “Inherit the Wind”. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-successful-best-actor-actress-winners/621868/28 "2012-05-15T12:59:41Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > I didn’t expect much from her, but I didn’t expect her to fall off the map. Halle Berry hasn’t fallen off the map. She’s been in six Hollywood movies post-_Catwoman_ (seven if you count _Robots_) and has three more coming out in the next year and a half, including _Cloud Atlas_ with Tom Hanks. The problem I guess, is that the biggest two films she was in the last five years, _New Years Eve_ and _Perfect Stranger_, both tanked at the Box Office. Bruce Willis couldn’t even save _Perfect Stranger_ ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-successful-best-actor-actress-winners/621868/29 "2012-05-15T13:12:20Z")
> [@Enderw24](#): > > Hey, what ever happened to that Heath Ledger fellow? Talk about resting on your laurels after winning the statue. I don’t think he did win Best Actor, anyway. I think he won Best Supporting Actor. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-successful-best-actor-actress-winners/621868/30 "2012-05-15T17:16:20Z")
Shouldn’t there be some rules laid down for this thread? For example, I think any Best Actor or Best Actress winner who managed to get nominated and/or star in at least one hugely successful movie afterward should be automatically disqualified. Also, it isn’t fair to take actors and actresses who were past Social Security age when they won into serious consideration. ---
**Author:** ![Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c68b51/32.png) [@Ashley\_Pomeroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashley_Pomeroy)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-successful-best-actor-actress-winners/621868/31 "2012-05-15T18:21:48Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Jennifer Hudson. Best Supporting Actress for Dreamgirls. Now plugging Weight Watchers. To be fair, she has had a lot on her mind recently. Looking through the list of Best Actor winners, I’m almost tempted to pick Laurence Olivier. He won in 1948, and his career after that - although there several gems, and he never went poor - felt like a long, slow decline as he fell out of fashion. Started out as a titan of the acting profession, ended up as a relic of a bygone age. He was never sufficiently Hollywood to become a treasured old character veteran like Kurt Russell or Burt Lancaster, and in Britain he turned into a kind of comical figure who appeared in rubbish films for the money and insisted on being called “Larry”. Problem being that his stage performances were never properly filmed, and so people had nothing to look back on. But unlike Alec Guinness - who had a similar career arc - he had been hyped as the golden child of the acting profession when he was young. Perhaps he could have moved into direction, like Richard Attenborough, or Kenneth Branagh. Did Branagh do a good job with _Thor_? Does Hollywood rate him as a director? Or was he just a novelty choice? In fact Guinness won an Oscar, too, I’d almost forgotten that. Wikipedia’s section on Alec Guiness’ film career llooks like this: FILM CAREER - David Lean - _Star Wars_ In the future old people will remember him as the man who was originally in _Star Wars_ before being digitally replaced by a CGI model of Ewan McGregor. Looking over Wikipedia’s [list of Best Actor Academy Award winners](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Actor) is an eye-opener. Who the hell was Cliff Robertson? What on Earth was _Harry and Tonto_ (for which Art Carney beat Albert Finney, Dustin Hoffman, Jack Nicholson, and Al Pacino to win the 1974 Best Actor Oscar)? There’s a wodge of 80s Oscar bait films that I can barely remember - _Ironweed_, _Children of a Lesser God_, _Reuben, Rueben_. Why did _Prizzi’s Honor_ get seven nominations? Oh God, I remember when Jeremy Irons was the great white hope of British acting. With his dashing good looks and fearless performances. “Let their blood RAIN!!! from the sky!!!”, indeed. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-successful-best-actor-actress-winners/621868/32 "2012-05-15T18:55:30Z")
Cliff Robertson was _big_, so big he toppled [Dave Begelman](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Begelman)’s empire at Columbia Pictures. 😉 He also played Peter Parker’s uncle in the latest _Spider Man_ movies. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-successful-best-actor-actress-winners/621868/33 "2012-05-15T19:07:32Z")
I think the thing is that a lot of Oscar winners “cash in” on their win. They win the award for a prestigious role. But the prestige of winning gets them offers for commercial roles, which many of them accept. And then those commercials roles diminish their prestige. Look at the OP’s examples, Adrien Brody and Halle Berry. Brody won for _The Pianist_ - and he followed it up with a M. Night Shyamalan thriller, _The Village_. Berry won for _Monster’s Ball_ - and she followed it up with a James Bond movie, _Die Another Day_. The problem is that it doesn’t take too many movies like _Catwoman_ or _King Kong_ to wipe out the prestige of an Oscar win. These people should have thought a little more long-term and worked on cementing their reputation as a serious actor rather than using it up. Look at Meryl Streep as a counter-example. She won her first Oscar for _Kramer vs Kramer_. But she didn’t immediately turn around and do some crowd-pleasing thriller or romantic comedy. Her follow-up role was _The French Lieutenant’s Woman_. (Okay, she followed that up with a forgettable thriller called _Still of the Night_. But she got back on track after that with _Sophie’s Choice_ and _Silkwood_.) ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2012, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-successful-best-actor-actress-winners/621868/34 "2012-05-15T19:11:29Z")
She certainly hasn’t disappeared, but Faye Dunaway has never been as good or as successful since winning her Oscar for _ **Network.** _ ---
**Author:** ![ScarletNumber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@ScarletNumber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScarletNumber)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-successful-best-actor-actress-winners/621868/35 "2012-07-10T15:24:11Z")
George Chakiris fell off of the face of the Earth after West Side Story. Joel Grey went back to the stage after Cabaret. Timothy Hutton. ---
**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:** [July 10, 2012, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-successful-best-actor-actress-winners/621868/36 "2012-07-10T15:43:39Z")
Hattie McDaniel (supporting). In all fairness, how many roles were available for her back then? ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-successful-best-actor-actress-winners/621868/37 "2012-07-10T16:47:18Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Hattie McDaniel (supporting). In all fairness, how many roles were available for her back then? “Mister Kane, ah done finished the moppin’. Oh, an’ I cleaned up that ol’ sled o’ yours-- ah gots ta scrubbin’ an’ ah managed to polish that scribblin’ right offen it!” ---
**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-successful-best-actor-actress-winners/621868/38 "2012-07-10T22:12:20Z")
The thread got me to wondering about ways to quantify and so I played with some some and what follows isn’t particularly meaningful but why the hell not. I took all fo the Best Actor winners (will do Actresses next if I don’t get bored) between 1960 (dying studio system) and 2002 (far enough back that the winner has had time for a post-win career to take shape. Then looked at how many more movies they made, what the average IMDb rating of those movies is (biased data on top of meaninglessly selected data) and how many particualrly good movies (rated above 7 at IMDB or particularly bad (below 5) they had. Here’s how they shake out. \*\*Post Win Career As Defined by Continued Academy Recognition (Any Acting Category) \*\* Jack Nicholson (Post Terms of Endearment) - 2 future wins, 7 future nominations Dustin Hofman (Kramer vs. Kramer) - 1 future win, 3 future nominations Daniel Day-Lewis (My Left Foot) - 1 future win, 3 future nominations Tom Hanks (Philadelphia) - 1 futurre win, 3 future nominations Gene Hackman (The French Connection) - 1 future win, 2 future nominations Future Nominations Only Ben Kinglsey - 3 William Hurt - 3 Anthony Hopkins - 3 Tom Hanks - 2 Geoffrey Rush - 2 Burt Lancaster - 2 Maximillian Schell - 2 Marlon Brando - 2 Jon Voight - 2 Robert De Niro - 2 Robert Duvall - 2 Paul Newman - 2 Paul Scofield - 1 George C. Scott - 1 Richard Dreyfuss - 1 Dustin Hoffman (Rain Man) - 1 Nicolas Cage - 1 Jack Nicholson (As Good as It Gets) - 1 No future nominations after win: Gregory Peck, Sidney Poitier, Rex Harrison, Lee Marvin, Rod Steiger, Cliff Robertson, John Wayne, Art Carney, Peter Finch, Henry Fonda, F. Murray Abraham, Michael Douglas, Jeremy Irons, Al Pacino, Roberto Benigni, Kevin Spacey, Denzel Washington, Adrien Brody. \*\*Post Win Career As Defined by Number of Movies Made After Win (Bold = Dead) \*\* Gene Hackman - 65 Robert De Niro - 64 \*\*Rod Steiger - 59 \*\*Ben Kinglsey - 54 William Hurt - 54 Robert Duvall - 46 Anthony Hopkins - 45 Maximillian Schell - 45 Richard Dreyfuss - 41 \*\*Burt Lancaster - 40 \*\*F. Murray Abraham - 40 Nicolas Cage - 38 Jack Nicholson (Cuckoo’s Nest) - 36 \*\*Cliff Robertson - 36 \*\*Dustin Hoffman (Kramer vs. Kramer) - 35 Jon Voight - 35 Geoffrey Rush - 34 Dustin Hoffman (Rain Man) - 30 Jeremy Irons - 30 Tom Hanks (Philadelphia) - 28 Michael Douglas - 27 \*\*Jack Lemmon - 27 \*\*Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump) - 26 Kevin Spacey - 25 Sidney Poitier - 24 \*\*George C. Scott - 23 Gregory Peck - 22 Lee Marvin - 22 \*\*Al Pacino - 21 \*\*Art Carney - 19 \*\*Adrien Brody - 19 \*\*Marlon Brando - 13 \*\*Denzel Washington - 13 \*\*Paul Scofield - 12 \*\*Russell Crowe - 12 \*\*Paul Newman - 11 Rex Harrison - 11 John Wayne - 11 \*\*Daniel Day-Lewis - 10 Jack Nicholson (As Good as It Gets) - 7 Roberto Benigni - 5 \*\*Peter Finch - 0 Peter Fonda - 0 \*\* \*\*Post Win Career As Defined by Average IMDb Rating for Post-Win Movies \*\* Tom Hanks (Philadelphia) - 7.19 Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump) - 7.151 Russell Crowe - 7.143 Denzel Washington - 7.046 Daniel Day-Lewis - 6.871 Jack Nicholson (As Good as It Gets) - 6.871 Burt Lancaster - 6.824 Geoffrey Rush - 6.765 Paul Scofield - 6.722 Paul Newman - 6.646 Jack Nicholson (Cuckoo’s Nest) - 6.644 Kevin Spacey - 6.635 Robert De Niro - 6.582 Al Pacino - 6.578 Gregory Peck - 6.569 Sidney Poitier - 6.548 John Wayne - 6.545 Lee Marvin - 6.539 Jack Lemmon - 6.537 Dustin Hoffman (Rain Man) - 6.532 Dustin Hoffman (Kramer vs. Kramer) - 6.526 Adrien Brody - 6.512 Jeremy Irons - 6.448 Anthony Hopkins - 6.399 Michael Douglas - 6.386 Gene Hackman - 6.377 William Hurt - 6.364 Robert Duvall - 6.338 Maximillian Schell - 6.262 Marlon Brando - 6.262 Ben Kingsley - 6.249 George C. Scott - 6.215 Nicolas Cage - 6.209 Richard Dreyfuss - 6.205 Rex Harrison - 6.004 Jon Voight - 5.964 Cliff Robertson - 5.592 Art Carney - 5.891 Roberto Benigni - 5.886 F. Murray Abraham - 5.793 Rod Steiger - 4.929 Henry Fonda - N/A Peter Finch - N/A **Top 10 Post-Win Careers Based on % of Future Films Rated \> 7** 1. Russell Crowe - 66.67% 2. Daniel Day-Lewis - 60.00% 3. Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump) - 57.69% 4. Tom Hanks (Philadelphia) - 57.14% 5. Denzel Washington - 46.15% 6. Al Pacino - 42.86% 7. Geoffrey Rush - 41.18% 8. Burt Lancaster - 37.50% 9. Paul Newman - 36.36% 10. Lee Marvin - 36.36% **Bottom 10 Post-Win Careers Based on % of Future Films Rated \< 5** 1. Art Carney - 26.32% 2. Marlon Brando - 23.08% 3. Roberto Benigni - 20.00% 4. Jon Voight - 17.14% 5. Ben Kinglsey - 16.67% 6. F. Murray Abraham - 15.00% 7. Cliff Robertson - 13.89% 8. Rod Steiger - 10.17% 9. Maximillian Schell - 8.89% 10. Richard Dreyfuss - 7.32% ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2012, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-successful-best-actor-actress-winners/621868/39 "2012-07-10T23:25:43Z")
In Ronald Coleman’s defense, he died in 58 of acute emphysema - he probably wasn’t really able to do much in the last couple years before he actually died. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-successful-best-actor-actress-winners/621868.md?page=1)