# Most Best Picture appearances **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 23, 2014, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-best-picture-appearances/679563 "2014-01-23T22:50:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2014, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-best-picture-appearances/679563/1 "2014-01-23T22:50:38Z")
What actor appeared, as a significant character, in the most BP nominated films? I ask because Jennifer Lawrence was in American Hustle, after the movie she won BA for. (Blanking on its name) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2014, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-best-picture-appearances/679563/2 "2014-01-23T23:06:12Z")
I’ve mentioned before that John Cazale appeared in four Hollywood motion pictures during his short and illustrious career. Godfather I and II (Fredo), Dog Day Afternoon and The Deer Hunter. All four were won Best Picture. He was also married to his girlfriend just before he died, some chick he thought was the best actress the world had ever seen. Her name was Meryl Streep. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2014, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-best-picture-appearances/679563/3 "2014-01-23T23:11:35Z")
I wondered is someone topped Cazale. Expanding to nominated, who leads? ---
**Author:** ![Rollo\_Tomasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Rollo\_Tomasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rollo_Tomasi)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2014, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-best-picture-appearances/679563/4 "2014-01-23T23:13:21Z")
It appears to be a fellow by the name of [Franklyn Farnum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_actors_who_have_appeared_in_multiple_Best_Picture_Academy_Award_winners), with seven Best Picture appearances. Note that several of the actors with the most appearances worked as extras. You’d probably have to go down to three or fewer appearances to find actors who are widely known. ETA: Cazale only appeared in three BP winners. **Dog Day Afternoon** didn’t win. But all six movies in which he appeared were nominated for Best Picture, which is surely some kind of record. ---
**Author:** ![Rollo\_Tomasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Rollo\_Tomasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rollo_Tomasi)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2014, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-best-picture-appearances/679563/5 "2014-01-23T23:18:54Z")
> [@etv78](#): > > I wondered is someone topped Cazale. Expanding to nominated, who leads? [Bess Flowers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bess_Flowers). ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2014, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-best-picture-appearances/679563/6 "2014-01-23T23:25:46Z")
You missed the “significant role” part of my OP. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2014, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-best-picture-appearances/679563/7 "2014-01-23T23:53:26Z")
Daniel Day Lewis has been in 7 Best Picture Nominated movies. He was the lead in four: _Lincoln, My Left Foot, There Will Be Blood, In the Name of the Father_. Note these aren’t just movies that he was the lead but the movie itself was basically about that person he portrayed. He was prominent in _Gangs of New York_ and then he was also in _Gandhi_ and _A Room with a View_ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-best-picture-appearances/679563/8 "2014-01-24T00:07:57Z")
> [@The\_Second\_Stone](#): > > I’ve mentioned before that John Cazale appeared in four Hollywood motion pictures during his short and illustrious career. Godfather I and II (Fredo), Dog Day Afternoon and The Deer Hunter. All four were won Best Picture. He was also married to his girlfriend just before he died, some chick he thought was the best actress the world had ever seen. Her name was Meryl Streep. [nitpick]There was no movie titled Godfather I Cazale was also in _The Conversation_ He and Streep never married.[/nitpick] ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-best-picture-appearances/679563/9 "2014-01-24T00:39:07Z")
Jack Nicholson has been in 10: Five Easy Pieces Chinatown One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (Won) Reds Terms Of Endearment (Won) Prizzi’s Honor Broadcast News A Few Good Men As Good As It gets The Departed (Won) ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-best-picture-appearances/679563/10 "2014-01-24T01:18:10Z")
Leonardo DiCaprio already has seven: Titanic Gangs of New York The Aviator The Departed Inception Django Unchained The Wolf of Wall Street ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-best-picture-appearances/679563/11 "2014-01-24T01:36:42Z")
Looks like Robert DeNiro has 9: The Godfather: Part II Taxi Driver The Deer Hunter Raging Bull The Mission The Untouchables Goodfellas Awakenings Silver Linings Playbook He also has an uncredited role in American Hustle, but that doesn’t meet the OP’s criteria. ---
**Author:** ![Bellhorn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@Bellhorn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bellhorn)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-best-picture-appearances/679563/12 "2014-01-24T02:44:58Z")
I thought **Spencer Tracy** would win this in a walk, but he only has **9** : Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner How the West Was Won Judgement at Nuremberg Father of the Bride Boys Town Test Pilot Captain’s Courageous San Francisco Libeled Lady ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-best-picture-appearances/679563/13 "2014-01-24T03:20:04Z")
Franklyn Farnum was in 17. Ward Bond was in 11. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-best-picture-appearances/679563/14 "2014-01-24T19:01:04Z")
> [@Bellhorn](#): > > I thought **Spencer Tracy** would win this in a walk, but he only has **9** : > > Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner > How the West Was Won > Judgement at Nuremberg > Father of the Bride > Boys Town > Test Pilot > Captain’s Courageous > San Francisco > Libeled Lady Actually, he and Liz Taylor are tied for the record of most Best Picture appearances without any of the films actually winning. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-best-picture-appearances/679563/15 "2014-01-24T19:06:16Z")
Other potential candidates (I haven’t done the research): Robert Duvall, Al Pacino, Gene Hackman ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-best-picture-appearances/679563/16 "2014-01-24T19:44:32Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > Other potential candidates (I haven’t done the research): Robert Duvall, Al Pacino, Gene Hackman And Dustin Hoffman, who has been in a few Best Picture nominees, was roommates with Duvall and Hackman when they were starting out. Wikipedia: > [@](#): > > A 2004 article in Vanity Fair described how Hoffman, Hackman and Robert Duvall were all struggling California born actors and close friends, sharing apartments in various two-person combinations while all three lived in New York City in the early 1960s.[16] [17] The three roommates have since earned eighteen Academy Award nominations, with five wins. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-best-picture-appearances/679563/17 "2014-01-24T20:06:33Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](#): > > Franklyn Farnum was in 17. Ward Bond was in 11. Bond actually has 13. I’ll have to go into Wiki to change it (they’re wrong): \*Arrowsmith Lady for a Day It Happened One Night Dead End You Can’t Take it with You Gone with the Wind The Grapes of Wrath The Long Voyage Home The Maltese Falcon Sergeant York It’s a Wonderful Life The Quiet Man Mister Roberts \* The problem I have with Farnum & Flowers as answers is that virtually all their appearances were uncredited. At least with Bond, he may not have had “major” roles in all of the above (although certainly in quite a few of them), but he was usually credited, too, which makes him, for me, the most satisfactory answer to this question. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-best-picture-appearances/679563/18 "2014-01-24T20:10:10Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > Looks like Robert DeNiro has 9: > > The Godfather: Part II > Taxi Driver > The Deer Hunter > Raging Bull > The Mission > The Untouchables > Goodfellas > Awakenings > Silver Linings Playbook > > He also has an uncredited role in American Hustle, but that doesn’t meet the OP’s criteria. _The Untouchables_ was not a Best Picture nominee. DeNiro has 9 with _Hustle_ (which, while not a lead role, is still a significant one; it’s not just a cameo) ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2014, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-best-picture-appearances/679563/19 "2014-01-24T20:14:16Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > Other potential candidates (I haven’t done the research): Robert Duvall, Al Pacino, Gene Hackman Duvall has 8, Hackman has 6, Hoffman has 8 ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2014, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-best-picture-appearances/679563/20 "2014-01-26T01:15:49Z")
> [@Morbo](#): > > Jack Nicholson has been in 10: > > Five Easy Pieces > Chinatown > One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (Won) > Reds > Terms Of Endearment (Won) > Prizzi’s Honor > Broadcast News > A Few Good Men > As Good As It gets > The Departed (Won) Looks like I’ll have to handle the truth that my answer is Nicholson. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-best-picture-appearances/679563.md?page=2)