1968 Academy Awards® Winners and History Romeo and Juliet (1968, UK/It.) Actor: CLIFF ROBERTSON in "Charly", Alan Arkin in "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter", Alan Bates in "The Fixer", Ron Moody in "Oliver!", Peter O'Toole in "The Lion in Winter" Actress: KATHARINE HEPBURN in "The Lion in Winter" and BARBRA STREISAND in "Funny Girl" (tie), Patricia Neal in "The Subject Was Roses", Vanessa Redgrave in "Isadora", Joanne Woodward in "Rachel, Rachel" Supporting Actor: JACK ALBERTSON in "The Subject Was Roses", Seymour Cassel in "Faces", Daniel Massey in "Star!", Jack Wild in "Oliver!", Gene Wilder in "The Producers" Supporting Actress: RUTH GORDON in "Rosemary's Baby" , Lynn Carlin in "Faces", Sondra Locke in "The Heart is a Lonely Hunter", Kay Medford in "Funny Girl", Estelle Parsons in "Rachel, Rachel" Director: SIR CAROL REED for "Oliver!", Anthony Harvey for "The Lion in Winter", Stanley Kubrick for

 "2001: A Space Odyssey" , Gillo Pontecorvo for "The Battle of Algiers", Franco Zeffirelli for "Romeo and Juliet" This year was the first in which the telecast on television was beamed worldwide - to 37 nations.

(By the mid-1990s, the show would be telecast to over 100 countries.) It was also an astonishing year when Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist was made into a big-budget musical film version, Oliver! by director Sir Carol Reed and the bloated musical won the Best Picture award without winning any other acting awards. The two front-runners for the Best Picture award, The Lion in Winter and Funny Girl, apparently canceled each other out, and handed the top award to the major upset winner Oliver! It held two other distinctions: the first film with an MPAA rating to win Best Picture to date, the first - and only - G-rated film to win Best Picture (although some pre-1968 Best Picture winners were rated G when re-released to theaters after 1968) The American-financed British film was about an innocent, nine year-old hungry, runaway orphan in 19th century London who must join a gang of young lowlife pickpockets. From its eleven nominations, the film won only five awards (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Musical Score, Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, and Best Sound) and a sixth Honorary Technical Award for Onna White's choreography.

The two musicals, Oliver! and Funny Girl (a superior musical), garnered 19 nominations between them. [The Academy had also previously honored only one other musical film with this kind of award - Jerome Robbins for West Side Story (1961) .

This was the last Best Picture win for a musical until 34 years later, when Rob Marshall's Chicago (2002) won the top prize.] Its competition consisted of three costume films with period sets: another musical genre competitor, William Wyler's musical debut of the rising career of comedian Fanny Brice to the Ziegfeld Follies, Funny Girl (with eight nominations and one win - Best Actress (tie)), featuring Barbra Streisand in her film debut - director Franco Zeffirelli's superb version of Romeo and Juliet (1968) (with four nominations and two well-deserved awards for Cinematography and Best Costume Design) featuring two young teenaged newcomers - un-nominated Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting in the roles of the star-crossed lovers director Anthony Harvey's serious historical film from James Goldman's Broadway play regarding aging medieval King Henry II and his estranged wife Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine on Christmas Day 1183 in England's Chinon Castle in The Lion in Winter (with seven nominations and three wins - Best Actress (tie), Best Screenplay, and Best Score) The fifth Best Picture nominee was the small, less splashy psychological drama or "women's picture," Paul Newman

's directorial debut film in an independent production, Rachel, Rachel, with his wife Joanne Woodward in the lead role as a Connecticut small-town sexually-repressed schoolteacher/spinster.

Two directors were denied Best Director nominations (even though they had Best Picture nominations) - Paul Newman for Rachel, Rachel, and accomplished director William Wyler for Funny Girl. They were replaced by Stanley Kubrick for 2001: A Space Odyssey (with four nominations and only one win - Best Special Visual Effects, the only Oscar won by Kubrick in his entire career!) about a mysterious black monolith and a space trip to Jupiter from Arthur C. Clarke's novel The Sentinel, and Gillo Pontecorvo for the serious documentary-style film about guerrilla war between Algerian revolutionaries and the French in The Battle of Algiers. [The neo-realistic foreign film had already been nominated in 1966 for Best Foreign Language Film, and won the Best Film award at the 1966 Venice Film Festival.] The Best Director Oscar went to British film director Carol Reed (with his sole Oscar win) for Oliver! [Reed was better known for his great films of the late 1940s, but never won for any of them, so maybe the Academy was making amends for its historical oversights.

Reed's films included: Odd Man Out (1947) (with only one nomination for Best Film Editing) and his Best Director-nominated The Third Man (1949) , considered in the 1950 awards. He was also nominated as Best Director for The Fallen Idol (1949). His witty political satire Our Man in Havana (1960) lacked nominations of any kind.] One of the biggest surprises of the year (and Oscar history) was Cliff Robertson's (with his sole career nomination - and only Oscar) Oscar win in the Best Actor category for his role in the profound 'sleeper' film, Charly (the film's sole nomination) - adapted from a short story titled Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes. The award-winning actor portrayed Charly Gordon - a mentally-retarded, thirty year-old bakery worker who was suddenly (but temporarily) transformed (as in the Pygmalion stories) into a genius by radical, experimental brain surgery and then tragically regressed.

The year's Best Actor award had appeared as a three-way race between Alan Bates, Alan Arkin, and Peter O'Toole (who should have won): Alan Bates (with his sole career nomination) was recognized for his role as Yakov Bok - an innocently-imprisoned Jewish peasant/handyman and victim of anti-Semitism when accused of a child murder in an adaptation of a Bernard Malamud novel by director John Frankenheimer, The Fixer (the film's sole nomination). [Bates had starred in such well known films as Zorba the Greek (1964), Georgy Girl (1966), King of Hearts (1966), and Women in Love (1970).] Alan Arkin (with his second unsuccessful nomination) was deserving for his role as Singer - a deaf-mute in director Robert Ellis Miller's The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (with two nominations and no wins) Peter O'Toole (with his third of eight career nominations) lost as King Henry II of England in The Lion in Winter.

[O'Toole's nomination gave him the distinction of being the second performer to receive nominations for playing the same character in two different films (his other nominated film where he played Henry II was Becket (1964)). The first actor to do so was Bing Crosby as Father O'Malley in Going My Way (1944) and The Bells of St. Mary's (1945).] Ron Moody (with his sole nomination) was also nominated for Best Actor as criminal gang leader Fagin in Oliver! for the role he originally created on the London stage The greatest shock of the year was that two actresses in the Best Actress category won the award with an unprecedented exact tie - the only one in the Best Actress category in Academy history! [There had been a similar tie in the Best Actor category in 1931/2 between Fredric March (for Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931/2)) and Wallace Beery (for The Champ (1931/2)), but it was a nominal tie.

Beery was unofficially one vote short of the vote for March.] The winners to share the Oscar were: 26 year-old Barbra Streisand in her film debut (in a role she had perfected on Broadway in 1964, that opens with "Hello, gorgeous") as the vaudeville comedienne queen Fanny Brice in Funny Girl, who drifts apart from husband/gambler Nicky Arnstein (miscast co-star Omar Sharif) due to her success. Streisand shared similar humble origins with the famed Follies star Katharine Hepburn in her monumental role as the witty, strong-willed, aging Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter, who battles with co-star Peter O'Toole's King Henry II over the succession of Richard I (Anthony Hopkins). Her nomination (her eleventh of twelve career nominations) was a record-breaker in itself - it was the highest number of nominations ever recorded up to that time in the Academy's history.

Hepburn's win was also a record for Oscar winners - it was Hepburn's third Best Actress Oscar - she had just won her second Oscar the year before for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) and had won earlier for Morning Glory (1932/3). She became the first person to win three Academy Awards in either the Best Actor or Best Actress categories. Her total of three Oscar wins tied her with Walter Brennan (who also had three Oscar wins - all Best Supporting Actor awards - that were given to him in 1936, 1938, and 1940).

[Hepburn would win her fourth and final Oscar thirteen years later for On Golden Pond (1981).] The other three Best Actress nominees were: Vanessa Redgrave (with her second of six career nominations) as Isadora Duncan - the creative, innovative dancer in the title role of director Karel Reisz's biopic Isadora (the film's sole nomination) Joanne Woodward (with her second of four career nominations) as Rachel Cameron - a lonely, middle-aged Connecticut spinster with a domineering mother in Rachel, Rachel Patricia Neal (with her second nomination) as Nettie Cleary (mother of returning WWII veteran Martin Sheen), in a film adaptation of Frank Gilroy's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1964 play/drama about a family's marital struggles, The Subject Was Roses (with two nominations and one win - Best Supporting Actor) - it was a comeback role for Neal, who had suffered a debilitating stroke a few years earlier In the Best Supporting Actor category, Jack Albertson (with his sole career nomination) won as Patricia Neal's frustrated husband Jack Cleary, the father of returning World War II veteran Timmy (Martin Sheen) in The Subject Was Roses.

He was reprising his role (as was Sheen) from the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1964 play. The other four Best Supporting Actor competitors were: Seymour Cassel (with his sole career nomination) as Chet in John Cassavetes' first film - an independent, improvisatory piece of cinema, Faces Daniel Massey (with his sole nomination) as Noel Coward in director Robert Wise's $12 million box-office failure Star! (with seven nominations and no wins) - the biopic of musical comedy performer Gertrude Lawrence fifteen year-old Jack Wild (with his sole nomination) as the Artful Dodger in Oliver!

Gene Wilder (with his first nomination) in his star-making role as meek accountant Leo Bloom who fails to produce a Broadway flop with co-conspirator Zero Mostel in writer/director Mel Brooks' The Producers (with two nominations and one win - Mel Brooks won an Oscar for Best Story and Screenplay for the film - his first!) Aging, seventy-two year-old versatile actress Ruth Gordon (with her second and last career nomination - and her sole Oscar win) took the Best Supporting Actress award for her eccentric role as Minnie Castevet, one of Rosemary's eccentric, devil-worshipping, next-door neighbors who promotes Mia Farrow's delivery of Satan's son in director Roman Polanski's first American film, Rosemary's Baby (with two nominations and one win - Best Supporting Actress).

The other four Best Supporting Actress nominees were: Lynn Carlin (with her sole nomination) as Maria Forst in Faces twenty-one year-old Sondra Locke (with her first nomination in her screen debut) as Mick Kelly (Alan Arkin's music-loving friend) in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter Key Medford (with her sole nomination) reprising her stage role as Fanny Brice's mother Rose Brice in Funny Girl and Estelle Parsons (with her second consecutive nomination) as spinster schoolteacher Calla Mackie (Joanne Woodward's female friend) in Rachel, Rachel The Best Foreign Film was Sergei Bondarchuk's 7 and a half hour epic War and Peace (aka Voyna i Mir) - originally, it lasted 507 minutes until being trimmed down for American audiences at nearly seven hours. Its award made it the longest film to ever win an Oscar. [The film was parodied in Woody Allen's Love and Death (1975).] Oscar Snubs and Omissions: The films that didn't receive major nominations in 1968 are now considered the films that uniquely defined their times.

For example, writer/director Stanley Kubrick's great revolutionary science fiction masterpiece, 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) was not nominated for Best Picture and received only one award - Best Special Visual Effects - from its four nominations (other nominations were Best Original Story and Screenplay, Best Art Direction/Set Decoration, and Best Director!). The Academy members presumably didn't recognize or realize the outstandingly superior, too-believable makeup in the opening scenes of 2001, that included both human actors with life-like masks and infant chimpanzees! Other films slighted in the Best Picture category this year included: Roman Polanski's scary horror film Rosemary's Baby (without an acting nomination for Mia Farrow as the title character, trusting New York housewife Rosemary Woodhouse who became the unwitting mother of Satan) the Russian film War and Peace (it won Best Foreign Language Film) Richard Lester's off-beat cult film Petulia (with no nominations), with George C.

Scott as divorced surgeon Archie Bollen and Julie Christie as Petulia Danner maverick director John Cassavetes' cinema verite Faces Peter Bogdanovich's debut film, a crime thriller titled Targets (with no nominations) Planet of the Apes (with only two nominations: Best Costume Design and Jerry Goldsmith's Best Score), without a nomination for Michael Wilson and Rod Serling's screenplay; it was given a Special Honorary Oscar for John Chambers' ground-breaking, outstanding makeup (there was no Best Makeup category until 1981) The Producers (with two nominations: a win for Mel Brooks' Best Original Screenplay, and a nod for Best Supporting Actor Gene Wilder) The Odd Couple (with only two nominations: Neil Simon's Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Film Editing), without nominations for Walter Matthau as sloppy sportswriter Oscar Madison and Jack Lemmon as neat-freak Felix Unger The title roles in two cop films were un-nominated: Steve McQueen as a San Francisco homicide detective in Peter Yates' Bullitt, and Richard Widmark as Detective Daniel Madigan in Don Siegel's Madigan.

And Tuesday Weld's performance was likewise un-nominated - as a pretty, calculating, amoral killer Sue Ann Stepanek in Noel Black's low-budget black comedy-thriller Pretty Poison (with no nominations), with co-stars Anthony Perkins as an unstable, recently paroled lumber company worker, and Beverly Garland as her strict mother. Eli Wallach was also unrecognized for his performance as Tuco - a Mexican bandit in Sergio Leone's definitive, violent 'spaghetti' Western The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (with no nominations). The memorable musical score by Ennio Morricone was also bypassed. Finally, Nino Rota's recognizable and popular score for Romeo and Juliet was also not nominated. And there was no nomination for Zero Mostel's Max Bialystock (arguably his best-known role) in The Producers. Barbra Streisand - Awards - IMDb Barbra Streisand Showing all 43 wins and 44 nominations Academy Awards, USA Dwight Hemion (director for television) Outstanding Made for Television Movie For episode on 6 October 1963.

BAFTA Awards Board of the Governors Award ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards Tied with Mia Farrow for Rosemary's Baby (1968). Daytime Emmy Awards Female Star of the Year Grammy Awards Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album For the album "Partners." Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album For the album "What Matters Most." Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album For the album "Love Is the Answer." To the best new director of a foreign film. Nominated Robert John Lange (music and lyrics by) For the song "I Finally Found Someone". People's Choice Awards, USA Star on the Walk of Fame Motion Picture On 17 December 1976. At 6925 Hollywood Blvd. Women Film Critics Circle Awards Won Dorothy Arzner Special Recognition When Barbra Streisand received the award she presented 30 Dorothy Arzner awards to her contemporary... More When Barbra Streisand received the award she presented 30 Dorothy Arzner awards to her contemporary female directors.

Academy Awards Best Actress Blue Jasmine (2013) The Only Best Actress Tie: In the Best Actress category, an unusual tie (the only occurrence among female acting performances) occurred in 1968 between Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand, for their respective performances in The Lion in Winter (1968) and Funny Girl (1968). [Note: With her subsequent win, Streisand became the only performer to win an Oscar for Best Actress (Funny Girl (1968)) and for Best Original Song ("Evergreen" from A Star Is Born (1976)) with lyrics by Paul Williams).] The Most Best Actress Nominations (and Wins): Only one actress has received four Best Actress Oscar wins, and no actress has yet received three Best Actress Oscars. There are twelve actresses who have received two Best Actress Oscars.

The number of Best Actress nominations are in parentheses: Katharine Hepburn (12); with four wins (Morning Glory (1932/33), Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), The Lion in Winter (1968), On Golden Pond (1981)); two nominations were consecutive (from 1955-1956); two wins were consecutive (1967-1968) Meryl Streep (15) - with two wins (Sophie's Choice (1982), The Iron Lady (2011)); three nominations were consecutive (from 1981-1983) Bette Davis (10) - with two wins (Dangerous (1935), Jezebel (1938) ); five nominations were consecutive (from 1938-1942) Ingrid Bergman (6) - with two wins ( Gaslight (1944) , Anastasia (1956)); three nominations were consecutive (from 1943-1945) Jane Fonda (6) - with two wins (Klute (197

1), Coming Home (1978)); three nominations were consecutive (from 1977-1979) Elizabeth Taylor (5) - with two wins (Butterfield 8 (1960), Roman Holiday (1953) ); two nominations were consecutive (from 1953-1954) Susan Hayward (5) - with one win (I Want to Live!

(1958)); nominations in 1947, 1949, 1952, 1955, 1958 Anne Bancroft (5) - with one win (The Miracle Worker (1962)); nominations in 1962, 1964, 1967, 1977, 1985 Ellen Burstyn (5) - with one win (Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974)); nominations in 1971, 1973, 1974, 1978, 1980, 2000 Shirley MacLaine (5) - with one win ( Terms of Endearment (1983) ); nominations in 1958, 1960, 1963, 1977, and 1983 Jessica Lange (5) - with one win (Blue Sky (1994)); two nominations were consecutive (from 1984-1985) Susan Sarandon (5) - with one win (Dead Man Walking

 (1995)); two nominations were consecutive twice (1991-1992, 1994-1995) Jennifer Jones (4) - with one win (The Song of Bernadette (1943)); two other nominations were consecutive (1945, 1946) Jane Wyman (4) - with one win (Johnny Belinda (1948)); nominations in 1946, 1948, 1951, and 1954 Joanne Woodward (4) - with one win (The Three Faces of Eve (1957)); nominations in 1957, 1968, 1973, and 1990 Julie Christie (4) - with one win (Darling (1965)); nominations in 1965, 1971, 1997, and 2007 Geraldine Page (4) - with one win (The Trip to Bountiful (1985)); nominations in 1961, 1962, 1978, 19

85 Diane Keaton (4) - with one win ( Annie Hall (1977) ); nominations in 1977, 1981, 1996, and 2003 Cate Blanchett (4) - with one win (Blue Jasmine (2013)); nominations in 1998, 2007, 2013, and 2015 Kate Winslet (4) - with one win (The Reader (2008)); nominations in 1997, 2004, 2006, and 2008 Jennifer Lawrence (3) - with one win (Silver Linings Playbook (2012)); nominations in 2010, 2012, and 2015 Deborah Kerr (6) - with no wins; three nominations were consecutive (from 1956-1958) -- the only 6-time Best Actress nominee who never won Irene Dunne (5) - with no wins; two nominations were consecutive (from 1936-1937) Judi Dench (5) - with

 no wins; two nominations were consecutive (from 2005-2006) Marsha Mason (4) - with no wins Vanessa Redgrave (4) - with no wins Rosalind Russell (4) - with no wins; two nominations were consecutive (from 1946-1947) Barbara Stanwyck (4) - with no wins Glenn Close (3) - with no wins Consecutive Best Actress-Winning Performers: There are only two actors (Spencer Tracy and Tom Hanks) who have received two consecutive Best Actor awards, as there are only two actresses who have received two consecutive Best Actress statuette wins: Luise Rainer with her first win for The Great Ziegfeld (1936), and then her second - and back-to-back Best Actress Oscar win for her performance in The Good Earth (1937).

She became the first multiple Oscar winner, and was the first to win an award two years in a row Katharine Hepburn, two consecutive Best Actress Oscars in four wins, for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) and The Lion in Winter (1968) Stars to Win Two Best Actress Oscars Before the Age of 30: Luise Rainer (at age 28) for The Great Ziegfeld (1936) and The Good Earth (1937) -- back-to-back wins, the first to accomplish this feat Bette Davis (at age 29) for Dangerous (1935) and Jezebel (1938) Jodie Foster (at age 29) for The Accused (1988) and The Silence of the Lambs (1991) Hilary Swank (at age 29) for Boys Don't Cry (1999) and Million Dollar Baby (2004) Both Luise Rainer and Hilary Swank won their Oscars each time that they were nominated.

With Kate Winslet's sixth career nomination for The Reader (2008), she became the youngest individual (at age 33) to have six Oscar nominations. She was one year younger than Bette Davis who (at age 34) received her sixth for Now, Voyager (1942) . Now in 2015, Winslet received a seventh career nomination, Best Supporting Actress for Steve Jobs (2015). Young Stars To Be Nominated for Best Actress Oscars: 22 year-old Jennifer Lawrence became the youngest performer to receive two Best Actress nominations, upon receiving the nod for Silver Linings Playbook (2012) as a recovering, unemployed widow. [Note: She had previously been nominated for the first time for Winter's Bone (2010). With her first nomination at the age of 20 years and 163 days, she became the third-youngest actress ever to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress.

She broke a record previously held by Teresa Wright (who was 24 when she received her third nomination in 1942).] With her Best Supporting Actress nomination for American Hustle (2013), Lawrence became the youngest three-time acting nominee of all-time. In 2015, Lawrence (at age 25) received her third Best Actress nomination for Joy (2015), and became the youngest actor OR actress to receive 4 Oscar nominations. She bested Jennifer Jones, who received her third Best Actress nomination (for Duel in the Sun (1946)) (and fourth Oscar nomination) at the age of 27. In comparison, Meryl Streep was 34 when she was nominated for her fourth Oscar for Sophie's Choice (1982). Kate Winslet had also received two nominations by age 22, but one was for Best Supporting Actress.

Film Debut Nominees/Winners of Best Actress Oscars: Four actresses have won the Best Actress Oscar for their first (substantial) screen roles or during the first year of their film careers (in a feature film), while others (a sampling) have received a nomination for their first screen role: Katharine Hepburn in Morning Glory (1932/33) (she had previous bit roles in A Bill of Divorcement (1932) and Christopher Strong (1933)) One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) (she had a previous bit role in Thieves Like Us (1974)) Whoopi Goldberg in The Color Purple (1985) (nomination) (4) Marlee Matlin in Children of a Lesser God (1986) (Matlin was also the first deaf actress to win the Academy Award) Emily Watson in Breaking the Waves (1996) (nomination) Keisha Castle-Hughes in Whale Rider (2003) (nomination) Catalina Sandino Moreno in Maria Full of Grace (2004) (nomination) Gabourey Sidibe in Precious (2

009) (nomination) Quvenzhané Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) (nomination) Post-Humous Best Actress Nominees and Winners: Only actress Jeanne Eagels was nominated post-humously for her role in The Letter (1929).

She was the first (and only) female to ever be nominated post-humously for any acting Oscar. Oscar-Winning Actress Roles and Trends: Biographies of remarkable, real-life individuals (showbiz figures and entertainers) and portrayals of the mentally ill are heavily represented among Oscar winners (and nominees), particularly in the acting awards. It helps an actress's chances of winning (or being nominated for) an Oscar if the character dies during the movie, or is alcoholic (or drug-addicted), or is a murderess. Also, first-time Oscar nominations are more often given to actresses below or around the age of thirty. Against Type It also helps to play a role against type (Julia Roberts as a crusading single mother in Erin Brockovich (2000) or Helen Hunt for a sex surrogate in The Sessions (2012), or Susan Sarandon as a death-row nun in Dead Man Walking (1995)), or for showing acting diversity (Kathy Bates as the horror villainess in Misery (1990), or singer Cher in Moonstruck (1987)).

Prostitutes A large number of actresses have also won (or been nominated for) the top acting awards for portraying hookers (girls of the night, party girls, whores, call girls, madams, etc.) or loose women (mistresses, promiscuous ladies, etc.), for example: Janet Gaynor won the Best Actress award for her role as Maria in Naples who escaped from imprisonment (on a prostitution charge after making a desperate try for money to help her ill mother), in Street Angel (1927/28), one of three films for which she was honored Helen Hayes won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as the sacrificial, maternal streetwalker title character (Madelon Claudet) who had to give up her illegitimate son, in The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931/32) Judy Holliday won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as "dumb blonde"/bimbo mistress and kept woman Billie Dawn of corrupt, rude junk-man tycoon (Broderick Crawford) in Washington DC, in Born Yesterday (1950) Vivien Leigh won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as fragile, genteel, tarnished/fallen, desperate, and aging Southern belle Blanche

 DuBois, in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) Joanne Woodward won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as drab, plagued young housewife with multiple, tri-phasic personalities (Eve 'White', Eve 'Black' and 'Jane,' exhibiting characteristics of a housewife, sluttish flirt, and sophisticate), in The Three Faces of Eve (1957) Susan Hayward won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as deceitful party-girl prostitute/thief Barbara Graham, suspected as a murderess, convicted and sent to the gas chamber in San Quentin prison in 1953 after appeals and a long fight to spare her life, in I Want to Live!

(1958) Elizabeth Taylor won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as high-class, part-time model and wanton, fast-living, disturbed New York call girl Gloria Wandrous who wanted to straighten out her life, in Butterfield 8 (1960) Melina Mercouri was nominated for Best Actress for her role as uneducated, fun-loving Greek prostitute Ilya who didn't work one day of the week, in Never On Sunday (1960) Shirley MacLaine was nominated for Best Actress for her role as Fran Kubelik, the insurance company's depressed, quirky elevator girl who was seduced to be the mistress of Jack Lemmon's callous, married boss and business executive (Fred MacMurray), in The Apartment (1960) Shirley MacLaine was nominated for Best Actress for her role as the title character - French Parisian prostitute, in Irma La Douce (1963) Julie Christie won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as Diana Scott - an ambitious, vain, irresponsible, ruthless, promiscuous, and selfish hip, mini-skirted London model, in Darling (1965) Julie Christie was nominated as Best Actress for her role as Mrs.

Constance Miller - an opium-smoking brothel madam and chief prostitute, in McCabe & Mrs.

Miller (1971) Jane Fonda won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as Bree Daniels, a classy, highly-paid, cynical, fearful, sexually-disturbed and threatened call-girl/streetwalker stalking victim, in Klute (1971) Julia Roberts was nominated as Best Actress for her role as wheeler-dealer Richard Gere's fantasy Los Angeles prostitute Vivian Ward, in Pretty Woman (1990) Sharon Stone was nominated as Best Actress for her role as Las Vegas casino boss Robert DeNiro's ex-hooker wife - the hedonistic and alluring Ginger McKenna, in Casino (1995) Elisabeth Shue was nominated as Best Actress for her role as lonely, soft-hearted prostitute Sera, in Leaving Las Vegas (1995) Charlize Theron won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as emotionally-damaged and abused real-life prostitute-turned-serial killer Aileen Wuornos, in Monster (2003) Mute or Non-Speaking And a few Best Actress (and Supporting Actress) winners acquired acting Oscars for characters that were essentially mute: Jane Wyman won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as Belinda McDonald, a deaf-mute in Johnny Bel

inda (1948) Patty Duke won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for portraying blind and deaf Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker (1962) who spoke only one triumphant word of dialogue: "Wa-wa" (or water) Note: Marlee Matlin (truly hearing impaired) won the Best Actress Oscar for her mostly silent, realistic performance as deaf school pupil Sarah Norman in director Randa Haines' Children of a Lesser God (1986) Holly Hunter won the Best Actress Oscar for her non-speaking role (although she did voice-over narration) as 19th century pianist mute Ada McGrath in director Jane Campion's The Piano (1993, NZ) Two other actresses were nominated for Best Supporting Actress for non-speaking roles: Samantha Morton as shy, waifish, mute laundress Hattie in Sweet and Lowdown (1999) and Rinko Kikuchi as isolated, depressed and troubled 16 year-old deaf-mute Tokyo teenaged girl Chieko in Babel (2006) Disabled Another group of actresses have won awards (or were nominated) for portraying characters that were performers, or handicapped with disabilities (or other physical afflictions

, including serious alcoholism and drug use), for example: Bette Davis won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as Joyce Heath - a self-centered, willful, alcoholic, neurotic, self-destructive ex-Broadway actress, in Dangerous (1935) Susan Hayward nominated as Best Actress for three films with alcoholic roles: as alcoholic Angie Evans, in Smash-Up, the Story of a Woman (1947), as as unmarried mother Eloise Winters, in My Foolish Heart (1949) and as star-crossed alcoholic Broadway/Hollywood actress and singer Lillian Roth, in I'll Cry Tomorrow (1955) Deborah Kerr was nominated as Best Actress for her role as unhappy, heavy drinking Evelyn Boult, in Edward, My Son (1949) Vivien Leigh won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as mentally-fallen Southern belle Blanche DuBois, in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

(1966) Audrey Hepburn was nominated as Best Actress for her role as Susy Hendrix - a blind, terrorized woman, in Wait Until Dark (1967) Julie Christie was nominated as Best Actress for her role as Mrs. Constance Miller - an opium-smoking brothel madam and chief prostitute, in McCabe & Mrs.

Miller (1971) Diana Ross was nominated as Best Actress for her role as drug-addicted singing great Billie Holliday, in Lady Sings the Blues (1972) Bette Midler was nominated as Best Actress for her role as 'Rose' - a tragic, self-destructive, Janis Joplin-like rock star, in The Rose (1979) Marsha Mason was nominated as Best Actress for her role as brilliant, self-destructive, divorced alcoholic Broadway actress Georgia, in Only When I Laugh (1981) Jessica Lange won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Julie, 'Dorothy's' (Dustin Hoffman) unknowing, submissive best girlfriend, in Tootsie (1982) and the Best Actress Oscar for her role as Carly Marshall, the unstable, manic-depressive, out-of-control, sexually-promiscuous wife of a military nuclear engineer/officer (Tommy Lee Jones) at a 1960s Nevada test site, in Blue Sky (1994); she was also dual nominated as Best Actress for her role as tragic, ill-fated, self-destructive, mentally-ill starlet Frances Farmer, in Frances (19

82) Jane Fonda was nominated as Best Actress for her role as alcoholic heroine-victim Alex Sternbergen who woke up next to a dead man, in The Morning After (1986) Angelina Jolie won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Lisa, a disturbed and rebellious mental hospital patient, in Girl, Interrupted (1999) Halle Berry won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as African-American Leticia Musgrove, an executed killer's (Sean Combs) grief-stricken widow in a town poisoned with Southern racism, in Monster's Ball (2001) Nicole Kidman won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as Virginia Woolf, the troubled and depressed author of Mrs.

Dalloway, in The Hours (2002) Cate Blanchett won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as legendary, four-time Oscar winning actress Katharine Hepburn who had an affair with billionaire Howard Hughes, in The Aviator (2004) - the only instance of a performer winning an Academy Award for playing a real-life Oscar winner (Katharine Hepburn) Hilary Swank won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as headstrong Maggie Fitzgerald, a working-class waitress who aspired to be a professional women's boxer - and then suffered a terminal illness, in Million Dollar Baby (2004) Marion Cotillard won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as famed tempestuous singer Edith Piaf, in La Vie en Rose (2007, Fr.) Natalie Portman won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as hallucinatory ballerina Nina Sayers, playing the Black Swan in a production of Swan Lake, in Black Swan (2010) Fictional Actresses And a few actresses have received Best Actress nominations for playing fictional actresses (performers/stars) who were Best Actress winners: Janet Gaynor, nominated for her role as rising star Vicki Lester in A Star

 is Born (1937) Bette Davis, nominated for her role as former Oscar-winning actress Margaret Elliot in pathetic decline in The Star (1952) Judy Garland, nominated for her role as Esther Blodgett/Vicki Lester, the wife of an alcoholic (James Mason) in the remake A Star is Born (1954) Maggie Smith, nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Diana Barrie - a neurotic, bitchy, hard-drinking and fussy Oscar-nominated British actress waiting for the Oscar awards night in Hollywood in California Suite (1978) (win) Faye Dunaway was the only performer who won an Academy Award Oscar of her own (Best Actress for Network (1976) ) and then went on to portray in the film Mommie Dearest (1981) a real-life star, Joan Crawford, who won a Best Actress Oscar for her performance in Mildred Pierce (1945) .

Cate Blanchett's Best Supporting Actress Oscar win for The Aviator (2004) in her role as Katharine Hepburn marked the first time a performer won an Oscar for playing an Oscar-winning actress.

Country Singers The only two actresses to win Best Actress Oscars (their sole wins) for playing real-life country singers: Sissy Spacek won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as Loretta Lynn, in Coal Miner's Daughter (1980) Reese Witherspoon won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as June Carter Cash, in Walk the Line (2005) Nuns Actress who portrayed nuns found that it was a mostly non-winning category for its many nominees in lead and supporting roles: Gladys Cooper was nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her role as doubting Sister Vauzous in The Song of Bernadette (1943) Jennifer Jones won the Best Actress Oscar for her role as 14 year-old, 19th century saintly French peasant girl Bernadette of Lourdes who claimed she had a vision of the Virgin Mary in The Song of Bernadette (1943) Ingrid Bergman was nominated as Best Actress for her role as Mother Superior Sister Benedict in The Bells of St.

Mary's (1945) Loretta Young (nominated as Best Actress for her role as French nun Sister Margaret who raised funds to build a children's hospital in New England) and Celeste Holm (nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her role as tennis-playing French nun Sister Scolastica) in Come to the Stable (1949) Deborah Kerr was nominated as Best Actress for her role as nun Sister Angela - ship-wrecked and stranded on a Pacific island with Marine corporal Robert Mitchum in Heaven Knows, Mr.

Allison (1957) Audrey Hepburn was nominated as Best Actress for her role as Sister Luke who eventually renounced her vows in The Nun's Story (1959) Lilia Skala was nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her role as Mother Maria - the Mother Superior of the nunnery in Lilies of the Field (1963) Peggy Wood (nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her role as the Mother Abbess) and some count Julie Andrews (nominated for Best Actress for her role as postulant nun Maria turned cheerful governess to seven Von Trapp children in Austria) in The Sound of Music (1965) Anne Bancroft (nominated as Best Actress for her role as Sister Miriam Ruth - a Quebec convent's mother superior) and Meg Tilly (nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her role as the childlike, beatific Sister Agnes) for Agnes of God (1985) Susan Sarandon won the Best Actress Oscar as anti-death penalty, real-life Catholic nun - Sister Helen Prejean, who spiritually advised a condemned, death-row murderer (Sean Penn) in Dead Man Walking (1995) Meryl Streep (nominated as Best Actress

 for her role as Sister Aloysius Beauvier, the suspicious, domineering strict head of a Bronx Catholic school in New York City) and Amy Adams (nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her role as sensitive and innocent novitiate Sister James) for Doubt (2008) Mediocre or Compensatory Oscar Wins: Oscar victories for Best Actress haven't always been for the stars' best work, either, but retroactively for an entire body of work - or for sympathy: 62 year old Marie Dressler's Best Actress win for Min and Bill (1930/31) was a tribute to her entire career Bette Davis won her only two Oscars for Dangerous (1935) and Jezebel (1938) , after being passed over for Of Human Bondage (1934) - she would have rather won for her better performances in The Letter (1940) and Chinatown (1974) Also, elderly nominees seem to fare better, such as 72 year-old Ruth Gordon winning the Best Supporting Actress award for Rosemary's Baby (1968), or Best Actress winners Katharine Hepburn (after her first win at age 2

7), Geraldine Page (finally winning with her eighth nomination), Jessica Tandy and Ellen Burstyn for On Golden Pond (1981), The Trip to Bountiful (1985), Driving Miss Daisy (1989) and Requiem for a Dream (2000).

Young nominees also do well, such as Patty Duke (in 1962), Tatum O'Neal (in 1973), and Anna Paquin (in 1993). The only instance of a Best Actress nomination for a science-fiction film role was Sigourney Weaver for Aliens (1986).

Best Actresses with New Screen Names: Two actresses won the Best Actress Oscar with new screen names: Jennifer Jones (real-name and original screen name Phylis Lee Isley), Best Actress winner for The Song of Bernadette (1943) Ellen Burstyn (real-name Edna Rae Gillooly, and first appearing with screen name Ellen McRae), Best Actress winner for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) Reprising an Acclaimed Stage Role: Four Best Actress winners won the Oscar for an acclaimed stage role that they reprised on the screen: Judy Holliday for Born Yesterday (1950) Shirley Booth for Come Back, Little Sheba (1952) Anne Bancroft for The Miracle Worker (1962) Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl (1968) Longest Time Period Between First and Last Nomination/Win: 48 years - Katharine Hepburn was first nominated and won Best Actress for Morning Glory (1932/33) and then 48 years later was nominated and won Best Actress for On Golden Pond (1981) - her fourth (and last) Oscar win!

46 years - Alan Arkin was nominated as Best Actor for The Russians are Coming, The Russians are Coming! (1966) and then two years later as Best Actor for The Heart is a Lonely Hunter (1968). Then, there was a long gap - 38 years later, after which he won Best Supporting Actor for Little Miss Sunshine (2006). He topped that with another six year wait for another Best Supporting Actor nomination for Argo (2012). 41 years - Henry Fonda was first nominated in 1940 as Best Actor for The Grapes Of Wrath (1940) , and wasn't nominated again until 41 years later - when he won his sole Oscar (Best Actor) for On Golden Pond (1981) 40 years - Mickey Rooney was first nominated as Best Actor for Babes in Arms (1939), then as Best Actor for The Human Comedy (1943), then as Best Supporting Actor for The Bold and the Brave (1956), and then as Best Supporting Actor for The Black Stallion (1979), 40 years later, but he didn't ever win!

39 years - Sylvester Stallone was first nominated as Best Actor for Rocky (1976) , then again as Best Supporting Actor for Creed (2015) 39 years - Jack Palance was nominated as Best Supporting Actor for Sudden Fear (1952) and then as Best Supporting Actor for Shane (1953) - it was a time span of 39 years from his first nomination to his eventual victory as Best Supporting Actor for City Slickers (1991) 38 years - Helen Hayes had to wait 38 years between her only Oscar nominations (both wins), Best Actress for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931/32), and Best Supporting Actress for Airport (1970) 37 years - Albert Finney was first nominated as Best Actor for Tom Jones (1963) and then received three more nominations for Best Actor: for Murder on the Orient Express (1974), The Dresser (1983), and Under the Volcano (1984) -- 37 years after his first nomination, he received his fifth and final Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for Erin Brockovich (2

000) - he never won!

Longest Gap Between First Nomination and First Winning Film: 41 years - Henry Fonda was first nominated in 1940 as Best Actor for The Grapes Of Wrath (1940) , and didn't win an acting award (Best Actor) until 41 years later for On Golden Pond (1981), and these were his only two career acting nominations (Note: Fonda did receive a producing Best Picture nomination for 12 Angry Men (1957) ) 32 years - Geraldine Page was first nominated in 1953 as Best Supporting Actress for Hondo (1953), and won Best Actress for A Trip to Bountiful (1985), 32 years later; she was the only actress with seven unsuccessful nominations (in both categories) before finally winning Best Actress with nomination # 8 28 years - Paul Newman was first nominated in 1958 as Best Actor for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) , and won Best Actor for The Color of Money (1986), 28 years later; he was the only actor with six unsuccessful Best Actor nominations before finally winning Best Actor with nomination #

 7 - and he later added another nomination as Best Actor for Nobody's Fool (1994), and his first Best Supporting Actor nomination also came later for Road to Perdition (2002) 25 years - Shirley MacLaine was first nominated in 1958 as Best Actress for Some Came Running (1958), and won Best Actress for Terms of Endearment (1983) , 25 years later 20 years - Al Pacino was first nominated in 1972 as Best Supporting Actor for The Godfather (1972) , and won Best Actor for Scent of a Woman (1992), 20 years later 20 years - John Wayne was first nominated in 1949 as Best Actor for Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), and won Best Actor for True Grit (1969), 20 years later 18 years - Ronald Colman was first nominated in 1929/30 as Best Actor for Bulldog Drummond (1929/30), and won Best Actor for A Double Life (1947), 18 years later

 17 years - Gregory Peck was first nominated in 1945 as Best Actor for The Keys of the Kingdom (1945), and won Best Actor for Hilary Swank (2 career nominations and wins): Boys Don't Cry (1999), Million Dollar Baby (2004) also Helen Hayes (2 career nominations and wins): Best Actress for The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931/32), and Best Supporting Actress for Airport (1970) Female Performers with Oscars in Both Lead and Supporting Categories: (in order of accomplishment) Helen Hayes, Best Actress (The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931/32)), Best Supporting Actress (Airport (1970)) Ingrid Bergman, Best Actress ( Gaslight (1944) and Anastasia (1956)), Best Supporting Actress (Murder on the Orient Express (1974)) Maggie Smith, Best Actress (The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969)), Best Supporting Actress (California Suite (1978)) Meryl Streep, Best Supporting Actress (Kramer vs.

Kramer (1979)), Best Actress (Sophie's Choice (1982), The Iron Lady (2011)) Jessica Lange, Best Supporting Actress (Tootsie (1982)), Best Actress (Blue Sky (1994)) Three Films With the Most Oscars for Acting: To date, no film has won all four of the Academy Awards for acting.

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) - 12 nominations total, 4 acting nominations, 3 acting wins: Vivien Leigh (Best Actress), Karl Malden (Best Supporting Actor), Kim Hunter (Best Supporting Actress) Network (1976) - 10 nominations total, 5 acting nominations, 3 acting wins: Peter Finch (Best Actor), Faye Dunaway (Best Actress), Beatrice Straight (Best Supporting Actress) Winning Co-Stars: Best Actor and Best Actress in the Same Film Seven films have won in both the leading actor and leading actress categories: Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert in Anthony Hopkins and Jodie Foster in The Silence of the Lambs (1991) Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt in As Good As It Gets (1997) Films With Two Best Actress Nominations: All About Eve (1950) - Anne Baxter and Bette Davis (both lost to Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday (1950)) Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) - Elizabeth Taylor and Katharine Hepburn (both lost to Simone Signoret in Room at the Top (1959)) The Turning Point (1977) -

 Anne Bancroft and Shirley MacLaine (both lost to Diane Keaton in Terms of Endearment (1982) - Debra Winger and Shirley MacLaine (MacLaine won) Thelma & Louise (1991) - Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis (both lost to Jodie Foster in The Silence of the Lambs (1991) ) Multiple Nominations: No single performer has ever won two performing awards in the same year.

There have been a total of eleven performers who are double nominees - that means that they have received two acting nominations in the same year. Three were actors and eight were actresses (wins are marked with *). (See the Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress pages for further information on double nominees.) Of the 11 performers (actors and actresses) who've been recognized with nods for two performances in the same year, seven of them ended up winning one of the trophies. Double nominees usually win in one category. Often, actresses have been nominated for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress for different films in the same year. In 1938, Fay Bainter received the first simultaneous nominations of any performer in lead and supporting categories (wins are marked with *). Three of the eight actresses won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar, and only one (Holly Hunter) of the eight won the Best Actress Oscar, while Sigourney Weaver, Emma Thompson, Julianne Moore and Cate Blanchett lost both bids.

Fay Bainter (Best Actress for White Banners (1938) and Best Supporting Actress for Jezebel (1938) *) Teresa Wright (Best Actress for The Pride of the Yankees (1942) and Best Supporting Actress for Mrs. Miniver (1942)*) Jessica Lange (Best Actress for Frances (1982) and Best Supporting Actress for Tootsie (1982)*) Sigourney Weaver (Best Actress for Gorillas in the Mist (1987) and Best Supporting Actress for Working Girl (1987)) Holly Hunter (Best Actress for The Piano (1993)* and Best Supporting Actress for The Firm (1993)) Emma Thompson (Best Actress for The Remains of the Day (1993) and Best Supporting Actress for In the Name of the Father (1993)) Julianne Moore (Best Actress for Far From Heaven (2002) and Best Supporting Actress for The Hours (2002)) Cate Blanchett (Best Actress for Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) and Best Supporting Actress for I'm Not There.

(2007)) Multiple Nominations for the Same Character: As of 2015, there were five actors who were nominated twice for playing the same character in two different films.

(See section on Best Actor.) The sixth performer to accomplish the same feat, Cate Blanchett, remains the only actress to be nominated twice for playing the same character role in two different films: Cate Blanchett (as Best Actress) for her roles as Queen Elizabeth I in Elizabeth (1998) and in Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) Two sets of actresses have been nominated for Best Actress for the same role in different films, in different years: Janet Gaynor and Judy Garland as Vicki Lester in A Star is Born (1937) and Jeanne Eagels (nominated post-humously) and Bette Davis as Leslie Crosbie in The Letter (1929) and The Letter (1940) Both groups of actresses playing the same character in the same film lost their races: Kate Winslet (as Best Actress) and Gloria Stuart (as Best Supporting Actress) for playing young Rose DeWitt Bukater and an older Rose DeWitt Bukater respectively, in Titanic (1997) Kate Winslet (as Best Supporting Actress) and Judi Dench (as Best Actress) for playing young Iris Murdoch and an older Irish Murdoch, respectively, in Iris (2

001) The only time two female performers were nominated for the same character (Queen Elizabeth I) in different films in the same year was: Cate Blanchett (as Best Actress) for Elizabeth (1998) Judi Dench (as Best Supporting Actress) for Shakespeare in Love (1998) Related Winners and Nominees: Husbands-Wives, etc.

Frances McDormand won the Best Actress Oscar for Fargo (1996) , thereby becoming the first star to win in a film directed by a spouse, husband Joel Coen. Her brother-in-law, Ethan Coen, was the film's producer. Other wives nominated for films made by their director husbands: Melina Mercouri, nominated for Best Actress for Never on Sunday (1960), was directed by husband Jules Dassin Joanne Woodward, nominated as Best Actress for Rachel, Rachel (1968), was directed by husband Paul Newman Gena Rowlands, nominated for Best Actress for A Woman Under the Influence (1974), was directed by husband John Cassavetes Julie Andrews, nominated for Best Actress for Victor/Victoria (1982), was directed by husband Blake Edwards To date, no female directors have had their starring husbands receive an Oscar nod.

The only married couples who acted together in the same film with each spouse being nominated for an award were: Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, nominated as Best Actor and Best Actress for The Guardsman (1932) - both lost Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester, nominated as Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress for Witness for the Prosecution (1957) - both lost Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor (win), nominated as Best Actor and Best Actress for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) The only divorced couple to co-star in a film with each receiving an Oscar nomination: William Powell and Carole Lombard, Best Actor and Best Actress nominations for My Man Godfrey (1936) Sisterly Oscar Competition: Twice in Academy Awards history, two sisters have been nominated for the same category during the same year: Joan Fontaine (Best Actress winner for Suspicion (1941)) and sister Olivia de Havilland (Best Actress nominee for Hold Back the Dawn (1941)) Lynn Redgrave (Best Actress nominee for Georgy Girl (1966)), and sister Vanessa Redgrave (Best Actress nominee for Morgan!

(1966)) - this time, neither of the sisters won. Joan Fontaine (Best Actress winner for Suspicion (1941)) and double-winner sister Olivia de Havilland (for To Each His Own (1946) and The Heiress (1949) ) are the only sisters to win "Best Actress" Oscars. Liza Minnelli, who won Best Actress for Cabaret (1972) , was the only Oscar winner to have parents who both received Oscars: Judy Garland (mother) received an Honorary miniature "Juvenile" Oscar in 1939 for The Wizard of Oz (1939) Vincente Minnelli (father) won Best Director for Gigi (1958) African-American (or Black) Notables: There have been only ten African-American actresses nominated for Best Actress (and only one win, in 2001). All nominees were nominated only once: # Quvenzhané Wallis Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) In total, there have only been 23 different African-American (or black) performers nominated for the top award (either Best Actor or Best Actress).

Only fourteen awards have been won by African-Americans (or blacks) in both lead and supporting categories (four Best Actor, one Best Actress, four Best Supporting Actor, and five Best Supporting Actress). Only five black performers have won the Oscar in the lead category (four Best Actor, one Best Actress). Only one African-American actress has ever won the Best Actress Oscar: Halle Berry (with her first nomination) for Monster's Ball (2001) Five of the 20 acting nominations in 2004 and 2006 were African-American nominees.

This bested the record of three nominated blacks that occurred in three different years (2001, 1985, and 1972): 2006 2001: Halle Berry for Monster's Ball, Denzel Washington for Training Day, and Will Smith for Ali 1985: Whoopi Goldberg, Margaret Avery and Oprah Winfrey for The Color Purple 1972: Diana Ross for Lady Sings the Blues, and Cicely Tyson and Paul Winfield for Sounder In three instances, African-Americans have won two of the four acting prizes: 2006: Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland, Jennifer Hudson for Dreamgirls 2004: Morgan Freeman for Million Dollar Baby, Jamie Foxx for Ray 2001: Halle Berry for Monster's Ball, Denzel Washington for Training Day The only Caucasians who portrayed black characters and were nominated (but didn't win) for Academy Awards: Jeanne Crain, Best Actress for Pinky (1949) Flora Robson, Best Supporting Actress for Saratoga Trunk (1946) Susan Kohner, Best Supporting Actress for Imitation of Life (

1959) Latino, Asian and Other Minority (or Non-English) Performers or Nationalities: Note: In 1985, all ten of the Best Actor/Actress nominees were American-born - the first time in Oscar history.

Also, in 1964 and in 2007, all four winners of the performance/acting Oscars were non-Americans. There have been very few nominations/wins of ethnic/minority female performers (or non-English) in the Best Actress category: 8 - French-speaking actress Marion Cotillard was again nominated as Best Actress for her role as desperate Belgian factory worker Sandra Bya in Two Days, One Night (Deux Jours, Une Nuit) (2014, Fr.) - this marked the eighth Best Actress nominee for a French-speaking role, the most foreign-language representation in any acting category.

7 - 85 year old French actress Emmanuelle Riva was nominated as Best Actress for her role as ailing stroke victim Anne in Amour (2012, Fr./Germ./Austria) 6 - French actress Marion Cotillard was nominated (and won) as Best Actress for her role as famed tempestuous singer Edith Piaf (Piaf's recordings were lip-synched by Cotillard) in La Vie en Rose (2007, Fr.) - she became the second French actress to win in the category Spanish actress Penelope Cruz was nominated as Best Actress for her role as single mother Raimunda in Volver (2006) - she became the first Spanish woman to be nominated for a best actress Academy Award for a non-English speaking role [Note: Penelope Cruz won Best Supporting Actress for her role in Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)] Colombian-born Spanish actress Catalina Sandino Moreno was nominated as Best Actress for her role as Maria, a pregnant 17-year-old Colombian girl who agreed to be a 'drug mule', in director Joshua Marston's Maria Full of Grace (2004) 13 year-old New Zealand/Maori

 teen Keisha Castle-Hughes was nominated as Best Actress for Whale Rider (2003) - she became the youngest nominee in the category Mexican-born Salma Hayek was nominated as Best Actress for the lead role in Frida (2002) Portuguese/Brazilian Fernanda Montenegro was nominated as Best Actress for Central Station (1998) - the first Latin American actress ever nominated Helena Bonham Carter (with a Spanish mother) was nominated as Best Actress for The Wings of the Dove (1997) 5 - French actress Catherine Deneuve was nominated as Best Actress for Indochine (1992, Fr.) 4 - French actress Isabelle Adjani was nominated as Best Actress for Camille Claudel (1989, Fr.) American Sign Language actress Marlee Matlin was nominated (and won) as Best Actress for Children of a Lesser God (1986) Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman was nominated as Best Actress for Autumn Sonata (1978) Swedish actress Liv Ullmann was nominated as Best Actress for Face to Face (1976) 3 - French actress Marie-Christine Barrault was nominated as Best Actress for Cousin, Cousine

 (1976, Fr.) 2 - French actress Isabelle Adjani was nominated as Best Actress for The Story of Adele H.

(1975, Fr.) Swedish actress Liv Ullmann was nominated as Best Actress for The Emigrants (1972) Ukrainian-born actress Ida Kaminska was nominated as Best Actress for The Shop on Main Street (1966, Czech.) 1 - French actress Anouk Aimee was nominated as Best Actress for A Man and a Woman (1966, Fr.) Italian actress Sophia Loren was nominated as Best Actress for Marriage Italian Style (1964, It.) Italian actress Sophia Loren was nominated (and won) as Best Actress for Two Women (1960, It.) French actress Simone Signoret was nominated (and won) as Best Actress for Room at the Top (1959, UK) - she became the first French actress to win the top award Only two female Asian-Americans have been nominated for the lead acting Oscar. The only Asian actress to win the Best Actress Oscar (twice, in 1939 and 1951) was Vivien Leigh, whose mother had an Irish and Indian background.

Indian-born British actress Merle Oberon (although her origins have been clouded and disputed) was also nominated as Best Actress for The Dark Angel (1935). White, Austrian performer Luise Rainer won a Best Actress Oscar for playing an Asian role in The Good Earth (1937). Some notable Canadian-born Best Actress nominees and winners should also be noted: Mary Pickford winning for Coquette (1928/29), Norma Shearer winning for The Divorcee (1929/30), Marie Dressler winning for Min and Bill (1930/31), Genevieve Bujold nominated for Anne of the Thousand Days (1969), and Ellen Page nominated for Juno (2007). Nicole Kidman was the only Australian actress (although US born) to win the Best Actress Oscar award, for The Hours (2002). Kidman was also nominated as Best Actress for her roles in Moulin Rouge! (2001) and Rabbit Hole (2010).

Other Australian actresses nominated for Best Actress include May Robson for Lady For a Day (1933), Judy Davis for A Passage to India (1984), Cate Blanchett for Elizabeth (1998) and Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007), and Naomi Watts for 21 Grams (2004). Foreign-Language Performances to Win Major Oscars: Only two actresses have won the Best Actress Oscar for a foreign-language performance: Sophia Loren was the first foreign-language performing actress to win an Oscar (Best Actress) for a foreign-language film, Two Women (1960, It.) French actress Marion Cotillard won Best Actress for the French film La Vie en Rose (2007, Fr.) - it was the first acting Oscar awarded to a French-language film [Note: Some lists also include Marlee Matlin for using American Sign Language (ASL) for her Oscar-winning role in Children of a Lesser God (1986)] The first acting Oscar winner from South Africa was Charlize Theron as Best Actress for Monster (2003).

[She was also nominated for Best Actress for North Country (2005).] In the same year of 2003, Theron and Djimon Hounsou were the first African-born performers to be nominated for an Oscar. Benin native Djimon Hounsou was nominated (and lost) twice: for roles in In America (2003), and Blood Diamond (2006). Other Notables: Curiously, in the decade of the 1950s, none of the Best Actress Oscar winners appeared in a Best Picture winning film!

The only stars to win a Best Actress Oscar in a musical film were: Julie Andrews for her role as the title character in Mary Poppins (1964) Barbra Streisand for her role as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl (1968) Liza Minnelli for her role as Sally Bowles in Cabaret (1972) Winning Performances Portraying Royalty: Charles Laughton, Best Actor as King Henry VIII in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1932/33) Yul Brynner, Best Actor as King Mongkut of Siam in The King and I (1956) Ingrid Bergman, Best Actress as Anastasia (possibly daughter of murdered Russian czar Nicholas II) in Anastasia (1956) Katharine Hepburn, Best Actress as Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter (1968) Helen Mirren, Best Actress as Queen Elizabeth II in The Queen (2006) Silent Film Oscar Winners: The only two performers to win Oscars (although the awards weren't officially called "Oscars" yet) for silent film performances were: Emil Jannings: Best Actor Oscar winner for

 The Last Command (1927/28) and The Way of All Flesh (1927/28) Janet Gaynor: Best Actress Oscar winner for Sunrise (1927/28) , Seventh Heaven (1927/28), and Street Angel (1927/28) - she was also the only star to win the Best Actress Oscar honoring performances in three films in the same year Youngest and Oldest Best Actresses: Nominees and Winners Note: The calculated time is from date of birth to the date of either (1) the nominations announcement, or (2) the date of the awards ceremony.

Youngest Best Actress Nominee

Question: Which US actress won the Oscar for best Actress for her screen debut in a musical in 1968?
Answer: Barbara Streisand