As news broke today of the death of Margaret Thatcher (no relation, though that’s not what I tell people), I thought of her immeasurable contributions to world history and her legacy of anti-socialism and freedom.
And then I thought of movies. I can’t control the way my mind works, people. I just blog about it!
Specifically, I thought about Meryl Streep winning the Best Actress Oscar in 2011 for her portrayal of Thatcher in The Iron Lady.
That got me wondering just how many performers have been nominated for playing real-life characters in the Best Actor and Actress categories in recent Oscar history… say the last 25 years.
The answer? 76 nominations out of 250 in the past 25 Oscars have been for real-life portrayals, by my count. Of these 50 winners in those two top acting categories over the past quarter century, 19 of them were for such performances. Not too shabby.
Additionally, in the last 11 Oscars, at least one winner in the Best Actor and/or Actress race has been for a real-life portrayal.
Of those 19 winners, 10 were for Best Actor. 9 were for Best Actress.
Who were they, you may ask? Well, I’m going to tell you.
Best Actor
1989: Daniel Day-Lewis as Christy Brown in My Left Foot
1990: Jeremy Irons as Claus Von Bulow in Reversal of Fortune
1996: Geoffrey Rush as David Helfgott in Shine
2002: Adrien Brody as Wladyslaw Szpilman in The Pianist
2004: Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles in Ray
2005: Philip Seymour Hoffman as Truman Capote in Capote
2006: Forest Whitaker as Idi Amin in The Last King of Scotland
2008: Sean Penn as Harvey Milk in Milk
2010: Colin Firth as King George VI in The King’s Speech
2012: Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln
Best Actress
1995: Susan Sarandon as Sister Helen Prejean in Dead Man Walking
1999: Hilary Swank as Brandon Teena in Boys Don’t Cry
2000: Julia Roberts as Erin Brockovich in Erin Brockovich
2002: Nicole Kidman as Virginia Woolf in The Hours
2003: Charlize Theron as Aileen Wournos in Monster
2005: Reese Witherspoon as June Carter Cash in Walk the Line
2007: Marion Cotillard as Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose
2009: Sandra Bullock as Leigh Anne Tuohy in The Blind Side
2011: Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady
In the last 24 years, Daniel Day-Lewis has been nominated three times for playing real characters. He won for My Left Foot and Lincoln and was also nominated for his role as Gerry Conlon in 1993’s In the Name of the Father.
On the Actress side, Dame Judi Dench also received three nominations: as Queen Victoria in 1997’s Mrs. Brown, as Iris Murdoch in 2001’s Iris, and Laura Henderson in 2005’s Mrs. Henderson Presents. No wins for M… I mean, Dame Judi. In addition to Streep’s win for The Iron Lady, she was nominated three more times for real person roles – as Lindy Chamberlain in 1988’s A Cry in the Dark, as Roberta Gouspari in 1999’s Music of the Heart, and Julia Child in 2009’s Julie&Julia. Cate Blanchett has the interesting distinction of being nominated twice for the same role as Elizabeth I in 1998’s Elizabeth and in 2007 for its follow-up Elizabeth: The Golden Age.
In 2004, we saw the most real-life portrayals nominated in one race with four of the five Best Actor nominees. In addition to Jamie Foxx’s winning performance as Ray Charles, other nominees were Don Cheadle as Paul Rusesabagina in Hotel Rwanda, Johnny Depp as JM Barrie in Finding Neverland, and Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes in The Aviator. The following year would bring three more nominations that fit the criteria for Best Actor. Philip Seymour Hoffman won for Capote and Joaquin Phoenix was nominated as Johnny Cash in Walk the Line, as well as David Strathairn as Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, and Good Luck. So in those two years for Best Actor – 70% of the nominees were based on real-life individuals.
2009 is the one and only time three of the Best Actress nominees have been real-lifers. Sandra Bullock won for The Blind Side, alongside fellow nominees Streep as Julia Child and Helen Mirren as Sophia Tolstoy in The Last Station.
What might we see in 2013 as far as potential nominees? Plenty. Tom Hanks has good odds. He’s playing Captain Richard Phillips in the true-life Somali pirate hostage drama Captain Phillips and Walt Disney in Saving Mr. Banks. Curiously, while Hanks has won two back-to-back Oscars playing fictional characters in Philadelphia and Forrest Gump, he did not receive nominations for his real-life roles as Jim Lovell in Apollo 13 and Congressman Charlie Wilson in Charlie Wilson’s War.
Steve Carell could earn Academy attention as John du Pont in Foxcatcher. After all, the film’s director Bennett Miller guided Philip Seymour Hoffman to an Oscar win in Capote and Brad Pitt to a nomination as Oakland A’s manager Billy Beane in 2011’s Moneyball.
Matthew McConaughey seems destined for an Oscar nomination with the way his career’s been going lately and his turn as real-life AIDS activist Ron Woodroof in The Dallas Buyer’s Club might be the role. Idris Elba is sure to get some attention as Nelson Mandela in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom (Morgan Freeman was nominated for playing Mandelia in 2009 in Invictus). That’s happened before in recent Oscar history, by the way. Both Anthony Hopkins in 1995 and Frank Langella in 2008 received nods for playing Richard Nixon in Nixon and Frost/Nixon, respectively.
On the Best Actress front, expect both Naomi Watts and Nicole Kidman to get substantial talk for their upcoming roles. Watts as Princess Di in Diana. Kidman is Grace Kelly in Grace of Monaco. Also, Emma Thompson is a likely contender as author P.L. Travers in Saving Mr. Banks.
So, folks, there’s your recent history of performers playing real folks and getting Oscar attention. As you can see, it’s no secret why actors seek out these types of roles. That gold statue could come calling.
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