Have we already revisited the Best Actresses of the last 10 years of the Oscars, have we talked about the party’s presenters, and with that, have we returned to the usual questions for each ceremony? Who won the most? Blah blah blah

Let’s go back to the actresses. Katherine Hepburn maintains her record, with 4 Oscars as Actress (main). Let’s remember some numbers.

In 96 years, 12 stars have won “only” Best Actress

Katharine Hepburn
If the question is who is the star who has won the most Oscars for Best Actress in 96 years, Katherine Hepburn is unbeatable. There were only four Oscars in the main category and 12 nominations.

The first was in 1933 for Morning Glory)then two followed in 1967 and 1968, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner and Lion in Winter, the last being in 1982, by On a Golden Pond. A reference for originality, professionalism, and talent, Hepburn is still a legend today. Detail: she only went to a single ceremony, none of which she was nominated for, only when she went to honor a friend with the Irving Thalberg Award.

Jane Fonda
Activist and “nepo baby” Jane Fonda has more Oscars than her iconic and beloved father, Henry Fonda. The first was for Klute, in 1971, and the second for Coming Home, in 1978. She has seven nominations – including the wins.

Elizabeth Taylor
The legendary star is ahead of many actresses in the number of awards, no less than two for Best Actress. One by Butterfield 8, in 1960, and another by Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, in 1966.

Having started her career as a child in the 1940s, Liz Taylor’s longevity is unparalleled. She also received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for her contributions to humanitarian causes, especially AIDS.

Frances McDormand
There are 3 Oscars for Best Actress, between 1996, for Fargo, in 2018 for Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and in 2021, for Nomandland, which also rendered her an Oscar as the Producer. She trails Katherine Hepburn by just a single Oscar as Best Actress, never Supporting Actress.

Frances McDormand made her film debut in 1984 and made a name for herself in independent cinema. She has been nominated seven times. It is without a doubt one of the biggest.

Jodie Foster
Once again among the nominees in 2024, without many chances and in the supporting category, Jodie Foster has two Oscars for Best Actress. The first, in 1988, for The Accused in a painful and striking performance, and the second, not long later, in 1992, for The Silence of the Lambs.

Olivia de Havilland
For many generations, Olivia was best known as the sweet Melanie Wilkes in Gone with the Wind, the supporting role that earned her yet another Oscar nomination (she lost to her co-star, Hattie McDaniel). However, Olivia, who lived 104 years and was nominated 5 times, won no less than two Oscars for Best Actress. The first was in 1947 for To Each His Own and in 1950 for The Heiress.

Vivien Leigh
Vivien was just 25 years old when she starred in Gone with the Wind and, although she already had a career in England, she entered into eternity as Scarlett O’Hara. This role won her an Oscar for Best Actress upon her debut in the United States, in 1939.

Instead of staying and assuming her stardom, influenced by her jealous husband, Laurence Olivier who not only didn’t win the Oscar but also wasn’t successful in cinema, she returned to the London stage and made smaller films. Still, in 1951 she delivered another anthological performance as Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire. Another Oscar and another unparalleled performance. Oh, and yes, Laurence Olivier came to approve of Hollywood when he won his only Oscar in 1948, for Hamlet. But in the end, the tiebreaker kept Vivien with one statuette more than him.

Bette Davis
In life, Bette Davis was legendary and considered the best of the best. With an irascible temperament like her talent, she pursued the Oscar – which in fact was only named after her, who thought the statuette looked like her husband – and won twice. The first was in 1935 for Dangerous and the second was in 1938, for Jezebel. She should have won other times, but that’s how Hollywood is. On the other hand, she is one of the most nominated (10 times), behind Katherine Hepburn (12) and Meryl Streep (21).

Hillary Swank
I consider Hillary Swank a phenomenon. She was nominated for an Oscar only twice, both times for Best Actress, and both times she won. Only Vivien Leigh and Louise Rainer had achieved the same feat, Louise in the 1930s and Vivien between 1939 and 1951. In other words, respect. In both films, Hillary gives an incredible performance. It was to be expected that her career would be legendary, but it is almost the opposite.

When she won for Boys Don’t Cry in 1999, she was coming off minor TV roles and an unsuccessful attempt to star in the female version of The Karate Kid. Just six years later, directed by Clint Eastwood, she made the world cry for Golden Girl, but since then it hasn’t shined in cinema. The question is, if she is nominated again, will she win?

Glenda Jackson
The British actress who passed away recently and left cinema for a few years for politics, shone on the London stage and led a discreet life. She was nominated 4 times, winning two: Women in Love, in 1970 and then for A Touch of Class, in 1973.

Sally Field
Sally Field was a TV star who no one believed was one of the best actresses of her generation. In 1979, as striker Norma Rae she won her first Oscar. The second, which led to the “you really love me” meme, was in 1983, by Places in the Heart. She was nominated two more times (four in total) but stopped at two statuettes.

Louise Rainer
It’s a name that doesn’t generate immediate recognition among younger generations, but Louise was not only voted Best Actress twice, she won twice in a row. Only Tom Hanks and Katherine Hepburn have repeated the feat. The actress won in 1936 for The Great Ziegfeld, and in 1937 for Good on Earth.

Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress: who won both

It is very common for it to happen both ways: a rising actress wins an Oscar in a supporting role and then, with the award, becomes considered a strong name to lead the cast, a few years later, being recognized in the “main category”. On the contrary, a great actress ignored by the Oscars for many years, and who is older, is recognized for her performance. There is also a case of having been both examples and winning again as a supporting player. These are big names that prove the rule!

Meryl Streep
In the history of the Oscars, no one has been nominated – as main or supporting – as Meryl. There are 21 nominations. It was to be expected, given her respect and superior work, that it would have taken more than half of those times, like 15 or 16, for there to be justice. But not. Meryl Streep has only 3 Oscars: two for Best Actress (Sophie’s Choice, in 1982 and Iron Lady, in 2011) and one for Best Supporting Actress for Kramer Versus Kramer, in 1979. There is still time and talent for more.

Cate Blanchett
Everyone loves Cate Blanchett and for me, of the eight nominations to date, she would have won 4, but for now, she has 2 Oscars: one for a supporting role, playing Katherine Hepburn in The Aviator, in 2005, and another in 2014 for Blue Jasmine.

Maggie Smith
Respect for Maggie Smith long predates her iconic role in the series Downton Abbey. Leaving the London theaters where she played Shakespeare, she won the Oscar for Best Actress in 1969 for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie and in 1978 as a supporting actor in California Suite.

Ingrid Bergman
Notably, one of the greatest actresses of her time, Ingrid Bergman has 3 Oscars in her filmography: Gaslight, 1944, Anastasia, 1956, both for Best Actress and for Supporting Role for Murder on the Orient Express, 1974. Second Oscar, 30 years after the first, she was honored for the participation of mere minutes in the film, but almost an apology from Hollywood after exiling her when she left her husband and daughter to live a great love with director Roberto Rossellini. Hollywood stuff…

Renée Zellweger
Renée was a very popular actress until she became more strict in her appearances. She was nominated 4 times in total and won two. The first in 2004 as a supporting actor in Cold Mountain and the second in the middle of the pandemic, in the biography about Judy Garland in Judy, in 2020.

Jessica Lange
Having made her film debut in the crude remake of King Kong in 1976, Jessica Lange took a while to be taken seriously. In the same year that she was nominated for Best Actress for Frances, she was also nominated for Tootsie in a supporting role, taking this as “consolation” in 1982. In 1994 she won again for Blue Sky.

Helen Hays
Ironically, even though she is part of a select group of winning duos, Helen Hays does not receive immediate recognition nowadays. Her first Oscar was in 1931 for The Sin of Madelon Claudet, as Best Actress. The second came no less than 39 years later, as a supporting actor, in the 1970 drama Airport.

Shelley Winters
Actress Shelley Winters won two Oscars for Supporting Actress. The first in the drama The Diary of Anne Frank, in 1955, and the second 10 years later, in A Patch of Blue. In total she had four nominations, the last being for the dramatic tragedy The Destiny of Poseidon, in 1973.

Dianne Wiest
Dianne Wiest is also curious about her two Oscars for Best Supporting Actress: both were in Woody Allen films. The first was in 1980, with Hannah and Her Sisters, and the second Bullets Over Broadway, in 1994.

And now?

Among all the nominees in 2024, it is only Emma Stone can make history at the 96th Oscar: nominated for the fourth time in 10 years, she has already won Best Actress in 2018, for La La Land. Her performance in Poor Creatures makes her a strong candidate to join the select group of more than one Oscar. Even more so, if it’s not this year, I’m sure it could be next year as they’re already talking about their new film. But that’s for another post!

Pesquisar

Pesquisar