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Fickle Oscar Calls Many But Goes Home With Few

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By KIM MacCORMACK

Published: February 19, 2009

TAMPA - Oscar night is all about the winners, those who take home the coveted golden man.

Today, we're making it about the losers, the people who've been nominated and lost and may lose again Sunday.

Take Meryl Streep. Our greatest living actress, right? Yet her nomination this year (for best actress in "Doubt") is her 15th nomination, and so far she's won only twice. That means she is staring down unlucky loss 13.

For the record, she won for "Kramer vs. Kramer" (1979) and "Sophie's Choice" (1982). Her notable losses include "Out of Africa" (1985), "Postcards From the Edge" (1990) and "The Devil Wears Prada" (2006).

Streep is going head-to-head with Kate Winslet, nominated this year for best actress in "The Reader." Winslet has six nominations with five losses. Many predict that streak will end Sunday.

Bette Davis experienced several bumpy Oscar nights. Nominated 11 times, she won only twice, for "Dangerous" (1935) and "Jezebel" (1938).

Lawrence Olivier won an Oscar in 1949 for his portrayal of "Hamlet." In total, he was nominated 11 times - and not one of them was for "The Jazz Singer."

Peter O'Toole has been nominated eight times and never won. We're not counting the honorary Oscar he got in 2003.

You're saying to yourself, "Didn't he win for 'Lawrence of Arabia' in 1962?" Nope. That year he had the misfortune of being up against eventual winner Gregory Peck in "To Kill a Mockingbird."

Richard Burton lost seven times, and that doesn't include two marriages to Elizabeth Taylor.

Other notable multiple nominees without a win? Deborah Kerr (six), Thelma Ritter (six), Glenn Close (five), Irene Dunne (five), Albert Finney (five) and Arthur Kennedy (five).

Jack Nicholson is less of a loser, but still a loser. He has been nominated 12 times and won three, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1975), "Terms of Endearment" (1983) and "As Good As It Gets" (1997). His losses include "Chinatown" (1974), "Prizzi's Honor" (1985) and "About Schmidt" (2002).

Other multiple nominees with a less-than-stellar win ratio include Katharine Hepburn, 12 nominations, four wins; Spencer Tracy, nine nominations, two wins; Paul Newman, nine nominations, one win; and Al Pacino, eight nominations, one win.

ABC's coverage of the Academy Awards begins at 8 p.m. Sunday.

Editor Kim MacCormack can be reached at (831) 259-7631.

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