By Joey Magidson
Film Contributor
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Believe it or not, no actor or actress has ever won an Academy Award for a performance in a film directed by Steven Spielberg. It’s an incredible dry spell, but this Oscar drought should end this weekend. Lincoln is poised to at least score Best Actor for Daniel Day-Lewis, if not Tommy Lee Jones for Supporting Actor and Sally Field for Supporting Actress as well. Day-Lewis is a lock, while Jones is a 50-50 proposition at this point and Field is almost assuredly losing. This won’t suddenly mean that Spielberg is King Midas for actors, but the tide is definitely turning at last.
This change got me thinking about the best performances induced from actors by Spielberg that resulted in nods but no wins. It’s an odd statistic since the Academy often goes out of its way to nominate his movies. Sometimes it’s merely for the technical prowess of the work, but on a number of occasions, the Academy has cited his actors and actresses.
To date, there have been nine instances of actors and actresses in Spielberg’s flicks getting nominated for their work, not counting the Lincoln thespians. Here they are by strength of performance:
9. Margaret Avery in The Color Purple
A Best Supporting Actress win for Margaret Avery always seemed like a long shot. Yes, she was excellent in The Color Purple, but she was up against her co-star Oprah Winfrey as well as other worthy contenders, ultimately losing to Anjelica Huston. Still, she really shot herself in the foot with an ill-fated and unfortunate Oscar plea. Instead of letting the fine performance stand on its own, she tried to force voters’ hands and paid for it with a loss.
Avery pushed for the win by taking out an ad that was designed as a letter from her to god. The thing is, she also wrote this open letter in a simplistic dialect that was at odds with the character she portrayed. It caused a commotion and pretty much killed any chances of her winning the award. She probably wasn’t going to anyway due to competition from Winfrey, but this faux pas made sure of it and put the final nail in her coffin.
8. Melinda Dillon for Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Supporting characters tend to do well for Spielberg, even if they usually have no chance of winning. Melinda Dillon was the sole acting representative for Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and even though she came up short (Vanessa Redgrave took the prize), she was one of the first of the director’s performers to get a nomination, along with being the first female. That was certainly noteworthy in and of itself.
Dillon is in many ways the most important character in the film, and her performance reflects that. She’s very good and certainly got her fair share of votes. It just wasn’t enough to get her the win. She probably came closer than any other nominated female in a Spielberg movie did, though, at least until Field this year with Lincoln.
7. Oprah Winfrey in The Color Purple
As mentioned a few spots ago, Winfrey and Avery split the vote for The Color Purple. The aforementioned Huston was the victor, but this nomination showed the talent that Winfrey had waiting to be harnessed. It hasn’t been duplicated since then, but she certainly caught Oscar’s attention for a strong performance like this one.
I actually think that if voters knew how little Winfrey planned on acting in the years since The Color Purple, they might have actually given her the win. She definitely came closer than Avery, even though I’m not certain she was in the runner-up spot to begin with. This was somewhat of a missed opportunity for the Academy, though since they didn’t give the flick any wins at all, that probably tells you a lot about what Winfrey’s chances truly were.
6. Christopher Walken in Catch Me If You Can
It’s not always easy to get Christopher Walken to not be a caricature, but the Beard was able to do just that with Catch Me If You Can. Walken was heartbreaking in the film and easily turns in one of his finest performances. Spielberg got him to be the heart and soul of the movie in only a handful of scenes.
Walken fell to Chris Cooper in this category, but I wonder if he was an upset waiting to happen in some ways. Since the big favorite films of that year didn’t wind up having their representative take Best Supporting Actor, it seemed like a ton of people had to have voted for this quiet and powerful role as opposed to the quirky genius of Cooper. It was probably very close, with Walken coming up a bit short in the end.
5. Anthony Hopkins in Amistad
Historically, it seems that A-list actors don’t get nominations when they work with Spielberg. Anthony Hopkins, however, represents one of the exceptions to that rule. He scored a nod for Amistad, and interestingly enough, he hasn’t been nominated since then.
Having already won an Oscar, Hopkins was never a serious contender for Supporting Actor, ultimately losing to Robin Williams. He was probably the least likely winner of the nominees, but that doesn’t take anything away from his performance. I’d say it’s just about the best thing he’s done in almost two decades.
4. Whoopi Goldberg in The Color Purple
The only woman ever to get a Best Actress nomination while working with Spielberg, Whoopi Goldberg was probably the best hope that The Color Purple had for a win. Of course, the film went zero for 11 at the Oscars, tying for the worst record of all time, so she might have been doomed from the start. She’s great in the movie and really deserved the prize, but it just wasn’t meant to be.
While Avery and Winfrey split the Supporting Actress vote, it was Goldberg who represented The Color Purple in the Lead Actress category. She lost to Geraldine Page, and the complete shutout actually prompted some questions of racism. Honestly, I just think the voters admired the movie more than they liked it, as we’ve seen with other flicks over the years. Goldberg got votes, but not enough in the end.
3. Liam Neeson in Schindler’s List
It’s very strange to think that Liam Neeson didn’t wind up winning Best Actor for his title role in Schindler’s List. The film itself won seven Oscars, but Neeson came up short to Tom Hanks. Both are amazing, but this is one of the places where Neeson and Schindler’s List came up empty-handed.
Hanks deserved the prize, but it’s interesting that voters resisted the urge to just vote Schindler’s List down the line. This is still Neeson’s career best work — it just sadly didn’t result in an Oscar win for him.
2. Tom Hanks in Saving Private Ryan
I think Hanks came close to winning his third Oscar for Saving Private Ryan. Roberto Benigni charmed the Academy into voting his way, but Hanks was definitely the runner-up. I do wonder if a Best Picture win for the flick would have gotten Hanks over the top, but he might have still wound up just outside the winner’s circle. What a shame, though, as he’s quietly brilliant in the film.
Had Hanks not already possessed a pair of wins under his belt, I’m pretty confident the Academy would have given him the prize here. Voters obviously love him, but they seem to be intent on not having him have three wins just yet. I still think he’ll get that next one at some point, but the Academy is clearly making him wait, and this was just further proof of that.
1. Ralph Fiennes in Schindler’s List
Even more shocking than Neeson losing is Ralph Fiennes not walking away with Best Supporting Actor for Schindler’s List. He’s evil incarnate and captivates audiences, making it seem like he should have been a lock. I’m still very surprised that Lincoln’s own supporting player Jones beat him. Jones was good, but Fiennes was just outstanding.
Perhaps Fiennes was a touch too believable to get all the votes that he needed in order to win, but he gave the best performance ever to be nominated and lose in a Spielberg film, that’s for sure. Ironically, if Fiennes had beaten Jones, it would have made the latter an almost lock to win this prize for Lincoln on Sunday. Go figure, right?
As you can see, Spielberg can sure get some terrific performances from his cast, but up until now the Academy has shied away from rewarding them. They get nominated from time to time, but no Oscars ever came their way.
By Monday morning, the Lincoln trio will either be breaking the dry spell or joining this unfortunate list. As mentioned earlier, Day-Lewis is all but a sure thing, so he’s probably leading the charge. Depending on if Jones wins (as well as who is announced first), one of them will officially be the first Spielberg winner. As for Field, she’s likely the new No. 10 spot on this list.
