With 11 nominations, The Color Purple had all but one of the ingredients for an epic sweep in 1985 – it was in for picture, screenplay, three acting nominations, cinematography, art direction, costumes, make-up, music and original song. It won none. The tea-leaves of its defeat were there for all to read when Steven Spielberg’s name failed to show up on the Best Director shortlist.
Given that this was Spielberg’s first move away from blockbusting, bums-on-seats entertainment towards more adult and pedigreed material, this must have stung particularly badly, and made him question anew whether the industry resented his success. He hadn’t been nominated for Jaws either, and had lost three in a row since then. It took Schindler’s List to break the drought.
Geena Davis, Best Supporting Actress winner for The Accidental Tourist (1988)
There’s meant to be an unwritten rule, when you’re nominated twice in a year, that you win for one of them and lose for the other – ask Fay Bainter (1938), Teresa Wright (1942), Barry Fitzgerald (1944), Jessica Lange (1982), Al Pacino (1992), Holly Hunter (1993) and Jamie Foxx (2004). It was a rule that held until 1988, when Sigourney Weaver was up for Best Actress in Gorillas in the Mist – an award she lost to Jodie Foster, rather than the favourite, Glenn Close – and for Supporting Actress in Working Girl, which seemed like an ideal consolation prize (she actually won both Golden Globes).
Voters preferred the kooky stylings of near-newcomer Geena Davis in The Accidental Tourist, and Weaver has waited ever since to be nominated again. At least she’s been subsequently joined by good company in the empty-handed double-nomination club – namely Emma Thompson (1993), Julianne Moore (2002) and Cate Blanchett (2007).
Marisa Tomei, Best Supporting Actress nomination AND win for My Cousin Vinny (1992)
Even Tomei’s nomination as Joe Pesci’s brash fiancée in this sleeper hit of a courtroom comedy had been a bit of a long shot – the Golden Globes hadn’t picked her, and there was a general “who?” factor surrounding the nod. What a shock, then, when Jack Palance read her name out, instead of Judy Davis (Husbands and Wives), Vanessa Redgrave (Howards End), Miranda Richardson (Damage) or Joan Plowright (Enchanted April).
For years afterwards, there was a rather mean rumour that the 73-year-old Palance, confused by the teleprompter, had simply announced the wrong name, though the Academy’s accounting firm, PriceWaterhouse, vociferously denies that any such error would have stood uncorrected on the night. Tomei herself has confessed that her victory still lives under “a cloud” of sorts, though her very reputable career since then, with additional nominations for In the Bedroom (2001) and The Wrestler (2008), have helped diminish the fluke factor.
