Great Oscar-Less Film Performances
Criteria: Great film acting performances that did not win an Oscar, but should not be overlooked.

1944
♦ Charles Boyer
as "Gregory Anton / Sergius Bauer" in Gaslight
♦ Barbara Stanwyck
as "Phyllis Dietrichson" in Double Indemnity
♦ Bette Davis
as "Fanny Trellis Skeffington" in Mr. Skeffington
♦ Claudette Colbert
as "Mrs Anne Hilton" in Since You Went Away
♦ Cary Grant
as "Ernie Mott" in None but the Lonely Heart
1945
♦ Bing Crosby
as "Father Chuck O'Malley" in The Bells of St. Mary's
♦ Gregory Peck
as "Father Francis Chisholm" in The Keys of the Kingdom
♦ Greer Garson
as "Mary Rafferty" in The Valley of Decision
1946
♦ James Stewart
as "George Bailey" in It's a Wonderful Life
♦ Larry Parks
as "Al Jolson" in The Jolson Story
♦ Celia Johnson
as "Laura Jesson" in Brief Encounter
1947
♦ Deborah Kerr
as "Sister Clodagh" in Black Narcissus
♦ Robert Young
as "Finlay" in Crossfire
♦ Charles Chaplin
as "Henry Verdoux / Varney / Bonheur / Floray / Narrator" in Monsieur Verdoux
♦ James Mason
as "Johnny McQueen" in Odd Man Out
♦ Robert Mitchum
as "Jeff Bailey" in Out of the Past
♦ Jane Greer
as "Kathie Moffett" in Out of the Past
1948
♦ Edward G. Robinson
as "Joe Keller" in All My Sons
♦ John Garfield
as "Joe Morse" inForce of Evil
♦ Edward G. Robinson
as "Johnny Rocco" in Key Largo
♦ Joan Fontaine
as "Lisa Berndle" in Letter From an Unknown Woman
♦ John Wayne
as "Tom Dunson" in Red River
♦ Anton Walbrook
as "Boris Lermontov" in The Red Shoes
♦ Humphrey Bogart
as "Fred C. Dobbs" in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
1949
♦ Katharine Hepburn
as "Amanda Bonner" in Adam's Rib
♦ John Dall
as "Bart Tare" in Gun Crazy
♦ Peggy Cummins
as "Annie Laurie Starr" in Gun Crazy
♦ Alec Guinness
as "multiple characters" in Kind Hearts and Coronets
♦ Gene Kelly
as "Gabey" in On the Town
♦ John Wayne
as "Captain Nathan Brittles" in She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
♦ James Cagney
as "Arthur Cody Jarrett" in White Heat
1950
♦ Sterling Hayden
as "Dix Handley" in The Asphalt Jungle
♦ Humphrey Bogart
as "Dixon Steele" in In a Lonely Place
♦ Richard Widmark
as "Harry Fabian" in Night and the City
♦ Richard Widmark
as "Ray Biddle" in No Way Out
♦ Richard Widmark
as "Dr. Clinton Reed" in Panic in the Streets
♦ Maureen O'Hara
as "Mrs. Kathleen Yorke" in Rio Grande
1951
♦ Alastair Sim
as "Ebenezer Scrooge" in A Christmas Carol
♦ Kirk Douglas
as "James McLeod" in Detective Story
♦ Robert Walker
as "Bruno Anthony" in Strangers on a Train
1952
♦ James Mason
as "Cicero" in Five Fingers
♦ Judy Holliday
as "Florence Keefer" in The Marrying Kind
♦ John Wayne
as "Sean Thornton" in The Quiet Man
♦ Maureen O'Hara
as "Mary Kate Danaher" in The Quiet Man
♦ Gene Kelly
as "Don Lockwood" in Singin' in the Rain
♦ Debbie Reynolds
as "Kathy Selden" in Singin' in the Rain
1953
♦ Gloria Grahame
as "Debby Marsh" in The Big Heat
♦ Marilyn Monroe
as "Lorelei" in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
♦ Jane Russell
as "Dorothy" in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
♦ Alan Ladd
as "Shane" in Shane
♦ Jean Arthur
as "Marion Starrett" in Shane
1954
♦ William Holden
as "Bernie Dodd "in The Country Girl
♦ Charles Laughton
as "Henry Horatio Hobson" in Hobson's Choice
♦ Grace Kelly
as "Lisa Carol Fremont" in Rear Window
1955
♦ Glenn Ford
as "Richard Dadier" in Blackboard Jungle
♦ Julie Harris
as "Abra" in East of Eden
♦ Doris Day
as "Ruth Etting" in Love Me or Leave Me
♦ Henry Fonda
as "Lt. Doug Roberts" in Mister Roberts
♦ Robert Mitchum
as "Preacher Harry Powell" in The Night of the Hunter
♦ James Dean
as "Jim Stark" in Rebel Without a Cause
1956
♦ Marilyn Monroe
as "Cherie" in Bus Stop
♦ Sterling Hayden
as "Johnny Clay" in The Killing
♦ James Stewart
as "Dr. Ben" in The Man Who Knew Too Much
♦ Doris Day
as "Jo MacKenna" in The Man Who Knew Too Much
♦ John Wayne
as "Ethan Edwards" in The Searchers
1957
♦ Andy Griffith
as "Lonesome" Rhodes" in A Face in the Crowd
♦ Robert Mitchum
as "Mr. Allison" in Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison
♦ Kirk Douglas
as "Colonel Dax" in Paths of Glory
♦ Tony Curtis
as "Sidney Falco" in Sweet Smell of Success
♦ Toshiro Mifune
as "Taketoki Washizu" in Throne of Blood
♦ Henry Fonda
as "Juror # 8" in 12 Angry Men
♦ Marlene Dietrich
as "Christine "Helm" Vole" in Witness for the Prosecution
1958
♦ Alec Guinness
as "Gulley Jimson" in The Horse's Mouth
♦ Rita Hayworth
as "Ann Shankland" in Separate Tables
♦ Orson Welles
as "Hank Quinlan" in Touch of Evil
♦ James Stewart
as "Scottie Ferguson" in Vertigo
♦ Kim Novak
in a dual role as "Madeleine Elster/Judy Barton" in Vertigo
1959
♦ Lee Remick
as "Laura Manion" in Anatomy of a Murder
♦ Jean-Pierre Leaud
as "Antoine Doinel" in The 400 Blows
♦ Cary Grant
as "Roger O. Thornhill" in North by Northwest
♦ Eva Marie Saint
as "Eve Kendall" in North by Northwest
♦ John Wayne
as "John T. Chance" in Rio Bravo
♦ Tony Curtis
as "Joe-sephine" in Some Like It Hot
♦ Marilyn Monroe
as "Sugar "in Some Like It Hot
1960
♦ Jean Simmons
as "Sister Sharon Falconer" in Elmer Gantry
♦ Fredric March
as "Matthew Harrison Brady" in Inherit the Wind
♦ Anthony Perkins
as "Norman Bates" in Psycho
♦ Robert Mitchum
as "Paddy Carmody" in The Sundowners
♦ Ralph Bellamy
as "FDR" in Sunrise at Campobello
1961
♦ Marilyn Monroe
as "Roslyn Taber" in The Misfits
1962
♦ James Mason
as "Humbert Humbert" in Lolita
♦ Kirk Douglas
as "Jack Burns" in Lonely Are the Brave
♦ Ralph Richardson
as "James Tyrone, Sr." in Long Day's Journey Into Night
♦ Dean Stockwell
as "Edmund Tyrone" in Long Day's Journey Into Night
♦ Frank Sinatra
as "Bennett Marco" in The Manchurian Candidate
♦ Laurence Harvey
as "Sgt. Raymond Shaw" in The Manchurian Candidate
♦ Robert Preston
as "Harold Hill" in The Music Man
♦ Joel McCrea
as "Steve Judd" in Ride the High Country
♦ Randolph Scott
as "Gil Westrum" in Ride the High Country
1963
♦ Sean Connery
as "James Bond" in From Russia With Love
1964
♦ Audrey Hepburn
as "Eliza Doolittle" in My Fair Lady
♦ Peter Sellers
as "Inspector Jacques Clouseau" in The Pink Panther
♦ Tony Randall
as "Dr. Lao" in The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao
1965
♦ Julie Christie
as "Lara" in Doctor Zhivago
1967
♦ Sidney Poitier
as "Virgil Tibbs" in In the Heat of the Night
♦ Audrey Hepburn
as "Joanna Wallace" in Two for the Road
1968
♦ Steve McQueen
as "Frank Bullitt" in Bullitt
♦ Tuesday Weld
as "Sue Ann Stepanek" in Pretty Poison
♦ Mia Farrow
as "Rosemary Woodhouse" in Rosemary's Baby
1969
♦ Ali McGraw
as "Brenda" in Goodbye, Columbus
♦ William Holden
as "Pike Bishop" in The Wild Bunch
♦ Robert Redford
as "The Sundance Kid" in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
1971
♦ Malcolm McDowell
as "Alex" in A Clockwork Orange
♦ Jessica Walter
as "Evelyn Draper" in Play Misty for Me
1972
♦ Robert Redford
as "Bill McKay" in The Candidate
♦ Jon Voight
as "Ed" in Deliverance
♦ Robert Redford
as "Jeremiah Johnson" in Jeremiah Johnson
♦ Woody Allen
as "Allan Felix" in Play It Again, Sam
1973
♦ Sissy Spacek
as "Holly Sargis" in Badlands
♦ Robert Mitchum
as "Eddie Coyle" in The Friends of Eddie Coyle
♦ Robert DeNiro
as "Johnny Boy" in Mean Streets
♦ Liv Ullmann
as "Marianne" in Scenes from a Marriage
♦ Paul Newman
as "Henry Gondorff/Mr. Shaw" in The Sting
1974
♦ Gene Hackman
as "Harry Caul" in The Conversation
♦ John Cazale
as "Fredo Corleone" in The Godfather, Part II
♦ Gene Wilder
as "Dr. Frederick Frankenstein" in Young Frankenstein
1975
♦ Robert Mitchum
as "Phillip Marlowe" in Farewell, My Lovely
♦ Robert Shaw
as "Quint" in Jaws
♦ Michael Caine
as "Peachy Carnehan" in The Man Who Would Be King
♦ Sean Connery
as "Daniel Dravot" in The Man Who Would Be King
♦ Tim Curry
as "Dr. Frank-N-Furter" in The Rocky Horror Picture Show
1977
♦ Diane Keaton
as "Theresa Dunn" in Looking for Mr. Goodbar
1978
♦ Richard Pryor
as "Zeke Brown" in Blue Collar
1979
♦ Woody Allen
as "Isaac Davis" in Manhattan
♦ Nick Nolte
as "Phillip Elliott" in North Dallas Forty
♦ Donald Sutherland
as "Calvin" in Ordinary People
1980
♦ Jack Nicholson
as "Jack Torrance" in The Shining
1981
♦ Kathleen Turner
as "Matty Walker" in Body Heat
♦ Faye Dunaway
as "Joan Crawford" in Mommie Dearest
♦ Christopher Walken
as "Tom" in Pennies From Heaven
1982
♦ Sean Penn
as "Jeff Spicoli" in Fast Times at Ridgemont High
1983
♦ Christopher Walken
as "Johnny Smith" in The Dead Zone
♦ Ed Harris
as "John Glenn "in The Right Stuff
♦ Eric Roberts
as "Paul Snider" in Star 80
1984
♦ Steve Martin as
"Roger Cobb" in All of Me
♦ Molly Ringwald
as "Samantha" in Sixteen Candles
♦ Robert De Niro
as "Noodles" in Once Upon A Time In America
♦ James Woods
as "Max" in Once Upon A Time In America
1985
♦ Robert Redford
as Denys George Finch Hatton in Out Of Africa
♦ Mieko Harada
as "Lady Kaede" in Ran
1986
♦ Dennis Hopper
as "Frank Booth" in Blue Velvet
♦ Gary Oldman
as "Sid Vicious" in Sid & Nancy
1987
♦ Anjelica Huston
as "Gretta" in The Dead
♦ Vincent D'Onofrio
as "Leonard Lawrence (Pvt. Gomer Pyle)" in Full Metal Jacket
♦ Joanne Woodward
as "Amanda Wingfield" in The Glass Menagerie
♦ Holly Hunter
as "Ed-wina" in Raising Arizona
1988
♦ Susan Sarandon
as "Annie Savoy" in Bull Durham
♦ John Malkovich
as "Vicomte De Valmont" in Dangerous Liaisons
♦ Alan Rickman
as "Hans Gruber" in Die Hard
♦ Divine
as "Edna Turnblad" in Hairspray
1989
♦ Morgan Freeman
as "John Rawlins" in Glory
♦ Annette Bening
as "Marquise de Merteuil" in Valmont
1990
♦ Glenn Close
as "Sunny von Bulow" in Reversal of Fortune
1991
♦ Laurence Fishburne
as "Furious Styles" in Boyz 'N the Hood
♦ Samuel L. Jackson
as "Gator" in Jungle Fever
1993
♦ Michelle Pfeiffer
as "Countess Ellen Olenska" in The Age of Innocence
♦ Bill Murray
as "Phil" in Groundhog Day
♦ Denzel Washington
as "Joe Miller" in Philadelphia
1994
♦ Johnny Depp
as "Ed Wood "in Ed Wood
♦ Kate Winslet
as "Juliet Hulme" in Heavenly Creatures
♦ Ralph Fiennes
as "Charles Van Doren" in Quiz Show
♦ John Turturro
as "Hebert Stempel" in Quiz Show
1995
♦ Kathy Bates
as "Dolores Claiborne" in Dolores Claiborne
♦ Jennifer Jason Leigh
as "Sadie" in Georgia
♦ Ian McKellen
as "King Richard III" in Richard III
♦ Julianne Moore
as "Carol White" in Safe
♦ Nicole Kidman
as "Suzanne Stone" in To Die For
♦ Angela Bassett
as "Bernadine Harris" in Waiting to Exhale
1996
♦ Harry Belafonte
as "Seldom Seen" in Kansas City
♦ Debbie Reynolds
as "Beatrice" in Mother
♦ Eddie Murphy
as "Sherman Klump (and others)" in The Nutty Professor
1997
♦ Al Pacino
as "Lefty Ruggiero" in Donnie Brasco
♦ Sigourney Weaver
as "Janey Carver" in The Ice Storm
♦ Leonardo DiCaprio
as "Jack Dawson" in Titanic
♦ Aaron Eckhart
as "Chad" in In The Company Of Men
1998
♦ Dylan Baker
as "Bill Maplewood" in Happiness
♦ Christina Ricci
as "Dedee Truitt" in The Opposite of Sex
1999
♦ John Malkovich
as "Himself" in Being John Malkovich
♦ Reese Witherspoon
as "Tracy Enid Flick" in Election
♦ Matt Damon
as "Tom Ripley" in The Talented Mr. Ripley
2000
♦ Michelle Yeoh
as "Yui Hsui Lien" in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
♦ Gillian Anderson
as "Lily Bart" in The House of Mirth
♦ Michael Douglas
as "Judge Wakefield" in Traffic
2001
♦ Ewan McGregor
as "Christian" in Moulin Rouge
♦ Nicole Kidman
as "Grace" in The Others
2002
♦ Leonardo DiCaprio
as "Amsterdam Vallon" in Gangs Of New York
♦ Edward Norton
as "Monty Brogan" in 25th Hour
♦ Richard Gere
as "Billy Flynn" in Chicago
♦ Tom Hanks
as "John Sullivan" in Road To Perdition
2003
♦ Sean Astin
as "Sam" in Return Of The King
♦ Leandro Firmino
as "Lil Ze" in City Of God
♦ Tom Cruise
as "Nathan Algren" in The Last Samurai
2004
♦ Jim Carrey
as "Joel Barrish" in Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
♦ Paul Giamatti
as "Miles" in Sideways
♦ Regina King
as "Margie Hendricks" in Ray
2005
♦ Russell Crowe
as "Jim Braddock" in Cinderella Man
♦ Ed Harris
as "Carl Fogarty" in A History Of Violence
♦ Sandra Bullock
as "Jean Cabot" in Crash
2006
♦ Jack Nicholson
as "Frank Costello" in The Departed
♦ Leonardo DiCaprio
as "Billy Costigan" in The Departed
♦ Brad Pitt
as "Richard" in Babel
2007
♦ Viggo Mortensen
as "Nikolai" in Eastern Promises
♦ Laura Linney
as "Wendy Savage" in The Savages
2008
♦ Mickey Rourke
as "Randy 'The Ram' Robinson" in The Wrestler
♦ Angelina Jolie
as "Christine Collins" in Changeling
2009
♦ George Clooney
as "Ryan Bingham" in Up In The Air
♦ Gabourey Sidibe
as "Precious" in Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire
2010
♦ James Franco
as "Aron Ralston" in 127 Hours
♦ Annette Bening
as "Nic" in The Kids Are All Right
2011
♦ Demián Bichir
as "Carlos Galindo" in A Better Life
♦ Viola Davis
as "Aibileen Clark" in The Help
♦ Jonah Hill
as "Peter Brand" in Moneyball
2012
♦ Joaquin Phoenix
as "Freddie Quell" in The Master
♦ Jessica Chastain
as "Maya" in Zero Dark Thirty
♦ Quvenzhané Wallis
as "Hushpuppy" in Beasts of the Southern Wild
♦ Philip Seymour Hoffman
as "Lancaster Dodd" in The Master
2013
♦ Chiwetel Ejiofor
as "Solomon Northup" in 12 Years A Slave
♦ Amy Adams
as "Sydney Prosser" in American Hustle
♦ Bruce Dern
as "Woodrow "Woody" Grant" in Nebraska
2014
♦ Michael Keaton
as "Riggan" in Birdman
♦ Steve Carell
as "John du Pont" in Foxcatcher
♦ Rosamund Pike
as "Amy Dunne" in Gone Girl
♦ Reese Witherspoon
as "Cheryl" in Wild
2015
♦ Bryan Cranston
as "Dalton Trumbo" in Trumbo
♦ Eddie Redmayne
as "Einar Wegener / Lili Elbe" in The Danish Girl
♦ Cate Blanchett
as "Carol Aird" in Carol
2016
♦ Meryl Streep
as "Florence Foster Jenkins" in Florence Foster Jenkins
♦ Denzel Washington
as "Troy Maxson" in Fences
♦ Ruth Negga
as "Mildred Loving" in Loving
♦ Andrew Garfield
as "Desmond Doss" in Hacksaw Ridge
2017
♦ Daniel Kaluuya
as "Chris Washington" in Get Out
♦ Saoirse Ronan
as "Christine "Lady Bird" McPherson" in Lady Bird
♦ Meryl Streep
as "Katharine Graham" in The Post
2018
♦ Christian Bale
as "Dick Cheney" in Vice
♦ Viggo Mortensen
as "Tony Vallelonga" in Green Book
♦ Yalitza Aparicio
as "Cleodegaria "Cleo" Gutierrez" in Roma
2019
♦ Adam Driver
as "Charlie Barber" in Marriage Story
♦ Jonathan Pryce
as "Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio" in The Two Popes
♦ Cynthia Erivo
as "Harriet Tubman" in Harriet
♦ Scarlett Johansson
as "Nicole Barber" in Marriage Story
2020
♦ Andra Day
as "Billie Holiday" in The United States vs. Billie Holiday
♦ Riz Ahmed
as "Ruben Stone" in Sound of Metal
2021
 ♦ Olivia Colman
as "Leda Caruso" in The Lost Daughter
 ♦ Denzel Washington
as "Lord Macbeth" in The Tragedy of Macbeth
2022
 ♦ Austin Butler
as "Elvis Presley" in Elvis
 ♦ Cate Blanchett
as "Lydia Tár" in Tár


Last Updated: 2023-05-02