No country outside the United States has won more Academy Awards than Great Britain. To date, 376 Oscars have gone to films with a UK connection and the number is bound to rise at the 92nd annual ceremony at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood on 9 February, as Brits have picked up another 27 nominations. Cinema Paradiso takes a look at the homegrown actors who have earned the respect of their peers over the last nine decades.
In fact, British performers got off to a bad start, as the Academy decided to withdraw Charlie Chaplin's Best Actor nomination for The Circus (1928) and give him a Special Award instead. Moreover, it's no longer possible to see the first British-related picture to win an Oscar as The Divine Lady (1929), director Frank Lloyd's biopic of Emma Hamilton and Horatio Nelson, has been lost forever. It retains a curious place in screen history, however, as Lloyd is still the only winner of the Best Director category to have triumphed with a film that was not also nominated for Best Picture.
Best Actor - 1920s - 1950s
No British performer has ever been nominated for a silent picture at the Academy Awards. However, the third annual ceremony produced our first winner, when George Arliss saw off competition from compatriot Ronald Colman and himself to win for his prime ministerial machinations in Alfred E. Green's Disraeli (1929). As a stage veteran who went to Hollywood to cash-in on the talkie boom, Arliss had a declamatory style that looks a little old-fashioned to modern eyes. But Charles Laughton consciously hammed it up in pipping fellow countryman Leslie Howard to Best Actor for Alexander Korda's The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933), which became the first non-American film to win an Academy Award. In the process, Laughton also became the second after Arliss to win the category while co-starring with his wife, as Elsa Lanchester contributes a splendid turn as the gauchely Germanic Anne of Cleves.
There was something of a surprise when Laughton missed out on the 1935 award for his hissable performance as Captain Bligh opposite Clark Gable's Fletcher Christian in Frank Lloyd's Mutiny on the Bounty (1935). The electorate plumped instead for Stepney-born Victor McLaglen for his gritty display as Gypo Nolan, who betrays an IRA rebel in 1920s Ireland for his boat fare to America in John Ford's adaptation of Liam O'Flaherty's novel, The Informer. McLaglen would become best known for his collaborations with John Wayne in Ford's postwar Westerns. However, they were also superbly matched in The Quiet Man (1952), which earned McLaglen a Best Supporting nod and Ford the last of his four Oscars for Best Director. Cinema Paradiso users can also check out the BFI restoration of Artur Robison's 1929 version of The Informer, which stars Lars Hanson as the hapless Nolan.
The pattern of dual nominations continued over the next few years, with Leslie Howard's Henry Higgins and Robert Donat's Andrew Manson respectively missing out for Anthony Asquith's Pygmalion and King Vidor's The Citadel (both 1938). Gone with the Wind star, Clark Gable, had been a shoo-in to win for his powerhouse display as Rhett Butler lost out to Donat's Charles Chipping in Sam Wood's charming take on James Hilton's public school saga, Goodbye, Mr Chips (both 1939).
Laurence Olivier was also overlooked that year for his Heathcliff opposite Merle Oberon's Cathy in William Wyler's adaptation of Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights. He was also spurned for his work as Maxim De Winter in Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca, in the year that Charlie Chaplin finally received his nomination for playing The Barber and tyrant Adenoid Hynkel in the self-directed The Great Dictator (both 1940).
Born Alfred Reginald Truscott-Jones, Welshman Ray Milland became the first Brit to win the Best Actor award under a stage name for his harrowing performance as Don Birnam, an alcoholic novelist suffering from writer's block, in Billy Wilder's four-time-winning take on Charles R. Jackson's acclaimed book, The Lost Weekend (1945).
Laurence Olivier had much to thank William Shakespeare for in following a nomination for his performance in the self-directed Henry V (1944) by becoming the first man to direct himself to the Oscar for Best Actor in Hamlet (1948), which also became the first British title to win Best Picture.
At decade's end, Dublin-born Richard Todd followed a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer with a Best Actor nomination for his work as Burmese field hospital patient Lachlan MacLachlan, alongside Patricia Neal and Ronald Reagan, in Vincent Sherman's The Hasty Heart (1949). However, the 1950s proved a relatively fallow period for British actors, as Hollywood fell under the spell of Marlon Brando and his fellow Method practitioners. Established stars like Laurence Olivier and Charles Laughton added to their tally of nominations in Olivier's Richard III (1955) and Billy Wilder's Witness for the Prosecution (1957), as wily lawyer Sir Wilfrid Robards in one of cinema's best reworkings of an Agatha Christie whodunit. But the younger generation also started to make an impression, as Richard Burton snagged the first of his seven nominations for his performance as Marcellus Gallio in Henry Koster's The Robe (1953).
There were successes, however, as the chameleonic Alec Guinness followed his mischievous turn as bank clerk Henry Holland in Charles Crichton's enduringly amusing Ealing comedy, The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), with a staggeringly contrasting turn as Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957), David Lean's Best Picture-winning adaptation of Pierre Boule's novel about POWs building the Burma Railway. David Niven's victory the following year was less expected, however, as he took the honours for one of the shortest performances ever to win Best Actor as boarding house charlatan Major Angus Pollock in Delbert Mann's opening out of Terence Rattigan's play, Separate Tables (1958).
Best Actor - 1960s - 1980s
The Swinging Sixties saw our actors follow the example of The Beatles by launching a British invasion of Hollywood. Once again, there was a mix of old and new faces, but the man of the decade was undoubtedly Peter O'Toole, the Leeds-born RADA graduate, who earned four nominations for Best Actor. Having become internationally renowned for his performance as TE Lawrence in David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia (1962), which also won the Academy Award for Best Picture, O'Toole and Richard Burton took votes off each other after being cited for their work as Archbishop Thomas Becket and King Henry II in Peter Glenville's interpretation of the Jean Anouilh play, Becket (1964).
This was a bumper year for UK cinema, as Anthony Quinn's iconic lead turn in Michael Cacoyanis's Zorba the Greek was the only non-British nomination. Peter Sellers couldn't have done more to catch the eye of his peers with his dazzling display as Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, US president Merkin Muffley and the eponymous German scientist in Stanley Kubrick's Dr Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. But it was Rex Harrison who took home the coveted statuette, as Professor Henry Higgins giving elocution lessons to Cockney flower girl Audrey Hepburn in George Cukor's My Fair Lady.
Harrison made Oscar history by becoming the first Best Actor winner to play a previously nominated character. But there was a fair bit of doubling up during the 1960s, as Laurence Olivier was nominated for his blackface performance in Peter Burge's Othello (1965), which had featured in A Double Life. Peter O'Toole then landed a nomination for playing Henry II, opposite the Oscar-winning Katharine Hepburn, in Anthony Harvey's The Lion in Winter (1968), before essaying schoolmaster Arthur (as opposed to Robert Donat's Charles) Chipping in Herbert Ross's musicalisation of Goodbye, Mr Chips (1969). Moreover, Richard Burton was nominated for his Henry VIII in Charles Jarrott's Anne of the Thousand Days (1969), which also drew a Best Supporting nod for Anthony Quayle as Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. Adding to the Tudor fun, Robert Shaw was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his reading of Bluff King Hal opposite Paul Scofield's Oscar-winning display as Sir Thomas More in Fred Zinnemann's A Man For All Seasons (1966).
Like O'Toole, Richard Burton never managed to win an Academy Award. But he added two more notches to his Best Actor tally, as Alec Leamas in Martin Ritt's adaptation of John Le Carré's The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (1963) and as George in Mike Nichols's fizzing adaptation of Edward Albee's play, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966). Burton could take some consolation from the fact that George Segal also missed out on Best Supporting Actor, after co-stars Sandy Dennis and new wife Elizabeth Taylor won their respective categories.
The same year also saw Michael Caine become a star, despite missing out for his cynical display as Cockney womaniser Alfie Elkins in Lewis Gilbert's take on Bill Naughton's Alfie. Joining Caine among the decade's nearly men were Laurence Olivier for his against-type turn as music-hall comic Archie Rice in Tony Richardson's version of John Osborne's Royal Court hit, The Entertainer; Trevor Howard as coal miner Walter Morel in Jack Cardiff's adaptation of DH Lawrence's Sons and Lovers (both 1960); Albert Finney for his lusty occupation of the title role in Tony Richardson's cheeky revision of Henry Fielding's Tom Jones (1963); Ron Moody for the reprisal of his Tony-nominated stage performance as Fagin in Carol Reed's aforementioned Oliver!; and Alan Bates for his intense interpretation of Yakov Blok in John Frankenheimer's take on Bernard Malamud's The Fixer (both 1968).
Several usual suspects missed out on the ultimate accolade in the 1970s, as Peter O'Toole failed to find favour as the 14th Earl of Gurney in Peter Medak's adaptation of Peter Barnes's satire, The Ruling Class (1972), Richard Burton looked a gift horse in the mouth as Martin Dysart in Sidney Lumet's film version of Anthony Shaffer's contentious play, Equus (1977), while Laurence Olivier struggled to elicit sufficient sympathy as Nazi hunter Ezra Lieberman in Franklin J. Schaffner's unsettling revision of Ira Levin's bestseller, The Boys From Brazil (1978). This was the second time that Olivier had been passed over during the 70s, as he and Michael Caine had been pitted in direct competition for their barnstorming performances as Andrew Wyke and Milo Tindle in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's ingenious adaptation of Anthony Shaffer's gripping play, Sleuth (1972).
Hercule Poirot had brought Albert Finney a Best Actor nomination in Sidney Lumet's 1974 Murder on the Orient Express. The decade was bookended by nominations for that Australian-born stalwart of British cinema, Peter Finch, as doctor Daniel Hirsh in John Schlesinger's bisexual ménage melodrama, Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971) and for Peter Sellers, for his mesmerising turn as Chance the gardener in Hal Ashby's poignant adaptation of Jerzy Kosinski's parable, Being There (1979). Sellers would die the following year without winning an Academy Award and Peter Finch had also passed on when he achieved an Oscar first in becoming the first posthumous winner of Best Actor for the seething indignation he exhibited as TV news anchor Howard Beale in Sidney Lumet's more pertinent than ever take on Paddy Chayevsky's Network (1976).
Another decade brought no change of fortune for Peter O'Toole, as he fell short again as megalomaniac director Eli Cross in Richard Rush's undervalued adaptation of Paul Brodeur's novel, The Stunt Man (1980), and as Alan Swann, the washed-up swashbuckling thespian in Richard Benjamin's ebullient Hollywood satire, My Favorite Year (1982). Albert Finney also went home disappointed twice during the 80s, despite being luvvily exceptional as Sir in Peter Yates's inventively cinematic retelling of Ronald Harwood's play, The Dresser (1983), and disconcertingly compelling as Geoffrey Firmin, the British Consul to Mexico in John Huston's typically atmospheric version of Malcolm Lowry's Under the Volcano (1984).
Finney's first snafu came during another of those standout years for British acting, as co-star Tom Courtenay's Norman was also nominated, alongside Tom Conti's turn as maverick Scottish poet Gowan McGland in Robert Ellis Miller's Reuben, Reuben and Michael Caine's display of self-pitying academic snobbery as drunken literature professor Frank Bryant in Lewis Gilbert's reading of Willie Russell's play, Educating Rita (both 1983). Four other fine performers failed to convert their nominations in the 1980s, although it would be hard to fault with John Hurt's heartbreaking display as John Merrick in David Lynch's The Elephant Man (1980), Dudley Moore's impish decadence as Arthur Bach in Steve Gordon's Arthur (1981), Bob Hoskins's soft-centred criminality in Neil Jordan's Mona Lisa (1986) or Kenneth Branagh's full-throttle bid to emulate Olivier in the self-directed Henry V (1989).
But the decade also brought two triumphs for British cinema. Born Krishna Pandit Bhanji in the Yorkshire village of Snainton, Ben Kingsley became the first Best Actor winner of Indian descent for his towering performance as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in Richard Attenborough's Gandhi (1982). Londoner Daniel Day-Lewis also created a bit of Oscar history when he became the first British Best Actor winner whose mother had also acted in films. Indeed, Jill Balcon was the daughter of legendary producer Michael Balcon, while her husband was Poet Laureate Cecil Day-Lewis. Three decades on, Day-Lewis's lauded performance in Jim Sheridan's My Left Foot (1989) was feted for its sensitive depiction of Irish writer and artist Christy Brown's cerebral palsy. However, unease has since grown over the casting of actors not living with disability, such as Eddie Redmayne, who also won the Oscar for Best Actor for depicting the impact of motor neurone disease on theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking in James Marsh's The Theory of Everything (2014).
Best Actor - 1990s - 2020s
After a back-to-back start, the 1990s rather fizzled out. Jeremy Irons was a surprise winner for his portrayal of Danish-British murder suspect Claus von Bülow in Barbet Schroeder's Reversal of Fortune (1990), but Anthony Hopkins was the runaway favourite to complete the first and only hat-trick of British Best Actor wins for his flavoursome depiction of serial killer Hannibal Lecter in Jonathan Demme's The Silence of the Lambs (1991), altogether landing five Oscars.
Hopkins would be nominated again for his splendidly stiff reserve as 1930s butler James Stephens in James Ivory's adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's Booker Prize winner, The Remains of the Day (1993), and for his insightful impersonation of disgraced American President Richard Nixon in Oliver Stone's Nixon (1995). Daniel Day-Lewis would receive a second nomination for his work as Gerry Conlon, a wrongfully jailed member of the Guildford Four, in Jim Sheridan's In the Name of the Father (1993), while Belfast and Ballymena provided nominees Stephen Rea and Liam Neeson, who gave memorable performances as Fergus in Neil Jordan's unconventional love story, The Crying Game (1992), and as German industrialist Oskar Schindler's in Schindler's List (1993), Steven Spielberg's Best Picture-winning adaptation of Thomas Keneally's Booker garlanded novel, Schindler's Ark.
The decade's other nominations were presented to actors playing historical figures. Nigel Hawthorne followed up his Olivier Award for Alan Bennett's stage play by adding the BAFTA for Best Actor to his Oscar nod for his affecting performance as George III in Nicholas Hytner's The Madness of King George (1994). Also taking the title role, Ralph Fiennes cut a dash before suffering nobly as Hungarian aristocrat László de Almásy in Anthony Minghella's aforementioned adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's novel, The English Patient. Completing this triumvirate, Ian McKellen earned his only nomination to date in this category for his thoughtful portrayal in Bill Condon's Gods and Monsters (1998) of James Whale, the gay British director of such classic Universal horrors as Frankenstein (1931) and Bride of Frankenstein (1935).
The new millennium saw two Brits take decisive steps towards their places in Oscar history. Following a nomination for his roaring turn as William Cutting in Martin Scorsese's Gangs of New York (2002), Daniel Day-Lewis won his second Best Actor title as Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood (2007), Joel and Ethan Coen's epic adaptation of Upton Sinclair's novel, Oil. Peter O'Toole bowed out without ever having taken the top prize, but he went one better than Richard Burton with his eighth and final nomination for his droll display as veteran actor Maurice Russell, who tries to take the rough edges off Jodie Whittaker's provincial rebel, Jessie, in Roger Michell's charmer, Venus (2006).
Elsewhere in the noughties, Michael Caine and Ben Kingsley upped their tallies with their performances as Thomas Fowler in Philip Noyce's reworking of Graham Greene's thriller, The Quiet American (2002), and as former Iranian army officer Massoud Amir Behrani in Vadim Perelman's adaptation of Andre Dubus III's novel, House of Sand and Fog (2003). There were also first citations for Tom Wilkinson, as doctor Matt Fowler in Todd Field's In the Bedroom (2001); Jude Law, as carpenter WP Inman in Anthony Minghella's take on Charles Frazier's Civil War bestseller, Cold Mountain (2003); and Colin Firth, as gay college professor George Falconer coming to terms with the death of his longtime partner around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis in Tom Ford's chic revision of Christopher Isherwood's A Single Man (2009).
Firth went one better the following year, however, with his inspired display of regal vulnerability as George VI in Tom Hooper's The King's Speech. Indeed, the last decade was a good time for historical characters, as Daniel Day-Lewis won his record-breaking third Best Actor award as Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's imposing biopic, Lincoln (2012), while Gary Oldman followed up his nomination for playing George Smiley in Tomas Alfredson's updating of John Le Carré's spy classic, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011), by winning the Oscar for his bullish turn as Winston Churchill in Joe Wright's sometimes factually fanciful Darkest Hour (2017).
Chiwetel Ejiofor became the first black British actor to be nominated in this category for his inspiring performance as abolitionist Solomon Northup in Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave (2013), while Benedict Cumberbatch was acclaimed for his work as gay mathematician Alan Turing in Morten Tildum's The Imitation Game (2014). A year after his Oscar win for playing Stephen Hawking, Eddie Redmayne was nominated again for his portrayal of transgender artist Lili Elbe in Tom Hooper's The Danish Girl (2015), while British-American actor Andrew Garfield was recognised for his re-enactment of Second World War combat medic Desmond Doss's selfless heroism in Mel Gibson's harrowing Hacksaw Ridge (2016).
Completing the real-life roster are Christian Bale's self-effacing transformations into con man Irving Rosenfeld in David O. Russell's American Hustle (2013) and Vice-President Dick Cheyney in Adam McKay's Vice (2018), and Jonathan Pryce's persuasively humble performance as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio (aka Pope Francis) in Fernando Meirelles's The Two Popes (2019). The 2010s also saw Daniel Day-Lewis nominated for what he has insisted will be his final screen role, fashion designer Reynolds Woodcock, in Paul Thomas Anderson's Phantom Thread (2017), and Londoner Daniel Kaluuya earn his first citation for his display of creeping anxiety as photographer Chris Washington in the debuting Jordan Peele's landmark racial prejudice chiller, Get Out (2017).
Best Supporting Actor - 1930s - 1970s
Britain had representation in the inaugural Best Supporting Actor selection in the form of South African-born Basil Rathbone, who was nominated for his performance as Tybalt in George Cukor's Romeo and Juliet (1936). HB Warner also missed out on the prize as Shangri-La resident Chang in Frank Capra's adaptation of James Hilton's fantasy, Lost Horizon (1937), and Claude Rains's scheming Senator Joseph Harrington Paine in the same director's excoriating political drama, Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939).
Cinema Paradiso users will have a bit more luck catching up with the 1940s nominees, however, as Rains added three further unsuccessful tilts as Captain Louis Renault in Michael Curtiz's Casablanca (1942), Job Skeffington in Vincent Sherman's Mr Skeffington (1944) and Alexander Sebastian in Alfred Hitchcock's Notorious (1946). The gods similarly didn't smile kindly on the work of James Stephenson as lawyer Howard Joyce in William Wyler's W. Somerset Maugham melodrama, The Letter (1940); Sydney Greenstreet's Kasper Gutman in John Huston's prototype noir adaptation of Dashiell Hammet's The Maltese Falcon (1941); or Ralph Richardson as Dr Austin Sloper in The Heiress (1949), William Wyler's adaptation of Henry James's novel, Washington Square. But Scot Donald Crisp became the first Oxford graduate to win an acting Oscar for his display as disapproving Welsh parent Gwilym Morgan in John Ford's take on Richard Llewellyn's bestseller, How Green Was My Valley (1941), while Edmund Gwenn's Christmases all came at once after he was chosen for his twinkling turn as Kris Kringle in George Seaton's Miracle on 34th Street (1947).
The 1950s were bookended by victories for George Sanders, as acerbic theatre critic Addison De Witt in Joseph L. Mankiewicz's All About Eve (1950), and Hugh Griffith, as Arab chariot owner Sheik Ilderim in William Wyler's epic adaptation of Lew Wallace's Ben-Hur (1959). In between, short straws were drawn by Leo Genn and Peter Ustinov (both Quo Vadis, 1951) and Richard Burton (My Cousin Rachel, 1952). There were more hard luck stories than triumphs in the 60s, too, as only Peter Ustinov managed to win (albeit twice) for his work as gladiator school owner Lentulus Batiatus in Stanley Kubrick's Roman epic, Spartacus (1960), and as small-time crook Arthur Simon Simpson in Jules Dassin's Turkish heist caper, Topkapi (1964).
John Mills got the 1970s off to a winning start without uttering a single word in playing Irish outsider Michael in David Lean's Ryan's Daughter (1970). No one managed to match his achievement, however, despite the best efforts of Laurence Olivier as sadistic dentist Christian Szell in John Schlesinger's adaptation of William Goldman's Marathon Man (1976), Peter Firth as troubled teenager Alan Strang in Equus, Alec Guinness as Obi-wan Kenobi in Star Wars (which is the only acting nomination among the 37 that the franchise has accrued since 1977) and John Hurt as Max, a heroin addict in Sagmalcilar Prison in Alan Parker's Midnight Express (1978).
Best Supporting Actor - 1980s - 2020s
There was little sign of new talent coming through in the 1980s, as the Best Supporting nominations went to veteran Brits coming towards the end of their illustrious careers. John Gielgud cursed his way to a statuette as Hobson the valet in Arthur, while Michael Caine and Sean Connery ensured back-to-back wins for Blighty as the adulterous Elliott Daniels in Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters (1986) and as Jimmy Malone, the Scottish-accented Irish cop pursuing Robert De Niro's Al Capone in Brian DePalma's The Untouchables (1987).
Caine was the sole British winner in the 1990s, as he attempted an American accent in essaying Maine orphanage director Dr Wilbur Larch in Lasse Hallström's adaptation of John Irving's The Cider House Rules (1999). A number of familiar faces were left cursing their luck, however, including Ben Kinglsey (Bugsy, 1991), Ralph Fiennes (Schindler's List), Paul Scofield (Quiz Show, 1994), Anthony Hopkins (Amistad, 1997) and Jude Law (The Talented Mr Ripley, 1999). But there was also a cabal of first-time nominees to celebrate, which included Pete Postlethwaite (In the Name of the Father), Tim Roth (Rob Roy, 1995) and Jaye Davidson, who became the first black British nominee in this category for his unforgettable display in Neil Jordan's The Crying Game.
As the new millennium dawned, British actors found Oscar recognition hard to come by. Indeed, only Jim Broadbent emerged triumphant after his seasoned performance as writer and critic John Bayley opposite Judi Dench's nominated Iris Murdoch in Richard Eyre's Iris (2001).
Christian Bale enjoyed mixed fortunes in the 2010s, as he had to be content with a nomination for playing hedge fund manager Michael Burry in Adam McKay's The Big Short (2015) after winning the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor as boxer Dicky Ecklund in David O. Russell's The Fighter (2010). Once again crossing paths with Laurence Olivier, Kenneth Branagh missed out on a gong for the deft impersonation of his idol in My Week With Marilyn (2011), Simon Curtis's intimate account of the making of the 1957 Marilyn Monroe vehicle, The Prince and the Showgirl.
Further nominations were awarded to Tom Hardy (The Revenant, 2015), Dev Patel (Lion, 2016) and Richard E. Grant, who became the first Swazi-born British actor to be nominated for his work as Jack Hock in Marielle Heller's Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018). Dismayingly, this was the first feature directed by a woman to land a British actor any form of Oscar nomination. But, as Anthony Hopkins awaits the verdict on his astute display as Benedict XVI in The Two Popes, he can draw inspiration from the fact that the last British victory in this category also went to an actor playing an actual person, as Mark Rylance won in 2016 for his work as Soviet intelligence officer Rudolf Abel in Steven Spielberg's Bridge of Spies.
To explore more of Oscar-themed content, be sure to check out Acting Up: British Actresses at the Oscars!
