Oscar-winning/nominated Actors Eclipsed by Their Non-Nominated Colleagues

[Cremildo]

Does anyone else think that there are non-nominated performances that were actually better than Oscar-nominated or -winning ones in the same movie?

For instance, I watched Ben-Hur expecting a tour de force by Best Supporting Actor winner Hugh Griffith, only to find out that Jack Hawkins was the more memorable presence, playing an actual human being with a surprisingly affecting character arc instead of his fellow cast member's broad caricature. In fact, I was so unimpressed by Griffith's turn and, conversely, so taken with Hawkins' performance that I second-guessed myself, thinking that I must have confused one with the other.

[Aclea]

Morgan Freeman in Glory. Denzel Washington always felt like a 20th Century man playing an idealized version of a 19th Century slave with somewhat revisionist attitudes and bearing at times, but Freeman felt like he actually belonged in that period.

For me the best performance in Ben-Hur is Stephen Boyd. Where Griffith is an amusing turn, Boyd is the very embodiment of the ruthless corruption of the Empire behind its cultured and charismatic facade, spitting his hate to the very end, yet never turning into a pantomime villain.

[Hoke Moseley]

Michael Lerner is great in Barton Fink, but it's pretty insane that he was nominated over John Goodman.

[lud]

Denzel Washington in Philadelphia

Raul Julia in Kiss of the Spider Women

Laurence Olivier in Spartacus. Him and Ustinov were equally good.

Jack Nicholson,Ray Winstone,Martin Sheen were all better than Wahlberg in The Departed

John Goodman in Barton Fink

Samuel L.Jackson in Jackie Brown(if you put him in supporting category)

Samuel L.Jackson was best actor in Django Unchained(that said, Waltz was lead)

[Boccaccio]

Leonardo DiCaprio in Django unchained

And although no one was nominated for Full metal jacket I think R. Lee Ermey really deserved a nomination.

[Cremildo]

Regarding this year's Academy Awards, I felt that Nicole Kidman managed to portray a more complete and compelling character than Margot Robbie in Bombshell. At least she got a SAG nomination.

[AllAboutMatt]

Barbara Stanwyck EVERY TIME. The amount of times she was snubbed in favor of inferior performances is astounding.

[Foggy]

Yeah I was gonna say DiCaprio for Django Unchained, I think that’s gone down as one of his most iconic performances, Samual L. Jackson is a good shout as well though.

Vicky Krieps manages to hold her own against Daniel Day Lewis and Leslie Manville in Phantom Thread. I don’t know if I could confidently say she overshadows them, but for a debut performance and one so integral to the film’s success, I could make a point that it’s a greater feat.

Kinda insane Ben Kingsley wasn’t nominated for Schindler’s List as well.

[Doctor Jack]

Originally Posted by Boccaccio

And although no one was nominated for Full metal jacket I think R. Lee Ermey really deserved a nomination.

He was incredible, but he was playing himself. I’m not surprised he wasn’t nominated.

[Member-244966]

Ben Foster was so much more deserving of a nomination for Hell or High Water than Jeff Bridges.

[BaronVH]

Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction outdid John Travolta.

[Beckford]

Here are some (all supporting) that come to mind:

Mary Astor>Maria Ouspenskaya "Dodsworth"(1936)
Marcia Mae Jones & Alma Kruger> Bonita Granville "These Three"(1936)
Rosalind Ivan>Joan Lorring "The Corn is Green'(1945)
Una O'Connor>Elsa Lanchester "Witness for the Prosecution"(1957)
Stephen Boyd>Hugh Griffith "Ben-Hur"(1959)
David Opatoshu>Sal Mineo "Exodus"(1960)
Mary Astor>Agnes Moorehead "Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte"(1964)
Bonnie Bedelia & Allyn Ann McLerie>Susannah York
"They Shoot Horses, Don't They?"(1969)
Trevor Howard>John Mills "Ryan's Daughter"(1970)
Eileen Brennan>Cloris Leachman "The Last Picture Show")1971)
Jack Warden>James Mason "The Verdict"(1982)
* Mason, of course, is in a class by himself and missed out on many
well-deserved nominations, but in "The Verdict" Jack Warden's on fire.
Romola Garai & Vanessa Redgrave>Saiorse Ronan "Atonement"(2007)
Harriet Sansom Harris>Lesley Manville "Phantom Thread"(2017)
Nicole Kidman>Margot Robbie "Bombshell"(2019)

[Beckford]

Another batch:

Gail Patrick>Alice Brady "My Man Godfrey"(1936)
Victor Sen Yung>James Stephenson "The Letter"(1940)
*Stephenson is terrific but so - with far less screentime and dialogue - is the marvelous Victor Sen Yung.
Florence Bates>Judith Anderson "Rebecca"
* heresy, i know, but I've never been sold on Anderson's gargoyle approach to Mrs. Danvers.
Bates - with only a scene or two - nails it completely as a very distinctive ball of nastiness.
Anne Baxter>Agnes Moorehead "The Magnificent Ambersons"(1942)
* more heresy, but I think Agnes Moorehead over-eggs the pudding here; much prefer her powerfully compact
contribution to the previous year's "Citizen Kane", Anne Baxter, on the other hand, does startling and refreshingly
original things with her ingenue role in "Ambersons". One of my favorite supporting performances ever.
Vincent Price> Charles Bickford "The Song of Bernadette"(1943)
* Bickford's excellent but Price delivers career best work.
Jan Sterling>Agnes Moorehead "Johnny Belinda"(1948)
Evelyn Varden>Ethel Barrymore & Ethel Waters "Pinky"(1949)
* Barrymore and Waters are both excellent but Varden's venomous work's a jaw-dropper.
Louis Calhern & Marc Lawrence> Sam Jaffe "The Asphalt Jungle"(1950)
* Jaffe's first-rate but Marc Lawrence is even better and - as for Louis Calhern - he's unforgettably good in this film.
Gusti Huber & Diane Baker> Shelley Winters "The Diary of Anne Frank"('59)
* I'm a Shelley Winters fan. But Huber and Baker - both conveying quiet strength - resonate more powerfully here.
Red Buttons>Gig Young "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?(1969)
Candice Bergen>Ann-Margret "Carnal Knowledge"(1971)
Wendy Hiller & Rachel Roberts>Ingrid Bergman "Murder on the Orient Express"(1974)
Sydney Lassick>Brad Dourif "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"(1975)
Jane Fonda>Maggie Smith "California Suite"(1978)
Betty Buckley>Tess Harper "Tender Mercies"(1983)
Denzel Washington>Adolph Caesar "A Soldier's Story")1084)
Kathleen Turner>Geena Davis "The Accidental Tourist"(1988)
Robert Ridgely>Burt Reynolds "Boogie Nights"(1997)
Janelle Monae>Naomie Harris "Moonlight"(2016)
Michael Shannon & Michael Stuhlbarg>Richard Jenkins "The Shape of Water"(2017
" three terrific actors but I think Shannon and Stuhlbarg have the edge here.

[Koller70]

Easily DiCaprio in Django Unchained, who eclipsed Christoph Waltz.

Also Naomi Watts and Andrea Riseborough who easily eclipsed Emma Stone in Birdman.

[levcore]

Tom Cruise in Rain Man

Tom Cruise in A Few Good Men

Two movies where Cruise really should have been nominated.

[imsounoriginal]

Channing Tatum in Foxcatcher.

[Cremildo]

Young Bonnie Bedelia caught my attention more than Oscar nominee Susannah York in They Shoot Horses, Don't They.

[Jay H.]

Leonardo Di Caprio was much better than Kate Winslet in Titanic. She even thinks so. She was nominated; he wasn't.

[50strat54]

Originally Posted by Beckford

Here are some (all supporting) that come to mind:

Mary Astor>Maria Ouspenskaya "Dodsworth"(1936)
Marcia Mae Jones & Alma Kruger> Bonita Granville "These Three"(1936)
Rosalind Ivan>Joan Lorring "The Corn is Green'(1945)
Una O'Connor>Elsa Lanchester "Witness for the Prosecution"(1957)
Stephen Boyd>Hugh Griffith "Ben-Hur"(1959)
David Opatoshu>Sal Mineo "Exodus"(1960)
Mary Astor>Agnes Moorehead "Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte"(1964)
Bonnie Bedelia & Allyn Ann McLerie>Susannah York
"They Shoot Horses, Don't They?"(1969)
Trevor Howard>John Mills "Ryan's Daughter"(1970)
Eileen Brennan>Cloris Leachman "The Last Picture Show")1971)
Jack Warden>James Mason "The Verdict"(1982)
* Mason, of course, is in a class by himself and missed out on many
well-deserved nominations, but in "The Verdict" Jack Warden's on fire.
Romola Garai & Vanessa Redgrave>Saiorse Ronan "Atonement"(2007)
Harriet Sansom Harris>Lesley Manville "Phantom Thread"(2017)
Nicole Kidman>Margot Robbie "Bombshell"(2019)

looking at this list reminds me that Heart Like A Wheel starring Bonnie Bedelia is not out on bluray! I don't think there's even HD Digital only DVD.

[Cremildo]

Marcello Mastroianni was the one who got the nomination for A Special Day, but I was more taken by Sophia Loren's turn, which I found even more affecting than her actual Oscar-winning one in Two Women.