Hollywood Stars Who Refused Their Oscars

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Getting to look successful aliases constitute a awesome mobility image is difficult enough. Actually making a profession successful movies requires arsenic overmuch luck arsenic it does talent and difficult work. As for earning an Academy Award nomination? That's winning nan movie manufacture lottery.

People joke that cipher really intends it erstwhile they opportunity "It's an grant conscionable to beryllium nominated," but, unless nan creator successful mobility is simply a conceited naughty aliases possibly a erstwhile winner, they really mean it. You get to beryllium successful nan Dolby Theatre pinch your peers and cinema legends, and perceive your sanction called from nan shape astatine slightest once. That's sewage to beryllium a rush. And if you perceive your sanction a 2nd time, and find yourself stepping down nan aisle and up onto nan shape where, I don't know, Rachel McAdams is waiting to manus you an Oscar, you're a superhero if you tin present a coherent, fto unsocial eloquent reside (when successful doubt, support it short for illustration Joe Pesci).

There person been winners who've had to miss nan ceremonial owed to activity (Michael Caine was famously unavailable to cod his Best Supporting Actor Oscar because he was shooting "Jaws: The Revenge, while four-time victor Woody Allen has ne'er attended nan ceremony), but very seldom has anyone outright refused their Oscar. To date, it's only happened 3 times and for very different reasons. You tin determine for yourself if you would've besides followed suit.

RKO Radio Pictures

Dudley Nichols began his penning profession arsenic a newsman for nan New York Sun, but, for illustration galore of his skilled, prolific colleagues, he hightailed it to Hollywood wherever location was plentiful work. Within 2 years of hitting Southern California, Nichols had written 12 screenplays, respective of which were for John Ford. He quickly developed a estimation arsenic a witty, versatile scribe, which made him celebrated pinch specified legendary board arsenic John Ford, Howard Hawks, Fritz Lang, Elia Kazan, and Jean Renoir.

Nichols has credits connected 2 of nan top films ever made ("Bringing Up Baby" and "Stagecoach") and earned 4 Oscar nominations passim his 30-year career. His only triumph was successful 1935 for Ford's "The Informer," a brilliantly directed, shot, and performed play astir a disgraced personnel of nan Irish Republican Army who compounds his misery by ratting retired respective of his erstwhile colleagues. Star Victor McLaglen, composer Max Steiner, and Ford won Oscars, too, but Nichols stood isolated by refusing his Best Writing honor.

Nichols was a personnel of nan Screen Writers Guild, which was locked successful a conflict pinch nan Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The SWG rank-and-file believed AMPAS was not negotiating successful bully faith, truthful Nichols felt he could not, successful bully conscience, judge his Oscar. Nichols yet became president of nan statement and felt satisfied capable pinch AMPAS' speech proposals that he claimed his Oscar astatine nan 1938 ceremony.

20th Century Fox

After serving successful nan United States Marine Corps from 1945 to 1949, George C. Scott went to nan University of Missouri connected nan G.I. Bill to study journalism. It's present he sewage spot by nan acting bug. Nine years later, he won an Obie for 3 performances astatine nan New York Shakespeare Festival, including what those who were fortunate capable to spot it apparently considered a bravura move arsenic nan malevolent title characteristic successful "Richard III."

Scott was a consenting movie actor, but he had overmuch much respect for nan theater. This doesn't mean he phoned successful his movie performances. He received 2 Academy Awards (for "Anatomy of a Murder" and "The Hustler") earlier winning Best Actor for his portrayal of nan arguable U.S. Army General George S. Patton successful "Patton." It was a foregone conclusion coming into nan ceremonial that Scott would beryllium triumphant, moreover though, upon being nominated, he informed AMPAS that he would not judge nan grant for 2 reasons. The first was that he loathed nan thought of performances being treated arsenic a competition. The 2nd was that, successful his view, movie acting was "not an actor's medium." As he told Time Magazine successful 1971, "You sprout scenes successful bid of convenience, not nan measurement they travel successful nan script, and that's detrimental to a afloat developed performance."

55 years later, nary 1 knows wherever Scott's Oscar is stored. My conjecture is simply a storage successful Van Nuys.

Paramount

Marlon Brando was considered 1 of nan champion actors successful America earlier nan immense mostly of nan nationalist had moreover seen his work. He took Broadway by large wind successful 1947 arsenic Stanley Kowalski successful Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire," leaving nan remainder of nan state anxious to spot if he could unrecorded up to nan hype erstwhile he starred successful nan inevitable movie adaptation.

Brando was arsenic superb arsenic advertised erstwhile nan movie deed theaters successful 1951, earning his first Best Actor nomination. A agelong overdue Humphrey Bogart won for his sensational activity successful "The African Queen" (this was nary career-achievement gift), but everyone knew it was only a matter of clip earlier Brando sewage his. That clip came 3 years later erstwhile he took location nan Best Actor Oscar for his iconic portrayal of boxer-turned-longshoreman Terry Malloy successful "On nan Waterfront." It's 1 of nan astir influential movies of nan 1950s. Brando's Method attack to nan trade turned him into a stone prima for aspiring actors everywhere. Surely, location were much Oscars connected nan way.

There would beryllium only 1 more, and it would travel successful 1972 for his disappearance into nan domiciled of Don Vito Corleone successful "The Godfather." Brando had, to put it mildly, go a mercurial benignant 2 decades aft his past Oscar win, truthful it didn't travel arsenic a immense daze erstwhile he boycotted nan ceremonial and sent Native American actor/activist Sacheen Littlefeather successful his place. Littlefeather, whose ain ancestry has precocious been disputed, conveyed nan actor's disgust pinch nan curen of Native Americans successful movies and his support for nan Oglala Lakota's business of Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Brando's protestation didn't support him from getting nominated nan adjacent twelvemonth for "Last Tango successful Paris," but he ne'er won different Oscar.