Daily Times

Following is a list of seven people who despite legendary performances never won an Oscar.

Charlie Chaplin

He might have won hearts across the world with his iconic portrayal of the tramp, but Charlie Chaplin never won an Oscar for either direction or acting. He did get two honorary awards (and one for the musical score of a film twenty years after it was released – never mind!), but he remains the ultimate example to give anyone who feels they have never got their due – “You feel you are not getting enough credit? Dude, Charlie Chaplin never won an Oscar.” Amazingly he got just one nomination for best actor and best director: both for The Great Dictator.

Johnny Depp

Arguably the most innovative actor of current times, Depp has never managed to get his hands on a statuette for best actor. He won massive critical and commercial acclaim for his roles as Edward Scissorhands, Sweeney Todd and of course, the iconic captain Jack Sparrow, but he never won an Oscar for his acting.

Glenn Close

With seven nominations for her acting spanning almost four decades, Glenn Close is rapidly becoming a female version of Peter O’Toole and Richard Burton: loved, respected, acclaimed but not awarded (by the Oscars at least). The lady has won awards for a variety of roles that have ranged from the seductive clingy Alex in Fatal Attraction to the over the top crazy Cruella de Witt in 101 Dalmatians, but has never won an Oscar. She was odds on favourite for ending her Oscar drought this year with The Wife. Alas, the Oscar did NOT go to her.

Robert Downey Jr

From Chaplin to Iron Man to Sherlock Holmes, Robert Downey Junior has been one of the few actors in world cinema to successfully straddle those twin horses of art and commerce. He even played a black person in Tropical Thunder, but surprisingly he has only twice got into contention for an acting Oscar – for Chaplin and Tropical Thunder. And he missed out both times. What the hell, he still is Iron Man.

Tom Cruise

He might be best known for his action-oriented films like the Mission Impossible series and Top Gun, but Tom Cruise has been more than just an adrenaline driven heart throb. The man has been acclaimed for his performance in films like Born on the Fourth of July, Valkyrie, Magnolia and Jerry Maguire, and people forget that he played a very able second fiddle to Dustin Hoffman’s Oscar winning performance in Rainman. An Oscar however has proved to be Mission Impossible for him. So far.

Published in Daily Times, February 27^th 2019.