When the stately golden statue finally rolls out of its velvet pouch, the world holds its breath—but sometimes the most brilliant performers slip through the cracks. In this roundup of 10 screen greats who never won an Oscar, we celebrate the talent, the unforgettable roles, and the near‑misses that still echo through cinema history.
Why These 10 Screen Greats Remain Oscar‑Less
10 Richard Burton
Richard Burton built a reputation for inhabiting powerful, larger‑than‑life figures in movies such as Becket, The Robe and Anne of a Thousand Days. His on‑screen chemistry with Elizabeth Taylor—whom he married twice—produced a string of memorable pairings, most notably in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, a ruthless drama that earned Oscar nominations for all four leads. While Taylor and Sandy Dennis walked away with the trophies, Burton and fellow nominee George Segal left empty‑handed.
Beyond those headline roles, Burton tackled Shakespearean classics like Hamlet and The Taming of the Shrew, plunged into historical epics such as Cleopatra, and brought literary adaptations to life in titles like The Spy Who Came in From the Cold and Equus. Over a quarter‑century he amassed seven Oscar nods, yet the coveted gold eluded him entirely. He even slipped into a cameo as himself on the sitcom Here’s Lucy and appeared uncredited as a strip‑club patron in What’s New Pussycat?, but the Academy apparently held no mercy for those quirky side gigs.
9 Peter O’Toole
Peter O’Toole eclipsed his contemporary Burton by racking up eight nominations across a forty‑four‑year span, still without a win. A regal presence, O’Toole portrayed royalty more than once, most famously Henry II in both Becket and the beloved The Lion in Winter. The latter saw his co‑star Katharine Hepburn clinch her third Oscar, while O’Toole was left to watch from the sidelines. His résumé spans sweeping drama in Lawrence of Arabia, breezy comedy in My Favorite Year, and the delightfully oddball The Ruling Class.
When the Academy announced in 2003 that it would honor O’Toole with an Honorary Award, the actor quipped that, still being “in the game,” he might snag the “lovely bugger” outright and asked them to defer the tribute until he hit eighty. The Academy, unmoved, presented the award anyway. Before his milestone birthday, O’Toole earned one final nomination for Venus, only to be denied once more.
8 Glenn Close
Glenn Close entered the silver screen after already earning a Tony nomination, debuting in The World According to Garp. That performance secured her a Best Supporting Actress Oscar nod, a feat she repeated with roles in The Big Chill and The Natural the following two years. She later vaulted into lead‑acting territory with nominations for Fatal Attraction and Dangerous Liaisons.
Despite the steady stream of nominations—three more in recent decades—Close remains Oscar‑less. Yet her trophy cabinet is far from empty: she boasts three Tony Awards for two stage productions and the musical Sunset Boulevard, a collection of Golden Globes, multiple Primetime Emmys, and a smorgasbord of honors ranging from Cable Ace Awards to an AARP Movies for Grownups Award.
Adding a touch of Hollywood sparkle, the nonprofit Broadway Cares chose her iconic portrayal of Norma Desmond as the model for its 2020 Broadway Legends Holiday Ornament, cementing her status as a beloved figure beyond the Academy.
7 Cary Grant
If the Academy ever handed out a Most Charming award, Cary Grant—born Archibald Leach—would have swept the category. After a series of forgettable early pictures, his breakout arrived with 1933’s She Done Him Wrong, where Mae West famously whispered, “Why don’t you come up sometime…?” Over the next three decades, Grant shared the screen with luminaries like Marlene Dietrich, both Katharine and Audrey Hepburn, Myrna Loy, Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly and Sophia Loren.
He earned two dramatic Oscar nominations in the 1940s, out‑maneuvered a crop‑duster in Hitchcock’s kinetic thriller North by Northwest, and charmed audiences in classic comedies such as The Philadelphia Story, His Girl Friday, Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House and Arsenic and Old Lace. In 1970, the Academy finally bestowed an Honorary Award, praising his “unique mastery of the art of screen acting with the respect and affection of his colleagues.” That same year, his much‑younger wife Dyan Cannon received a nomination for Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice—but she, too, left empty‑handed.
6 Ian McKellen
British thespian Ian McKellen, knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to the performing arts, has tackled King Lear and Richard III on the London stage. Across the Atlantic, he earned an Oscar nod for his turn in Gods and Monsters, yet his most iconic screen persona is Gandalf, the wise wizard who guided audiences through the sprawling three‑part saga The Lord of the Rings. That role secured a second nomination and later led to appearances in the three‑film adaptation of The Hobbit.
Although the Academy never handed him a win, McKellen enjoyed a consolation prize of hosting Saturday Night Live in 2002, delivering his trademark wit to a live‑TV audience. And while his recent foray into the film version of Cats didn’t earn any red‑carpet accolades, his legacy as a stage and screen legend remains untarnished.
5 George Lucas
In what galaxy has George Lucas never claimed an Oscar? The answer, of course, is none—he’s never taken home the statuette. Yet the Academy has certainly not ignored the mastermind behind Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo and the modern resurgence of sci‑fi cinema. Lucas earned his first two Oscar nominations—Best Director and Best Writing—for the 1973 road‑movie classic American Graffiti, a film that catapulted a then‑unknown Harrison Ford (previously known for TV work on Mod Squad, The F.B.I. and Love, American Style) into stardom.
Although the lack of trophies may sting, Lucas can take solace in the fact that the original Star Wars trilogy (Episodes IV‑VI) amassed a combined box‑office haul of over $750 million at 1970s‑80s ticket prices—an astronomical figure for its era.
In 1992, the Academy awarded him the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, presented by none other than the crew of the space shuttle Atlantis. A decade later, Disney purchased Lucasfilm, along with its prized ILM and Skywalker Sound divisions, for a staggering $4 billion in cash and stock—an acquisition that ensures his creations will continue to feed generations of popcorn‑crunching fans.
4 James Earl Jones
The undisputed champion of deep, resonant baritone, James Earl Jones first burst onto the big screen in 1964 as a member of Slim Pickens’s flight crew in the darkly comic Cold‑War satire Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. His only competitive Oscar nod arrived six years later for his portrayal of boxer Jack Jefferson in The Great White Hope, a role that had earned him a Tony the year before.
Jones’s voice later became the defining sound of Darth Vader and the noble roar of Mufasa, among countless other characters, yet the Academy’s recognition remained limited to an Honorary Award in 2012, finally acknowledging his monumental contributions to cinema.
3 The Color Purple
Adapted from Alice Walker’s Pulitzer‑winning novel, the 1985 film The Color Purple arrived with a staggering eleven Oscar nominations, spanning Best Picture, Costume Design, Original Score and more, while also highlighting breakout performances from Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey.
Curiously, the film’s director, Steven Spielberg, was absent from the nominee list despite his already impressive résumé that included blockbusters such as Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Nonetheless, the Academy’s snub was minor compared to the film’s fate on Oscar night: it walked away with zero wins, joining 1977’s The Turning Point as the only films to leave the ceremony empty‑handed after such a nomination haul.
2 The Wizard of Oz
Everyone cherishes the timeless odyssey of munchkins, witches, a heart, courage, and, of course, Toto. Yet timing proved crucial for this beloved classic. When the 1939 Oscars rolled around, The Wizard of Oz faced fierce competition and ultimately lost Best Picture to the monumental Gone With the Wind. Other contemporaries—Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Ninotchka, Wuthering Heights and Stagecoach—also fell short.
Despite the Best Picture loss, the film secured Oscars for Best Original Score and Best Original Song for the iconic “Over the Rainbow,” performed by Judy Garland, who also received a special Juvenile Award. Decades later, Dorothy’s ruby‑slippered journey continues to outshine even the most celebrated romances of its era.
1 Citizen Kane
Hard to believe, but the oft‑cited masterpiece Citizen Kane—frequently perched atop every “greatest film” list, including the American Film Institute’s 100 Greatest American Movies—did not capture Best Picture in its own year. Instead, it was bested by How Green Was My Valley, perhaps due in part to a sizable contingent of Donald Crisp supporters within the Academy.
Orson Welles earned nominations for Best Actor and Best Director, yet settled for a shared Oscar for Best Original Screenplay alongside Herman Mankiewicz. Over the following four decades, Welles never again received a nomination in any category. In 1971, the Academy finally presented him with an Honorary Award, lauding his “superlative artistry and versatility in the creation of motion pictures.”