Will ‘Oppenheimer’ be the 1st film in 64 years to win Oscars for Best Picture, Actor and Supporting Actor?

Susan Pennington
·6 min read
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The 2024 Oscar race is on, and one film has the potential to accomplish a feat that hasn’t happened in 64 years. “Oppenheimer” leads the nominations with 13, and it’s on track to win several of those categories. If Christopher Nolan‘s epic claims Best Picture, Best Actor (Cillian Murphy) and Best Supporting Actor (Robert Downey Jr.), it will be the first time since 1960 that the same film (“Ben-Hur”) has won those three exact categories. And it would be only the fourth time it’s ever happened.

SEE Cillian Murphy interview: ‘Oppenheimer’

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Since the Best Supporting Actor category was introduced in 1937, only three films have walked away with Best Picture as well as both male acting categories. In 1945, the inspirational musical comedy “Going My Way” not only became the highest-grossing film of 1944, but also won seven of its ten Oscar nominations, making it the big winner of the night. Beside the top prize, Bing Crosby triumphed as Best Actor for his role as young and unconventional priest Chuck O’Malley who takes over a parish from the more traditional Father Fitzgibbon, the role that earned Best Supporting Actor for Barry Fitzgerald.

Just two years later, “The Best Years of Our Lives” led with nominations and wins, earning seven competitive awards out of eight. In addition to its Best Picture win, two very different men triumphed in the male acting categories, both for portraying WWII veterans returning home and readapting to civilian life. Fredric March claimed his second career Best Actor trophy, while a non-professional actor was bestowed two awards that night. Harold Russell was an Army veteran who had lost both hands during the war, and had hooks he used for hands. The board of governors thought he was a long shot to win his supporting bid and decided to present him with an honorary award “for bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans through his appearance in ‘The Best Years of Our Lives.'” However, later in the ceremony he indeed won the Best Supporting Actor trophy, becoming the first non-professional actor to win an acting Oscar and the only person to receive two acting Oscars in the same night.

More than a decade would pass before one film would claim all three of these categories again. In 1960, “Ben-Hur” broke Academy records when it won 11 of its 12 nominations, a record that has been tied twice (“Titanic” in 1998 and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” in 2004) but never broken. Among its many honors were Best Picture, Best Actor for Charlton Heston in the title role of a prince-turned slave and charioteer, and Best Supporting Actor for Hugh Griffith, as the sheik who convinces Ben-Hur to drive his horses in the climatic scene.

There have been many other instances in which a film has received nominations in all three categories, and won two out of three. Only twice has a film claimed both acting trophies, but lost Best Picture: “Mystic River” in 2004 (Sean Penn won for actor, Tim Robbins for supporting) and “Dallas Buyers Club” ten years later (Matthew McConaughey won for actor, Jared Leto for supporting).

SEEOscar Best Picture gallery: History of every Academy Award-winning movie

Seven films have won Best Picture and Supporting actor, but lost Best Actor. The first time was in 1938, when Joseph Schildkraut won supporting for “The Life of Emile Zola,” but Paul Muni lost out on his role as the titular character; however Muni had won the prior year for the title role in “The Story of Louis Pasteur.” In 1954, both Montgomery Clift and Burt Lancaster lost lead for “From Here to Eternity,” while Frank Sinatra claimed supporting. Al Pacino failed to win his bid for “The Godfather Part II” in 1975, while Robert De Niro won supporting; four years later, De Niro lost lead for “The Deer Hunter,” while Christopher Walken claimed supporting. Clint Eastwood has twice won for Best Picture and Best Director but lost Best Actor while his co-stars won for supporting, first for “Unforgiven” in 1993 (Gene Hackman won) and then for “Million Dollar Baby” in 2005 (Morgan Freeman won). In 2019, Viggo Mortensen lost Best Actor for “Green Book,” while Mahershala Ali won supporting.

There have been 13 times a film has won Best Picture and Actor, but lost Best Supporting Actor. In two of these instances, three actors failed to win their bids for the same film – and Marlon Brando won his Best Actor trophies for each. In 1955, Lee J. Cobb, Karl Malden and Rod Steiger all lost supporting for “On the Waterfront,” while James Caan, Robert Duvall and Al Pacino lost for “The Godfather” in 1973. The other films that have claimed Best Picture and Best Actor but lost Best Supporting Actor are “All the King’s Men” (1950, win for Broderick Crawford, loss for John Ireland), “Marty” (1956, win for Ernest Borgnine, loss for Joe Mantell), “Bridge on the River Kwai” (1958, win for Alec Guinness, loss for Sessue Hayakawa), “My Fair Lady” (1965, win for Rex Harrison, loss for Stanley Holloway), “A Man for All Seasons” (1966, win for Paul Scofield, loss for Robert Shaw), “The French Connection” (1972, win for Gene Hackman, loss for Roy Scheider), “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1976, win for Jack Nicholson, loss for Brad Dourif), “Kramer vs. Kramer” (win for Dustin Hoffman, loss for Justin Henry), “Forrest Gump” (1995, win for Tom Hanks, loss for Gary Sinise), “Gladiator” (2001, win for Russell Crowe, loss for Joaquin Phoenix) and “The King’s Speech” (2011, win for Colin Firth, loss for Geoffrey Rush).

Like “Going My Way,” “The Best Years of Our Lives” and “Ben-Hur,” “Oppenheimer” leads the nominations list with 13, and has had huge box office returns. “Ben-Hur” set a record with its 11 wins, so will “Oppenheimer” set a new record with 12 or 13 wins? And will it become the first film in 64 years to claim Best Picture, Actor and Supporting Actor?

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