Oscar: Actors Nominated Twice for Playing the Same Part

December 11, 2015 by

In Oscar’s long and rich annals, there is a small, select group of actors who have been nominated twice for playing the same character,  in different movies and sometimes different categories.

Bing Crosby

The first instance was Bing Crosby’s portrait of Father Chuck O’Malley in the best picture-winning “Going My Way” in 1944, and a year later in “The Bells of St. Mary’s.” Both were lead actor nominations, and he won for the former in the  films directed by Leo McCarey.

Paul Newman
Newman received Best Actor Oscar nomination for his portrayal of “Fast” Eddie Felson in “The Hustler,” in 1961. Twenty-five years later, he played the part once again in Martin Scorsese’s 1986 sequel “The Color of Money,” for which he finally won.
That 25 years is the longest span of time between instances, a record that would be broken by the 39 years gap between the 1976 Rocky and the 2015 Creed, should Sylvester Stallone be nominated (in the supporting acting category for Creed.
Peter O’Toole
In 1964, Peter O’Toole took on the role of King Henry II in Peter Granville’s Becket, opposite Richard Burton.  He landed a best actor nomination for his efforts, and then again four years later when he revisited the character in The Lion in Winter, for which Katharine Hepburn won her third Best Actress Oscar nomination.

Al Pacino in The Godfather and The Godfather Part II

Al Pacino was nominated for best supporting actor in 1972 for his work as Michael Corleone in “The Godfather,” but shifted gears to a lead actor nomination two years later in “The Godfather Part II.”

If recognized, Stallone  would join him as the only other individual on the list to be nominated in a different category the second time around.

Cate Blanchett as Queen Elizabeth I

The only woman on the list is two-time Oscar winner, Cate Blanchett, who picked up best actress nominations for both the critically acclaimed Elizabeth, playing Queen Elizabeth I, in 1998, and the critically reviled Elizabeth: The Golden Age, nine years later, in 2007.

Stallone’s Rocky Balboa is an iconic character–immortalized in bronze at the franchise’s famed Philadelphia Museum of Art location. Rocky is one of the most enduring screen characters in movie history, the accomplishment for which Stallone will be remembered as an actor and co-writer.  In Creed, he plays a complex, nuanced, emotionally touching interpretation of the aging Rocky Balboa.

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