Research in Progress (April 22, 2021)
In 93 years of Oscar, there have been 94 winning performances.
In 1967, there was a tie–the only one in this category–between Katharine Hepburn (“Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?”) and Barbra Streisand (“Funny Girl”).
The unit of analysis is the Oscar-winning role, the performance, not the actress. Thus, Katharine Hepburn had won four Best Actress Oscars, so we include all four of her winning roles. Frances McDormand’s three Best Actress Oscars count as three performances.
Ditto for actresses who have won two Best Actress Oscars; we count their multiple roles.
Janet Gaynor won the first Best Actress Oscar for three different roles, so we count all of them.
Genre: Summary
Biopic: 9 (about 10 percent)
Comedy: 9 (about 10 percent)
Drama: 57
Musical: 3
Thriller/Horror: 6
Total: 95 performances
Genres (from A to Z)
Biopic (19)
Occupation: six of the 19 have been singers/showbusiness; 3 royalty; 2 criminals; 2 social activists; one nun; one saint
Luise Rainer, The Great Ziegfeld (singer)
Jennifer Jones, The Song of Bernadette (saint)
Susan Hayward, I Want to Live! (criminal)
Anne Bancroft, The Miracle Worker (social worker)
Barbra Streisand, Funny Girl (singer)
Katharine Hepburn, The Lion in Winter (Queen)
Sally Field, Norma Rae (factory worker, social activist)
Sissy Spacek, Coal Miner’s Daughter (singer)
Susan Sarandon, Dead Man Walking (nun)
Julia Roberts, Erin Brockovich (social activist)
Nicole Kidman, The Hours (writer)
Charlize Theron, Monster (criminal)
Reese Witherspoon, Walk the Line (singer)
Helen Mirren, The Queen (Queen)
Marion Cotillard, La Vie en Rose (French singer)
Sandra Bullock, The Blind Side (rich entrepreneur)
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady (prime minister)
Olivia Colman, The Favourite (Queen)
Renee Zellweger, Judy (singer)
Comedy (9)
Claudette Colbert, It Happened One Night
Loretta Young, The Farmer’s Daughter
Judy Holliday, Born Yesterday
Audrey Hepburn, Roman Holiday
Glenda Jackson, A Touch of Class
Cher, Moonstruck
Helen Hunt, As Good As It Gets
Gwyneth Paltrow, Shakespeare in Love
Drama/Melodrama (57)
Janet Gaynor, 7th Heaven
Janet Gaynor, Sunrise
Mary Pickford, Coquette
Norma Shearer, The Divorcee
Marie Dressler, Min and Bill
Helen Hayes, The Sin of Madelon Claudet
Katharine Hepburn, Morning Glory
Bette Davis, Dangerous
Luise Rainer, The Good Earth
Bette Davis, Jezebel
Vivien Leigh, GWTW
Ginger Roger, Kitty Foyle
Greer Garson, Mrs. Miniver
Joan Crawford, Mildred Pierce
Olivia de Havilland, To Each His Own
Jane Wyman, Johnnie Belinda
Olivia de Havilland, The Heiress
Vivien Leigh, A Streetcar Named Desire
Shirley Booth, Come Back, Little Sheba
Grace Kelly, Country Girl
Anna Magnani, The Rose Tattoo
Ingrid Bergman, Anastasia
Joanne Woodward, Three Faces of Eve
Simone Signoret, Room at the Top
Elizabeth Taylor, BUtterfield 8
Sophia Loren, Two Women
Patricia Neal, Hud
Julie Christie, Darling
Elizabeth Taylor, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Katharine Hepburn, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?
Maggie Smith, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Glenda Jackson, Women in Love
Jane Fonda, Klute
Ellen Burstyn, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore
Louise Fletcher, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Faye Dunaway, Network
Jane Fonda, Coming Home
Meryl Streep, Sophie’s Choice
Shirley MacLaine, Terms of Endearment
Sally Field, Places in the Heart
Geraldine Page, The Trip to Bountiful
Marlee Matlin, Children of a Lesser God
Jessica Tandy, Miss Daisy
Emma Thompson, Howards End
Helen Hunter, The Piano
Jessica Lange, Blue Sky
Frances McDormand, Fargo
Hillary Swank, Boys Don’t Cry
Hallie Berry. Monster’s Ball
Hillary Swank, Million Dollar Baby
Kate Winslet, The Reader
Natalie Portman, Black Swan
Cate Blanchette, Blue Jasmine
Julianne Moore, Still Alice
Frances McDorman, Three Billboards
Frances McDorman, Nomadland
Musical (3)
Julie Andrews, Mary Poppins
Liza Minnelli, Cabaret
Emma Stone, La La Land
Thriller/Horror (6)
Joan Fontaine, Suspicion
Ingrid Bergman, Gaslight
Jodie Foster, The Accused
Kathy Bates, Misery
Jodie Foster, The Silence of the Lambs
Brie Larson, Room
