With three weeks to go before the Oscars on Feb. 22, it’s time to start the annual “looking back.” The history of the Academy Awards is rich, going all the way back to the first ceremony in 1929.
Also worth noting is the fact that many Best Picture winners don’t include Best Actress performances. Plus, it’s far more international that the others, since the Academy loves picking out performances from foreign actresses. Indeed, Sophia Loren won her Oscar for Two Women, a wonderful Italian post-war film. This year, Marion Cotillard is up for Two Days, One Night and it’s her second Oscar nomination for a French film. (She won for La vie en rose.)
Since there are so many nominees from the previous 86 years, there’s a big chance that some will fall through the cracks. Some may have been forgotten, but at one point, they weren’t. Now’s the perfect time to dust off the movie history books and find some Best Actress Oscar nominees you might have missed.
The list is in chronological order.