Credited in films that won consecutive Oscars for Best Picture
by Tom-91 | created - 04 Mar 2016 | updated - 19 Jan 2020 | PublicIn the old days of the Studio System, many actors had uncredited roles in films that went on to win Oscars. Over time, the studios did away with their stables of actors, though the list of credits grew longer. These are the 20 actors who played credited roles in films that won consecutive Oscars for Best Picture.
1. Robert McWade
Actor | The Kennel Murder Case
Robert McWade was born on January 25, 1872 in Buffalo, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Kennel Murder Case (1933), The Dragon Murder Case (1934) and Anything Goes (1936). He was married to Almina Lee. He died on January 19, 1938 in Culver City, California, USA.
Cimarron (1930/31) & Grand Hotel (1931/32).
2. Clark Gable
Actor | It Happened One Night
William Clark Gable was born on February 1, 1901 in Cadiz, Ohio, to Adeline (Hershelman) and William Henry Gable, an oil-well driller. He was of German, Irish, and Swiss-German descent. When he was seven months old, his mother died, and his father sent him to live with his maternal aunt and uncle ...
It Happened One Night (1934) & Mutiny on the Bounty (1935). Gable won the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in It Happened One Night.
3. Harry Davenport
Actor | Gone with the Wind
Character fame on film came quite late for long-time stage actor Harry Davenport at age 70, but he made up for lost time in very quick fashion with well over a hundred film roles registered from the advent of sound to the time of his death in 1949. Beloved for his twinkle-eyed avuncular and/or ...
The Life of Emile Zola (1937), You Can't Take it With You (1938), & Gone With the Wind (1939) - may be the only person to be credited in three consecutive Best Pictures.
4. Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson
Actor | It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
The son of a minstrel and circus tightrope walker, Eddie Anderson developed a gravel voice early in life which would become his trademark to fame. He joined his older brother Cornelius as members of "The Three Black Aces" during his vaudeville years, singing for pennies in the hotel lobby. He ...
You Can't Take it With You (1938) & Gone With the Wind (1939).
5. Walter Pidgeon
Actor | Forbidden Planet
Walter Pidgeon, a handsome, tall and dark-haired man, began his career studying voice at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. He then did theater, mainly stage musicals. He went to Hollywood in the early 1920s, where he made silent films, including Mannequin (1926) and Sumuru (1927). ...
How Green Was My Valley (1941) & Mrs. Miniver (1942). Pidgeon was nominated for Best Actor for his role in Mrs. Miniver.
6. Rhys Williams
Actor | How Green Was My Valley
Moviegoers can be forgiven if they thought that stocky, jaunty Rhys Williams was a jovial Irishman, as he often played that type of character, but his role as a Welsh miner in John Ford's classic How Green Was My Valley (1941) (his film debut) was much closer to home for him, as he was born and ...
How Green Was My Valley (1941) & Mrs. Miniver (1942).
7. Arthur Keegan
Actor | On the Waterfront
Arthur Keegan was an actor, known for On the Waterfront (1954), From Here to Eternity (1953) and Lights Out (1946). He died in 1967.
From Here to Eternity (1953) & On the Waterfront (1954). These were the only two credited film roles that Keegan ever had.
8. Bill Hickman
Actor | The French Connection
The actor is better known for his prowess as a stunt driver. His work in Bullitt (1968) is legendary where he drove the black Dodge Charger 440 Magnum that was pursued by Steve McQueen in his Ford Mustang 390 GT. For his reputation earned on Bullitt, Hickman was hired by William Friedkin for The ...
Patton (1970) & The French Connection (1971).
9. Christopher Walken
Actor | The Deer Hunter
Lead and supporting actor of the American stage and films, with sandy colored hair, and pale complexion. He won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Deer Hunter (1978), and has been seen in mostly character roles, often portraying psychologically unstable individuals, though...
Annie Hall (1977) & The Deer Hunter (1978). Walken won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Deer Hunter.
10. Meryl Streep
Actress | Out of Africa
Considered by many critics to be the greatest living actress, Meryl Streep has been nominated for the Academy Award an astonishing 21 times, and has won it three times. Meryl was born Mary Louise Streep in 1949 in Summit, New Jersey, to Mary Wolf (Wilkinson), a commercial artist, and Harry William ...
The Deer Hunter (1978) & Kramer vs. Kramer (1979). Streep was nominated for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Deer Hunter, and won the Oscar for Best Actress for her role in Kramer vs. Kramer.
11. Richard Griffiths
Actor | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
The avuncular star character actor Richard Griffiths grew up in a council flat in less than prosperous conditions, the son of deaf and volatile parents in a dysfunctional family setting. According to an article in the Telegraph newspaper, his father Thomas was a steelworker 'who fought in pubs for ...
Chariots of Fire (1981) & Gandhi (1982).
12. John Gielgud
Actor | Arthur
Born in London, England, John Gielgud trained at Lady Benson's Acting School and RADA, London. Best known for his Shakespearean roles in the theater, he first played Hamlet at the age of 26. He worked under the tutelage of Lilian Bayliss with friend and fellow performer Laurence Olivier and other ...
Chariots of Fire (1981) & Gandhi (1982).
13. Ian Charleson
Actor | Chariots of Fire
Being born and raised in Edinburgh, Charleson attended the Royal High School and then went on to attend Edinburgh University. He initially studied architecture but switched to an MA degree after cultivating an interest in acting. He won a place at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art after ...
Chariots of Fire (1981) & Gandhi (1982). These two films are the only Best Picture winners to have three actors in common.
14. Russell Crowe
Actor | Les Misérables
Russell Ira Crowe was born in Wellington, New Zealand, to Jocelyn Yvonne (Wemyss) and John Alexander Crowe, both of whom catered movie sets. His maternal grandfather, Stanley Wemyss, was a cinematographer. Crowe's recent ancestry includes Welsh (where his paternal grandfather was born, in Wrexham),...
Gladiator (2000) & A Beautiful Mind (2001). Crowe won the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in Gladiator, and was nominated for Best Actor for his role in A Beautiful Mind ... only he and Meryl Streep were nominated for acting Oscars in both of their consecutive Best Picture appearances.
15. Michael Peña
Actor | American Hustle
Michael Peña was born and raised in Chicago, to Nicolasa, a social worker, and Eleuterio Peña, who worked at a button factory. His parents were originally from Mexico. After graduating from high school, he went to an open casting call for the Peter Bogdanovich feature To Sir, with Love II (1996), ...
Million Dollar Baby (2004) & Crash (2005).
16. Guy Pearce
Actor | Memento
Guy Edward Pearce was born October 5, 1967 in Cambridgeshire, England, UK to Margaret Anne and Stuart Graham Pearce. His father was born in Auckland, New Zealand, to English and Scottish parents, while Guy's mother is English. Pearce and his family initially traveled to Australia for two years, ...
The Hurt Locker (2009) & The King's Speech (2010).
17. John Goodman
Actor | 10 Cloverfield Lane
John Stephen Goodman's an American film, TV & stage actor. He was born in Affton, Missouri to Virginia Roos (Loosmore), a waitress and saleswoman & Leslie Francis Goodman, a postal worker who died when he was a small child. He's of English, Welsh & German ancestry. He's best known for his role as ...
The Artist (2011) & Argo (2012).
18. Scoot McNairy
Actor | Argo
During the early 2000s, actor Scoot McNairy quickly came to specialize in portrayals of colorful and individualistic young men with a slightly rebellious edge. McNairy began during the early to mid-2000s, with bit parts in films including Wonderland (2003), Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005), and Art ...
Argo (2012) & 12 Years a Slave (2013).
19. Bill Camp
Actor | Sound of Freedom
Bill Camp was born on October 22, 1964 in Massachusetts, USA. He is an actor and director, known for Sound of Freedom (2023), 12 Years a Slave (2013) and The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017). He has been married to Elizabeth Marvel since September 4, 2004. They have one child.
12 Years a Slave (2013) & Birdman (2014).
20. Michael Keaton
Actor | Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Quirky, inventive and handsome American actor Michael Keaton first achieved major fame with his door-busting performance as fast-talking ideas man Bill Blazejowski, alongside a nerdish morgue attendant (Henry Winkler), in Night Shift (1982). He played further comedic roles in Mr. Mom (1983), Johnny...
Birdman (2014) & Spotlight (2015). Keaton was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in Birdman.
21. Octavia Spencer
Actress | Hidden Figures
Spencer is a native of Montgomery, Alabama, which she claims is the proverbial buckle of the Bible belt. She's the sixth of seven siblings and holds a BS in Liberal Arts from Auburn University. A "closet" lover of acting, this practical Alabamian knew that she'd someday work in the film industry, ...
The Shape of Water (2017) & Green Book (2018). Spencer was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her role in The Shape of Water.
Tell Your Friends