A fitting tribute: 23 people who received posthumous Academy Award nominations

Not only was James Dean the first actor to ever earn a posthumous Best Actor Academy Award nomination, but he also remains the only actor to ever be nominated for two posthumous Academy Awards. Although Dean is now viewed as an iconic actor, he tragically died in a car crash at the age of just 24, less than six months after the release of his first feature film, “East of Eden,” which also earned him his first Best Actor nomination. Following his 1955 death, Dean could also be seen in “Rebel Without a Cause” and “Giant,” with the latter earning him his second consecutive posthumous nod. Although the rebellious young actor didn’t win either Oscar, all three films in which he starred were eventually named to the American Film Institute’s list of the 400 best American films of all time.

As the producer of hundreds of films, Walt Disney has earned 22 Oscars and 59 nominations, both of which are still records to this day. Both his final nod and final win were also posthumous, as he died of complications from lung cancer at the age of 65 in 1966, two years before the release of “Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day.” That Pooh adventure won Best Animated Short Film at the 41st Academy Awards, and Walt Disney was the sole producer.

Documentary filmmaker Gail Dolgin earned two Academy Award nominations: a Best Documentary, Features nod for 2002’s “Daughter from Danang” and Best Documentary, Short Subject for 2011’s “The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil War.” Unfortunately, not only did she not win either but also she died at the age of 65 in 2010 after a lengthy battle with breast cancer. During her lifetime, Dolgin was a regular at Sundance, where she nabbed the Grand Jury Prize for the aforementioned “Daughter from Danang.”

James Dean was the first actor to earn posthumous Academy Award nod, but we didn’t say anything about actresses. That distinction goes to Jeanne Eagels for her role as Leslie Crosbie in the 1929 drama “The Letter,” which was released two years before Dean was even born. Recorded with both sound and as a silent film, “The Letter” was based on a play of the same name by W. Somerset Maugham, and that makes the reason for casting Eagels quite obvious, as the actress was previously a Ziegfeld girl and a Broadway star. With only five previous films under her belt, Eagels likely would have been elated to receive her first Oscar nod (even though the Academy Awards were only in their second year of existence), but she died of a drug overdose at the age of 39 prior to the selection of the nominees.

The 1976 satirical newsroom film “Network” earned 10 Oscar nominations at the 49th Academy Awards, including two Best Actors nods. One of those belonged to the film’s captivating star Peter Finch, who ended up winning the category along with “Network” nabbing wins for Best Actress (Faye Dunaway), Best Supporting Actress (Beatrice Straight) and Best Original Screenplay (Paddy Chayefsky). However, Finch wouldn’t be able to accept the award, as he died of a sudden a heart attack in the lobby of the Beverly Hills Hotel at the age of 60 on Jan. 14, 1977.

Gil Friesen is mainly known for being the chairman of A&M Records from 1977 to 1990, but he also produced films and was actually the executive producer of “The Breakfast Club” (1985), “Better Off Dead” (1985) and “Blaze” (1989), among others. His last credit was producing the documentary “20 Feet from Stardom,” about the lives of backup singers. It was nominated for and won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature as well as a Grammy. However, Friesen died of leukemia at the age of 75 before both of the events.

Composer George Gershwin is best known for his Broadway musicals, orchestral compositions and a pair of operas, but his music was also used to score a handful of films. Most notably, the Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire musical comedy “Shall We Dance” used a score of George Gershwin music and Ira Gershwin lyrics. Although the former Gershwin died rather suddenly from a brain tumor at the age of 38 in 1937, “They Can’t Take That Away from Me” from “Shall We Dance” was nominated for Best Music at the 10th Academy Awards shortly thereafter. 

Conrad Hall’s overwhelmingly accomplished cinematography career began all the way back in 1958, and over the next 44 years he earned Best Cinematography Oscar nominations for “Morituri” (1965), “The Professionals” (1966), “In Cold Blood” (1967), “The Day of the Locust” (1975), “Tequila Sunrise” (1988), “Searching for Bobby Fischer” (1993) and “A Civil Action” (1998). As if that wasn’t impressive enough, he also won the category for the films “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” (1969), “American Beauty” (1999) and “Road to Perdition” (2002). The final win was posthumous, as Hall passed away at the age of 76 just before the nominations were announced.

Although he composed music for films by Alfred Hitchcock and Orson Welles (including “Psycho,” “Citizen Kane” and “Vertigo”), Bernard Herrmann won his Best Score Oscar for the William Dieterle-directed “The Devil and Daniel Webster” (1941). He earned two additional nominations before passing away at the age of 64 in 1975, and he matched those with two posthumous nods in the same year for two different films: Brian de Palma’s “Obsession” and Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver.”

“Gone with the Wind” is an undeniable masterpiece, and most people remember it for stars Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh or director Victor Fleming or maybe even Margaret Mitchell, the author who penned the book of the same name. However, there was also a brilliant mind behind the script. Playwright Sidney Howard previously won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1925 for the Broadway play “They Knew What They Wanted,” which was eventually made into three movies as well as the musical “The Most Happy Fella.” He also earned two Best Writing Oscar nods (in 1932 for “Arrowsmith” and 1937 for “Dodsworth”) before penning the screenplay for “Gone with the Wind.” Howard wouldn’t live to see any of the film’s incredible acclaim or success, as he was killed in a freak farming accident at the age of 48 on Aug. 23, 1939 — just a few months before the movie’s premiere.

Usually actors and musicians are the ones who achieve or come close to achieving an EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony), but that’s not the case with Eiko Ishioka. The Japanese designer won a Best Album Package Grammy in 1987 for Miles Davis’ “Tutu,” she won a Best Costume Design Oscar in 1993 for “Bram Stoker’s Dracula,” and although she didn’t win, Ishioka earned two Tony nominations for Best Scenic Design and Best Costume Design for “M. Butterfly.” After passing away at age 73 in 2012, she earned a posthumous Best Achievement in Costume Design Academy Award nomination for “Mirror Mirror.”

You might not recognize the name Jerome Kern, but you definitely know some of the musical theater composer’s 700 songs, such as the classics “Ol’ Man River,” “The Way You Look Tonight” and “Long Ago (and Far Away).” In his 60 years on this earth, Kern won two Best Song Oscars (for the 1936 film “Swing Time” and the 1941 film “Lady Be Good”) and earned three additional nods. After he died suddenly in 1945, he nabbed three more nominations: Best Song for the film “Centennial Summer” and both Best Song and Best Score for “Can’t Help Singing.”

After beginning his career with films like “10 Things I Hate About You” (1999), “A Knight’s Tale” (2001) and “Brokeback Mountain” (2005), Heath Ledger was a curious choice to play the deranged Joker in Christopher Nolan’s Batman sequel, “The Dark Knight.” Critics were skeptical. Comic book fans nearly rioted in the streets. As for Ledger, he shut himself up in a hotel to sink deep into the character and perfect his voice, mannerisms and warped mindset. After filming was complete, Ledger died of an accidental prescription drug overdose at the age of 28. He would never know about the overwhelmingly positive reception of his performance, the $1 billion box office haul the movie scored and the Best Supporting Actor honors he would posthumously win at the Academy, Golden Globe, BAFTA Film, Saturn and Screen Actors Guild Awards — not to mention numerous critical accolades.

After directing classic films like “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They” (1969), “The Way We Were” (1973), “Tootsie” (1982) and “Out of Africa” (1985), Sydney Pollack started producing movies as often as he directed them. In fact, in 2008, the year he passed away at the age of 73, Pollack was credited as a producer on the TV film “Recount,” the sports comedy “Leatherheads” and the romantic drama “The Reader.” The latter earned five Oscar nods, including a Best Actress win for Kate Winslet and a Best Picture nomination, which Pollack shared with Donna Gigliotti, Redmond Morris and Anthony Minghella. 

Sadly, Sydney Pollack’s fellow Best Picture nominee for “The Reader,” producer Anthony Minghella, also wouldn’t live to see the film’s release or success. He passed away in early 2008 due to complications from cancer surgery. Minghella was perhaps best known for writing and directing the 1996 romantic drama “The English Patient,” for which he won a Best Director Oscar. He also wrote and directed “The Talented Mr. Ripley” (1999) and “Cold Mountain” (2003).

Veteran English actor Ralph Richardson was 80 years old when he finished portraying the Sixth Earl of Greystoke in 1984’s “Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes.” Shortly afterward, and with five months left until the adventure film’s premiere, Richardson died after suffering several strokes. He rightfully earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination (his second, after a previous nod in 1950) for his role in “Greystoke” but lost to Haing S. Ngor in “The Killing Fields.”

During his career, cinematographer Harry Stradling earned two Academy Award nominations (for 1945’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray” and 1964’s “My Fair Lady”) and a dozen additional nods while working with the likes of Alfred Hitchcock, Elia Kazan, Audrey Hepburn, Katharine Hepburn, Marlon Brando, Judy Garland, Hedy Lamarr, Lucille Ball, Vivien Leigh, Marlene Dietrich and Barbra Streisand. Streisand was actually the star of Stradling’s final four films, with both “Funny Girl” (her film debut) and “Hello, Dolly!” nabbing the cameraman Oscar nods, with the latter coming posthumously.

Golden Age actor Spencer Tracy’s 37-year career on the big screen netted him two Oscar wins (Best Actor for both 1937’s “Captains Courageous” and 1938’s “Boys Town”) and seven additional nominations. Every nod was also in the Best Actor category, including one for the 1967 comedic drama “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner,” in which Tracy starred alongside Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn and Katharine Houghton. The movie, which dealt with the sensitive subject of interracial relationships, would eventually receive critical acclaim and achieve classic status, but only 17 days after the filming of it wrapped, Tracy died of a heart attack at the age of 67.

Italian actor, director and screenwriter Massimo Troisi worked hard to gain international notoriety — so hard, in fact, that it may have cost him his life. Fifteen years after making his first film, “Ricomincio da Tre” (“I’m Starting from Three”), Massimo Troisi’s “Il Postino” (“The Postman”) earned critical acclaim, $22 million at the domestic box office and five Academy Award nominations, with Troisi up for Best Actor and Best Writing. However, Troisi would never know. He died of a heart attack at the age of 41 just 12 days after filming wrapped. Even more tragic, Troisi reportedly postponed heart surgery to finish the film. 

In addition to being the cinematographer for films like “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968) and “Superman” (1978), Geoffrey Unsworth also earned Oscar nods for “Becket” (1965), “Cabaret” (1973), “Murder on the Orient Express” (1975) and “Tess” (1981). Both “Cabaret” and “Tess” resulted in wins, but the latter was a shared victory with Ghislain Cloquet, who took over the cinematography duties when Unsworth died at the age of 64 during the third month of shooting.

August Wilson earned two Pulitzer Prizes, a Tony and countless critics awards, so it was only a matter of time before an Oscar nod came his away. That opportunity finally arrived posthumously in 2017 when the film “Fences,” based on Wilson’s 1985 play of the same name, earned Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor (Denzel Washington), Best Actress (Viola Davis) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Wilson). Davis ended up being the sole winner at both the Oscars and Golden Globes, but that didn’t stop Wilson — who passed away from liver cancer in 2005 at the age of 60 — from chasing posthumous awards. Later the same year, Wilson was nominated and won Best Revival of a Play at the 71st Tony Awards for “Jitney.”

While scoring films like “Golden Boy” (1939), “Arise, My Love” (1940) and “For Whom the Bell Tolls” (1939), composer Victor Young earned 20 Academy Award nominations — including twice garnering four nods in a single year! However, he didn’t win one until four months after he died of a cerebral hemorrhage at 56 years old. That win for Best Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture came courtesy of 1956’s “Around the World in 80 Days” and was accompanied by one final nomination: Best Original Song for “Written on the Wind,” from the drama of the same name.

Longtime MGM producer Sam Zimbalist earned his first Academy Award nod in 1951 for “King Solomon’s Mines” and his second in 1952 for “Quo Vadis,” but he failed to win either one. He eventually won the coveted award in 1960 for the epic drama “Ben-Hur” and was credited as its sole producer, even though he died of a heart attack during filming. Zimbalist was just 57. At the ceremony, his wife, Mary Taylor, accepted the honor on his behalf.