Legacy Oscar

Not to be confused with Academy Honorary Award.

Legacy Oscar is a term referring to an Academy Award perceived to have been given in recognition of the recipient's performances in prior films, rather than for the performance specifically nominated. The implication is that the winning performance was inferior to the recipient's prior performances and would not have won in its own right. ^[1]

Examples

• Best Picture for Cecil B. DeMille for The Greatest Show on Earth (1952). ^[2]
• Best Actor for Jack Lemmon in Save the Tiger (1973); he defeated Al Pacino ( Serpico ), Marlon Brando ( Last Tango in Paris ) and Robert Redford ( The Sting ), all of which are considered among the greatest Hollywood performances ^{[3] [4]}
• Best Actor for Paul Newman in The Color of Money (1987) ^[5]
• Best Actor for Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman (1993) ^[6]
• Best Actress for Kate Winslet in The Reader (2009) ^[6]
• Best Actor for Gary Oldman in Darkest Hour (2018) ^{[1] [7]}
• Best Actress for Jessica Chastain in The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2022) ^{[1] [7]}
• Best Supporting Actress for Jamie Lee Curtis in Everything Everywhere All at Once (2023) ^{[7] [8] [9]}

References

1. "The Problem with Legacy Oscars". MovieWeb. 2023-04-03. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
2. Every Oscar Best Picture winner - MSN
3. Pogue, Andrew (June 11, 2025). "1 of the Best Hollywood Actors of All Time Won The Wrong Oscar (& It's Still Frustrating 51 Years Later)". CBR.
4. Khan, Tariq (May 2, 2024). "Oscars rewind: 5 reasons why Jack Lemmon won Best Actor for 'Save the Tiger'".
5. Pacheco, Diego Pineda (2024-03-02). "10 Most Notorious Career Wins at the Oscars". Collider. Retrieved 2024-03-11.
6. "The 1975 Best Actor Oscar Race Was Incredible, So How Did Art Carney End Up Winning?". /Film. 2023-04-30. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
7. "A brief history of the "legacy Oscar" and its winners". Little White Lies. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
8. "We Love Jamie Lee Curtis, But Banshees Of Inisherin Star Kerry Condon Should Have Won An Oscar". /Film. 2023-03-12. Retrieved 2023-06-20.
9. Thompson, Marcus Jones, Anne; Jones, Marcus; Thompson, Anne (2023-03-10). "2023 Oscars: Best Supporting Actress Predictions". IndieWire. Retrieved 2023-06-20.