The Academy Award nominations were announced last week, and it was a thrill to see Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street get some of the recognition it deserves. Although the film did not get a Best Picture nom, Johnny Depp was singled out for his performance in the title role, a Best Art Direction nomination went to Dante Ferretti (a previous winner for The Aviator), and a Best Costume Design nomination went to long-time Tim Burton collaborator Colleen Atwood (a previous winner for Memoirs of a Geisha and Chicago).
Remarkably, Depp is only the fourth man in the history of the Oscars to snag a Best Actor nomination for performing in a horror movie. Perhaps not so remarkably, since horror films have been woefully under-represented as a rule. Out of curiosity, I did a little research, and came up with the following list of all the men and women who have ever been nominated for performing in a fright flick:
Best Actor
1991 - Anthony Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs) *
1991 - Robert DeNiro (Cape Fear)
1931 - Fredric March (Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde) *
Best Actress
1991 - Jodie Foster (The Silence of the Lambs) *
1990 - Kathy Bates (Misery) *
1976 - Sissy Spacek (Carrie)
1973 - Ellen Burstyn (The Exorcist)
1956 - Nancy Kelly (The Bad Seed)
Best Supporting Actor2000 - Willem Dafoe (Shadow of the Vampire)
1999 - Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense)
1973 - Jason Miller (The Exorcist)
1962 - V
ictor Buono (Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?)
ictor Buono (Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?)Best Supporting Actress
1999 - Toni Collette (The Sixth Sense)
1991 - Juliette Lewis (Cape Fear)
1976 - Piper Laurie (Carrie)
1973 - Linda Blair (The Exorcist)
1968 - Ruth Gordon (Rosemary's Baby) *
1960 - Janet Leigh (Psycho)
1956 - Eileen Heckart (The Bad Seed)
1945 - Angela Lansbury (The Picture of Dorian Gray)
* winner
* * * * * * * * * *
For those who may be interested, this happens to be The Vault of Horror's 100th post. I started up this site in mid-October and it has been growing ever since. These days, I get seven times the daily visitors I averaged that first month, and three times as many as I got just one month ago. Thanks to getting picked up by BlogBurst, The Vault of Horror has gotten more than 93,000 headline impressions in places like Reuters, USAToday and Fox News--just in the past week alone. Thanks to everyone who's been reading.
For those who may be interested, this happens to be The Vault of Horror's 100th post. I started up this site in mid-October and it has been growing ever since. These days, I get seven times the daily visitors I averaged that first month, and three times as many as I got just one month ago. Thanks to getting picked up by BlogBurst, The Vault of Horror has gotten more than 93,000 headline impressions in places like Reuters, USAToday and Fox News--just in the past week alone. Thanks to everyone who's been reading.
Onward and upward!