History Main / ConsolationAward

* By the time 2008 rolled around, KateWinslet had been nominated six times and had yet to win an Oscar. What makes people believe that this occurred is that she won Best Actress for ''TheReader,'' even though she won the Golden Globe for Best ''Supporting'' Actress for the same role (Interestingly, she also won Best Lead Actress at the Golden Globes that year, but for ''Revolutionary Road.'')

** And ditto for the ''{{Nirvana}}'' MTV Unplugged Concert winning a Grammy. The fact that KurtCobain [[DeadArtistsAreBetter had killed himself earlier that year]] probably inspired the decision.

-> '''Sick Boy''': All I'm trying to do, Mark, is help you understand that ''TheNameOfTheRose'' was merely a blip on an otherwise uninterrupted downward trajectory. \\

* On the subject of Golden Age stars, while HumphreyBogart (Bacall's husband) gave his usual quality performance in ''TheAfricanQueen'' opposite fellow screen legend KatharineHepburn, it is pretty much universally agreed that his Oscar for that film was ''actually'' for his work in ''TheMalteseFalcon'', for which he was nominated and lost ten years before.

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* {{Metallica}} won a Consolation Grammy after losing Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance to (shockingly) JethroTull the year before. The Grammys finally realized how much Metallica had contributed to heavy metal and decided to give the award for ''[[SelfTitledAlbum Metallica]]''.

* Denzel Washington's work in ''TrainingDay'', after losing for ''The Hurricane''. YourMilageMayVary on this one though.

* Although JamesStewart gave a solid performance in ''ThePhiladelphiaStory'', it's commonly accepted that the Best Actor Oscar we won was really for his career-defining work in ''MrSmithGoesToWashington'' the year before.

** Another notable example of a "Thank You" rein is when long time {{Jobber}}, [[TheBrooklynRage The Brooklyn Brawler]] beat (by way of a fluke) WWE golden boy Triple H for the Intercontinental championship. The Brawler is one of those guys that makes anyone look great but until that week he'd never even been a title contender.

* Then again, Crest Of A Knave winning that award was probably a consolation for overlooking some of Jethro Tull's earlier albums, which are pretty damn amazing. (Aqualung, Thick As A Brick, Heavy Horses, to name a few.)
** And ditto for the ''Nirvana'' MTV Unplugged Concert winning a Grammy. The fact that ''Kurt Cobain'' had killed himself earlier that year probably inspired the decision.

* John Wayne's Best Actor win in 1969 for ''TrueGrit'' is seen as a consolation for him not winning the award for his work in films like ''The Quiet Man'', ''TheSearchers'' or ''The Sands of Iwo Jima''.

* Russell Crowe winning for ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'' could also be seen as a make-up for his defeat for ''The Insider''.

* {{Metallica}} won a Consolation Grammy after losing Best HeavyMetal Performance to (shockingly) Jethro Tull years earlier. The Grammys finally realized how much Metallica had contributed to heavy metal and decided to give the award for ''Metallica''.

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** It has been stated in some quarters that the Academy decided to treat the trilogy as a single movie released in three episodes, hence the wait for the final episode, as it were. Besides if you had all three films clean up then you've got three years where [[{{Twilight}} nobody else stands a chance of]] picking up anything but scraps like Oscar for Best Clapping And Loading.

* ElizabethTaylor's 1960 Oscar for ''[=BUtterfield 8=]'', a film that's pretty much forgotten, and she didn't even want to do. She was nominated in 1957 for ''Raintree County'', in 1958 for ''{{Cat on a Hot Tin Roof}}'' and in 1959 for ''Suddenly, Last Summer'', of which the latter two are considered classics. It's widely thought that she won by a vote of sympathy, because of her recent near-fatal illness.

-> '''Sick Boy''': All I'm trying to do, Mark, is help you understand that TheNameOfTheRose was merely a blip on an otherwise uninterrupted downward trajectory. \\
'''Renton''': What about TheUntouchables?\\

* Whilst HumphreyBogart gave his usual quality performance in ''TheAfricanQueen'' opposite fellow screen legend KatharineHepburn, it is pretty much universally agreed that his Oscar for that film was ''actually'' for his work in ''TheMalteseFalcon'', for which he was nominated and lost ten years before.

* AlPacino got Best Actor in 1992 for ''Scent of a Woman'', despite him ''deserving'' the award back in 1972 for ''TheGodfather'', or in 1974 for ''The Godfather Part II''. This in turn displaced DenzelWashington for ''Malcolm X'' (he later got his own consolation award-see below).

* Henry Fonda's one and only Best Actor oscar for ''On Golden Pond,'' the last movie he ever made.

* John Wayne's Best Actor win in 1969 for ''TrueGrit'' is seen as a consolation for him not winning the award for his work in films like ''The Quiet Man'' or ''The Sands of Iwo Jima''.

* Aversion: In 1996, it was thought of as certain that legendary Golden Age of Hollywood star Lauren Bacall, who had never been ''nominated'' for an Oscar before, would win the Best Supporting Actress award for the poorly-reviewed Barbra Streisand vehicle ''The Mirror Has Two Faces''. When she '''didn't''' win, instead losing to Juliette Binoche for ''TheEnglishPatient'' (which swept that year's awards), it was a huge shock. (Bacall would receive an honorary Oscar in 2009.)

* AlPacino got Best Actor in 1992 for ''Scent of a Woman'', despite him ''deserving'' the award back in 1972 for ''TheGodfather'', or in 1974 for ''The Godfather Part II''. This in turn displaced Denzel Washington for ''Malcolm X'' (he later got his own consolation award-see below).

* Al Pacino got Best Actor in 1992 for ''Scent of a Woman'', despite him ''deserving'' the award back in 1972 for ''TheGodfather'', or in 1974 for ''The Godfather Part II''. This in turn displaced Denzel Washington for ''Malcolm X'' (he later got his own consolation award-see below).

* Possibly the most famous (or infamous) is that AlfredHitchcock never won an Oscar as a director (though ''{{Rebecca}}'' won Best Picture). The Academy gave him a life achievement award, which he deserved anyway, but mostly as an apology for never giving him an award for ''{{Vertigo}}'', ''{{Psycho}}'', ''NorthByNorthwest'', ''TheBirds'', ''{{Rope}}'', ''[[StrangersOnATrainPlotMurder Strangers on a Train]]'', ''TheManWhoKnewTooMuch'', ''To Catch A Thief'', ''DialMForMurder'', ''RearWindow'', ''Marnie''...

** It has been stated in some quarters that the Academy decided to treat the trilogy as a single movie released in three episodes, hence the wait for the final episode, as it were. Besides if you had all three films clean up then you've got three years where [[{{Twilight}} nobody else stands a chance of]] [[MTVMovieAwards picking up anything]] but scraps like Oscar for Best Clapping And Loading.

* Despite being one of the most beloved cartoon characters ever, a Character/BugsBunny cartoon never won the Oscar until 1958's ''Knighty Knight Bugs''. A fine cartoon, but hardly Bugs' finest moment, especially compared to the previous year's ''What's Opera, Doc'', which wasn't even ''submitted'' for nomination. (In fact, Bugs wasn't even a nominee for the previous ''sixteen'' years.)
** Random additional factoid: NONE of Daffy Duck's cartoons have ever been NOMINATED!