Mini-Countdown: 6 Most Oscar-Nominated Films Not To Win An Award

Sometimes when it comes to awards, you'll often hear people saying "it's an honour to be nominated". Well, for these six films, that honour would have to be enough because, despite ten Oscar nominations or more, they all walked away from the ceremony empty-handed.

Each film was nominated for Best Picture, Best Production Design, and either Best Original or Best Adapted Screenplay in their respective year, as well as having at least one nod in one of the four acting categories. 

Note: in the entries below, any number followed by an asterisk- e.g. (6*)- denotes that the film won in an acting category for which two or more actors/actresses from the featured non-Oscar-winning film were nominated.

1. The Turning Point (1977)
dir. Herbert Ross, starring Anne Bancroft, Shirley MacLaine, Mikhail Baryshnikov

This family drama set in the ballet world, with Bancroft and MacLaine as estranged sisters, was tied with weighty holocaust drama Julia for the most nominations for the 50th Academy Awards: both films had 11 nods apiece. But when the ceremony rolled around, the film would walk away with no awards, with Annie Hall (4*), Julia (2), Star Wars (3) and Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1) triumphing instead. 

2. The Color Purple (1985)
dir. Steven Spielberg, starring Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, Danny Glover

As with The Turning Point, The Color Purple (Spielberg's reverent adaptation of Alice Walker's novel) was tied for the most Oscar nominations at the 58th Academy Awards. Both it and romantic drama Out Of Africa both had 11 nods apiece. But again, once we get to the ceremony, it's again a zero win situation. Instead, Out Of Africa (5), The Trip To Bountiful (1), Prizzi's Honor (1*), Ran (1), Mask (1), and White Nights (1) winning out instead. 

3. Gangs Of New York (2002)
dir. Martin Scorsese, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Cameron Diaz, Daniel Day-Lewis

With 10 nods, Scorsese's sweeping period crime drama had the second-highest number of nominations at the 75th Academy Awards [the highest number that year went to Chicago which got an impressive 13]. But, sadly, the film wouldn't win anything. Instead, Chicago (5), The Pianist (2), Road To Perdition (1), Talk To Her [Hable Con Ella] (1) and 8 Mile (1) won in its place. 

4. True Grit (2010)
dir. Joel & Ethan Coen, starring Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld, Matt Damon

The Coen Brothers' remake of the 1969 Western True Grit had 10 nominations at the 83rd Academy Awards (second only to The King's Speech which had a round dozen). The original version was only nominated for two awards, but won John Wayne the Best Actor Oscar. Perhaps they were hoping the same would happen again for Jeff Bridges? Spoiler alert: it didn't. Instead, The King's Speech (3), Inception (3), Alice In Wonderland (2), The Social Network (1), and The Fighter (1) won in the categories for which True Grit had been nominated. 

5. American Hustle (2013)
dir. David O. Russell, starring Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence

With ten nods- including one each in the four acting categories for the second year in a row- American Hustle was the joint top nominated film at the 86th Academy Awards, with Gravity also getting 10 nominations. However, there was no love for David O. Russell's crime caper, with the Academy honouring 12 Years A Slave (2), Gravity (2), The Great Gatsby (2), Dallas Buyers Club (2), Her (1), and Blue Jasmine (1) in its place. 

6. The Irishman (2019)
dir. Martin Scorsese, starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Joe Pesci

Scorsese's epic crime drama was one of three films to garner 10 nods for the 92nd Academy Awards (along with 1917 and Once Upon A Time In Hollywood). But despite this, The Irishman was going home empty-handed, with Parasite (2), Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (2*), 1917 (2), Jojo Rabbit (1), Little Women (1), and Ford V Ferrari [Le Mans '66] (1) winning instead.