The announcement of this year’s Oscar nominations has reinforced the Academy’s love of biopics. Eddie Redmayne (“The Theory of Everything”) and Bene🃏dict Cumberbatch (“The Imitation Game”) received nods for their performances as Stephen Hawking and Alan Turing, respectively. Bradley Cooper (“American Sniper”), Steve Carell (“Foxcatcher”) and Reese Witherspoon (“Wild”) also received nominations for playing real people.
So we looked back through the history of the Academy Awards to see which biopic perfo♐rmances really stood the test of time.
The Memorable
Daniel Day-Lewis, ‘My Left Foot’ (1989)
Da💜y-Lewis won his first of three best actor Oscars for his heartbreaking portrayal of Irish writer Christy Brown, who suffered from cerebral palsy and who could only control 🅺his left foot, which he used to type his autobiography.
George C. Scott, ‘Patton’ (1970)
“Patton” won Best Picture, and Scott’s powerful portrayal of the World War II general won, as well. But the actor, who despised contests 𓂃among actors, declined the statuett🀅e when it was given to him.
Robert De Niro, ‘Raging Bull’ (1980)
De Niro gained almost 60 pounds🐷 to play former midd♚leweight boxing champ Jake LaMotta, whose personal life was a minefield of rage, jealousy and violence.
Jamie Foxx, ‘Ray’ (2004)
Foxx seemed to embody the late, great R&B pioneer Ray Charles, capturing his signature𝕴 raspy sound, piano playing and wily nature when it came to negotiating record contracts.
Colin Firth, ‘The King’s Speech’ (2010)
King George VI was one of the best parts an actor could hope to play — a man who✨ didn’t want to be king. Firth emerged as a major leading man when he captured the vulnerability of a monarch who only learned to be a true leader when he conquered his stutter.
Sean Penn, ‘Milk’ (2008)
Penn already had one Oscar as a Boston thug in “Mystic River.” In “Milk,” he won his second for playing gay rights activist Harvey Milk, who was𒀰 assassinated by a demented co✤lleague in City Hall.
Helen Mirren, ‘The Queen’ (2006)
Mirren is one of tho🦹se British actresses who came into her own in middle age, when she played brilliant, boozy d🥀etective Jane Tennison in the TV series “Prime Suspect.”
When she took on living monarch Elizabeth II, she wowed the film world with her perfect technique, capturing the monarch’s funny walk and subtle understanding of the monarch’s mi🍰ndset.
But in the unfolding story about how the crown seemed indifferent to the suffering of the English 🍎people following the death of Princess Diana, Mirren also showed a queen who opened her heart.
Marion Cotillard, ‘La Vie en Rose’ (2007)
French actress Cotillard came𝕴 out of nowhere to beat a lot of better-known actresses, like Julie Christie, with her astonishing work — in French — as tragic singer Edith Piaf.
Forest Whitaker, ‘The Last King of Scotland’ (2006)
One of the mꦬost frightening biopics ever made🌠, “The Last King of Scotland” saw the soft-spoken Whitaker playing volatile Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, who slaughtered up to a half-million people while serving as president.
Barbra Streisand, ‘Funny Girl’ (1968)
Streisand had appeared as Fanny Brice on Broadway, but when she brought “Funny Girl” to the screen, she played it to the hilt and became an overnight star. Like the title says, she was funny, but she also sang many of the songs she made famous, such as “People” and “Don’t Rain 🔯on My Parade.”
The Forgettable
Julia Roberts, ‘Erin Brockovich’ (2000)
After making Hollywood a fortune 10 times over for a string of romantic comedies, Roberts must have felt she was overdue for an Oscౠar. So she took Sally Field’s “Norma Rae” route to Oscar, playing environmental whistle-blower Brockovich.
It was su✨ch an obvious plea for the award, but Hollywood caved and gav🐲e it to her over Ellen Burstyn for “Requiem for a Dream.”
Reese Witherspoon, ‘Walk the Line’ (2005)
“Walk the Lꦗine” was about Johnny Cash and his struggles with drugs and eventual rise to fame. Witherspoon, as his wife June, had a glorified supporting role, but in a weak year walked off with the Best Actress awar🎀d.
Nicole Kidman, ‘The Hours’ (2002)
This was an award for makeup. Kidman played suicidal British novelist Virginia Wo🐷olf with a nasal whimper, a huge prosthetic nose and a series of sprung-seat dresses.
🤡Woolf was actually a very attractive and stylish, witty fixture on the London literary scene, despite her mental problems. The best performance in this movie was act🐼ually given by Julianne Moore.
Sandra Bullock, ‘The Blind Side’ (2009)
For some reason, the Academy did not want to give Meryl Streep the Best Actress award for her sublime work as Julia Child i❀n the so-so movie “Julie & Julia.”
Instead, they went for this old-fashioned, white-woman-helps-black-ꦅman drama about Leigh Anne Tuohy, who adopts future football star Michael Oher.
Adrien Brody, ‘The Pianist’ (2002)
Brody sho🐲cked the world when he won Best Actor for playing Jewish pianist and composer Władys♑ław Szpilman in Roman Polanski’s Holocaust drama “The Pianist.”
In retrospect, it seems the prize was giv💫en more for the subject matter, not Brody’🌌s characterization.