The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has always had a soft spot for British talent and stories, ever since George Arliss won the 1929 Oscar for playing the title role in Disraeli. It’s that touch of class, you see (and indeed, A Touch of Class won Glenda Jackson her second Oscar in 1973). Here are a few other highlights:

1939 Vivien Leigh won for Gone With the Wind and Robert Donat for Goodbye, Mr Chips. Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier were also nominated. Those four, along with Ronald Colman and Leslie Howard, dominated the race time and again during the War years.

1948 Olivier’s Hamlet won four Oscars, including Best Actor for Olivier himself, who was also nominated for Best Director. It took the Best Picture prize ahead of another British classic, Michael Powell’s The Red Shoes.

1957 David Lean became the first Brit named as Best Director for Bridge On The River Kwai, which won seven Oscars in total, including Best Picture and Best Actor for Alec Guinness. Charles Laughton earned his third nomination for Witness For the Prosecution, Deborah Kerr her fourth for Heaven Knows, Mr Allison and Elizabeth Taylor her first for Raintree County. Kerr’s six nominations without success still stands as a record, although Kate Winslet will match it this year if she doesn’t win for The Reader.

1964 The Sixties were a great decade for the Brits, with Lawrence of Arabia winning Best Film in 1962 and Tom Jones in 1963. The high point came the following year, when Rex Harrison (My Fair Lady), Julie Andrews (Mary Poppins) and Peter Ustinov (Topkapi) took acting prizes.

1976 Peter Finch’s greatest claim to fame is that he fathered Charles. Close behind comes his posthumous Oscar for Network (ed’s note, see Taking Care of Business and Dude, where’s my Oscar). The Seventies were otherwise short of British success, although the women did their bit, with Glenda Jackson picking up Best Actress twice, and Vanessa Redgrave and Maggie Smith each managing a Supporting prize.

     

Peter Finch in Network

 

1981 The success of Chariots of Fire, with four Oscars in 1981, prompted screenwriter Colin Welland to proclaim, “The British are coming!” He was right. That was topped the following year by Gandhi, which won eight.

1987 The Last Emperor, winning nine Oscars, may have been a Chinese story directed by an Italian, but the man who got his hands on the statuette for Best Film was its very British producer Jeremy Thomas. Sean Connery also won Supporting Actor for The Untouchables.

1996 There were British wins and nominations galore throughout the late Eighties and Nineties, including three Best Actor prizes in a row for Daniel Day-Lewis, Jeremy Irons and Anthony Hopkins. But the highlight was the Best Picture win for The English Patient in 1996, followed by Shakespeare in Love in 1998.

2000 Ridley Scott has never personally won an Oscar, but his film Gladiator did take five awards including Best Picture.

Would you like to comment on this article?

You must be logged in to post a comment.