Notable Snubs: Supporting Actor Quiz

Answer: The Dude, "The Big Lebowski" (1998)

Despite having an Academy Award, being "The Dude" is likely to be the first line of Jeff Bridges' obituary. And The Dude would definitely not abide the fact that Bridges was snubbed for the iconic role. The film received no Academy Award nominations.

His first nomination came for "The Last Picture Show" (1971) as a young man deciding whether to leave his small Texas town. In 1974, he was nominated for "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot" in which he was Clint Eastwood's partner in robbing banks. He took a considerable boost in his next nomination, as President of the United States Jackson Evans, who is seeking to make a senator the first female vice president.

Bridges was also nominated for "Hell or High Water" (2016), in which he plays a Texas Ranger on the trail of bank robbers.

After four decades as an actor, Bridges won the Best Actor award as country singer Bad Blake in "Crazy Heart" (2009). The next year, he was nominated for recreating the iconic role of Rooster Cogburn in "True Grit" (2010). His first Best Actor nomination was for playing an extra terrestrial visitor in "Starman" (1984).

Answer: Major Frank Burns, "M*A*S*H" (1970)

Before the TV series, there was the Robert Altman film. Duvall was terrific as Frank Burns, the nemesis of Hawkeye and Trapper. He had a marvelous air of pious smugness even as he was committing adultery. "M*A*S*H" had five nominations, and won for its screenplay by Ring Lardner Jr. Sally Kellerman was nominated for Hot Lips, but the rest of the cast was not.

Duvall received his first nomination as Corleone family attorney Tom Hagen in "The Godfather" (1972). He then made the phrase "I love the smell of napalm in the morning" immortal as the surf crazed Lt Col Kilgore in Francis Ford Coppola's Vietnam War epic "Apocalypse Now" (1979).

Duvall had two more nominations for playing attorneys. He was corporate attorney Jerry Facher in "A Civil Action" which was based on a real case of environmental pollution in Massachusetts. And he played the title character of Joseph Palmer in "The Judge" (2014).

Duvall won a Best Actor Award for playing country singer Mac Sledge in "Tender Mercies" (1983) and was nominated for "The Great Santini" (1979) and "The Apostle" (1997).

Answer: Edward Lyle, "Enemy of the State" (1998)

In "Enemy of the State", Hackman played a former intelligence agent seeking to avoid the all-seeing eye of the federal government. He helps Will Smith bring down a corrupt intelligence chief (Jon Voight). The film did win a few awards, but no Oscars.

Hackman won the Academy Award for playing unconventional police detective Popeye Doyle in "The French Connection" (1971). The film also won Best Picture, Best Director (William Friedkin), Best Screenplay and Best Editing.

And he won a second Oscar as amoral lawman Little Bill Daggett in "Unforgiven" (1992). That film also won Best Picture, Best Director (Clint Eastwood) and Best Editing.

Hackman received his first Oscar nomination as Buck Barrow, the brother of Clyde (Warren Beatty), in "Bonnie and Clyde" (1967). In his second nomination, he played a professor seeking to escape the shadow of his father in "I Never Sang for My Father" (1970).

Hackman began acting in 1961, and his first film was "Lilith" in 1964. He effectively retired from acting in 2004.

Other notable roles snubbed by Oscar include surveillance expert Harry Caul in "The Conversation" (1974), Coach Norman Dale in "Hoosiers" (1986) and cynical jury consultant Rankin Fitch in "Runaway Jury" (2003).

Answer: General Francis Hummel, "The Rock" (1996)

Harris was not nominated for "The Rock" (1996), in which he plays a military commander who occupies Alcatraz with a group of commandos and threatens San Francisco with nerve gas. The film did receive an Oscar nomination for Best Sound, but no acting nominations.

"Failure is not an option!" Harris was nominated for his turn as Gene Kranz, the leader of the team charged with rescuing the astronauts of "Apollo 13" (1995). He was also nominated for playing Christof, the producer of a television show based on the life of a real person (Jim Carrey) in "The Truman Show" (1998).

Harris was also nominated for his role as Richard Brown, the gay former lover of Clarissa Vaughn (Meryl Streep) in the 2002 film psychological drama "The Hours". Nicole Kidman won for playing novelist Virginia Woolf, and Julianne Moore was nominated for playing Richard's mother in the 1950s.

Harris earned a Best Actor nomination as modern artist Jackson Pollock in "Pollock" (2000). Marcia Garden Harden won for playing Pollock's wife Lee Krasner.

Other notable Harris roles overlooked by Oscar include astronaut John Glenn in "The Right Stuff" (1983), secret agent Parcher in "A Beautiful Mind" (2001) and German sniper Konig in "Enemy at the Gates" (2001).

Answer: The Joker, "Batman" (1989)

While Heath Ledger won an Oscar for playing the Joker, Nicholson's performance was not nominated. "Batman" (1989) did win an Academy Award for Art Direction, but that was its sole nomination. Nicholson was nominated for a Golden Globe for "Batman" (1989). For those who have no awareness of popular culture, "Batman" tells the story of Bruce Wayne, a billionaire who fights crime in Gotham City. The Joker is one of the arch villains he fights.

Nicholson received his first nomination as George Hanson, an attorney seeking to cast off society's restrictions, in "Easy Rider" (1969). He was also nominated as playwright Eugene O'Neill in the Warren Beatty historical epic "Reds" (1981)

And naturally he was nominated for "A Few Good Men" (1992). Nicholson's interplay with defense attorney Tom Cruise creates one of the best cross examinations in the history of films.

Nicholson won his first Best Actor Oscar as Randall McMurphy in "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest" (1975) and his second as cynical novelist Melvin Udall in "As Good as it Gets" (1997). He also won as astronaut Garrett Breedlove in "Terms of Endearment" (1983).

Nicholson began his film career in 1958, as a juvenile delinquent in "The Cry Baby Killer". Roles that didn't get nominated include Jimmy Hoffa in "Hoffa" (1992).

Answer: Lt Vincent Hanna, "Heat" (1995)

Pacino was not nominated for "Heat" (1995), in which he plays a homicide cop on the trail of a group of bank robbers led by Robert DeNiro.

Pacino's first nomination was as Michael Corleone, son of Mafia don Vito Corleone, in "The Godfather" (1972). Marlon Brando won as Best Actor and the film won Best Picture. He repeated his role as Michael in "Godfather II" (1974) and "Godfather III" (1990). Pacino was also nominated as hot shot salesman Ricky Roma in "Glengarry Glen Ross" (1992).

While "Dick Tracy" (1990) was naturally cartoonish, Pacino was recognized for his turn as mob boss Big Boy Caprice. The film itself won three Oscars, for Art Direction, Makeup and Original Song (Stephen Sondheim). Along with his Academy Award nomination, Pacino was nominated for a Golden Globe, BAFTA Award, Saturn Award, multiple critics awards and even won an American Comedy Award as "Funniest Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture"

Pacino was nominated for Best Actor five times before finally winning as Colonel Frank Slade in "Scent of A Woman" (1992).

Answer: Dr Jack Griffin, "The Invisible Man" (1933)

Rains' first talking role was as the title character in "The Invisible Man" (1933), which was based on the novel by H.G. Wells. He plays a scientist who is made invisible by an experiment; one of the side effects is that he is going insane. While the film is highly regarded as one of the first great science fiction films, it received no Academy Award nominations.

"I'm shocked, shocked that there is gambling going on in this establishment!" Rains creates one of the all time great cynical characters in jaded French police insector Louis Renault. His interplay with Humphrey Bogart is just one of the things that makes "Casablanca" (1942) one of the greatest films of all time. Rains and Bogart were nominated, but Ingrid Bergman was not nominated for Ilsa.

Rains was also nominated for Senator Payne, a once idealistic man utterly corrupted by the realities of hardball Washington politics. He plays a marvelous villain in the Hitchcock thriller "Notorious" (1946), conspiring with ex-Nazis and poisoning Ingrid Bergman.

Rains was also nominated for playing the title role in "Mr Skeffington" (1944), as a wealthy businessman married to Bette Davis. Rains died in May 1967.

Answer: Dylan Rhodes, "Now You See Me" (2013)

Ruffalo was not nominated for playing Rhodes, an FBI agent who turns out to be far more than he appears on the surface, in the 2013 magic heist film "Now You See Me". The film has a terrific cast, including Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman.

Ruffalo's first nomination was as Paul, the sperm donor father of the children of a lesbian couple, in "The Kids are All Right" (2010). Ruffalo was nominated for playing journalist Mike Rezendes, who investigated the cover-up of child molestation in the Catholic church, in the 2015 Best Picture "Spotlight". He was also nominated as Olympic gold medalist David Schultz in "Foxcatcher" (2014). Steve Carell was nominated for his work as billionaire John du Pont.

As noted, Ruffalo has been Bruce Banner/The Hulk in the Marvel Cinematic Universe since appearing in "The Avengers" (2012).

Answer: Ed Tom Bell, "No Country for Old Men" (2007)

"No Country for Old Men" (2007) is widely regarded as one of the best films of the 2000s. Tommy Lee Jones plays a sheriff tracking the aftermath of a drug deal gone horribly wrong. The film won Best Picture, and Joel and Ethan Coen won for directing. Javier Bardem also won as hitman Anton Chigurgh. But Jones was not recognized for his work.

Jones won the Academy Award for playing relentless US Marshall Samuel Gerard, tracking down Harrison Ford in "The Fugitive" (1993). His first nomination was as Clay Shaw, a New Orleans business implicated in the assassination of John F Kennedy in the Oliver Stone film "JFK" (1991). Jones was also nominated for playing Republican congressman Thaddeus Stevens in the Steven Spielberg film "Lincoln" (2012).

Jones also received a Best Actor nomination for "In the Valley of Elah" (2007), in which he investigates the murder of his son. Interesting how many times Jones is in movies with murder and mayhem.

Answer: Captain Georg Von Trapp, "The Sound of Music" (1965)

Christopher Plummer was not nominated for playing Captain Von Trapp, the Austrian military officer who fought the Nazi occupation of his home country. "The Sound of Music" did win Best Picture and Best Director. Julie Andrews was nominated, but lost to Julie Christie.

Other notable parts that Plummer was not nominated for include Rudyard Kipling in "The Man Who Would Be King" (1975), journalist Mike Wallace in "The Insider" (1999) and ruthless banker Arthur Case in "Inside Man" (2006).

Plummer did not receive recognition from the Academy until quite late in his career. His first nomination was for playing Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy in "The Last Station" (2009).

The next year, Plummer became the oldest Academy Award winner in history, at age 82, when he won for playing Hal Fields, a man who came out as gay towards the end of his life. Plummer set another record in 2017, with a nomination at age 88, when he was nominated for playing oil billionaire J. Paul Getty in "All the Money in the World".