Posthumous Oscar Nominations

With all the talk about a possible Oscar nomination for The Dark Knight’s Heath Ledger, Academy afficionadoes should note the counter-arguments as well: The role is probably not big enough that many voters could justify nominating him in the “Best Actor” category (Javier Bardem, for comparison, got his for “Supporting Actor”), despite the fact that many would love to see Ledger honored in that category after his heartbreaking job in Brokeback Mountain failed to earn it in 2006.

A performance so weirdly magnetic that it can make you set aside thoughts of the actor’s real-world fate — despite the fact that the role is all about  darkness and sudden, senseless loss — certainly deserves whatever recognition comes its way. If the Oscar folks can manage not to split their votes on the Actor/Supporting Actor issue, they’ll certainly have precedents for nominating an actor after his death.

As this list in Cleveland’s Plain Dealer points out, there have been a few. Follow the link for details:

– Peter Finch

– Jeanne Eagels

– James Dean

– Spencer Tracy

– Sir Ralph Richardson

– Massimo Troisi