Most efed-up Oscar awards ever?

[Floyd R. Turbo]

WINNER
JOHN WAYNE
True Grit
NOMINEES
RICHARD BURTON
Anne of the Thousand Days
DUSTIN HOFFMAN
Midnight Cowboy
PETER O'TOOLE
Goodbye, Mr. Chips
JON VOIGHT
Midnight Cowboy

[Orrex]

1. John Wayne was a terrible, terrible actor

[Floyd R. Turbo]

2. And an asshole to boot! 🤬

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

36. A bigot!

[Floyd R. Turbo]

39. That too!

[Frasier Balzov]

3. It was his last chance and Rooster Cogburn was iconic.

You've got to know he deserved it.

Top award to a war hawk from an anti-war Hollywood community?

(By the way, did you like Jeff Bridges's portrayal better?)

[Floyd R. Turbo]

6. Bridges and the Cohen Brothers version were much closer to the book. I did like it more. And, Wayne did not deserve it!

[rsdsharp]

12. It wasn't even his last chance to portray Rooster Cogburn.

He did eleven films after True Grit, including 1975’s Rooster Cogburn.

[Frasier Balzov]

17. We know that now.

But he had already had a lung removed due to cancer.

So Hollywood gave him his triumphant moment, and I can't think of another role which would have given them the excuse of honoring him as a show business legend in a performance category.

The Searchers? Not nominated.

Sands of Iwo Jima? Lost to Broderick Crawford in All the King's Men.

True Grit? Yes, for the pleasure of the film, its financial success and the imperfections of a lovable character brought to life by an imperfect man.

[rsdsharp]

18. His lung was removed in 1964. They were so afraid he might die that they waited five years?

[Frasier Balzov]

21. Did he do anything Oscar worthy in the interim?

Do you think he was overlooked for The Green Berets or something?

Hollywood insiders who simply become delighted audiences is kind of sweet really.

It was industry appreciation which also burnished their own credibility as either apolitical or patriotic.

[rsdsharp]

23. I didn't think he did anything Oscar worthy ever.

[Aristus]

4. They should have given Marion Morrison the Oscar for one of his military roles.

There are people out there who are still stubbornly convinced that Marion was some kind of “patriot” because he played military men. When, IRL, he was a draft-dodging coward, and a bully who wanted to beat up a woman (Sacheen Littefeather) because she said something he disagreed with.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

7. As I said, "An asshole"!

[Callie1979]

11. Wayne wasnt a draft dodger. Thats an old urban legend.

The facts about what he tried to do, like joining the Naval Academy, and what he did do has been written about extensively.

[rsdsharp]

13. World War II Marines had a different view. From author William Manchester:

After my evacuation from Okinawa, I had the enormous pleasure of seeing [John] Wayne humiliated in person at Aiea Heights Naval Hospital in Hawaii. Only the most gravely wounded, the litter cases, were sent there. . . . Each evening Navy corpsmen would carry litters down to the hospital theater so the men could watch a movie. One night they had a surprise for us. Before the film the curtains parted and out stepped John Wayne, wearing a cowboy outfit—and 10-gallon hat, bandanna, checkered shirt, two pistols, chaps, boots and spurs. He grinned his aw-shucks grin, passed a hand over his face and said, “Hi ya, guys!” He was greeted by a stony silence. Then somebody booed. Suddenly everyone was booing.

This man was a symbol of the fake machismo we had come to hate, and we weren’t going to listen to him. He tried and tried to make himself heard, but we drowned him out, and eventually he quit and left. If you liked [John Wayne’s film] Sands of Iwo Jima, I suggest you be careful. Don’t tell it to the Marines.

[Callie1979]

15. A story which itself is questionable.

[rsdsharp]

16. Oh? Did Manchester make it up?

[Callie1979]

19. Are there any Marines who were there to verify the story?

Not that I ever read about. Could it have happened? Of course! Bob Hope wrote about being booed at some stops on his USO tours.
Wayne tried to join the Naval Academy before the war & was turned down. He was classified as too old when WW2 began. He also tried to enlist in the OSS. He was told he'd be sued by his studio if he enlisted. By then it was thought he'd be better used by the USO.
We have a REAL draft dodger in the White House; FIVE TIMES.
I'd rather focus on HIM than chase decades old rumors about an old star.

[rsdsharp]

22. Wayne tried to join the naval academy in 1925,

in peacetime, AFTER the “war to end all wars.” He was turned down because of poor grades. When the bullets started to fly he did whatever he could to avoid service. John Ford — who was 13 years older than Wayne, and did serve — never let him forget it.

Classified as too old when World War II began? What was the cutoff date? Apparently somewhere between May 27 and May 31, 1907. Wayne was five days older than my father, who did serve in World War II after being drafted.

[Wiz Imp]

26. Many Hollywood stars older than Wayne willingly served in WWII

Last edited Sun Mar 15, 2026, 05:55 PM - Edit history (1)

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2819281/John-Wayne-DID-dodge-draft-continue-torrid-affair-sexy-German-actress-Marlene-Dietrich-best-lay-ve-new-book-reveals.html

Henry Fonda had enlisted in the navy at 37. Jimmy Stewart tried to enlist at age 33 but was underweight. He put aside his Academy Award winning career and went on a diet to fatten up that included candy, beer and bananas. He reached the minimum weight and proudly flew dozens of missions over Germany.

Cowboy singing star Gene Autry joined the Army Air Corps. Tyrone Power went into the Marines. Robert Montgomery joined the army along with Clark Gable. Ronald Reagan also signed up but his lousy eyesight kept him from going overseas.

Even Hollywood’s ‘Beverly Hills Brits’ faced extradition and imprisonment in Britain if they didn’t head home to do their duty.

Any story that Wayne had tried to enlist was a complete fabrication, the author insists. ‘Wayne never tried to enlist and never ‘pleaded’ with John Ford to get him into the navy,’ writes the author.

"The author" refers to Marc Eliot, author of the biography "American Titan: Searching for John Wayne"

[rsdsharp]

32. Thank you for posting this. Stewart was less than a year younger than Wayne.

He enlisted, and ultimately flew 20 missions as a pilot in command. The scene where he prayed in It’s A Wonderful Life was really an episode of PTSD.

Clark Gable was six years older than Wayne. He also enlisted. Both Stewart and Gable received the Distinguished Flying Cross (among other medals), and both ended the war as field grade officers, despite starting as enlisted men.

Both were far bigger stars in the early 1940s than Wayne, and somehow their studios didn’t sue them for enlisting. No studio would have done so. The negative publicity would have been crushing, and no jury would have sided with them if they had done so.

[Skittles]

34. my English grandfather was 38 when he spent the week on the beaches of Dunkirk

John Wayne was tough-guy cosplayer.

[Wiz Imp]

24. It's not rumors. It's fact. Just because you refuse to accept it and insist on making

excuses for him doesn't change the fact that he was almost universally derided as a draft dodger at the time by those who served. John Wayne was then and forever a total piece of shit who was a terrible actor on top of it. That''s not just my opinion. That is Hollywood consensus.

Actual quote from John Wayne from a Playboy interview in 1971:

With a lot of blacks, there's quite a bit of resentment along with their dissent, and possibly rightfully so. But we can't all of a sudden get down on our knees and turn everything over to the leadership of the blacks. I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. ... I don't feel we did wrong in taking this great country away from the Indians. Our so-called stealing of this country from them was just a matter of survival. There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wayne

[Wiz Imp]

14. Not an urban legend at all. He was not "technically" or "legally" a draft dodger

Last edited Sun Mar 15, 2026, 03:29 PM - Edit history (1)

But he was widely considered one because of the way he avoided the draft. He was definitely a WWII version of a chickenhawk. Those who did serve at the time absolutely disliked him for it.

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/world-war-ii/john-ford-john-wayne-they-were-expendable.html

John Ford Called Out John Wayne on Set for Not Serving in World War II
John Ford was incredibly proud of his service to his country and held the utmost respect for veterans. He was also aware that John Wayne had managed to remain Stateside throughout World War II. This didn’t sit well with the director, who frequently tormented the actor with insults on the set of They Were Expendable.

One particular incident came while filming a scene that required Wayne’s character, LTJR. “Rusty” Ryan, to salute an admiral as he departs. It took numerous takes to get this part of the film to Ford’s liking, with him at one point insulting the Duke in front of the entire production staff, saying, “Duke, can’t you manage a salute that at least looks as though you’ve been in the service?”

While able to take the jabs at first, the verbal abuse became so constant that, at one point, Wayne considered staying home to avoid facing the director.

Things only cooled down between the pair when Robert Montgomery stepped in. He approached Ford and said he needed to stop insulting Wayne. After that, Ford stopped commenting on the Duke’s lack of military service.

[Callie1979]

20. Ford had letters from Wayne asking him to let him enlist in his unit.

Saying he "managed" to remain stateside implies he tried to. The evidence says thats not the case.

[Wiz Imp]

27. False. There is definite evidence he actively worked to avoid service.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2819281/John-Wayne-DID-dodge-draft-continue-torrid-affair-sexy-German-actress-Marlene-Dietrich-best-lay-ve-new-book-reveals.html

[Callie1979]

37. Proof shows he tried to enter the Naval Academy, enlist in the OSS & join Fords unit

We know he was classified 3-A due to age & having 4 kids.
This guy wrote a sex book. His claim that Wayne never wrote Ford is a lie; Ford kept at least one of the letters; part of his contribution to Indiana University.
Could he have done more or pushed harder? Probably so. Many celebrities served but many others didnt. But Wayne didnt do anything like trump did.

[hlthe2b]

5. Yes. Still, some of the most recent decades of top movie winners have really incredibly sucked...

I could make a list, but I won't because there will always be a small minority who feel deeply offended when it is one they liked. But, damn if there haven't been some real losers who WON!

But, yeah, John Wayne was an awful actor, but besides his politics, his deepest sin for me was how he rode a damned horse. (And yes, the poor horse was damned to have to haul that a'hole around- who mounted and rode as though he was "astride" a Lazy Boy recliner. Seriously. It just hurts me to watch him ride. I so feel sorry for those horses.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

8. Another reason to hate the asshole! Poor horses! 😢

[Fiendish Thingy]

9. Maybe for the Best Actor award

But there are far more egregious errors in the Best Picture category.

https://britbrief.co.uk/politics/diplomacy/10-most-questionable-oscar-best-picture-winners-ever.html

I would add to that list:
The English Patient
No Country For Old Men (there are far more deserving Coen bros films)

From your list, Hoffman and Voight went on to win Oscars - they were both brand new stars at the time of Wayne’s win (and I think he had cancer at the time).

I think it is a travesty that no Wes Anderson film has ever won a best picture Oscar- at least three- Royal Tennenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom, and Budapest Hotel, are deserving.

Further travesties in the lack of Oscars for Greta Gerwig, Saiorse Ronan and Florence Pugh.

I never watch the Oscars, knowing my favourites are rarely nominated,let alone win. If anybody does something moving or controversial, I can watch it on YouTube later.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

40. Haven't watched them in years!

[UTUSN]

10. Yip, and Peter 7 noms, no wins. When first offered an Honorary he turned it down saying

that (at that point) might still have time to win one - class and humility. (He finally accepted an Honorary.)

*** But tonight's sound f***ed up all over. I seldom see anything, much less the year's nominees, but love the Oscars for the supposedly spontaneous reactions. I only am motivated to see things when they are spectacular for me - Black Swan, The Favourite, Gladiator. I *did* see SPIELBERG's West Side Story only to verify they didn't f-up the music, and saw Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Bohemian Rhapsody, remake Star/Born, No Country for Old Men.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

41. Peter a class act!

[Skittles]

25. that dreck Forrest Gump beating Pulp Fiction

ugh

[MIButterfly]

30. I agree.

Forrest Gump over anything, let alone Pulp Fiction or Shawshank Redemption? I couldn't believe it. I STILL can't believe it.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

42. Don't get me started! 🤬

[Skittles]

46. right?!

fucking outrageous

[ms liberty]

28. There was a time that his schtick with women was considered funny

As a kid,, I loved McClintock! and The Hellfighters, both with Maureen O'Hara, but rewatching them in the last 25-35 years? Embarrassingly misogynistic. What an ass.

[Floyd R. Turbo]

43. Asshole!

[Permanut]

29. Nicolas Cage, Leaving Las Vegas, 1996..

Got an Oscar for playing a drunk.

Richard Dreyfuss was light years better in Mr. Holland's Opus.

Disclaimer: I was an extra in Mr. Holland's Opus

[Floyd R. Turbo]

44. Another one that pissed me off!

[underpants]

31. '99 "Shakespeare in Love" over "Saving Private Ryan" AND '93 Pacino as Best Actor

As I’ve read Shakespeare was the Brits in Hollywood stealing thunder from Ryan because they felt it undercut the English contribution and costs in WWII. Having been IN the Army I had deep considerations of IF I could do that. That was an amazing 20 minutes of film.

1993
Robert Downey Jr. “Chaplin”
Denzel “Malcolm X”
Pacino in “Scent of a Woman”
Eastwood in “Unforgiven”
And Stephen Rea in “The Crying Game”.
We saw a lot of movies and I saw all of these. Denzel and Downey’s performances blew me away. Downey especially. WOW. I thought Pacino was just an acknowledgment of his career but that was such a nothing movie and we joked that he didn’t look the part at all AND totally screwed up saying “Hoo-ah”. That’s an Infantry term and he clearly spent no time researching it. I even heard done Infantry guys making fun of it. The Crying Game was a great movie and Rea, to me was #3 behind Downey then Denzel. At the time the Oscars didn’t usually award biopics but man they were great in those.
I was completely shocked when they basically gave him a lifetime award.

[MIButterfly]

33. "Scent of a Woman" was NOT Al Pacino's best performance by a long shot.

He'd been acting so long and had been nominated so many times that I think they just figured it was "his turn."

[underpants]

35. Absolutely. From Michael* to Serpico to Dog Day

He’d been in and had many much better performances.

John Cazale was in 5 movies in 7 years all were nominated for best picture. Pacino got him in Dog Day through fake medical exams because he needed money for cancer treatment. He was also the love of Meryl Streeps life.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cazale

* if you haven’t seen “The Offer” on the making of The Godfather I’d highly recommend it. 10 episodes.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13111040/episodes/?season=1

[Totally Tunsie]

38. I HATED that movie...one of the worst I've seen!

[Floyd R. Turbo]

45. Yep!