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earn anAcademy Awardis one of the greatest achievements an player can attain in Hollywood , and several performers have managed this effort at fabulously sophisticated ages . While many may find Hollywood is a young person ’s game , certain actors have consistently done astounding employment for decennium and have earned awarding into their 70s , 80s , and even 90 . The quondam Academy Award winner let in some ofthe corking doer who ever lived .
While there are plenty ofincredible actors who have shockingly never received an Academy Award , these performer show that it ’s never too late to achieve that honored honour . From the unmatched achievement ofKatharine Hepburn ’s four Oscar winsat age 74 to recipient role who were inching near to 100 years old , while many have criticized the Academy ’s bias , these laurels turn up actors do n’t lease ageism brook in the means of Oscar greatness . These were theoldest histrion to ever win Academy Awards .
10Katharine Hepburn
Second Oldest Best Actress at 74 for On Golden Pond (1981)
Cinema ikon Katharine Hepburn was no stranger to making Academy Award history . Not only didHepburn become the oldest Best Actress winner ever at the sentence forOn Golden Pond , but this also nock her unprecedented 4th Oscar winner . Having been a major voice in Hollywood since the thirties , Hepburn ’s career traversed the integral story of the latter part of the 20th one C as she excelled in screwball comedies , period dramas , and incredible theatrical adaptations .
Hepburn earned her first Academy Award in 1933 for her leading performance inMorning Glory , a film that appropriately enjoin the story of an actress ’s journey to stardom . With an incredible 12 nomination in total , Hepburn would again win accolade forGuess Who ’s arrive to Dinnerin 1968,The Lion in Winterin 1969 , and last forOn Golden Pondin 1981 . While it remains to be seen if anyone will ever beat her astounding four - time profits record , Hepburn has reigned sovereign for over four decades .
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On Golden Pond revolve around an aging couple , Norman and Ethel Thayer , spending their summer at their lake house . As their girl Chelsea visits , the family pilot conflict and revisits kinship , confront long - digest generational tensions to restitute bonds of sexual love .
9Henry Fonda
Second Oldest Best Actor at 74 for On Golden Pond (1981)
In the same yr that hisOn Golden Pondco - star Katharine Hepburn made Oscar history with her Best Actress win , Henry Fonda also became the oldest recipient ever Best Actor recipient at the fourth dimension . Having made his movie entry in 1935 , Fonda earn his condition as an elite Hollywood picture and was finally reward with Best Actor for his last film role . Sadly , Fonda support from heart disease and was too ill to attend the ceremony , dying just five months after his historical win .
However , Fonda ’s legacy lay not just in the Academy Awards ; he was a notable name throughout his entire calling . Fonda was first nominated for an Oscar in 1940 for his function as Tom Joad inThe Grapes of Wrath . As a manufacturer , Fonda was also nominated for Best Picture for his work on the effectual classic12 Angry Men . From romance to Westerns , Fonda was a proud example of the early days of Hollywood and the legendary figures that came out of it .
8Peggy Ashcroft
Best Supporting Actress at 77 A Passage to India (1984)
English performerPeggy Ashcroft became the quondam Best Supporting Actress everfor her esteemed role in the E. M. Forster adaptationA Passage to India . As an epic diachronic drama by directing extraordinaire David Lean , A enactment to Indiaechoed the power of some of the filmmaker ’s nifty works , such asLawrence of Arabia , and was further elevate by astounding performances from Ashcroft . With themes of friendship amid British colonialism , this was a rich story that capture the spirit of its source stuff .
Ashcroft accomplish her historical win with her 1984 carrying into action and has hung on to that deed of conveyance ever since . However , there have been plenty of older nominees who have almost taken this honor from Ashcroft , such as Gloria Stuart ’s performance at 87 age old inTitanicor , more recently , the 87 - yr - old Judi Dench in 2021’sBelfast . With plenteousness of fabulously talented octogenarians working in Hollywood today , it ’s only a thing of time before Ashcroft ’s record gets supersede .
Set during the British Raj , a young British cleaning lady and her senior traveling comrade journeying to search India . Their trip takes a dramatic turn after an incident at the Marabar Caves , which leads to cultural misunderstandings and a highly publicized trial run , exploring themes of compound latent hostility and racial bias .
7John Gielgud
Four Oldest Best Supporting Actor at 77 for Arthur (1981)
Although many will remember the romantic comedyArthurfor Dudley Moore ’s laugh - out - loud functioning in the title use , it was its hilarious hand by Steve Gordon and supporting carrying into action by John Gielgud that realize it the Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor Oscars , respectively . While Moore play a drunken millionaire who falls for a common lady , Gielgud played his gentleman’s gentleman Hobson , who must witness all his employer ’s alcohol - fueled antics . With a solid operation , Gielgud managed to gain a uncommon Oscar for a comedic part .
With plenty of boozy appealingness and lighthearted humour , it ’s no surprise that bothGielgud ’s carrying into action andArthur’sscript were awarded by the Academy . woefully , it would be author and director Steve Gordon ’s lone feature motion-picture show as he die of a center blast mature 44 , just one class afterArthur’srelease . As an acclaimed performer for both the projection screen and the stage , Gielgud was also a rareEGOT winnerwho has earned an Oscar , an Emmy , a Grammy , and a Tony .
6Melvyn Douglas
Third Oldest Best Supporting Actor at 79 for Being There (1979)
After a recollective vocation in Hollywood that went as far back as the 1920s , Melvyn Douglas became the oldest - ever well Supporting Actor at the prison term forBeing There . This incredible Hal Ashby comedy was one of the best movies of the seventies and stand as its leading star Peter Seller ’s astounding swansong performance , as he died the following year . Douglas wreak the wealthy socialite who take a liking to Sellers as Chance , the clueless but lovable nurseryman , and presently provided him an chance to become a herculean baron and major actor in Washington government .
Douglas previously win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his execution inHud , a Western starring Paul Newman . As an acclaimed performing artist throughout his varied and impressive career , Being Therewas one of Douglas ’s final film roles , as he passed aside in 1981 at the age of 80 . While Douglas ’s former career saw him portray suave lead hands , he wield to keep himself relevant by seamlessly transfer to more mature , fatherly roles in his later years .
5Jessica Tandy
Best Actress at 80 for Driving Miss Daisy (1989)
British actress Jessica Tandy saw astounding success across her varied career on stage and screen , earning her an Academy Award , four Tony Awards , a BAFTA Award , a Golden Globe Award , and a Primetime Emmy Award . As the original Blanche DuBois inA Streetcar mention Desireon Broadway right up to her terminal Oscar - nominated carrying into action , Fried Green Tomatoes , Tandy try herself a major figure in showbusiness . One of Tandy ’s swell achievements was becoming the oldest Best Actress at 80 forDriving Miss Daisy .
Although the Best Picture winner , drive Miss Daisy , has been controversial in the years since for failing to put up up against other nominees likeMy Left Foot , nobody can abnegate Tandy gave a capital public presentation . As the titular Daisy Werthan , it was a will to Tandy ’s skill that she could still deliver such a fantastic and elusive performance at her advanced age . As a true historical profits , Tandy ’s record has stood since 1989 , and there ’s only ever been one sometime campaigner , 85 - year - older Emmanuelle Riva , forAmourin 2012 .
aim Miss Daisy is a film directed by Bruce Beresford that explores the evolving friendship between an elderly Jewish widow woman , Daisy Werthan , and her African American chauffeur , Hoke Colburn , set against the background of social alteration in the American South over 25 years .
4George Burns
Second Oldest Best Supporting Actor at 80 for The Sunshine Boys (1975)
The comic George Burns was one of the few performing artist whose vocation traverse vaudeville , radio , film , and television as he moved with the time and found success throughout the ever - changing circumstances of the twentieth century . take over in 1896 and passing away in 1996 , Burns ’s career cross the intact hundred as he got his start as a child singer and soon proceed into comic short films in the 1920s and 1930s . Along with his wife , Gracie Allen , the two became genius , and the famed span even had a video series calledThe George Burns and Gracie Allen Showthroughout the 1950s .
However , it was in 1975 that Burns ’s career was astonishingly invigorate after his Best Supporting Actor Oscar come through forThe Sunshine Boys . The office of an elderly vaudevillian actor was perfect for Burns , who imbued his role with a life-time ’s worth of experience in the entertainment diligence . Burns ’s historical profits forThe Sunshine Boyswould remain unmatched for 36 yearsuntil it was in the end beaten by a 2011 performance .
The Sunshine Boys is a comedy film centre on the reunion of a famous vaudeville duo , Lewis and Clark , who have not speak in over twenty years . Willy Clark ’s nephew , a TV show manufacturer , attempts to bring the contentious pair back together for a particular variety show visual aspect .
3Christopher Plummer
Best Supporting Actor at 82 for Beginners (2011)
The spat Canadian histrion Christopher Plummer became the oldest Best Supporting Actor in 2011 for his role inBeginners . This insightful romantic comedy - dramatic play from Mike Mills starred Ewan McGregor as a humankind reflecting on life in the backwash of his father ’s death . Plummer play the elderly begetter , Hal Fields , who , through flashbacks , audiences see come in out as an openly braw military personnel after his wife fall out away when he was 75 and was afterward diagnosed with lung cancer . Beginnerswas a deeply layered and thoughtful filmthat highlighted Plummer ’s acquirement for get the complex man of his lineament .
Not only was Plummer the oldest Best Supporting Actor ever , a book that has gone undefeated ever since , but he was also the oldest competitive acting nominee of all time . Plummer ’s performance at age 88 for Ridley Scott’sAll the Money in the Worldmade Academy Award history . Plummer gained this impactful persona after substitute Kevin Spacey for the part in the wake of allegation of intimate misconduct . Despite being a last - minute replacement , Scott express that Plummer was always his first alternative for the role ( viaTHR ) , but the studio wanted a freehanded name .
father , take aim by Mike Mills , follow Oliver as he navigates a new human relationship with Anna , presently after his begetter , Hal Fields , passes aside . The picture show search Oliver ’s reflection on his father ’s late - in - life come in out and the vivacious life Hal led with a untested partner , following his wife ’s release .
2Anthony Hopkins
Best Actor at 83 for The Father (2020)
Anthony Hopkins is one of the all - time great actorswho has consistently yield incredible performances in works likeThe Elephant Man , The cadaver of the Day , andShadowlands . However , it was Hopkins ’s transformative role as Dr. Hannibal Lecter inThe secretiveness of the Lambsthat truly made him a family name as the movie not only won him a Best Actor Oscar but also engage home Best Picture , Best Director , Best Actress , and Best Adapted Screenplay , a feat only achieved by two other films , 1934’sIt Happened One Nightand 1975’sOne Flew Over the Cuckoo ’s Nest .
While Hopkins had already solidify his iconic reputation in Hollywood by 2020 , his carrying into action inThe Fathermade Academy Award chronicle when he became the previous Best Actor recipient at historic period 83 . In this spellbinding carrying into action , Hopkins played a man suffering from dementedness as spectator were taken on a journeying into his fractured cognisance . This deeply affect performance captured the mix-up at the marrow of this degenerative disease and the immense difficulties for patients and their families .
The Father is a 2020 drama that follows the degenerate genial state of an senesce man as seen through the eyes of his girl . Anthony Hopkins stars in the lead purpose with Olivia Colman as Anne , as well as Rufus Sewell , Imogen Poots , Olivia Williams , Mark Gatiss , and Ayesha Dharker in support function .
On Golden Pond revolves around an aging couple, Norman and Ethel Thayer, spending their summer at their lake house. As their daughter Chelsea visits, the family navigates conflicts and revisits relationships, confronting long-standing generational tensions to restore bonds of love.
1Mel Brooks
Academy Honorary Award at 97
The Academy Honorary Award is a prize present outside the independent private-enterprise family to honor achievements not covered by the subsist Oscars . This award often render credit entry for lifespan achievements and performing artist who left an undeniable marking on Hollywood history . With this in mind , it make sense that the sometime Academy Award - winning thespian is Mel Brooks , who received the Academy Honorary Award at 97 in 2023 . However , art director and production decorator Robert F. Boyle is the old recipient role ever at 98 , earning that claim in 2008 .
While Mel Brooks was , of path , an acclaimed actor , many of his great achievements were as a manager and writer . From unquestioned comedy classic likeThe Producers , Blazing Saddles , andSpace Balls , Brooks has left his mark on Hollywood and is one of just 21 entertainers to win the EGOT , which include an Emmy Award , a Grammy Award , an Academy Award , and a Tony Award . As one of the most impactful comedians of all time , it ’s a will to Brooks ’s appealingness that he ’s still act today , even as he inches ever close to 100 year old .
Source : THR
On Golden Pond revolves around an aging couple, Norman and Ethel Thayer, spending their summer at their lake house. As their daughter Chelsea visits, the family navigates conflicts and revisits relationships, confronting long-standing generational tensions to restore bonds of love.
Set during the British Raj, a young British woman and her elderly traveling companion journey to explore India. Their trip takes a dramatic turn after an incident at the Marabar Caves, which leads to cultural misunderstandings and a highly publicized trial, exploring themes of colonial tension and racial prejudice.
Driving Miss Daisy is a film directed by Bruce Beresford that explores the evolving friendship between an elderly Jewish widow, Daisy Werthan, and her African American chauffeur, Hoke Colburn, set against the backdrop of social change in the American South over 25 years.
Beginners, directed by Mike Mills, follows Oliver as he navigates a new relationship with Anna, shortly after his father, Hal Fields, passes away. The film explores Oliver’s reflections on his father’s late-in-life coming out and the vibrant life Hal led with a younger partner, following his wife’s passing.
The Father is a 2020 drama that follows the deteriorating mental state of an aging man as seen through the eyes of his daughter. Anthony Hopkins stars in the lead role with Olivia Colman as Anne, as well as Rufus Sewell, Imogen Poots, Olivia Williams, Mark Gatiss, and Ayesha Dharker in supporting roles.
