Many people noticed how great the cast of Skyfall is. Someone during the press conference even mentioned to Mendes the fact that the castmembers of the film have 16 Oscar nominations among them. That's a lot but is it really a standout in the franchise? To answer this question I went through the imdb pages of all Bond movies (including the 3 unofficial ones) and the imdb pages of every single actor who has ever appeared in a Bond film, to make a <i>complete</i> list of actors who appeared in a Bond film and were nominated for at least 1 Oscar. I know Oscars don't guarantee anything (just look at CR from 1967!) and there are many great actors who were never even nominated, still I wanted to make this list for my own amusement and I thought I should share it.
<b>1. The first category: the unofficial Bond films.</b> I concentrated on the official Bond films but here is a quick summary of actos who won or were nominated for an Oscar before or after they appeared in an unofficial Bond film:
CR67: Peter Sellers, David Niven, Orson Welles, Woody Allen, Deborah Kerr, William Holden, Charles Boyer, John Huston, Bob Godfrey, Anjelica Huston, Peter O'Toole.
NSNA: Kim Basinger, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Max von Sydow, Amy Irving.
<b>2. The second category:</b> the people who appeared in credited or uncredited roles in official Bond films and were nominated for or won at least 1 Oscar but <b>not in the acting categories</b>. The list: John Truscott, Ken Adam, Lewis Gilbert, Peter Howitt, John Barry, Julian Fellowes, John Cleese, Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón.
<b>3. The third category.</b>The actors who were nominated for or won at least one Oscar in acting categories but <b>only after they appeared in a Bond film</b> (actors in brackets had uncredited roles):
Sean Connery: 1 Win
Robert Shaw: 1 Nomination
(Valerie Perrine: 1 Nomination)
Benicio Del Toro: 1 Win + 1 Nomination
Minnie Driver: 1 Nomination
<b>4. The forth and most important category.</b> Finally the interesting part, the actors who were nominated for or won at least one Oscar in acting categories before the Bond movie they appeared in was released (actors in brackets had uncredited roles):
<b>FRWL</b>
-Lotte Lenya: 1 Nomination
<b>YOLT</b>
-(Alexander Knox: 1 Nomination)
<b>OHMSS</b>
-Telly Savalas: 1 Nomination
-(Bessie Love: 1 Nomination)
<b>FYEO</b>
-Topol: 1 Nomination
<b>AVTAK</b>
-Christopher Walken: 1 Win (+1 Nomination after the release of the movie)
<b>TWINE</b>
-Judi Dench: 1 Win + 1 Nomination (she won after she was cast, but before the release of the movie)
<b>DAD</b>
-Judi Dench: 1 Win + 3 Nominations (she got the last nomination after she was cast, but before the release of the movie)
-Halle Berry: 1 Win (she won after she was cast, but before the release of the movie)
<b>CR</b>
-Judi Dench: 1 Win + 4 Nominations (she got the last nomination after she was cast, but before the release of the movie)
-Giancarlo Giannini: 1 Nomination
<b>QOS</b>
-Judi Dench: 1 Win + 5 Nominations
-Giancarlo Giannini: 1 Nomination
<b>SF</b>
-Judi Dench: 1 Win + 5 Nominations
-Javier Bardem: 1 Win + 2 Nominations
-Albert Finney: 5 Nominations
-Ralph Fiennes: 2 Nominations
Comments
-After Christopher Walken, Judi Dench and Halle Berry, Javier Bardem is only the 4th actor who won an Academy Award for acting to appear in an official Bond film.
-There are only 3 actors who managed to win an Academy Award for acting after they appeared in an official Bond film: Sean Connery, Benicio Del Toro and Judi Dench (she won after TND).
-CR from 1967 had way more Academy Award winner and nominated actors than any offical Bond film.
The rank of the official Bond films according to the total number of acting-nominations of the castmembers (not counting nominations received after the release of the movie):
SF - 2 Wins & 14 Nomination
DAD - 2 Wins & 3 Nominations
QOS - 1 Win & 6 Nominations
CR - 1 Win & 5 Nominations
TWINE - 1 Win & 1 Nomination
AVTAK - 1 Win
OHMSS - 1 Nomination & 1 Nomination for an uncredited actor
FYEO - 1 Nomination
FRWL - 1 Nomination
YOLT - 1 Nomination for an uncredited actor
Normal writing : won before their Bond movie(s)
Bold writing: won for their Bond movie
Italic writing : won after their Bond movie(s)
DN : Ken Adams (1 Nomination) (2 Wins, 2 Nominations)
John Barry (5 Wins. 1 Nomination)
Ted Moore (1 Win)
FRWL : John Barry (5 Wins. 1 Nomination)
Ted Moore (1 Win)
GF : Ken Adams (1 Nomination) (2 Wins, 2 Nominations)
John Barry (5 Wins. 1 Nomination)
Ted Moore (1 Win)
Norman Wanstall (1 Win)
TB : John Stears (1 Win) (1 Win)
Ken Adams (1 Nomination) (2 Wins, 2 Nominations)
John Barry (5 Wins. 1 Nomination)
YOLT : Ken Adams (1 Nomination) (2 Wins, 2 Nominations)
John Barry (2 Wins) (3 Wins. 1 Nomination)
Freddie Young (1 nom, 2 wins) (1 Win, 1 Nomination)
OHMSS : John Barry (3 Wins) (2 Wins, 1 Nomination)
DAF : Gordon McCallum, John Mitchell, Al Overton (1 Nomination)
Ken Adams (1 Nomination) (2 Wins, 2 Nominations)
John Barry (3 Wins) (2 Wins, 1 Nomination)
John Holmes (1 Nomination)
LALD : Paul and Linda McCartney (1 Nomination)
George Martin (1 Nomination)
Julie Harris (1 Win)
Ted Moore (1 Win)
TMWTGG : John Barry (3 Wins, 1 Nomination) (2 Wins)
TSWLM : Ken Adam, Peter Lamont, Hugh Scaife (1 Nomination)
Marvin Hamlisch (2 Nominations)
Carole Bayer Sager (1 Nomination)
Ken Adams (1 Nomination, 1 Win) (1 Win, 2 Nominations)
Lewis Gilbert (1 Nomination)
MR : Derek Meddings, Paul Wilson, John Evans (1 Nomination)
John Barry (3 Wins, 1 Nomination) (2 Wins)
Ken Adams (2 Nominations, 1 Win) (1 Win, 1 Nomination)
FYEO : Bill Conti, Michael Leeson (1 Nomination)
OP : John Barry (3 Wins. 1 Nomination) (2 Wins)
Henry Richardson (1 Nomination)
AVTAK : John Barry (3 Wins, 1 Nomination) (2 Wins)
TLD : John Barry (4 Wins, 1 Nomination) (1 Win)
LTK : Michael Kamen (2 Nominations)
GE : Jeffrey Caine (1 Nomination)
Terry Rawlings (1 Nomination)
Lindy Hemming (1 Win)
TND : Lindy Hemming (1 Win)
Robert Elswit (1 Win, 1 Nomination)
TWINE : Lindy Hemming (1 Win)
Adrian Biddle (1 Win)
Jim Clark (1 Win, 1 Nomination)
DAD : Lindy Hemming (1 Win)
CR : Paul Haggis (2 Wins, 2 Nominations) (1 Nomination)
Lindy Hemming (1 win)
Stuard Baird (2 Nominations)
QOS : Paul Haggis ( 2 Wins, 3 Nominations)
Matt Chesse (1 Nomination)
Richard Pearson (1 Nomination)