Triumph over adversity is drama defined, and Oscar nominations often go to actors whose characters find victory over physical or mental afflictions. The earliest example goes back to 1947; that was the year that non-pro Harold Russell won Best Supporting Actor and a special award for “The Best Years of Our Lives.” Russell was a WWII veteran who lost both of his hands while making a training film. Of note: Of the 59, 27 of these nominations went on to a win. This year’s roster of stars playing afflicted characters includes Jake Gyllenhaal as bombing victim Jeff Baumer in “Stronger,” Andrew Garfield as polio survivor Robin Cavendish in “Breathe,” Bryan Cranston as a millionaire quadriplegic in “The Upside,” and Sally Hawkins in two roles, as an arthritic painter in “Maudie” and a mute lab worker in “The Shape of Water.”
Check out Oscar’s rather astonishing legacy of afflicted contenders below.
Audrey Hepburn, “Wait until Dark”
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Blind
1952: Best Actor nominee Arthur Kennedy in “Bright Victory.”
1966: Best Actress nominee Elizabeth Hartman in “A Patch of Blue.”
1968: Best Actress nominee Audrey Hepburn in “Wait Until Dark.”
1985: Best Supporting Actor nominee John Malkovich in “Places in the Heart.”
1993: Best Actor Al Pacino in “Scent of a Woman.”
2005: Best Actor Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles in “Ray.”
“The Miracle Worker” with Anne Bancroft, Patty Duke
Deaf
1963: Best Supporting Actress Patty Duke as deaf/mute Helen Keller in “The Miracle Worker.”
1969: Best Actor nominee Alan Arkin as a deaf mute in “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter.”
1971: Best Supporting Actor Sir John Mills as a mute “village idiot” in “Ryan’s Daughter.”
1988: Deaf Marlee Matlin won the Best Actress Oscar in “Children of a Lesser God.”
2007: Best Supporting Actress nominee Rinko Kikuchi plays a deaf teenager in “Babel.”
“The Piano”
Mute
1994: Best Actress Holly Hunter is mute in “The Piano.”
2000: Best Supporting Actress nominee Samantha Morton is mute in “Sweet and Lowdown.”
Physically handicapped
1947: Best Supporting Actor and special award-winner Harold Russell in “The Best Years of Our Lives” was a non-pro veteran who lost both of his hands while making a training film during World War II.
1979: Best Actor Jon Voight plays a paraplegic Vietnam War veteran in “Coming Home.”
1990: Daniel Day-Lewis wins his first Oscar as Irish artist Christy Brown in “My Left Foot.”
1990: Oscar nominee Tom Cruise is paraplegic Vietnam vet Ron Kovic in “Born on the Fourth of July.”
1994: Supporting Actor nominee Gary Sinise is a CGI-enhanced double amputee in “Forrest Gump.”
1997: Best Actor nominee Woody Harrelson is a wheelchair-bound pornographer in “The People vs. Larry Flynt.”
2005: Best Actress Hillary Swank in “Million Dollar Baby” is a boxer who winds up a quadriplegic.
2006: Best Actress nominee Emmanuelle Riva ends up in a wheelchair after a stroke in “Amour.”
“Born on the Fourth of July”
Mentally challenged
1958: Best Actress Joanne Woodward has multiple personality disorder in “The Three Faces of Eve.”
1969: Best Actor Cliff Robertson goes from mentally challenged to a brief run as a genius in “Charly.”
1983: In “Frances,” Best Actress nominee Jessica Lange took on institiutionalized actress Frances Farmer.
1989: Best Actor Dustin Hoffman is an autistic savant in “Rain Man.”
1992: Best Actor nominee Robin Williams plays a schizophrenic in “The Fisher King.”
1992: Best Actor Anthony Hopkins is insane serial killer Hannibal Lecter in “The Silence of the Lambs.”
1994: Best Supporting Actor nominee Leonardo DiCaprio is developmentally disabled in “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?”
1995: Best Actor Tom Hanks is the simple-minded “Forrest Gump.”
1995: Best Actress nominee Jodie Foster can barely communicate as an isolated woman of the woods in “Nell.”
1995: Best Actress winner Jessica Lange is a flamboyantly manic-depressive military wife in “Blue Sky.”
1996: Best Supporting Actor nominee Brad Pitt is a mental patient in “12 Monkeys.”
1997: Best Actor Geoffrey Rush is schizophrenic pianist David Helfgott in “Shine.”
1997: Best Actor nominee Billy Bob Thornton is addled in the head in “Sling Blade.”
1997: Best Supporting Actor Edward Norton has multiple personalities in “Primal Fear.”
1998: Best Actor Jack Nicholson is a control freak with OCD in “As Good As It Gets.”
2000: Best Supporting Actress Angelina Jolie is a conflicted mental patient in “Girl, Interrupted.”
2002: Best Actor nominee Sean Penn is developmentally disabled in “I Am Sam.”
2003: Best Actress Nicole Kidman fights depression and suicidal tendencies as author Virginia Woolf in “The Hours.”
2005: Best Actor nominee Leonardo DiCaprio is eccentric OCD sufferer Howard Hughes in “The Aviator.”
2008: Best Actress nominee Julie Christie has Alzheimer’s Disease in “Away From Her.”
2009: Best Supporting Actor nominee Michael Shannon is insane in “Revolutionary Road.”
2013: Best Actor nominee Bradley Cooper suffers from bipolar disorder in “Silver Linings Playbook.”
“The Aviator”
Disease (physical and mental)
1984: Best Actress nominee Debra Winger fights cancer in “Terms of Endearment.”
1990: Best Supporting Actress nominee Julia Roberts fights diabetes in “Steel Magnolias.”
1991: Best Actor nominee Robert De Niro is catatonic due to neurological disease in “Awakenings.”
1994: Best Actress nominee Debra Winger succumbs to cancer in “Shadowlands.”
1998: Best Actress nominee Meryl Streep faces cancer in “One True Thing.”
1994: Best Actor Tom Hanks has AIDS in “Philadelphia.”
1998: Best Actress nominee Emily Watson battles multiple sclerosis in “Hillary and Jackie.”
2001: Best Actress nominee Ellen Burstyn is a delirious pill-popping addict in “Requiem for a Dream.”
2002: Best Actress nominee Judi Dench suffers from Alzheimer’s disease in “Iris.”
2008: Best Supporting Actor nominee Tom Wilkinson stops taking his meds in “Michael Clayton.”
2011: Best Actor nominee Javier Bardem struggles with terminal prostate cancer in “Biutiful.”
2014: Best Actor Matthew McConaughey gets skinny with AIDS in “Dallas Buyers Club.”
2014: Best Supporting Actor Jared Leto also is rail thin with AIDS in the same movie.
2015: Best Actor Eddie Redmayne has ALS as Stephen Hawking in “The Theory of Everything.”
2015: Best Actress Julianne Moore has Alzheimer’s Disease in “Still Alice.”
“Dallas Buyers Club”
Other afflictions
2011: Best Actor Colin Firth stutters in “The King’s Speech” as King George VI.
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