Sylvester Stallone

Nominated for...
Best Actor, ‘Rocky’, 1977

How did that happen?
With his turn as ball-bouncing thug-turned-champ Rocky Balboa coming early on in Stallone’s career, critics perhaps didn’t realise that they were witnessing an actor exercising the full width, breadth and depth of his emotional range. ‘Look! Look how good he is at portraying a mumbling hunk of meat!’ they must have cried. Four decades (and five ‘Rocky’ sequels) later, Sly’s still waiting for that second nod.

Why didn’t he win?
A posthumous award for Australian actor Peter Finch for his performance in ‘Network’ was too fitting a send-off for the Academy to resist. Also in Finch’s favour: he didn't sound like a wounded manatee when shouting his girlfriend’s name.

The ten most unlikely Oscar nominees

And the nominees are… Wait, him? You’re kidding, right?

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The Oscars are never short on controversy, with upsets and outrages as integral to the awards as blubby speeches and little black dresses. Unlikely victors aside, though, it’s the shortlists where some of the biggest surprises are to be found. And while we don’t doubt these ten folk wholeheartedly deserved their moments of recognition, seeing their names in the history books will forever make us do a double take.

The latest film top tens

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