Thursday, February 19, 2009

Title: It's an Honor to be Nominated . . . Again
Author: John Farmer
Theme: Actors nominated twice for Academy Awards for the same role.

If you had asked me to name somebody nominated twice for an Academy Award for the same role, I could have told you about Paul Newman (17A: 1961 and 1986 nominated role for Paul Newman (only five times has the same actor been nominated for the same role in two films) (FAST EDDIE FELSON ) and that's only because it seems so weird to me that of all the great roles Newman played he won his only Academy Award for "The Color of Money" and he was great in it, of course, but it wasn't a great movie and anybody can look good playing opposite Tom Cruise.

If I'd racked my brain I probably could have got 47A: 1972 and 1974 Oscar-nominated role for Al Pacino (MICHAEL CORLEONE) even though I haven't seen any of the Godfather movies -- or the Sopranos or any other gangster-related shows. Just have zero interest in gangsters, I guess. (Pacino didn't win an Oscar until "Scent of a Woman" which was not one of his best roles either, if you ask me. )

And maybe if you had a gun to my head I could have come up with 26A: 1944 and 1945 Oscar-nominated role for Bing Crosby (FATHER O'MALLEY) only because it seems Bing was always playing either a priest or a guy on the run with Bob Hope, crooning to Dorothy Lamour.

But I did not know 33A: 1964 and 1968 Oscar-nominated role for Peter O'Toole (KING HENRY II) or 56A: 1998 and 2007 Oscar-nominated role for Cate Blanchett (QUEEN ELIZABETH I). I don't know, maybe movies about ROYALTY (16A: Payment to an author, perhaps) appeal to me as movies about gangsters. O'Toole by the way played King Henry in Becket and The Lion in Winter. Blanchett played Queen Elizabeth in Elizabeth and Elizabeth: the Golden Age. The same year she was nominated for that latter Liz, she was also nominated for playing the role of Bob Dylan in I'm Not There.

Only other Oscar winner I see in this puzzle is at 29D: Charles portayer (LOY) . That's Myrna Loy, who did not win an Oscar for her role as Nora Charles in the Thin Man movie series or any specific role. Instead she won a lifetime achievement award shortly before she died in 1993.

A couple of other entries that caught my eye:

68A: Part of "ST:DS9" (TREK) That's Star Trek: Deep Space 9 for those of you who don't geek out in a trekward direction.

12D: Former province of France (ALSACE) Never heard of it, but geography is my weakness.

49D: Heir to the throne of Thule, in the comics (ARN) Son of Prince Valiant.

33D: Brass rings, maybe (KNOCKERS) Don't know why I like that one as much as I do. But I do.

Be here next week when we bid a tearful to the Thursday Sun puzzle.

Norrin