Publication Date: October 10, 2024
John DiLeo’s Not Even Nominated: 40 Overlooked Costars of ‘scar-Winning Performances puts the focus on some shockingly neglected achievements. It’s true that James Stewart won an ‘scar for The Philadelphia Story (1940) while Cary Grant—every bit as funny as Stewart but in a different way—wasn’t even nominated! Fredric March won his second ‘scar for The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) while Myrna Loy, the other half of the film’s peerless reunion scene, wasn’t even nominated! From Charles Farrell in 7th Heaven (1927) to Tom Hanks in Bridge of Spies (2015), DiLeo grapples with why such exceptional performances didn’t make the final ballots.
For nearly a century, the Oscars have served as a public way of acknowledging excellence in films. However, author John DiLeo wants to shine the spotlight on 40 movies, each containing an Oscar-winning performance and an equally good (or better) performance that didn’t rate a nomination.
Compiled into a book of a little over 300 pages, Not Even Nominated takes readers from 1927 to 2015, highlighting 40 overlooked co-stars of Oscar-winning performances.
Within the first few pages, the author explains his rationale for the selections. His knowledge of the industry is deep-rooted, making him qualified to make assessments.
Each entry contains a photograph from the film featuring the Oscar winner and co-star, followed by an easy-to-read synopsis of the plot. The author also includes a justification for why the co-star deserves recognition.
I’m not sure what it says about my taste in movies, considering I’ve seen less than five of these award-winning films. However, the book offers an interesting insight into a literal who’s who in Hollywood.
Not Even Nominated delivers a standing ovation for 40 overlooked actors and actresses who were not recognized for their Oscar-worthy performances.
Born in Brooklyn and raised on Long Island, John currently resides in Milford, PA. He went to Ithaca College and received a B.F.A. in Theatre Arts. After thirteen years of on-and-off stage acting, and one film credit (THE JERKY BOYS), he switched to writing about film.
John has been a contributing book reviewer for the Washington Post‘s Book World and frequently hosts classic-film series, appears on radio programs, conducts film-history seminars, and has been an annual participant in the Black Bear Film Festival in the Poconos where he conducted onstage interviews with Farley Granger (2005), Arlene Dahl (2006), Marge Champion (2010), Keir Dullea (2014), Jane Powell (2015), Rex Reed (2016), Tab Hunter (2017), Lorna Luft (2018), and Jane Alexander (2018). His website is johndileo.com and he’s on Instagram at john.dileo.12.
Born in 1961 in Brooklyn, John was raised on Long Island and graduated from Ithaca College in 1982 with a B.F.A.
