The 24 actors who have gotten the most Oscar nominations without winning one

Saoirse Ronan – 4 nominations

Best actress nominations: “Brooklyn” (2015), “Lady Bird” (2017), “Little Women” (2019)

Best supporting actress nominations: “Atonement” (2007)

Bradley Cooper – 4 nominations

Best actor nominations: “Silver Linings Playbook” (2012), “American Sniper” (2014), “A Star Is Born” (2018)

Best supporting actor nominations: “American Hustle” (2013)

Willem Dafoe – 4 nominations

Best actor nominations: “At Eternity’s Gate” (2018)

Best supporting actor nominations: “Platoon” (1986), “Shadow of a Vampire” (2000), “The Florida Project” (2017)

Michelle Williams – 4 nominations

Best actress nominations: “Blue Valentine” (2010), “My Week with Marilyn” (2011)

Best supporting actress nominations: “Brokeback Mountain” (2005), “Manchester by the Sea” (2016)

Barbara Stanwyck – 4 nominations

Best actress nominations: “Stella Dallas” (1937), “Ball of Fire” (1941), “Double Indemnity” (1944), “Sorry, Wrong Number” (1948)

Stanwyck received the Academy Honorary Award for lifetime achievement in 1981.

Rosalind Russell – 4 nominations

Best actress nominations: “My Sister Eileen” (1942), “Sister Kenny” (1946), “Mourning Becomes Electra” (1947), “Auntie Mame” (1958)

Mickey Rooney – 4 nominations

Best actor nominations: “Babe in Arms” (1939), “The Human Comedy” (1943)

Best supporting actor nominations: “The Bold and the Brave” (1956), “The Black Stallion” (1979)

Rooney received the since-discontinued Academy Juvenile Award in 1938 and the Academy Honorary Award for lifetime achievement in 1982.

Claude Rains – 4 nominations

Best supporting actor nominations: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Casablanca (1942), Mr. Skeffington (1944), Notorious (1946)

Ed Harris – 4 nominations

Best actor nomination: “Pollock” (2000)

Best supporting actor nominations: “Apollo 13” (1995), “The Truman Show” (1998), “The Hours” (2002)

Agnes Moorehead – 4 nominations

Best supporting actress nominations: “The Magnificent Ambersons” (1942), “Mrs. Parkington” (1944), “Johnny Belinda” (1948), “Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte” (1964)

Marsha Mason – 4 nominations

Best actress nominations: “Cinderella Liberty” (1973), “The Goodbye Girl” (1977), “Chapter Two” (1979), “Only When I Laugh” (1981)

Montgomery Clift – 4 nominations

Best actor nominations: “The Search” (1948), “A Place in the Sun” (1951), “From Here to Eternity” (1953)

Best supporting actor nomination: “Judgment at Nuremberg” (1961)

Charles Boyer – 4 nominations

Best actor nominations: “Conquest” (1937), “Algiers” (1938), “Gaslight” (1944), “Fanny” (1961)

Annette Bening – 4 nominations

Best actress nominations: “American Beauty” (1999), “Being Julia” (2004), “The Kids Are All Right” (2010)

Best supporting actress nomination: “The Grifters” (1990)

Jane Alexander – 4 nominations

Best actress nominations: “The Great White Hope” (1970), “Testament” (1983)

Best supporting actress nominations: “All the President’s Men” (1976), “Kramer vs. Kramer” (1979)

Arthur Kennedy – 5 nominations

Best actor nomination: “Bright Victory” (1951)

Best supporting actor nominations: “Champion” (1949), “Trial” (1955), “Peyton Place” (1957), “Some Came Running” (1958)

Albert Finney – 5 nominations

Best actor nominations: “Tom Jones” (1963), “Murder on the Orient Express” (1974), “The Dresser” (1983), “Under the Volcano” (1984)

Best supporting actor nomination: “Erin Brockovich” (2000)

Irene Dunne – 5 nominations

Best actress nominations: “Cimarron” (1931), “Theodora Goes Wild” (1936), “The Awful Truth” (1937), “Love Affair” (1939), “I Remember Mama” (1948)

Amy Adams – 6 nominations

Best actress nomination: “American Hustle” (2013)

Best supporting actress nominations: “Junebug” (2005), “Doubt” (2008), “The Fighter” (2010), “The Master” (2012), “Vice” (2018)

Thelma Ritter – 6 nominations

Best supporting actress nominations: “All About Eve” (1950), “The Mating Season” (1951), “With a Song in My Heart” (1952), “Pickup on South Street” (1953), “Pillow Talk” (1959), “Birdman of Alcatraz” (1962)

Deborah Kerr – 6 nominations

Best actress nominations: “Edward, My Son” (1949), “From Here to Eternity” (1953), “The King and I” (1956), “Heaven Knows, Mr Allison” (1957), “Separate Tables” (1958), “The Sundowners” (1960)

Kerr received the Academy Honorary Award for lifetime achievement in 1994. 

Richard Burton – 7 nominations

Best actor nominations: “The Robe” (1954), “Becket” (1964), “The Spy Who Came in from the Cold” (1965), “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” (1966), “Anne of the Thousand Days” (1969), “Equus” (1977)

Best supporting actor nomination: “My Cousin Rachel” (1952)

Glenn Close – 8 nominations

Best actress nominations: “Fatal Attraction” (1987), “Dangerous Liaisons” (1988), “Albert Nobbs” (2011), “The Wife” (2018)

Best supporting actress nominations: “The World According to Garp” (1982), “The Big Chill” (1983), “The Natural” (1984), “Hillbilly Elegy” (2020)

Peter O’Toole – 8 nominations

Best actor nominations: “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962), “Becket” (1964), “The Lion in Winter” (1968), “Goodbye, Mr. Chips” (1969), “The Ruling Class “(1972), “The Stunt Man” (1980), “My Favorite Year” (1982), “Venus” (2006)

O’Toole received the Academy Honorary Award for lifetime achievement in 2002.