Oscar Nominations for Actors Playing Priests

Thirteen actors have earned Academy Award nominations for their performances as Roman Catholic priests or prelates, ranging from parish priests to popes. Because three of the actors received two nominations, there have been 16 nominations so far for actors playing priests. Three of the nominated actors won the Oscar for their performance in either a leading role or a supporting role.

Spencer Tracy received nominations for two different roles in two films. He earned the first of his nine Oscar nominations for San Francisco (1936). Two years later, he won an Oscar for Boys Town (1938).

Bing Crosby earned nominations for playing the same priest in two different films. He won the Oscar for Going My Way (1944) and was nominated the following year for The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945). Barry Fitzgerald also received two nominations for the same role, but uniquely in Academy history, his two nominations were for the same movie, Going My Way.

Going My Way garnered the most Academy Award nominations for actors playing priests with three. (The only other movie with multiple nominations is 2019’s The Two Popes.) Not only did Crosby win the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role, but his co-star Fitzgerald received two nominations: he was nominated along with Crosby for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and he won the award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

The mid-1940s saw a string of award nominations for actors playing priests. In addition to Crosby and Fitzgerald, Charles Bickford was nominated for 1943’s The Song of Bernadette, and Gregory Peck was nominated for The Keys of the Kingdom (1944).

Here is the complete list to date of the actors who have been nominated for Best Actor Oscars in either the Leading Role or the Supporting Role category for their performances as Roman Catholic priests or prelates. Read on to learn more about these actors and the movies in which they starred.

Spencer Tracy (1900–1967) was a major star in the Golden Age of Hollywood. In a movie career of 37 years, he appeared in 75 films.

Tracy was widely admired both by critics and by his peers in Hollywood. He received nine nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, tying him for first place in that category with Laurence Olivier. He was the first Actor to win two consecutive Oscars for Best Actor, winning for Captains Courageous in 1938 before winning for Boys Town the following year.

Tracy teamed with Katharine Hepburn in nine movies, beginning with Woman of the Year (1942) and ending with Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967), which was completed shortly before his death. Tracy and Hepburn also had a long-term romantic relationship off-screen.

In 1999 the American Film Institute named Tracy one of the top ten male screen legends in Hollywood history. He was also voted among the top 20 movie stars of all time by both Premiere magazine and Entertainment Weekly.

San Francisco, released in June 1936, was the highest grossing movie of the year and a huge hit for MGM. The film is a lavish romantic drama and musical set at the time of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.

Clark Gable, the “King of Hollywood,” stars as Blackie Norton, the owner of the rowdy Paradise Club in San Francisco’s Barbary Coast. Blackie is in love with singer Mary Blake (Jeannette MacDonald), the star attraction at the club. But there are complications: wealthy Jack Burley (Jack Holt) also wants to marry Mary, and he offers Mary the opportunity to sing with the San Francisco Opera.

Spencer Tracy stars as Blackie’s childhood friend, Father Tim Mullin. Father Tim disapproves of what he sees as Blackie’s exploitation of Mary. But after the earthquake devastates the city, it is Father Tim who reunites Blackie with Mary, leading Blackie to get down on his knees and thank God for sparing Mary.

Raised as a Catholic, Tracy reportedly felt a great responsibility to represent the Church well as Father Tim. His Best Actor nomination attests to his success in the role.

Spencer Tracy won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as real-life Father Edward J. Flanagan in Boys Town. Tracy was the first actor to win the award for portraying a person who was still living when the award was announced.

The movie follows the struggles of Father Flanagan to build Boys Town, a refuge for orphaned and delinquent boys near Omaha, Nebraska. Mickey Rooney co-stars as Whitey Marsh, a young hoodlum whose older brother is in prison for murder.

Father Flanagan takes a special interest in Whitey. When Whitey runs away from Boys Town and is wrongfully accused of bank robbery and murder, it is up to Father Flanagan to rescue him.

Boys Town was a major hit for MGM. When Tracy won the Academy Award, he devoted his acceptance speech to praising Father Flanagan and his work. Tracy and Rooney reprised their roles as Father Flanagan and Whitey Marsh, respectively, in a sequel, Men of Boys Town (1941).

Charles Bickford (1891–1967) was a versatile and successful character actor in many films and television projects. His career began with performances in burlesque and road shows. He then moved to Broadway, where he starred in the hit show Outside Looking In.

Film director Cecil B. DeMille was impressed with Bickford on the stage and offered him a leading role in his first sound picture, Dynamite (1929). He had success playing Greta Garbo’s lover in Anna Christie (1930), but it did not lead to him becoming a leading man in many films.

Instead, Bickford took on a variety of character roles, which he came to prefer. His performances earned him three nominations for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. He received his first nomination for The Song of Bernadette, then received two consecutive nominations for The Farmer’s Daughter (1947) and Johnny Belinda (1948).

Much of his work in the 1950s and 1960s was in television, including a long-running role in the TV series The Virginian. He was honored with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for Television and one for Motion Pictures.

Charles Bickford was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance as Abbé Dominique Peyramale in The Song of Bernadette.

The movie is a fictionalized version of the life story of Saint Bernadette Soubirous, who in 1858 saw visions of a “beautiful lady” thought by many to be the Virgin Mary, in Lourdes, France. The movie was adapted from a New York Times best-selling novel of the same name by Franz Werfel.

Jennifer Jones, in an Oscar-winning performance, plays the 14-year-old Bernadette. The girl’s visions cause great controversy among the townspeople. Some believe her story and many others are skeptical. Even the Emperor and his family become involved.

Bickford’s character, Father Peyramale, is among the skeptics at first, but ultimately he becomes Bernadette’s staunch ally and the one to whom she turns when she is dying of tuberculosis.

The Song of Bernadette was a critical success and a popular hit. It was nominated for twelve Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won four Oscars. The film also won the first Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama.

Born in Dublin, Ireland, as William Joseph Shields, Barry Fitzgerald (1888-1961) began his acting career on the stage at Dublin’s famed Abbey Theatre.

His first film role was a small part in Alfred Hitchcock’s British film Juno and the Paycock (1930). The movie was based on a successful play by Irish playwright Sean O’Casey, who had briefly been Fitzgerald’s roommate. Fitzgerald’s first Hollywood film role was also in an O’Casey adaptation, The Plough and the Stars (1936), directed by John Ford and starring Barbara Stanwyck.

Fitzgerald had a successful Hollywood career as an accomplished character actor who achieved star billing. His films include How Green Was My Valley (1941), which was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won five, including Best Picture, and The Quiet Man (1952), which was nominated for seven Oscars. John Ford directed both pictures and won the Academy Award for Best Director for each.

Fitzgerald has the distinction of being the only actor to be nominated for two Oscars in the same year for the same role. For Going My Way, he was nominated both for Best Actor in a Leading Role and for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. He won the latter. The Academy changed its rules afterward so this type of double nomination could not recur.

Fitzgerald’s Academy Award for Going My Way was his only Oscar. For his performance as Father Fitzgibbon, he also won the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Harry Lillis “Bing” Crosby, Jr. (1903-1977) was one of the most popular and versatile entertainers of the 20th century, making his mark in musical recording, radio, films, and television.

He made his professional singing debut with the Paul Whiteman Orchestra in 1926, and by the early 1930s he was the most popular singer in America. According to Billboard Magazine, he had 41 No. 1 hits in his career.

Crosby made his feature film debut in The Big Broadcast (1932) and went on to appear in 79 films, receiving top billing in 55 of them. His most popular films include White Christmas (1954) and a series of seven “Road” musical comedies beginning with Road to Singapore (1940), with Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour. According to the official Bing Crosby website, films he starred in are estimated to have sold over one billion tickets.

Crosby won the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role for Going My Way (1944) and earned two more nominations for the award: for The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945) and The Country Girl (1954). In 1960 he received the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award for “outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment.” He has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, honoring him for his work in radio, audio recording, and motion pictures.

Going My Way is the warm, sentimental, and humorous story of two Roman Catholic priests at St. Dominic’s church in New York City. St. Dominic’s is run down, like the neighborhood around it, and heavily in debt.

Father Fitzgibbon, played by Barry Fitzgerald, is a veteran priest who has spent more than 40 years in the parish. Father Fitzgibbon is a traditionalist. He’s been doing things his way at the church for a long time and sees no reason to change.

Bing Crosby plays Father Chuck O’Malley, a young new priest who has been sent by the Bishop to take over the parish. Father Fitzgibbon, however, thinks at first that O’Malley has just come to assist him.

Father O’Malley has a different, more modern idea of how a priest should behave and interact with his parishioners. He plays golf and enjoys sports. Instead of benevolently looking the other way when some of the boys in the parish get into trouble, he actively tries to connect with them on their own turf. He convinces them to form a church choir and help raise money for St. Dominic’s.

As parish life and church finances improve under Father O’Malley’s leadership, the two priests are drawn closer together. Father Fitzgibbon retires on Christmas Eve in a very emotional service highlighted by a special gift from Father O’Malley.

Going My Way won seven Academy Awards and received three other Oscar nominations, as well as numerous other awards. Crosby won the Oscar for Best Actor, while Fitzgerald won the award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and was also nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role. In addition to the Oscar wins for Crosby and Fitzgerald, the film won awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Writing (Screenplay), and Best Writing (Original Story). Crosby sings five songs in the movie, including “Swinging on a Star,” which captured the Oscar for Best Music, Original Song.

Bing Crosby returns as Father Chuck O’Malley in The Bells of St. Mary’s, a delightful follow-up to Going My Way. O’Malley has been transferred to St. Mary’s parish, where he must decide whether to close the parish’s school, St. Mary’s Academy, which is financially strapped and threatened with condemnation.

Sister Mary Benedict, played by Ingrid Bergman, is the dedicated Sister Superior at St. Mary’s. She and the other nuns are confident that God will provide for the school and are praying for a miracle. Specifically, they are praying that businessman Horace P. Bogardus (played by Henry Travers, Clarence the angel in It’s a Wonderful Life) will donate a new building for the school.

Like Sister Mary Benedict, Father O’Malley wants to save the school, but he does not always see eye to eye with Mary Benedict about what’s best for the kids and for the school. Their struggles provide both drama and humor, as Father O’Malley takes a more practical approach to achieving the miracle.

The Bells of St. Mary’s was released in December 1945 and includes a Christmas pageant at the school, so it is often considered a Christmas movie. The film was a major hit at the box office and was nominated for Best Picture and seven other Oscars. Both Crosby and Bergman received Oscar nominations. Neither won, but Bergman did win the Best Actress awards from the Golden Globes and the New York Film Critics Circle.

Gregory Peck was one of the most admired and popular actors of the 20th century. He earned five Oscar nominations for Best Actor in a Leading Role and won once, for his performance as Atticus Finch in 1962’s To Kill a Mockingbird.

Born in 1916, Peck made his film debut in 1944’s Days of Glory after spending several years working on the stage, where he appeared in three Broadway productions and several dozen other plays. His Oscar-nominated performance in The Keys of the Kingdom was only his second film role. With that performance, Peck proved he could carry a movie as the leading man.

Among Peck’s many acclaimed performances are the roles of John Ballantyne in Alfred Hitchcock’s Spellbound (1945), Penny Baxter in The Yearling (1947), Philip Schuyler Green in Gentleman’s Agreement (1947), General Frank Savage in Twelve O’Clock High (1949), King David in David and Bathsheba (1951), Tom Rath in The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956), and Mallory in The Guns of Navarone (1961).

Peck’s authoritative yet warm persona was well-suited to many heroic roles. Atticus Finch, the noble lawyer he played in To Kill a Mockingbird, was named the top film hero of the 20th century by the American Film Institute in 2003.

Peck received many lifetime achievement awards for his acting career. He was also recognized for his work in humanitarian causes. In 1969, President Lyndon Johnson honored him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States.

In The Keys of the Kingdom, Gregory Peck stars as Father Francis Chisholm, a Scottish priest who spends his life as a missionary in China. The film opens with the elderly Father Chisholm back in Scotland and facing an unwanted retirement. The Monsignor (Cedric Hardwicke) who has been sent to evaluate him finds his journal. As he reads it, Chisholm’s life story unfolds on the screen.

Francis Chisholm is orphaned as a boy. After his sweetheart dies while he is away at school, he enters the priesthood. His first two curacies are not successful, but his life changes when he is sent as a missionary to the interior of China.

When he arrives, he finds that the mission he is taking over has been destroyed, and its congregation has dispersed. One day Father Chisholm is asked to minister to the desperately ill son of Mr. Chia (Leonard Strong), a wealthy mandarin. Chisholm heals Mr. Chia’s son, and in gratitude Mr. Chia gives him land for a new mission and materials and workers to build it.

The mission thrives when the Reverend Mother Maria Veronica (Rosa Stradner) and two other nuns arrive to help. Soon, however, the mission is caught up in the violence of the Chinese Civil War. But despite numerous challenges and setbacks, Father Chisholm perseveres and builds a community of Chinese Christians.

Based on a best-selling 1941 novel by A.J. Cronin, The Keys of the Kingdom was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Peck’s nomination for Best Actor. Note: Although the movie premiered in December 1944, the Academy considered it a 1945 movie for purposes of the Oscar competition. 

Karl Malden (1912–2009) was an Oscar-winning actor who appeared in some 60 films over five decades. Despite his successful movie career, however, he found his greatest fame in television, starring for five seasons in the popular crime drama The Streets of San Francisco.

Malden was born Mladen Sekulovich in Chicago and worked for several years in the steel mills of Gary, Indiana. He took up acting in 1934 and changed his name (which he always regretted). He made his Broadway debut in 1937 and continued acting on the stage through the 1940s, with an interruption for service in the Air Force during World War II.

In 1952, Malden won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Mitch in the 1951 film A Streetcar Named Desire. He received his second nomination for playing Father Barry in On the Waterfront (1954). He starred with Marlon Brando in both films, and both were directed by Elia Kazan.

Malden also received critical recognition for his performances in Baby Doll (1956), Gypsy (1962), and Patton (1970), among others. He received four Primetime Emmy nominations for his work starring in The Streets of San Francisco in the 1970s. In 1984, he won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor for the TV movie Fatal Vision (1984).

Malden served as President of the Academy of Motion Picture Acts and Sciences from 1989 to 1992. In 2003, the Screen Actors Guild honored him with its Lifetime Achievement Award.

On the Waterfront is the dramatic story of a dockworker’s struggle to find the courage to stand up against the corrupt power of the mob-connected boss of the longshoremen’s union. Karl Malden, in the role of Father Barry, was one of five actors who received Oscar nominations for their performances in the movie.

The film stars Marlon Brando as dockworker Terry Malloy. Terry had been a promising boxer until his brother Charley (Rod Steiger) had him take a dive in a fight because Johnny Friendly, the union boss (Lee J. Cobb), had bet against him. Now, instead of being a contender, Terry is “a nobody” working on the docks and running errands for Friendly.

The Waterfront Crime Commission is investigating Friendly and the union, and Friendly is applying pressure to prevent union members from testifying. After Terry is unwittingly used to lure prospective witness Joey Doyle to his death, he is tormented by guilt.

Shot in black and white on location in Hoboken, New Jersey, On the Waterfront is a thrilling drama based on a compilation of true stories. Karl Malden’s character, Father Barry, was based on the Jesuit “waterfront priest” Father John M. Corridan.

The film was a commercial and critical success. It received twelve Academy Award nominations and won eight Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director (Elia Kazan), and Best Writing (Budd Schulberg).

The quality of the acting is uniformly excellent. Marlon Brando won the Oscar for Best Actor, and Eva Marie Saint, appearing in her first feature film, won the award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Meanwhile, three of the actors—Cobb, Steiger, and Malden—were nominated for the award as Best Actor in a Supporting Role.

John Huston (1906–1987) was a giant of Hollywood who made his mark as a director, screenwriter, and actor. He was the son of actor Walter Huston and the father of actor Anjelica Huston, both of whom won Oscars for roles in films that John directed.

Huston began his career as a screenwriter before making his directorial debut with The Maltese Falcon (1941), a film noir classic starring Humphrey Bogart that many critics still consider the best detective movie ever made. It was nominated for three Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Writing for Huston’s screenplay.

He went on to direct and write numerous acclaimed films in a wide variety of genres over the next five decades. Among his highest rated and most popular films besides The Maltese Falcon were The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), Key Largo (1948), The Asphalt Jungle (1950), The African Queen (1951), and The Man Who Would Be King (1975).

Huston received 14 Academy Award nominations in his career, including eight for writing and five for directing. He won one Oscar in each of those categories—both for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. His father Walter won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for the same movie.

Huston’s two most memorable roles as an actor were in The Cardinal (1963) and Chinatown (1974). His nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for The Cardinal was his only acting Oscar nomination among his 14 nominations. He also won a Golden Globe Award for The Cardinal.

Huston lived an adventurous life and had many interests. Despite his film industry success, he claimed not to like Hollywood. But Hollywood liked him. In 1983, he received Life Achievement Awards from both the American Film Institute and the Directors Guild of America.

The Cardinal is an epic 1963 drama directed by Otto Preminger. The screenplay for the movie was adapted from Henry Morton Robinson’s 1950 novel of the same name, which was purportedly based on the early career of Francis Cardinal Spellman, the Archbishop of New York.

The film follows the life and career of Stephen Fermoyle (played by Tom Tryon), a young American priest who rises through the ranks of the Catholic Church, facing personal, moral, and political challenges along the way. Opening in 1939 with Fermoyle’s investiture as a Cardinal, the movie tells his story through a series of chronological flashbacks, beginning with his ordination in Rome in 1917 and his return home to Boston for his first parish assignment.

He soon faces a crisis when his sister Mona (Carol Lynley) asks for his blessing to marry her Jewish boyfriend. Mona later becomes pregnant out of wedlock and requires a medical procedure forbidden by the Church. These moral dilemmas are only the first of the issues that Stephen must grapple with as he tries to reconcile his faith and his role as a priest with the realities of the world.

Stephen’s approach to the priesthood is shaped by Cardinal Glennon (John Huston). Glennon tempers Stephen’s ambition by assigning him to assist an elderly priest, Father Halley (Burgess Meredith), in an out-of-the-way poverty-stricken parish. Stephen responds with humility and is appointed Glennon’s secretary.

From there, Stephen’s journey takes him across the world, to Rome, where he becomes a Vatican diplomat, Vienna, and the American South, where he must deal with issues like racism, religious intolerance, and the rise of fascism—and not always with the support of his superiors in the Church. Along the way, he experiences doubt and hardship and almost succumbs to love, coming close enough to consider leaving the priesthood. The film culminates with a test of faith as he confronts the growing threat of totalitarianism in pre-World War II Europe.

The Cardinal was praised for its sweeping narrative, historical scope, and powerful performances. It was nominated for six Academy Awards, including nominations for Otto Preminger for Best Director and John Huston for Best Supporting Actor. It did not take home any of the Oscars, but it won the Golden Globe for Best Picture – Drama, and Huston won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor.

Richard Burton (1925–1984) was a Welsh actor known for his powerful voice and intense screen presence. Born on November 10, 1925, as Richard Walter Jenkins Jr., he adopted the surname Burton from Philip Burton, his mentor and drama teacher who became his legal guardian in 1943. He served in the RAF during World War II.

After the war, Burton had roles in several British films, but he gained more recognition as a stage actor. His breakthrough role came in Christopher Fry’s play, The Lady’s Not for Burning, with John Gielgud, which had successful runs in London and New York. He became well-known for his Shakespearean performances, culminating in a celebrated performance in the title role of Hamlet in New York in 1964.

Burton made a successful transition to Hollywood in 1952, starring in My Cousin Rachel. It was a successful Hollywood debut: he got an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He starred in numerous films over the next several decades. He received six more Oscar nominations, for his performances in The Robe (1953), Becket (1964), The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), Anne of the Thousand Days (1969), and Equus (1977). None of his seven Oscar nominations resulted in a win.

The acclaim that Burton received for his acting was often matched by the publicity given to his personal life. He was married five times, including twice to actress Elizabeth Taylor, whom he met on the set of Cleopatra (1963). Their turbulent relationship was reliable tabloid fodder. In addition to Cleopatra, the couple starred together in 10 more films, including Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, for which Taylor received the Best Actress Oscar, and The Taming of the Shrew (1967).

Throughout his career, Burton struggled with alcoholism, which impacted him both personally and professionally. He suffered from declining health in his 40s and died at age 58 in 1984, several months after the release of his final movie, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984), an adaptation of George Orwell’s chilling dystopian novel. Despite his struggles, he is renowned as one of the greatest actors of his era both on stage and on screen.

Becket (1964) is an epic historical drama directed by Peter Glenville, based on Jean Anouilh’s 1959 play Becket or the Honour of God. The film depicts the turbulent relationship between King Henry II of England (Peter O’Toole) and Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury (Richard Burton), in the 12th century.

The story follows the friendship and eventual rivalry between Henry II and Becket. Becket is portrayed as a low-born Saxon (which may not be historically accurate) who is looked down on and distrusted by the Norman nobles of Henry’s court. Because he is Henry’s best friend and hunting and carousing companion, Henry trusts him and appoints him as his chief advisor, the Lord Chancellor.

Henry is determined to establish the primacy of the king over the Church in matters of law. He values Becket’s loyalty, so when the aged Archbishop of Canterbury dies, he comes up with the idea of appointing Becket to succeed him. Despite being an archdeacon of the Church, Becket has never been particularly devout. He doesn’t want the job, but he obeys the king.

After being ordained and consecrated as Archbishop, Becket transforms himself and embraces his religious vocation with conviction. He defies Henry and the nobles by asserting the independence of the Church from royal influence. Consumed by anger at what he views as Becket’s betrayal, Henry’s rash words—“Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?”—inspire four barons to assassinate Becket inside Canterbury Cathedral. The murder of Becket turns him into a martyr, especially among the Saxon peasants. Wracked with guilt, Henry is forced to confront the consequences of what he put in motion.

The critically acclaimed Becket is a powerful exploration of loyalty, faith, and political intrigue. Despite its 12th-century setting, its themes remain relevant today. Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole both give exceptional performances. Both received Oscar nominations for Best Actor, although neither of them took home the statuette. The film received 12 nominations in all and won one Oscar for Edward Anhalt’s Best Adapted Screenplay.

Jason Miller (1939–2001) was a prize-winning playwright as well as an Oscar-nominated actor. He achieved prominence first as a playwright, winning the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for his play, That Championship Season. The play had an off-Broadway run of 144 performances in 1972.

The production was transferred to Broadway, where it ran for 700 performances. The Broadway production won the 1973 Tony Award, New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award, and Drama Desk Award for Best Play. Miller wrote and directed a film adaptation of the play in 1982 and wrote another adaptation for television in 1999.

The same year in which he won the Pulitzer Prize, Miller starred as Father Damian Karras in The Exorcist. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of the troubled priest. Miller continued acting in films occasionally. He again played Father Karras (identified as “Patient X”) in the 1990 film The Exorcist III.

He spent more of his time, however, working in regional theater. He was co-founder and artistic director of the Scranton Public Theatre in Pennsylvania, and he directed and starred in numerous productions there and in other venues throughout the United States.

The Exorcist is a 1973 film, directed by William Friedkin, that set new standards for movie horror. William Peter Blatty wrote the screenplay, adapting his novel of the same name. Blatty’s novel was based on an exorcism case from 1949.

In the film, Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair) is a 12-year-old girl who begins exhibiting bizarre and violent behavior. Her mother Chris (Ellen Burstyn), an actress living in Washington D.C.’s Georgetown, has Regan tested by psychiatrists and neurosurgeons, but they are unable to explain her behavior.

One night, Chris’s friend is murdered in the house, and Regan is suspected. In desperation, Chris, despite being an atheist, turns for help to Father Damien Karras, a Jesuit priest, played by Jason Miller.

Father Karras is in the midst of a crisis of faith after the death of his mother. He refuses at first to believe that Regan is possessed by a demon, but Regan’s increasingly bizarre appearance and belligerent behavior convince him otherwise. He brings in Father Merrin (Max von Sydow), an experienced exorcist, and together the two priests suffer through numerous horrors as they attempt to exorcise the demon.

The Exorcist was nominated for ten Academy Awards, including nominations for Best Picture (the first horror film to be nominated) and Best Director and acting nominations for Burstyn, Blair, and Miller. The film won Oscars for Best Writing for Blatty’s screenplay and for Best Sound. It was nominated for seven Golden Globe Awards, winning four, including the award for Best Motion Picture – Drama.

The Exorcist was named the scariest movie of all time by Entertainment Weekly and in several movie polls. It is one of the highest-grossing movies in Hollywood history.

Philip Seymour Hoffman (1967–2014) earned a B.F.A. degree in drama from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in 1989. His film career began in 1991 with performances in four movies, including Scent of a Woman, which was nominated for Best Picture and for which Al Pacino won the Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role.

Throughout the 1990s, Hoffman appeared in supporting roles in numerous films. He gave a breakthrough performance in 1997’s Boogie Nights, which was nominated for three Academy Awards. Substantial parts in successful films followed, including roles in The Big Lebowski (1998), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), and many others.

In 2006, Hoffman won the Oscar® for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his masterful performance as the idiosyncratic writer Truman Capote in the 2005 film Capote. Capote was nominated for Best Picture and three other Oscars® and received many other awards and nominations. Hoffman’s performance in Capote earned him the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor, the BAFTA Award, the Screen Actors Guild Award, and numerous others in addition to the Oscar.

Hoffman received three additional Oscar nominations. He was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for his performances in Charlie Wilson’s War (2007), Doubt (2008), and The Master (2012).

Hoffman also earned praise for his work in theater, where he worked both as a director and as an actor. He received three Tony Award nominations, for his performances in True West (2000), Long Day’s Journey into Night (2003), and Death of a Salesman (2012).

The prolific and hard-working Hoffman was considered one of the best actors of his generation. The film and theater worlds were deprived of a major talent by his untimely death in 2014.

Doubt, released in 2008, is a fictional drama that examines the nature of doubt and the consequences of adopting a position of certainty where it may not be warranted. The film was written and directed by John Patrick Shanley. It is adapted from his Pulitzer Prize-winning stage play, Doubt: A Parable.

The story is set in 1964 in an urban Catholic parish in The Bronx. The film opens with Father Brendan Flynn, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, delivering a homily on the nature of doubt. Afterward, Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Meryl Streep), the strict principal of the parish school, discusses the sermon with her fellow nuns and questions what may have inspired Father Flynn to preach about doubt. She instructs them to look for signs of suspicious behavior by Flynn.

Young Sister James (Amy Adams) observes Father Flynn’s closeness to one of the young altar boys, Donald Miller, the only black student at the school, and reports it to Sister Aloysius. This leads Sister Aloysius to confront Father Flynn. Although he denies any wrongdoing and says he is trying to protect the boy, Sister Aloysius’s persistence forces him to provide an explanation that threatens the boy’s future at the school.

When Sister Aloysius goes to Donald’s mother (Viola Davis) with her suspicions about Father Flynn, Mrs. Miller expresses support for the priest. Nonetheless, and without any evidence, Sister Aloysius continues her campaign against Flynn and ultimately forces him to resign.

Doubt received numerous awards and award nominations. Shanley’s screenplay was nominated for the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Likewise, all four of the principal actors—Streep, Adams, Davis, and Hoffman—were nominated for Oscars and Golden Globe Awards.

Sir Anthony Hopkins (b. 1937) is a Welsh actor with a long and illustrious film, television, and theater career spanning more than five decades. He has received numerous acting awards and honors befitting one of the best actors of our time.

Hopkins had extensive formal acting training, graduating from both the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. He joined the Royal National Theatre in London in 1965 at the invitation of Sir Laurence Olivier and began a distinguished career on the stage to complement his equally distinguished career in film and television. In 1975, he received the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play for his work in Equus on Broadway. In 1985, he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement for his performance in Pravda at the National Theatre.

In film, Hopkins first made his mark in the role of Richard the Lionheart in The Lion in Winter (1968), for which he received a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He gained worldwide fame for his chilling portrayal of Dr. Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs (1991), which won all “Big 5” Oscars including Hopkins’s award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. He reprised the role in Hannibal (2001) and Red Dragon (2002).

Other outstanding performances include his roles in The Remains of the Day (1993), Nixon (1995), Amistad (1997), and The Two Popes (2019), all of which earned him Oscar nominations. In 2021, he won his second Academy Award for Best Actor for The Father (2020), becoming the oldest actor ever to earn the award. He has also won five BAFTA Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards, along with numerous critics awards, film festival awards, and more.

Hopkins has received various honors for his lifetime achievements. In 1993, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of his contributions to the arts. He was honored with the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2006 and the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement in 2008. In 2003, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Jonathan Pryce (b. 1947) is a Welsh actor known for his versatility across movies, television, and the stage. He has received numerous awards and award nominations for his work in all three media.

Pryce gained his first recognition for his performances in the theater, where he began his acting career in the early 1970s after graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in 1971. He took “Jonathan Pryce” as his stage name because his birth name, John Price, was shared by another actor.

His work in the theater earned him awards on both sides of the Atlantic. Pryce won two Olivier Awards for his work on the London stage, in Hamlet (1980) and Miss Saigon (1990). In New York, he won two Tony Awards, the first for Comedians (1977) and the second for Miss Saigon in its Broadway run. His performance in Miss Saigon sparked controversy because he appeared in yellowface as an Asian character.

On television, Pryce has played numerous memorable characters, including High Sparrow in Game of Thrones, Prince Philip in The Crown, and Cardinal Wolsey in Wolf Hall. He has received four Primetime Emmy Award nominations, for Barbarians at the Gate, Return to Cranford, Slow Horses, and The Crown, as well as two Golden Globe Award nominations, for Barbarians at the Gate and The Crown.

Pryce’s breakthrough movie role came in 1985 when he played the lead in the popular science fiction comedy Brazil. Other notable roles followed. He starred as Juan Perón in Evita (1996), villain Elliot Carver in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), and as Governor Weatherby Swann in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003). He reprised his role as Swann in the first two Pirates sequels, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007). Pryce earned his first Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Pope Francis in The Two Popes (2019), for which he also received Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations.

Throughout his acting career, Pryce has demonstrated an enviable ability to do exceptional work on both stage and screen and has portrayed a wide range of characters with skill and nuance.

The Two Popes (2019) is a fictionalized biographical drama directed by Fernando Meirelles, starring Anthony Hopkins as Pope Benedict XVI and Jonathan Pryce as Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio (the future Pope Francis). The film is based on real events, exploring the personal and ideological differences between the two religious leaders. Anthony McCarten wrote the screenplay, adapting it from his play The Pope.

The film begins in 2005, as Cardinal Bergoglio, the Archbishop of Buenos Aires, is called to Rome to participate in the conclave to elect a new Pope after the death of Pope John Paul II. The conclave elects the conservative Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany, who takes the name Benedict XVI. Bergoglio, perceived to be reform-minded, receives the second highest vote total. The few interactions between Ratzinger and Bergoglio at the conclave are portrayed as formal and cool.

The story then moves to 2012. Cardinal Bergoglio is disillusioned with the direction of the church and goes to Rome to seek Benedict’s permission to retire from his position as Cardinal Archbishop. Instead of approving his request, Benedict invites Bergoglio to stay with him for a few days. The two men slowly warm to each other as they engage in deep conversations about faith, leadership, and their personal struggles. Through flashbacks, the film explores Bergoglio’s past in Argentina, as he reveals his guilt over his actions during the country’s military dictatorship.

As their discussions progress, Benedict confesses his doubts about his ability to lead the Church, especially in light of a scandal within the Vatican. He eventually tells Bergoglio that he has decided to resign the papacy. Bergoglio is stunned and protests that he can’t do it, but Benedict shocks him even more when he says he will do it as long as he knows that Bergoglio will likely succeed him. Bergoglio insists that he should never be pope, given what he views as his failures in Argentina. But Benedict counsels him to be merciful to himself.

The following year, Benedict does resign, and Bergoglio is elected as the new pope, taking the name Francis in honor of St. Francis of Assisi.

The Two Popes infuses an absorbing drama with philosophy and touches of humor to provide an intimate and humanizing look at two leaders of the church who find common ground despite their contrasting worldviews. Critical and popular reviews of the movie were very positive. In addition to the Oscar nominations for Pryce and Hopkins, Anthony McCarten received a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Ralph Fiennes (b. 1962)  is an English actor known for his commanding screen presence and his versatility in portraying a wide variety of complex characters. He has appeared in both classical and contemporary roles in film, television, and the theater.

Fiennes began performing on the stage after graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London in 1985. He excelled in Shakespearean roles at the Royal National Theatre and with the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 1995, he made his Broadway debut playing the lead role in a revival of Hamlet, for which he won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. He has also brought his talent for Shakespeare to films, including Coriolanus (2012), Richard III (2016), and Macbeth (2024).

In Hollywood, Fiennes first gained widespread recognition for his role as the sadistic Nazi officer Amon Göth in Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List (1993). His performance earned him a BAFTA Film Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role as well as Oscar and Golden Globe nominations. The American Film Institute ranked his portrayal of Goth No. 15 on its list of the Greatest Movie Villains.

In 2005, Fiennes became the consummate movie villain for a new generation when he played the evil Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. He reprised the role in three sequels.

In another recurring role he joined the good guys, playing M (Gareth Mallory), the head of MI6, in the James Bond movies Skyfall (2012), Spectre (2015), and No Time to Die (2021).

Fiennes received two more Oscar nominations for The English Patient (1996) and Conclave (2024). Other notable films include The End of the Affair (1999), The Constant Gardener (2005), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), and The Menu (2022), all of which earned him BAFTA Film Award nominations and/or Golden Globe Award nominations.

Fiennes has also been honored by the Screen Actors Guild and numerous other industry groups and critics associations. He continues to be one of the most respected actors in the film industry.

Conclave is a 2024 drama set in the Vatican about the political intrigue among the cardinals meeting to elect a new pope. The film was directed by Edward Berger from an adapted screenplay by Peter Straughan, based on Robert Harris’s 2016 novel of the same name.

Ralph Fiennes, as Cardinal Thomas Lawrence, Dean of the College of Cardinals, leads the excellent ensemble cast. Others with prominent roles include Stanley Tucci as Cardinal Aldo Bellini, John Lithgow as Cardinal Joseph Tremblay, Lucian Msamati as Cardinal Joseph Adeyemi, Sergio Castellitto as Cardinal Goffredo Tedesco, Carlos Diehz as Cardinal Vincent Benitez—all candidates for the papacy—and Isabelli Rosselini as Sister Agnes, the nun overseeing the cardinals’ accommodations.

After the unnamed pope dies suddenly, Lawrence organizes a conclave to elect his successor. When the cardinals gather, it is evident that the primary candidates have widely differing worldviews ranging from traditional to progressive. Whoever is elected to lead the church will of course set its direction for years to come. With such high stakes, there is naturally a lot of campaigning and politicking among the cardinals.

But as the voting process gets underway, other elements intrude. Personal ambitions are revealed and hidden secrets and scandals emerge. Lawrence learns about improper and dishonorable behavior involving several of the leading candidates, and he struggles with whether or not to reveal what he knows. Meanwhile, outside political events intrude on the conclave and further divide the cardinals before their final vote.

Conclave is an intense and suspenseful drama that received mostly positive reviews. It was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role for Ralph Fiennes, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Isabella Rossellini. Peter Straughan won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. It was nominated for 12 BAFTA Film Awards, winning four, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.

• The 13 movies for which actors playing priests received Oscar nominations totaled 107 nominations and 27 wins. The Song of Bernardette, On the Waterfront, and Becket led the way with 12 nominations each. On the Waterfront won the most Oscars with eight, and Going My Way was next with seven.

• Only two of these movies won the Oscar for Best Picture: Going My Way and On the Waterfront. Three of them—The Keys of the Kingdom, Doubt, and The Two Popes—did not receive a Best Picture nomination.

• Likewise, only two of the movies with nominations for actors playing priests won the Oscar for Best Director: again, Going My Way and On the Waterfront. Seven others were nominated, but four—including the three most recent films—did not receive nominations.

• Five of the movies won the Oscar for Best Screenplay: Going My Way, On the Waterfront, Becket, The Exorcist, and Conclave. (Boys Town won an Oscar for Best Story but not for Best Screenplay.) Three of the winning screenplays were adapted from work by another writer, while two of the winners—Budd Schulberg, On the Waterfront, and William Peter Blatty, The Exorcist—adapted their own work in another medium.

• There have been only two occasions when two actors nominated for their roles as priests competed against each other for the same award. The first, of course, was the 17th Academy Awards in 1945, when Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald were both nominated for Best Actor for Going My Way. The second was the following year, when Crosby was nominated for The Bells of St. Mary’s and Gregory Peck was nominated for The Keys of the Kingdom.

• On two other occasions, an actor nominated for his role as a priest was up against one or more (non-priest) nominees from the same movie: On the Waterfront, when Karl Malden competed for Best Supporting Actor with Lee J. Cobb and Rod Steiger, and Becket, when Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole were both nominated for Best Actor. It is impossible to know, but there is at least a chance that they all lost because they split the votes. 

• The Two Popes was the first movie since Going My Way in which an actor playing a priest was nominated for Best Actor in a Supporting Role while another actor was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role. (Of course, in the anomalous Going My Way, Barry Fitzgerald was nominated for both awards.)

• No actor has won an Oscar for his portrayal of a priest or prelate in the eight decades since Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald took home their awards for 1944’s Going My Way. Since then, nine actors have been nominated for such roles without a win.