Saturday Open Thread | Black Oscar Nominees

Posted on February 1, 2014 by rikyrah

We continue our look at Black Oscar Nominees.

Today, we’ll look at Best Actor Nominees.

 

Best Actor in a Leading Role
Year Name Film Role Status
1958 Sidney Poitier The Defiant Ones Noah Cullen Nominated
1963 Sidney Poitier Lilies of the Field Homer Smith Won
1970 James Earl Jones The Great White Hope Jack Jefferson Nominated
1972 Paul Winfield Sounder Nathan Lee Morgan Nominated
1986 Dexter Gordon Round Midnight Dale Turner Nominated
1989 Morgan Freeman Driving Miss Daisy Hoke Colburn Nominated
1992 Denzel Washington Malcolm X Malcolm X Nominated
1993 Laurence Fishburne What’s Love Got to Do with It Ike Turner Nominated
1994 Morgan Freeman The Shawshank Redemption Ellis Boyd ‘Red’ Redding Nominated
1999 Denzel Washington The Hurricane Rubin Carter Nominated
2001 Denzel Washington Training Day Alonzo Harris Won
First black actor to receive five acting nominations overall;
First black actor to receive three Best Actor nominations;
Second black actor to win Best Actor;
First time that multiple black actors received Best Actor nominations;
First black actor to win two acting awards.
2001 Will Smith Ali Muhammad Ali Nominated
2004 Jamie Foxx Ray Ray Charles Won
First black actor to receive two acting nominations in the same year
2004 Don Cheadle Hotel Rwanda Paul Rusesabagina Nominated
2005 Terrence Howard Hustle & Flow DJay Nominated
2006 Forest Whitaker The Last King of Scotland Idi Amin Won
2006 Will Smith The Pursuit of Happyness Chris Gardner Nominated
2009 Morgan Freeman Invictus Nelson Mandela Nominated
2012 Denzel Washington Flight William “Whip” Whitaker Nominated
Denzel Washington has the most nominations for a black Actor

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65 Responses to Saturday Open Thread | Black Oscar Nominees

  2. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2014 at 10:20 pm

    GRYKING @gryking
    Follow

    Shit getting real, yo! “@Mama4Obama1: Oh my RT @SteveKornacki: Tomorrow on UP: a previously unreleased email from Chris Christie.”
    8:59 PM – 1 Feb 2014

    Reply
  3. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2014 at 8:45 pm

    The struggle is both/and, not either/or

    by Nancy LeTourneau

    ———————————

    What I think Coates is missing is that the symbolism he described so well in that first quote has as much impact (in a different way) on white people as it does for blacks. One of the reasons so many have literally gone nuts during Obama’s presidency is that the beauty, humanity and intelligence of this President challenge every fiber of white supremacy that has been hard-wired into our brains for centuries. That wound has festered for so long that it will not be lanced without tremendous pain and fury. And so, in addition to proactively tackling the major civil rights issues of our time, having the strength to maintain that beauty, humanity and intelligence in the face of the pain and fury that has been unleashed on them is perhaps the most powerful blow this President (and his family) can deliver to white supremacy.

    ————————————————————————

    http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-struggle-is-bothand-not-eitheror.html

    Reply
  4. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2014 at 7:22 pm

    Richard Vanecko, Nephew Of Former Mayor Richard Daley, Pleads Guilty In Death Of David Koschman

    Posted: 01/31/2014 10:02 pm EST | Updated: 02/01/2014 1:59 pm EST

    CHICAGO — After more than nine years, Richard Vanecko, the nephew of Chicago’s longest-serving mayor Richard Daley, pleaded guilty Friday to involuntary manslaughter in the death of David Koschman.

    In exchange for pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter, Vanecko will serve 60 days in jail and 30 months on probation, the Sun-Times reports. In addition, Vanecko will pay a $20,000 restitution and apologize to Koschman’s mother. Vanecko will serve time in McHenry County Jail rather than Cook County for security reasons.

    Koschman’s mother unexpectedly appeared in court Friday, signaling to those following the case a plea deal had been reached..

    “I was never out for revenge,” Nanci Koschman said in court Friday according to the Tribune. “I just wanted an apology.”

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/31/richard-vanecko-sentence_n_4705766.html

    Reply
  5. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2014 at 6:34 pm

    found this in the comments at TOD:

    carolyn
    February 1, 2014 at 7:21 pm

    Just heard a good report on our local PBS station, about the ACA. First United Methodist Church in Edmond (the rather wealthy northern suburb of OKC) is having lessons every Wed night on the ACA. People have been coming, and learning and signing up. The reporter asked a woman if it was political, and she said no. ” If we believe everyone is God’s child, then everyone should be covered by health insurance, and that is our goal.” Then, the program discussed a church in the Hispanic side of town that is informing and enrolling people using the navigators. The spokesman said that the navigators work with four at a time. They have info in Spanish, Vietnamese and other languages. He said their facility has the most languages available. People spoke about how they were surprised at how affordable and good this is, and that the scare stories they’d heard were false. In all, the spokesman said that 10,000 people so far in Oklahoma have signed up, and the number is growing. This without any official or state government help and advertising. Hooray for the churches!

    Reply
  13. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2014 at 3:51 pm

    12 O’Clock Boys: Freedom Riding With Baltimore’s Biker Boys

    Lofty Nathan’s new documentary captures life with Baltimore’s daring young bikers.

    By: Stephen A. Crockett Jr.
    Posted: Jan. 31 2014 1:00 AM

    The black screen breaks, and Pug’s brown face appears, slim and unfazed, his cornrows hidden behind a black baseball hat cocked backward, his black T-shirt drunk around the neck. His eyes say: “I have seen more than my decade of life.”

    A nameless radio voice comes in offscreen like a low rumble. “I want to know what we are doing about these little scumbags on dirt bikes in our downtown … I mean these kids are just little bastards … and the problem is—and I’m going to throw it out there—they’re African-American … I don’t care if they get hurt,” the man’s voice says, now revved up high. He pops the clutch:

    “Frankly, I don’t care if one of them dies.”

    This is how 12 O’Clock Boys—an unflinching, hard-hitting look at a loose-knit family of illegal dirt bike riders on the streets of Baltimore—begins with a brown face and an omnipotent voice that has little tolerance for these loud bikes or this life or this lawless culture of expression. The voice doesn’t seek to understand or attempt to figure out. The voice just wants them gone.

    Fade to black.

    http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/01/_12_o_clock_boys_new_film_rides_along_with_baltimore_s_fearless_bikers.html?wpisrc=obinsite

    Reply
  14. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2014 at 3:47 pm

    Sigh….

    Sigh…

    Sigh…

    Am I the only one who has heard the President talk about all types of education?

    That not everyone is going to college, but you will need education and a skill for a decent paying job, which is why he has been pushing and pushing money into community colleges?

    Sigh.

    …………………………………….

    Actually, Mr. President, College Isn’t for Everyone

    In his State of the Union, Obama talked up college education as a plus for all children. But not everyone should get a degree.

    By: Keli Goff
    Posted: Jan. 31 2014 1:00 AM

    http://www.theroot.com/articles/politics/2014/01/obama_touted_higher_education_in_sotu_but_college_isn_t_for_everyone.html?wpisrc=newsletter_jcr:content&mc_cid=4181a24013&mc_eid=1e0cf17cc4

    Reply
  16. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2014 at 3:41 pm

    Richard Sherman’s Dad Refuses to Take Advantage of His Seahawk Son’s Wealth

    Kevin Sherman still gets up at 3:45 a.m. and works on holidays as a garbage-truck driver. He says he’s too close to retirement to let his football-playing son cater to him.

    By: Breanna Edwards
    Posted: Jan. 31 2014 1:52 PM

    Kevin Sherman, better known as star NFL player Richard Sherman’s dad, has been driving a garbage truck for 26 years, and he’s not about to stop just because his son is famous and makes a much bigger paycheck than he does.

    “It’s a job that I don’t too much like, but I’ve done it all my life,” he told NFL Films in an interview earlier this season. “The only goal for my son was education, so … he got more education than I got.”

    Sherman still gets up at 3:45 in the morning and even works on holidays because of overtime in the sanitation department, refusing to cave to the apparent pressure from his peers.

    “People say, ‘Let your son take care of you.’ Yeah, but I’ve got a few years left until I retire. Why would I mess up my own retirement? Why should my son have to foot everything? I have a medical plan that will cover me. Why should my son have to pay my medical bills? It doesn’t make sense to me,” the pragmatic dad told a Los Angeles Times reporter.

    According to Business Insider, Richard Sherman said that his dad takes his job so seriously that he even left his son’s home early on Christmas in 2012 so that he could travel back to L.A. and get back to work the next day. “That kind of hard work, that kind of blue-collar mentality, is what got me where I am,” the proud Seattle Seahawks cornerback said.

    http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/01/richard_sherman_s_dad_refuses_to_take_advantage_of_his_son_s_wealth.html?wpisrc=mostpopular

    Reply
  17. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2014 at 3:37 pm

    ‘To Be Young, Gifted and Black’: The Roots of a Civil Rights Anthem

    Watch this: Left of Black interviews Shana Redmond, author of Anthem: Social Movements and the Sound of Solidarity in the African Diaspora.

    By: The Root Staff
    Posted: Jan. 31 2014 1:00 AM

    Left of Black host Mark Anthony Neal speaks to Shana Redmond about her new book, Anthem: Social Movements and the Sound of Solidarity in the African Diaspora. Redmond is an assistant professor of American studies and ethnicity at the University of Southern California.

    http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/01/left_of_black_interviews_usc_professor_shana_redmond.html?wpisrc=obinsite

    Reply
  18. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2014 at 3:33 pm

    Prestigious NYC Private School Apologizes for Showing Slavery Satire

    At a presentation of history projects, the Dalton School screened a satirical slavery movie for sophomores in which the South won the Civil War.

    By: Breanna Edwards
    Posted: Jan. 31 2014 11:51 AM

    One of New York City’s most exalted prep schools has formally apologized for screening a satirical slavery film to students in which the South won the Civil War, the New York Times reports.

    The Dalton School, located in the Upper East Side, showed C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America to sophomores during history-project presentations on Monday. The film, which was released in 2006, is a documentary-style satire that makes a mockery of slavery. The viewing led to complaints at the school, the Times notes. On Wednesday the school gathered students and parents to apologize.

    The controversial flick, set 150 years after Ulysses S. Grant “surrenders” to Robert E. Lee, uses analysis by fake historians and altered footage (like a Confederate flag on the moon). It also freely perpetuates racial stereotypes, while pointing out that attitudes toward black people in the real 21st century is not exactly a far stretch from the fake 21st-century Confederacy.

    According to the Times, the more provocative parts of the flick were the “advertisements,” including one for a tracking-device “shackle,” dubbed the “revolutionary new way of servant monitoring.”

    Students at the affluent school told reporters that some were concerned about the apparent insensitivity to the struggle of black people and the mockery made of slavery.

    The head of Dalton, Ellen C. Stein, pledged on Wednesday in a statement to increase efforts to talk with students and staff alike about race matters.

    http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2014/01/prestigious_nyc_private_school_apologizes_for_showing_slavery_satire.html?wpisrc=obinsite

    Reply
  19. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2014 at 3:19 pm

    Friday, Jan 31, 2014 03:25 PM CST
    GOP’s Obamacare fiction series: Latest horror story a creation from start to finish
    Republicans keep coming up with flimsy Obamacare horror stories, because they created the “victims”
    Brian Beutler

    A lot of people have made a lot of relevant points about “Bette” — whose Obamacare “horror story” figured prominently in the official GOP response to the State of the Union address delivered by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash: Greg Sargent notes that Bette’s story reflects the GOP’s reluctance to help constituents navigate the law, even if it means making their lives worse; Steve Benen adds that it’s a sad comment on the GOP’s Obamacare “train wreck” narrative that they have such a hard time finding horror stories that stand up to scrutiny.

    These are related observations and both very true. But I think I’d take each of them one step further.

    For one thing, I don’t think the epidemic of bunk Obamacare horror stories necessarily speaks to the law’s success so much as it reveals the bad-faith nature of Republican opposition — and this very opposition has in turn fed the stream of bogus horror stories that Republicans are systematically promulgating.

    Basically, Republicans have spent the last four months soliciting angry submissions from constituents, and based on the way they’ve brandished these “horror stories” it seems as if a large percentage of them have come from people whose insurance policies were canceled before January 1, and were then defaulted by their carriers into more expensive plans. Just like Bette.

    Republicans have generated a tremendous amount of publicity for putative victims, but it’s important to note that their messaging strategy is incompatible with responsible constituent service, and bound to generate a ton of false positives. It’s hard to create the impression of widespread dissatisfaction with the law if you interrogate every complaint to see if it holds up, and then weed out the people who are mistakenly disgruntled by pointing them in the right direction. Particularly after December 1, when Healthcare.gov started working more or less as intended. If that’s what Republicans were doing, they wouldn’t be consistently flagging stories that tumble like Jenga blocks upon the mildest expert prodding, because there’d be many fewer stories to begin with.

    http://www.salon.com/2014/01/31/gops_obamacare_fiction_series_latest_horror_story_a_creation_from_start_to_finish/

    Reply
  20. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2014 at 3:17 pm

    Michael Tomasky: Revenge of the Nerd: Wildstein Rats Out the Boss

    Remember what Chris Christie said about David Wildstein in his endless Jan. 9 press conference? No? This:

    It is true that I met David in 1977 in high school. He’s a year older than me. David and I were not friends in high school. We were not even acquaintances in high school…We didn’t travel in the same circles in high school. You know, I was the class president and athlete. I don’t know what David was doing during that period of time.

    I remember hearing those sentences and thinking gee, that’s not very nice–and not very smart. What if Wildstein is sitting on some goods? Is he going to be happy being dismissed as too geeky for Christie to waste his time on back in high school?

    Apparently he’s not…..

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/01/31/revenge-of-the-nerd-wildstein-rats-out-the-boss.html

    Reply
  28. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2014 at 2:54 pm

    Outside of Psycho, I really liked the remakes

    …………………..

    Fantasy Hollywood: restaging classic films with black models

    When two Dakar-based photographers messed with some very familiar screen moments, they were taken aback by the racial dimension to the response

    Back in the 80s, my classmates and I piled into Mbabane’s local cinema to watch Top Gun. We’d turn to each other, channeling our best version of Val Kilmer to spout “You can be my wing man anytime” – followed by intense laughter. Who doesn’t have a favourite line, an iconic moment from film lodged in our minds?

    Dakar-based photographers Omar Victor Diop and Antoine Tempé were counting on just that, the shared experience and ubiquity of film, when the hotel group Onomo International invited them to create a series of photographs using the hotel as a backdrop. They turned to the silver screen, to iconic moments they’ve held onto to and mined for their collaborative project, ONOMOllywood.

    In 20 images that pay homage to characters such as Truman Capote’s Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, these reinventions begin with the a humble “what if…” A question looking to how popular global cultural translates to the local, what could it look like, and what new memories would it create. The project has created conversation, accolades and blowback, but in an interview with Another Africa, Diop takes it all in stride.

    http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/30/fantasy-hollywood-black-models?commentpage=1

    Reply
  29. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2014 at 1:06 pm

    The nightmare scenario for Republicans on immigration

    By Greg Sargent
    January 31 at 2:42 pm

    The conventional wisdom has it that Republicans are taking a great risk by contemplating immigration reform right now, because it could divide the party and alienate the base heading into the 2014 elections. Some say there’s no urgency to act because Latinos don’t matter in the midterms and Republicans can always do reform in 2015, repairing relations in time for 2016.

    But what if waiting until 2015 is actually worse for the GOP?

    Here’s an alternate reading: If the party tackles reform in 2015, it could get tied up in GOP presidential primary politics, pulling the GOP field to the right and leaving the eventual nominee saddled with extreme party rhetoric and positions on the issue, further alienating Latinos in the general election — exactly as happened in 2012. So while it might be difficult for Republicans to get reform done this year, braving it might be better than waiting.

    I ran this scenario by several GOP strategists. They agreed it’s a real problem.

    “If Republicans wait until 2015 to tackle this issue, that puts a very emotional and controversial issue right in the middle of the Republican presidential selection process,” veteran GOP pollster Whit Ayres, a supporter of reform, tells me. “The opportunity for demagoguery will be exceedingly prevalent if we wait that long.”

    “It could drag the entire field to the right on immigration, which is the last thing we need if we want to be competitive in the America of the 21st century as well as in the 2016 presidential election,” Ayres continued. “It’s a very real threat.”

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/01/31/the-nightmare-scenario-for-republicans-on-immigration/

    Reply
  30. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2014 at 12:55 pm

    Caught On Video: Police Hit, Tie Down, Then Chop Off Possible Rape Victim’s Hair (VIDEO)

    Warren Michigan police officers were caught on camera, strapping a 22-year-old mother into a chair and cutting off her hair. The officer with the scissors, Bernadette Najor, can be seen hitting the young mother, before having her restrained. The video shows her grabbing the woman’s hair, repeatedly jerking her head back, while she hacks off the woman’s weave. Najor has been fired. All of the male officers, who can be seen helping to restrain this young woman, remain on the police force. Every one of them stood by while this was done. None seemed shocked, upset or even concerned about what is happening two feet away from them.
    Here’s the video.[….]

    There’s more to the story as well. The young mother in the video, Chandra Greggory, had been at a party in Detroit earlier in the evening. When she woke up in a Motel with no idea how she got there, she told police she thought she had been drugged. Instead of investigating a possible rape, it appears that the cops arrested Greggory instead. She was accused of destroying the hotel room. All of the charges against her have been dropped. If she is telling the truth, this young woman was a victim of abduction and possible rape, just prior to being abused, restrained and humiliated by the Warren police.[….]

    http://www.addictinginfo.org/2014/01/31/police-video-mom-rape-victim-chop-hair/

    Reply
  33. rikyrah says:
    February 1, 2014 at 12:38 pm

    Just back in from shoveling. Took me over an hour….

    I’ll have to go back again this evening…

    sigh….

    Reply
  34. SouthernGirl2 says:
    February 1, 2014 at 12:31 pm
    Reply
  35. Liza says:
    February 1, 2014 at 10:55 am

    Denzel Washington should have won best actor for “Malcolm X” and/or “The Hurricane” because both of those films were far superior to “Training Day,” in my opinion. But I’m glad that he won for “Training Day” after being robbed twice.

    The “Rocket 88” scene in “What’s Love Got to do with it?” is one of my favorite movie scenes of all time. I still remember hunting for “Rocket 88” on CD, not realizing that Ike Turner had recorded it as Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats, not the Kings of Rhythm. I love that tune. And yesterday I mentioned that Angela Bassett was robbed in 1993 because no performance that year was even close to her Tina Turner. I remember taking the afternoon off from work and going to see that film, I had just read Tina’s bio, and I still count that film among my all time favorites even though the domestic violence scenes are hard to watch.

    I remember the 2004 awards when Jamie Foxx won best actor for “Ray” but most of the big awards that year went to Clint Eastwood’s “Million Dollar Baby” a film that I totally abhor. I think that 2004 is the last time that I watched the Oscars on TV. Jamie Foxx was so good in “Ray” that they probably thought they had no choice but to give him the award and it would be okay because Clint Eastwood (who never could act) won Best Director.

    I really believe that the biographies are the most challenging roles for actors. Fictional characters can be interpreted and the expectations are totally different than for a character who is or was a real person. I think those roles require acting that is on a much higher level.

    Reply
    • Ametia says:
      February 1, 2014 at 11:27 am

      Seriously, Liza, I thought I was the only one that didn’t like Eastwood’s MDB. Bottom line for me is that I get to decide which film and its actors/actresses resonate with my taste as far as entertainment value is concerned.

      Reply
      • Liza says:
        February 1, 2014 at 1:49 pm

        Ametia, I dislike most of the Eastwood’s films that I’ve seen, but MDB was especially bad, in my opinion. The one exception for Eastwood is “Letters from Iwo Jima” which is suprisingly good, not what you would expect from him, but is probably most interesting to people who have read the history of the Pacific War.

        Eastwood has received many awards for films that really aren’t that good (Unforgiven, Mystic River, MDB) in my opinion. Reminds me of why I don’t put much stock in the Oscars. Mystic River is another truly awful film in the same league as MDB.

        Reply
  36. Ametia says:
    February 1, 2014 at 10:33 am

    UP WITH STEVE KORNACKI- Satruday, FEB 1, 2014

    http://www.msnbc.com/up-with-steve-kornacki

    Reply
  37. SouthernGirl2 says:
    February 1, 2014 at 10:14 am
    Reply
  40. Ametia says:
    February 1, 2014 at 9:25 am

    Waiting for the Up With Konnacki clip from this morning. He had on a plethora of folks who DID NOT do Krispy Kreme any favors.

    Reply
  41. SouthernGirl2 says:
    February 1, 2014 at 8:41 am
    Reply
  42. SouthernGirl2 says:
    February 1, 2014 at 8:36 am

    BREAKING: $4.8M in Sandy Relief Money Went to Fund Luxury Apartment Tower in New Brunswick

    http://newbrunswicktoday.com/article/breaking-48m-sandy-relief-money-went-fund-luxury-apartment-tower-new-brunswick#.Uux4fLd4kWB.twitter

    NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ—NBC New York broke the story last night that embattled NJ Governor Chris Christie appropriated $4.8 million in Hurricane Sandy relief funds to help build a luxury highrise building in New Brunswick.

    The revelation makes the 16-story project, currently under construction between Somerset and Condict Streets, the second such use of Sandy funding called into question this week.

    The building, to be named Somerset Mews, has already received a city tax abatement and was approved by the city’s Planning Board eight months before Sandy struck. In the planning stages for years, it is seemingly unrelated to the superstorm that devastated the Jersey Shore and coastal areas like Hoboken.

    Its city-based developer, Boraie Development LLC, has strong political ties to the Governor and new US Senator Cory Booker. As we reported in April 2012, the Boraie family and its companies have been among New Brunswick’s most generous political contributors over the past several decades.

    The Boraies are also among the most powerful property owners in the 5.5-square-mile city, with several office buildings and retail establishments, at least 77 rental units at 23 different addresses, and a 23-story luxury condominium building in their portfolio.

    New Brunswick was listed as the 188th hardest-hit town by Hurricane Sandy in a Rutgers University survey, hardly making it a leading contender for the rebuilding funds.

    Reply

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