And the Loser is

In this updated edition of Aubrey Malone’s ground-breaking study of the unsung heroes and heroines of the Oscar ceremonies, he delves further into the circumstances surrounding many of the films either ignored or undervalued by the Academy from the 1920s up to the embarrassing gaffe of 2017 which saw La La Land wrongly announced as Best Picture instead of Moonlight.  

In a book which doubles as an unofficial history of Hollywood, he writes about all the great stars who never won an Oscar and, more poignantly, the tragedies that often befell winners as the law of diminishing returns set in. People like Susan Hayward, Rod Steiger, Vivien Leigh and many others never recaptured the magic after winning the golden statue. 

Instead of a foretaste of better things, for many of them it was the beginning of the end. In the case of some winners, like Gig Young, the decline resulted in a horrific murder/suicide some years down the road. 

The book also studies concepts like sympathy Oscars, consolation Oscars, Life Achievement Awards that are often AMPAS apologies for Oscar bypasses, and the number of relationships and marriages that broke down after Oscar wins. It also looks at those near-perennial bridesmaids at the Oscar wedding who were repeatedly passed over, often on spurious grounds. 

This intricate, highly detailed book also looks at the effect of the blacklist on the awarding of Oscars, and the various prejudices that saw many people excluded from the winner’s enclosure when they richly deserved to be there.