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The answer regarding The Night of the Hunter (1955) is surprising to modern audiences: No actors from the film received any major award wins or nominations for their roles at the time of its release.
Despite now being considered one of the greatest films ever made, and featuring what many critics call Robert Mitchum’s definitive performance, the movie was a critical and commercial failure in 1955. As a result, it was completely ignored by the Academy Awards (Oscars) and the Golden Globes.
Here is the specific detail regarding the lack of recognition and the context of the competition that year:
The film received zero Academy Award nominations in any category—not for Robert Mitchum (Best Actor), Lillian Gish (Best Supporting Actress), Charles Laughton (Best Director), or Stanley Cortez (Best Cinematography).
To understand who the actors were "up against" (the people who were actually nominated for the 28th Academy Awards covering 1955), here is the breakdown of the major categories the film's cast would have likely competed in:
Best Actor (The category Robert Mitchum should have been in):
Best Supporting Actress (The category Lillian Gish or Shelley Winters might have been in):
The snub extended beyond the acting. Charles Laughton was so devastated by the film’s failure and the lack of recognition for his direction that he never directed another film. Stanley Cortez’s expressionistic cinematography, now considered iconic, was also ignored. The Oscar for Cinematography (Black and White) that year went to James Wong Howe for The Rose Tattoo.
In 1955, the film was criticized for being "theatrical," "unrealistic," and "pretentious." Robert Mitchum's performance as the terrifying Preacher Harry Powell was seen by some contemporary critics as too over-the-top for the era’s tastes, which were shifting toward the "Method" acting seen in James Dean and Marlon Brando's work.
While there were no awards in 1955, the film has since received massive "retrospective" honors:
Summary: In its own time, The Night of the Hunter was an "award-less" film. Robert Mitchum was not nominated, and he lost out on a spot to actors like Ernest Borgnine and James Dean.
Laughton did attempt to direct 'The Naked and the Dead' (1958) but was replaced by Raoul Walsh during pre-production/early stages due to the failure of 'Night of the Hunter'. The summary's claim that he 'never directed another film' is effectively true for completed works but omits this minor historical detail.
No, The Night of the Hunter (1955) did not receive any award nominations or wins at the time of its release. It was completely ignored by the Academy Awards (Oscars) and Golden Globes, largely due to its commercial failure and mixed critical reception.
For the 28th Academy Awards (honoring films from 1955), the actors were up against the following competition in the categories they would have likely qualified for:
The film's director, Charles Laughton, was deeply affected by the failure and never completed another film as director. The cinematography by Stanley Cortez was also overlooked, with the Oscar for Black and White Cinematography going to James Wong Howe for The Rose Tattoo.