Jack Nicholson Has Felt Snubbed By The Oscars More Than Once

Jack Nicholson has starred in numerous classic films across his career, and that excellence has unsurprisingly caught the attention of The Academy on several occasions. In fact, Nicholson had 12 Oscar nominations under his belt before his retirement, giving the beloved star the record for the most nominations for a male actor, and tying for second place with Katharine Hepburn for the most nominations of any gender. This is a historic achievement on its own, but Nicholson also tied with three other men for the most best actor wins too. The "Batman" star's first victory was in 1976, for his celebrated leading role in "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest," following four consecutive years of nominations. 

The actor won twice more in the following 20 years. But one especially tragic detail about Jack Nicholson's career is that many fans believe he should have won more often, including for his roles in "The Shining," "A Few Good Men," and "The Departed." The legendary star weighed in on this debate during a press conference for his 2008 movie "The Bucket List."  "I certainly have felt robbed many times at the Oscars. It kind of goes with the territory," the '70s Hollywood icon acknowledged to Collider shortly after being snubbed for "The Departed." 

He continued, "About that, I wasn't sure I gave the best performance in the picture no less in the world. How can you separate them? [...] Though robbed I may have been. How come I don't get an old-age sentimental Oscar like several people did?" The "Something's Gotta Give" star may have been referring to actors like Leonardo DiCaprio and Jamie Lee Curtis, who have both been accused of winning their respective Oscars for their overall careers rather than the individual performances.

Jack Nicholson probably knows the ins and outs of the Academy Awards relatively well after attending the ceremony for five decades; he has been present both as a nominee and a presenter on multiple occasions. However, the beloved actor has a controversial take on the Oscars process. "I think there are too many awards shows, like everybody else. It covers five months now and I think it dilutes it," the "Chinatown" star asserted during the press conference for "The Bucket List," per Collider. "But generationally, it's like jeez it's Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor or whatever when you first start going to them, and you develop a relationship with Bob Hope, and it has all that glamour that I wish we still had in that way." 

While chatting with Variety in 2008, the "As Good as It Gets" star also noted that the process has become a distraction from what's really important. "This thing totally possesses the movie business for three months — and it's now spreading to five months. Well, this cannot be really good for movies," he pointed out. "I always and always will be for the Oscars. But the race is feeding the other media, and I don't think it's good for where I work: The movies." 

Nicholson stopped acting two years after this interview but, as of this writing, he has never officially confirmed his retirement. However, the chances of him returning grow more unlikely as he gets older. The Oscar winner has mostly stayed out of the limelight in the years since, which means he hasn't had to put up with the awards race either. But Nicholson did return to the Oscars stage in 2013 to present the best picture award.