Angelina Jolie (‘Maria’) shares Oscar-worthy role with Emmy winner Jane Seymour
A quarter century after winning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for “Girl, Interrupted,” Angelina Jolie is hoping to pick up the Best Actress trophy for her performance in “Maria.” In terms of Oscar history, she’d join Meryl Streep, Jessica Lange, Cate Blanchett, and Renée Zellweger, who all won for featured performances before prevailing again for star turns.
Jolie’s role, that of real-life opera singer Maria Callas, has already been proven to be awards-worthy and won Jane Seymour an Emmy nearly four decades ago. This English rose featured in the 1988 TV movie “Onassis: The Richest Man in the World,” opposite Raul Julia as Aristotle Onassis and Anthony Quinn as his father, Socrates. This remains her only Emmy win from five nominations.
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Zellweger won Best Actress for her sensitive portrayal of Judy Garland in the 2020 flick “Judy.” Back in 2001, Tammy Blanchard and Judy Davis took home Emmys for their work as the screen legend in “Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows.”
The only female figure who precedes Garland on the list of Emmy and then Oscar-winning characters is Queen Elizabeth I, who was played on TV by Glenda Jackson (“Elizabeth R,” 1972) and Helen Mirren (“Elizabeth I,” 2006) and on the big screen by Judi Dench (“Shakespeare in Love,” 1999).
The three male characters in this group are Winston Churchill (Emmys: Albert Finney, “The Gathering Storm,” 2002; Brendan Gleeson, “Into the Storm,” 2009; John Lithgow, “The Crown,” 2017 / Oscar: Gary Oldman, “Darkest Hour,” 2018), Truman Capote (Robert Morse, “Tru,” 1993 / Philip Seymour Hoffman, “Capote,” 2006), and Abraham Lincoln (Hal Holbrook, “Lincoln,” 1976 / Daniel Day-Lewis, “Lincoln,” 2013).
Another six roles each brought different performers Oscar and then Emmy wins, with the sole fictional example overall being Mildred Pierce, whose eponymous 1945 film and 2011 miniseries star Joan Crawford and Kate Winslet.
The fact-based characters in this subset are Benjamin Disraeli (George Arliss, “Disraeli,” 1930 / Trevor Howard, “Invincible Mr. Disraeli,” 1963), King Henry VIII (Charles Laughton, “The Private Life of Henry VIII,” 1934 / Keith Michell, “The Six Wives of Henry VIII,” 1972), Anne Sullivan (Anne Bancroft, “The Miracle Worker,” 1963 / Patty Duke, “The Miracle Worker,” 1980), Queen Elizabeth II (Mirren, “The Queen,” 2007 / Claire Foy, “The Crown,” 2018 and 2021; Olivia Colman, “The Crown,” 2021), and Margaret Thatcher (Streep, “The Iron Lady,” 2012 / Gillian Anderson, “The Crown,” 2021).
It’s also worth mentioning that 20th century U.S. congresswoman Shirley Chisholm could be added to this list of characters if Regina King wins the 2025 Best Actress Oscar for “Shirley,” given that Uzo Aduba received an Emmy for playing her on “Mrs. America” in 2020. However, King would have to overcome her current 100/1 Gold Derby odds, whereas Jolie is much better positioned to join this club at 6/1.
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