Longest screen times

Vivien Leigh, Gone with the Wind (1939)

Length of movie 3 hours 58 minutes
Screen time 2 hours 23 minutes
Execution time percentage 60 percent

Vivien Leigh holds the record for longest Oscar-winning performance, although the work took a heavy toll on her physically and mentally. The film itself is also the longest film to win the Best Picture award. At the 12th Academy Awardsthat of Victor Fleming Gone with the Wind also won Best Supporting Actress for Hattie McDaniel, who became the first African American to win an Academy Award. Leigh was nominated alongside Bette Davis (Dark victory), Irene Dunne (love story), Greta Garbo (Ninotchka) and Greer Garson (Goodbye, Mr. Chips).

Charlton Heston, Ben Hur (1959)

Length of movie 3 hours 32 minutes
Screen time 2 hours 1 minute
Execution time percentage 57.1 percent

Charlton Heston appeared in more than half of William Wyler’s religious epic, which also won Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (for Hugh Griffith), and Best Director, among others. While Ben Hur is revered for its spectacular chariot racing scene, Heston’s performance as the titular Judah Ben-Hur is also hailed as one of his best. He was nominated alongside Laurence Harvey (Room at the top), Jack Lemmon (Some like it hot)Paul Muni (The Last Angry Man) and James Stewart (Anatomy of a Murder).

Barbara Streisand, Funny girl (1968)

Length of movie 2 hours 35 minutes
Screen time 2 hours 1 minute
Execution time percentage 78.1 percent

Wyler’s film was adapted from Isobel Lennart’s book for the musical of the same name. Barbra Streisand, who played the iconic Fanny Brice here and on Broadway, held the screen for over two hours in her film debut. She shared the Oscar with Katharine Hepburn of The Lion in winter. (This is the only time two people have tied for best actress.) Streisand and Hepburn beat out Patricia Neal (The subject was roses), Vanessa Redgrave (Isadora) and Joanne Woodward (Rachel, Rachel).

Daniel Day Lewis, There will be blood (2007)

Length of movie 2 hours 38 minutes
Screen time 1 hr 57 mins
Execution time percentage 74.1 percent

For Paul Thomas Anderson There will be bloodoften considered one of the best films of the 21st century, Daniel Day-Lewis won the second of his three Oscars (after that of 1989). My left foot and before 2012 Lincoln). With There will be Bloodwho received a total of eight nominations, Day-Lewis was nominated alongside George Clooney (Michael Clayton), Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street), Viggo Mortensen (Eastern promises) and Tommy Lee Jones (In the valley of Elah).

Shortest screen times

Louise Fletcher, We flew over a cuckoo’s nest (1975)

Length of movie 2 hours 13 minutes
Screen time 22 minutes
Execution time percentage 16.5 percent

Some think Louise Fletcher’s turn as Nurse Ratched should have been classified as supporting, even though she played one of the cruelest movie villains ever seen on the big screen. The psychological drama, directed by Milos Forman, starring Jack Nicholson and featuring Danny DeVito and Christopher Lloyd in supporting roles, won all five major Academy Awards (best picture, director, screenplay, actor and actress), the first film since 1934. It happened one night to accomplish this feat.

Patricia Neal, Hud (1963)

Length of movie 1h 48m
Screen time 21 minutes
Execution time percentage 19.4 percent

Neal’s win marks the shortest on-screen performance for a Best Actress. She won for playing Alma Brown, the victimized housekeeper in Martin Ritt’s morality-themed western. She was nominated in the best actress category alongside Leslie Caron (The L-shaped room), Shirley MacLaine (Irma the Sweet), Rachel Roberts (This sporting life) and Natalie Wood (Love with the right stranger). Neal would earn another Best Actress nomination for her captivating role in 1968. The subject was roses.

Anthony Hopkins, The silence of the lambs (1991)

Length of movie 1h 58m
Screen time 16 minutes
Execution time percentage 13.5 percent

This is another win that some say should have happened in the supporting category, although Anthony Hopkins, as Hannibal Lecter, logged additional minutes with his voice off-screen as he beat Robert De Niro (Cape Fear), Robin Williams (The Fisher King), Nick Nolte (The prince of the tides) and Warren Beatty (Bugsy) on Oscar night. Jonathan Demme’s film also won all five major Oscars, including Best Actress, with Jodie Foster getting 56 minutes of screen time.

David Niven, Separate tables (1958)

Length of movie 1h40
Screen time 15 minutes
Execution time percentage 15 percent

David Niven won his only Oscar for his role as a secret war veteran in Delbert Mann’s drama set in an English coastal hotel. Co-star Wendy Hiller won Best Supporting Actress that year – and she appeared for less than 22 minutes. Niven is the only actor to win an Academy Award in the same year he hosted the Academy Awards. He was nominated alongside Tony Curtis and Sidney Poitier (both The rebels), Paul Newman (Cat on a burning tin roof) and Spencer Tracy (The old man and the sea).

This story appeared in the November 20 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.