Thanks for nothing, Academy! Nine great performances that should have been nominated

When it comes to the Academy Awards, the lie "it's an honor just to be nominated" has been used for decades to help the losers deal with their ... losing. But they should really look on the bright side, because at least they were nominated.

With only five nominees allowed in each category, there are always going to be deserving performances thrown by the wayside, but here are nine omissions that are especially inexplicable.

Rupert Everett

1997 Best Supporting Actor Nominees

Robin Williams (winner) - Good Will Hunting, Burt Reynolds - Boogie Nights, Robert Forster - Jackie Brown, Anthony Hopkins - Amistad, Greg Kinnear - As Good As it Gets

British actor Rupert Everett became a star in America with his scene-stealing performance as Julia Roberts' gay confidant in 1997's My Best Friend's Wedding. After its enormous box office success and his Golden Globe Nomination, he was considered a shoo-in for an Oscar nod, but it didn't happen.

Now comes the best part - choosing who should have been left off the list to make room for Rupert. They were all great performances, but I would have dropped the actual winner of the category, Robin Williams. As a grizzled shrink trying to help a hot but foul-mouthed janitor, Robin pulled back on his usual mugging, and was rewarded for showing enormous restraint.

Kathy Bates

1995 Best Actress Nominees

Susan Sarandon (winner) - Dead Man Walking, Sharon Stone - Casino, Elisabeth Shue - Leaving Las Vegas, Meryl Streep - The Bridges of Madison County, Emma Thompson - Sense & Sensibility

Kathy Bates won the Oscar (and permanent horror icon status) for her performance in the film adaptation of Stephen King's Misery, but I thought her performance a few years later in another King adaptation was even better.

Kathy was stunning in the title role of Dolores Claiborne, playing a put-upon woman who learns that "sometimes being a bitch is the only thing a woman has to hold onto". I was stunned when Kathy's name was not announced as a nominee for Best Actress, and I still don't understand why. Maybe it's because it was released so early in the year (March), or maybe people thought "oh, she's playing another Stephen King role", but this was one of the most underrated performances of the decade.

But who should have been left off the list to make room for Kathy? I think I'd have to go with Emma. She could play that kind of role in her sleep, and besides, she was already a lock for the screenplay Oscar for Sense & Sensibility.

Gary Oldman, Alfred Molina

1987 Best Actor Nominees

Michael Douglas (winner) - Wall Street, Marcello Mastroianni - Dark Eyes, William Hurt - Broadcast News, Jack Nicholson - Ironweed, Robin Williams - Good Morning, Vietnam

We get a twofer of shoulda-beens with 1987's Prick Up Your Ears. Gary Oldman and Alfred Molina played doomed lovers Joe Orton and Ken Halliwell, and created one of the screen's greatest symbiotic acting combinations. Gary (who also should've been nominated for the previous year's Sid & Nancy) was universally praised for his performance, and overshadowed his co-star, but I don't think either performance could have worked as well without the other.

But who should have been left off the list to make room for both guys? I'd have to say Robin, because frankly, a little of his shtick goes a long way, and personally, I'd drop kick Michael Douglas off of there. Why? I just don't like him.

Mimi Rogers

1991 Best Actress Nominees

Jodie Foster (winner) - The Silence of the Lambs, Susan Sarandon - Thelma & Louise, Geena Davis - Thelma & Louise, Laura Dern - Rambling Rose, Bette Midler - For The Boys

Mimi Rogers was probably best known in 1991 as the ex-wife of Tom Cruise (and had some un-kind things to say about him), but her go-for-broke performance in The Rapture should have changed all that. She played a slutty woman who "finds God", is saved, and believes God is sending her messages about the end of the world. By the end of the film, she has committed a shocking act of murder, and stood up to God himself. It was a brave, exhilarating performance, and should have redefined her career.

Alas, the film was overlooked, and Mimi eventually settled into such mom roles as Lost in Space.

Who knows if being nominated would have helped her career, but the real question is "who should have been left of the list to make room for her?"

This is a tough one. At the risk of having my gay card forcibly torn from my hands, I'm going to have to say ... Bette.

Cher

1985 Best Actress Nominees

Geraldine Page (winner) - The Trip to Bountiful, Whoopi Goldberg - The Color Purple, Meryl Streep - Out of Africa, Jessica Lange - Sweet Dreams, Anne Bancroft - Agnes of God

Cher has often told the story of going to an early screening of Silkwood and hearing the audience laugh when her name came on the screen. No one was laughing when she received an Oscar nom for the film, and no one laughed when she tackled her next dramatic role, in 1985's Mask. She got a Golden Globe nod for the performance, and was considered a heavy favorite for an Oscar nomination. Somehow, she missed out, though she got some satisfaction when she showed up at the awards show in the above getup and cheekily joked "as you can see, I have received my Academy booklet on how to dress like a serious actress".

Who should been left off the list to make room for her? Probably Anne's Mother Superior.

Linda Fiorentino

1994 Best Actress Nominees

Jessica Lange (winner) - Blue Sky, Jodie Foster - Nell, Miranda Richardson - Tom & Viv, Winona Ryder - Little Women, Susan Sarandon - The Client

Boy, this one still sticks in my craw fifteen years later. Linda Fiorentino gave the performance of the year in 1994's The Last Seduction, but she was ruled ineligible for Academy consideration because the movie played once or twice on HBO before hitting theaters. What makes it especially egregious is that in a very weak Oscar field that year, she would have had a great shot at actually winning.

Who should have been left off the list to make room for her? How about starting with Jodie Foster and the unintentionally hilarious Nell.

Joan Cusack

1993 Best Supporting Actress Nominees

Anna Paquin (winner) - The Piano, Rosie Perez - Fearless, Holly Hunter - The Firm, Winona Ryder - The Age of Innocence, Emma Thompson - In The Name of the Father

Comedic treasure Joan Cusack has been nominated twice for the Supporting Actress Oscar, for Working Girl and In & Out, but she should received one for her inspired performance as nanny Debbie Jellinsky in 1993's Addams Family Values.

Vampy, trampy, and deliciously deranged, to this day her "Love & Jewelry" speech still resonates in my life:

Sister, it's like you're channeling me!

But who should have been left off to make room for her? Holly was a shoo-in for Best Actress for The Piano, and her role in The Firm was pretty inconsequential, so we can leave her off.

Morgan Fairchild

1981 Best Actress Nominees

Katherine Hepburn (winner) - On Golden Pond, Diane Keaton - Reds, Meryl Streep - The French Lieutenant's Woman, Marsha Mason - Only When I Laugh, Susan Sarandon - Atlantic City

The epitome of the sub-genre of early 80's films my colleague Brian Juergens calls "anchorwomen-in-peril", 1981's The Seduction starred the fabulous Morgan Fairchild as a network newsreader who liked to swim nude, answer the phone nude, and put her hair up and down ... nude. Why does she deserve to be here? Watch the trailer and see ...

Anyone who can kick ass like that and still look smokin' hot deserves to be nominated. But who should be left off the list to make room for her? Well, let me put it this way ... what would you rather sit there and watch for two hours, Katherine Hepburn shouting "The Loons! The Loons!", or Morgan Fairchild working that lip gloss and eye shadow?

This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to unfairly overlooked performances. Who would you add to the list?