Most awards for leading actress Katharine Hepburn with 4 awards (1933, 1967, 1968 *, 1981) (* Hepburn tied with Barbra Streisand in 1968.) Most awards for leading actor Daniel Day - Lewis with 3 awards (1989, 2007, 2012) Most awards for supporting actor Walter Brennan with 3 awards (1936, 1938, 1940) Most consecutive leading actress nominations Two actresses have been nominated 5 years in a row: Bette Davis (1938 -- 1942) Greer Garson (1941 -- 1945) Most consecutive leading actor nominations Marlon Brando with four nominations (1951 to 1954) Actress with most total nominations for acting Meryl Streep with 21 nominations Actor with most total nominations for acting Jack Nicholson with 12 nominations Most acting nominations without an award Peter O'Toole with 8 nominations (He received an Honorary Award in 2002) Most nominations for an actor performing in a foreign language Marcello Mastroianni with 3 nominations. He was nominated for Best Actor for Divorce, Italian Style (1962); A Special Day (1977) and Dark Eyes (1987), performing in Italian Longest gap between first and second award Helen Hayes won in 1932 for The Sin of Madelon Claudet and in 1971 for Airport, a 39 - year gap Longest time span between first and last nomination and between first and last award Katharine Hepburn: 48 years from Morning Glory (1933, in the 1932 / 33 awards) until On Golden Pond (1981) Most acting nominations before first award Both Geraldine Page and Al Pacino won on their 8th nomination Most posthumous nominations James Dean with 2 (1955 for East of Eden and 1956 for Giant) Shortest performance to win an acting Oscar Beatrice Straight in Network (1976) -- 5 minutes and 2 seconds Shortest performance to win a lead acting Oscar Patricia Neal in Hud (1963) -- 21 minutes and 51 seconds Shortest performance to be nominated for an acting Oscar Hermione Baddeley in Room at the Top (1959) -- 2 minutes and 19 seconds Shortest performance to be nominated for a lead acting Oscar Spencer Tracy in San Francisco (1936) -- 14 minutes and 58 seconds Longest performance to win an acting Oscar Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind (1939) -- 2 hours, 23 minutes and 32 seconds Longest performance to win a supporting acting Oscar Tatum O'Neal in Paper Moon (1973) -- 1 hour, 6 minutes and 58 seconds Longest performance to be nominated for an acting Oscar Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind (1939) -- 2 hours, 23 minutes and 32 seconds Longest performance to be nominated for a supporting acting Oscar Frank Finlay in Othello (1965) -- 1 hour, 30 minutes and 43 seconds Most awards by an African American actor Denzel Washington with 2, winning Best Supporting Actor for Glory (1989) and Best Actor for Training Day (2001) Most awards for one acting performance Harold Russell played Homer Parish in The Best Years of Our Lives in 1946. For this role he received 2 Oscars, one for Best Supporting and an honorary award for being an inspiration to all returning veterans. Most nominations for one acting performance Barry Fitzgerald was nominated as Best Actor and won for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Father Fitzgibbon in 1944 's Going My Way Years where all four Acting winners were born outside the United States 1964 Best Actor - Rex Harrison for My Fair Lady, United Kingdom Best Actress - Julie Andrews for Mary Poppins, United Kingdom Best Supporting Actor - Peter Ustinov for Topkapi, United Kingdom Best Supporting Actress - Lila Kedrova for Zorba the Greek, Russia 2007 Best Actor - Daniel Day - Lewis for There Will Be Blood, United Kingdom Best Actress - Marion Cotillard for La Vie en Rose, France Best Supporting Actor - Javier Bardem for No Country for Old Men, Spain Best Supporting Actress - Tilda Swinton for Michael Clayton, United Kingdom
who has the most oscar nominations in history
Meryl Streep