The Oscar-nominated director Robert Rossen was also blacklisted. In 1947, he was subpoenaed to appear before the Committee, but the hearings were suspended. Rossen continued to work and his film, “All the King's Men,” won the 1949 Best Picture, though he failed to win the directing award, probably because of his politics. There is usually a strong correlation between the two categories. But the 1949 Best Director was Joseph L. Mankiewicz for “A Letter to Three Wives.”

“Wutheirng Heights” vied for the Best Picture Oscar with nine other films in what's considered to be the best year in Hollywood's history: “Dark Victory,” “Gone With the Wind,” which swept the Oscars, “Goodbye Mr. Chips,” “Love Affair,” “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” “Ninotchka,” “Of Mice and Men,” “Stagecoach,” and “The Wizard of Oz.”

Two films in 1985 were nominated for 11 Oscars: Pollack's “Out of Africa,” which swept the awards, including Best Picture, and Steven Spielberg's “The Color Purple,” which lost in each of its 11 categories. The other three Best Picture nominees were of a smaller-scale: Peter Weir's “Witness,” with 8 nods, John Huston's “Prizzi's Honor,” also 8, and the indie “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” which brought Best Actor Oscar to William Hurt.

In 2005, for his turn as the reformed pimp in “Hustle & Flow,” Terrence Howard competed for the Best Actor Oscar with Philip Seymour Hoffman,, who won for the biopic “Capote,” Heath Ledger in “Brokeback Mountain,” Joaquin Phoenix for the music biopic “Walk the Line,” and David Strathairn for “Good Night, and Good Luck.”

In 1981, for his turn in “Chariots of Fire,” Brit Ian Holm competed for the Supporting Actor Oscar with John Gielgud, who won for the comedy “Arthur,” James Coco in “Only When I Laugh,” Jack Nicholson in “Reds,” and Howard E. Rollins, Jr. in “Ragtime.”