Multiple awards are usually conferred on thespians for the same performances. About one-third of the New York Film Critics winners have been cited for the same role that won them the Oscar. As Ray Milland observed in 1945: “I found myself the recipient of more awards than I ever knew existed.” For his portrait of the alcoholic writer in The Lost Weekend, Milland received the Oscar, the New York Film Critics Award, the Golden Globe, the Look magazine award, and a citation from the Alcoholics Anonymous Unwed Mothers of America.

Veteran performer Rita Moreno has provided inspiration for many women as one of the few artists to have won all the prestigious showbiz awards: A Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Anita in the musical “West Side Story”; a Tony for her performance in the Broadway hit “The Ritz”; a Grammy for her contribution to “The Electric Company Album,” and two Emmys, one for a stint on “The Muppet Show,” the other for a dramatic performance on “The Rockford Files” in 1978.

Judi Dench is still in awe of her meteoric rise to stardom. Although the industry is overrun nowadays by hot young up-and-comers, Hollywood has “discovered” Dench while in her sixties. In 1997, Dench became a certified film star with her Oscar-nominated performance as Queen Victoria in “Mrs. Brown,” for which she had earlier won the Golden Globe.

The strong correlation among the various awards points to the existence of multi-media stars–celebrities who are successful in all the media. This small minority genuine media stars, headed by winners of the “triple crown,” the Oscar, the Tony, and the Emmy, includes Helen Hayes, Thomas Mitchell, Ingrid Bergman, Shirley Booth, Melvyn Douglas, Jack Albertson, Paul Scofield, Anne Bancroft, Liza Minnelli, and Judi Dench.

No personality validates the operation of accumulative advantage in showbiz better than Meryl Streep, Hollywood's hottest and most accomplished actress of the past generation. Streep achieved stardom on stage, television, and film in an astonishingly brief period of time.