Many actors (male and female) have been nominated for (and some have won) the Oscar for playing royal figures–kings and queens, princes and dukes.
However, if The King’s Speech wins the top Oscar this Sunday, as most of us have long predicted, it would become the first Best Picture centering on a monarch to accomplish that.
My Oscar Book:
Most critics love the performance of Colin Firth in “The King’s Speech,” and he seems to be the favorite choice of the Academy too. Expect a nice Oscar speech this Sunday.
Several movies dealing with British monarchs have been nominated, such as “The Lion in Winter” in 1968 and “The Queen,” in 2006, which garnered Best Actress Oscar on their leading ladies, Katharine Hepburn and Helen Mirren, respectively.
But no film about royalty has ever won the top award, Best Picture. The 1998 Oscar winner, Shakespeare in Love, does not count, though it had the Queen Victoria in the background (and Judi Dench won Supporting Actress Oscar for playing her).
