Sam Elliott has been waiting more than 50 years for the film industry’s highest honor. The prolific 74-year-old actor finally received his first Academy Award nomination for his supporting role as Bobby Maine in the Warner Bros. megahit, A Star Is Born .
According to Deadline , when Elliott was asked for his reaction to his long overdue Oscar nod, he joked, “I think the thing off the top of my head might be, ‘It’s about f***ing time.’”
A humbled Elliott went on to say that, more importantly, he’s honored to be recognized for the work and the creative process that went into making the 2018 film. The actor also said that he was “grateful” to be a part of Bradley Cooper’s movie remake, saying the role meant “everything” to him — and that working on the movie has “been some sort of a gift in my world on a personal level.”
“Fifty years into the game and all of a sudden to have anything to do with this, to be connected with a film like this, it’s just a wonderful gift.”
In December, many fans of A Star Is Born were shocked that Sam Elliott didn’t score a Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe nomination. Luckily, that doesn’t mean the well-deserving star is out of the running for an Oscar.
This is Sam Elliott’s first ever #Oscars nomination https://t.co/9fL0LusFvX pic.twitter.com/fQhlQCTwz7
— Variety (@Variety) January 22, 2019
Gold Derby notes that in 2006, Alan Arkin won the Oscar for Little Miss Sunshine — despite being snubbed by Golden Globe nominators. Other movie stars who won an Academy Award without being nominated for a Golden Globe include James Coburn ( Affliction ), Kevin Kline ( A Fish Called Wanda ), Don Ameche ( Cocoon ), Robert De Niro ( The Godfather Part II ), Jack Albertson ( The Subject Was Roses ), Martin Balsam ( A Thousand Clowns ), Peter Ustinov ( Topkapi ) and Hugh Griffith ( Ben-Hur ).
Sam Elliott has been a familiar face on the big screen since the 1960s, so it’s hard to believe this is his first Oscar nomination. Elliott started his career with a small role as a card player in the Robert Redford film, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid , in 1969. In the 1980s, he played Gar, the boyfriend of Cher’s character, Rusty Dennis, in Mask. Elliott went on to appear in timeless classics such as Road House and The Big Lebowski.
Sam Elliott has been married to actress Katharine Ross for 35 years. Ross famously played Dustin Hoffman’s girlfriend, Elaine Robinson, in the 1967 movie The Graduate . She received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in the film .
The Academy Awards will be held on February 24.
