By Iain Blair

Even though this year’s show lacked any real drama or surprises, I was thrilled that Heath Ledger won the Oscar, making him only the second star who has ever won an Oscar posthumously – the other was Peter Finch for Network. In fact, Hollywood has a long tradition of big stars, including James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Peter Finch and Bruce Lee, having high-profile films released after their untimely deaths. However, when it comes to the Oscars, they’re always ignored. Even the legendary Spencer Tracy was ignored by the Academy after he died. Tracy was a beloved Hollywood veteran who died just as Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner? was release. Yet he didn’t win the Oscar – even though he was considered the front-runner. Curiously, Tracy’s de facto widow, Katherine Hepburn, did win the Best Actress Oscar that year for the same film. There are also parallels between the truncated careers of Ledger and James Dean. Like Heath, James Dean was a heartthrob star who was considered a serious actor who died tragically young. He was nominated twice posthumously – for East of Eden and Giant – but lost both times. Though Ledger’s critically hailed performance seemed won him the Oscar, the film itself was dismissed by Oscar voters; a superhero popcorn movie has yet to burst into the Best Picture race.

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