12 Oscar-Winning Actors and Actresses Who Said No to Their Awards 

It is believed that winning an Oscar is the peak of all achievements for any movie artist, and their reactions when they finally receive the prestigious golden statuette reflect this. Some people laugh, some people cry, and some people lose their minds (in a good way). Why not? These artists extend their creative bounds to entertain millions of people and provide them with a break from their hectic but mundane lives. They have every right to be pleased when their brilliance is recognized in front of the millions who have been entertained by their work.
However, there are always exceptions. Several artists in Oscar history have not shown up to accept their awards. Some refused their Oscars in protest, while others did so because they felt the Oscars devalued their brilliance. Others were just so ignorant that they did not expect to win and thus did not attend (Yes, we are talking about Eminem). Whatever their reasons, here is a list of 12 Hollywood Oscar-Winning actors and actresses.

#1 Alice Brady

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The 1937 movie In Old Chicago, which was infamously started by Mrs. O'Leary's cow, won Alice Brady the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Mrs. O'Leary. Alice Brady was one of the few silent-era screen stars to survive the transition to "talkies."
At the time, it was uncommon for a supporting actor to get a statuette; instead, the Academy would award a plaque that the performer might have personalized. Director Henry King accepted Brady's plaque on her behalf and had it delivered to her house.

#2 Anthony Hopkins

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Anthony Hopkins would not win another Academy Award for three decades after his first for playing renowned cinematic villain Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs. He did not attend the live broadcast of the 2021 Academy Awards when he won for The Father.
He didn't travel to a designated spot to make his acceptance speech, instead opting to send a video to Instagram while visiting his father's gravesite in Wales. The Academy's oldest acting Oscar winner also paid respect to Chadwick Boseman, his late contemporary and fellow Best Actor nominee for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom.

#3 Elizabeth Taylor

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Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were both nominated for Best Actress and Best Actor for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, but Burton persuaded Taylor not to attend the 1966 Academy Awards due to his own fears.
Burton had already missed out on Oscar gold four times and didn't want to face a fifth loss in front of his peers, so he whisked the couple away to Paris. He did not win, but Taylor won, but in solidarity, she ignored the Academy.

#4 Eminem

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In 2002, Eminem astonished moviegoers with a surprisingly excellent performance in the semi-autobiographical film 8 Mile, about an aspiring rapper who uses a series of freestyle rap songs to achieve a better life for himself and his family. Though he didn't win an Oscar for his acting ability, he did win the Best Original Song award for "Lose Yourself".
While the song was a chart-topping success, Eminem never expected to win and thus did not go. According to Entertainment Weekly, he was at home, napping during the ceremony. When the song won, his producer, Luis Resto, accepted the trophy on his behalf. Eminem would eventually attend the Oscars and perform his award-winning music 17 years later.

#5 George C. Scott

Source: Gettotext

George C. Scott was known for portraying giant public personalities such as Clarence Darrow, Scrooge, and General Patton, and it was for the latter role that he received the Academy Award for Best Actor. When he found out he was going to win, he gently advised the Academy to "lose his number" since he saw the Oscars as a "two-hour meat parade."
Scott denied his nomination and informed the Academy that if he won, he would refuse the Oscar (he won regardless of his sentiment). It happened a decade after he turned down a Best Supporting Actor award for his role in The Hustler in 1961.

#6 John Gielgud

Source: Gettotext

Sir John Gielgud was a stage and movie legend for eight decades, winning three Tonys, an Emmy, a Grammy, and two Oscars. In 1981, he was nominated for his performance in Arthur as the indefatigable, sharp-tongued butler Hobson against Dudley Moore's foppish nobleman, a job he had turned down twice. He, too, declined to attend the ceremony.
Even though he won Best Supporting Actor, he did not take the prize himself, maybe because, as he noted in Richard Mangan's book Gielgud's Letter, award events were full of "mutual congratulation baloney."

#7 Katharine Hepburn

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Katharine Hepburn, the star of classic films such as The Philadelphia Story and The African Queen, still has more Academy Awards than any other actor (including Meryl Streep!). Despite winning four Oscars during her long career, the famous actress never attended the ceremonies where she would have been expected to accept her own awards.
"I'm living proof that a person can wait 41 years to be unselfish," she declared when she finally attended the 1974 Academy Awards to give the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award.

#8 Marlon Brando

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One of the most notorious speeches in Academy Awards history was delivered not by the man who refused to accept the gold. Still, by Sacheen Littlefeather, the First American actress Marlon Brando sent in his place and brushed off the statuette from presenter Roger Moore.
Don Corleone refused to accept the Academy Award for Best Actor for The Godfather in 1973, instead making a political statement condemning Hollywood's treatment of First Americans through erroneous, disparaging, and racist portrayals in films.

#9 Michael Caine

Source: Gettotext

Nominated for Best Actor in 1967, 1973, and 1984, Michael Caine didn't win until 1987, and while he was victorious for his portrayal in Hannah and Her Sisters, the famous English thespian was busy filming the fourth Jaws franchise installment Jaws: The Revenge.
When he won Best Supporting Actor for The Cider House Rules again in 2000, he made it a point to attend the Oscars. In 2003, he was nominated for Best Actor for The Quiet American.

#10 Paul Newman

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Between 1961 and 1982, the sapphire-eyed cinema legend garnered six Academy Award nominations and attended every event. When he finally won The Color of Money in 1987, he was nowhere to be seen.
When the Associated Press tracked him down, the Cool Hand Luke star provided a colorful comparison to explain his absence: "It's like chasing a beautiful woman for 80 years. Finally, she relents, and you say, 'I'm terribly sorry. I'm tired.'"

#11 Peter O'Toole

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Peter O'Toole may have had good reason to decline the Academy's honorary Oscar in 2003. He had been nominated for Best Actor eight times over his five-decade career but had never won an Oscar.
O'Toole reminded the Academy that he might still have a chance to "win the lovely bugger outright," to which the Academy pointed out that other stars, such as Henry Fonda and Paul Newman, have gone on to win the real gold after earning their Academy Honorary Awards. He ultimately agreed at the urging of his children.

#12 Woody Allen

Source: Taste Of Cinema

Woody Allen is a writer, director, and actor who has been nominated for 24 Academy Awards and has won four of them. Hannah and Her Sisters, Midnight in Paris, and Annie Hall received three of the four Best Original Screenplay awards.
Even before gaining such success for Annie Hall in 1974, Allen told ABC News that "the whole concept of awards is silly. I cannot abide the judgment of other people, because if you accept it when they say you deserve an award, then you have to accept it when they say you don't." So far, he has only attended one Academy Awards ceremony (2002) and has never accepted his Oscars in person.