Looking Back at Some Of Our Favorite Oscar Winners and Their Disney Roles

As we get closer to the 94th Academy Awards, set to air on ABC on Sunday, March 27th, we’re celebrating Movie Week here at LaughingPlace.com and taking a look at some of our favorite Oscar winners of the past and their Disney connections, which might have also been their Oscar wins!

Jodie Foster

When it comes to Oscar, Jodie Foster immediately conjures images of Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs, for which she won the Best Actress award, but she also won the award for her role in The Accused and had nominations for her performances in Taxi Driver and Nell.

However, it’s her younger performances in Disney productions that first brought her into the public eye, with roles in Napoleon and Samantha, One Little Indian, Freaky Friday, and Candleshoe. In fact, it has long been rumored that her turn in that 1977 film kept her from portraying Princess Leia Organa in a little film called Star Wars: A New Hope.

She also made an appearance in a Disney production again in 2005, in the Touchstone Pictures film, Flightplan.

Helen Hayes

According to Wikipedia, Helen Hayes, the “First Lady of American Theater,” is one of only 16 people (for now, Lin-Manuel Miranda keeps trying to get on this list) of artists who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony award. Winning Oscars for her roles in 1931’s The Sin of Madelon Claudet and 1970’s Airport, we also know her for her Disney roles in the aforementioned Candleshoe, as well as One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing, as Lady St. Edmund in Herbie Rides Again, and as a tourist in Third Man on the Mountain. In Herbie Rides Again, Herbie helps the senior save her treasured home from the predatory real estate tycoon Alonzo Hawk.

She also makes an appearance in a special short made for the 1932 Academy Awards, Parade of the Award Nominees, which is notable as being Mickey Mouse’s first appearance in color. Another caricature of her appears in the 1933 short, Mickey’s Gala Premier, where Mickey and friends attend the premiere of their latest cartoon, surrounded by caricatures of famous actors and celebrities of the era. Both of these shorts can be found on the Walt Disney Treasures DVD Sets.

Glenn Close

Famously nominated time after time without a win, Glenn Close currently has eight Best Actress or Best Supporting Actress noms under her belt dating back to her turn in 1982’s The World According to Garp all the way through a nomination last year for her performance in Hillbilly Elegy.

We, of course, remember her voice-only iconic performance as Tarzan’s adopted gorilla mother, Kala in 1999’s Tarzan, where she also performed the classic tune “You’ll Be In My Heart” alongside Phil Collins. She also played the Vice President alongside Harrison Ford’s President in the 1997 thriller, Air Force One.

For Marvel, Close appeared in James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy, where she played Nova Prime and is also set to reprise the character for the upcoming EPCOT attraction, Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind.

In terms of live-action Disney roles though, she is likely most known for her performance in the 1996’s live-action 101 Dalmatians as the villainous Cruella De Vil, a role she would take on again in the sequel, 102 Dalmatians. She is so closely identified with this role, that she even served as Executive Producer to 2021’s Cruella, starring another Academy Award winner, Emma Stone.

Peter Ustinov

Sir Peter Ustinov won Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor for his roles in Spartacus (1960) and Topkapi (1964), as well as nominations for Quo Vadis and even a nom for Best Original Screenplay for Hot Millions in 1969.

For Disney, he played the title character in Blackbeard’s Ghost, and appeared in Treasure of Matecumbe and One of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing, and even hosted an episode of The Muppet Show and appeared in The Great Muppet Caper.

He was also rumored to have been considered for the role of Mr. Banks in Mary Poppins, as well as Professor Browne in Bedknobs and Broomsticks.

However, it’s his voice that many Disney fans might recognize, as he provided the vocals for the legendary Prince John (and King Richard) in Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Robin Hood.

Jack Albertson

While most known for his iconic role of the bedridden (until a grand prize arrives) Grandpa Joe in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, it was his performance in The Subject Was Roses that earned him an Oscar. An award he never would have received for some of the wackier Disney titles in his filmography, with roles in The Shaggy Dog, Son of Flubber, and A Tiger Walks.

His final theatrical role was a voice performance in Walt Disney Animation Studios’ The Fox and The Hound as Amos Slade, a film that was released only months before his death after a private battle with colon cancer.

Minnie Driver

Nominated for her performance in the then-Disney owned Miramax release, Good Will Hunting, in 1997, Minnie Driver also appeared in Touchstone releases High Heels and Low Lifes, and Hope Springs. She took television screens for the ABC series, Speechless, and even provided the English dub of Lady Eboshi in the Studio Ghibli film, Princess Mononoke.

Her vocal talents can also be heard as Jane Porter in 1999’s Tarzan.

Emma Thompson

Winning Oscars for her performance in Howards End and writing (Best Adapted Screenplay) for Sense and Sensibility, Dame Emma Thompson was also nominated for her performance in the latter, as well as The Remains of the Day, and In The Name of the Father.

Disney fans will know her from a slew of voice work, including the role of Captain Amelia in Treasure Planet, Queen Elinor in Pixar Animation Studios’ Brave, and Mrs. Potts in the 2017’s live-action adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. She also appears as the villainous inspiration to another villain’s origin story when she portrayed Baroness Von Hellman in 2021’s Cruella.

However, it’s her role as the very eccentric author P.L. Travers withholding the rights that would allow Walt Disney (Tom Hanks) to make his film adaptation of her book, Mary Poppins, that really stands out to many Disney fans, in 2013’s Saving Mr. Banks.

Robin Williams

While nominated for roles in Touchstone’s Dead Poets Society and Good Morning, Vietnam (as well as the non-Disney flick, The Fisher King), it was his role in 1997’s Good Will Hunting (released under the then-Disney owned label, Miramax) that garnered Robin Williams his only Oscar win.

He has appeared in countless Disney productions, including the aforementioned titles as well as an iconic performance in Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Aladdin as the Genie, a role he would reprise in the third, straight-to-video film, Aladdin and the King of Thieves.

He had roles both comedic and dramatic throughout his career in Jack, Bicentennial Man, Life with Bonnie, and Old Dogs. Through acquisition, his legendary performance of Mrs. Doubtfire in the 20th Century film of the same name is also now part of the Disney catalog.  

He also played the wacky scientist Philip Brainard in 1997’s Flubber, who also appears at EPCOT’s Imagination! Pavilion, where his fictional character has previously won an Inventor of the Year Award.

Speaking of theme parks, Williams was no stranger to theme park roles either, appearing as The Timekeeper in the Magic Kingdom attraction of the same name. He also appeared in the Magic of Disney Animation studio tour attraction at the then Disney-MGM Studios in a short film titled Back to Neverland. In fact, it was this performance that is responsible for what might be the greatest easter egg of all time, where Willam’s Genie in Aladdin is dressed in a similar outfit to this role, as it was reportedly produced at the Florida studio where they had the attraction film for reference.

The 94th Oscars will be held on Sunday, March 27, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will be televised live on ABC at 8 p.m. EDT/5 p.m. PDT and in more than 200 territories worldwide.  American Sign Language (ASL) provided by Certified Deaf Interpreters, live closed captioning and audio description will be available during the live broadcast.

You can also enjoy most of the films that have been mentioned, now streaming on Disney+.

Sign up for Disney+ or the Disney Streaming Bundle (Disney+, ESPN+, and ad-supported Hulu) now