Short but sweet: Viola Davis and Michael Shannon only latest Oscar contenders for brief perfs

Though much has been made of the fact that two of this year's Oscar nominees -- best supporting actress contender Viola Davis ("Doubt") and best supporting actor contender Michael Shannon ("Revolutionary Road") -- gave performances totalling very little screen time, the truth is that theirs look like leading roles compared to several past nominees and winners.

To help put things in perspective, I thought I'd scrounge together a list of the briefest performances ever nominated for an Oscar -- please note that all screen times provided (in red) were gathered from other sources and have not been independently verified:

• 02:32 Hermione Baddeley ("Room at the Top," 1959) for best supporting actress 
• 05:40 Beatrice Straight ("Network," 1976) for best supporting actress WON 
• 06:00 Ned Beatty ("Network," 1976) for best supporting actor
• 06:00 Sylvia Miles ("Midnight Cowboy," 1969) for best supporting actress
• 06:05 Carolyn Jones ("The Bachelor Party," 1957) for best supporting actress
• 06:10 Diane Cilento ("Tom Jones," 1963) for best supporting actress
• 06:50 Thelma Ritter ("Pillow Talk," 1959) for best supporting actress
• 07:10 Geraldine Page ("The Pope of Greenwich Village," 1984) for best supporting actress
• 07:30 Maximilian Schell ("Julia," 1977) for best supporting actor
• 08:00 Jane Alexander ("All the President's Men," 1976) for best supporting actress 
• 08:00 Judi Dench ("Shakespeare in Love," 1998) for best supporting actress WON 
• 08:00 Charles Durning ("The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas," 1982) for best supporting actor
• 08:00 John Lithgow ("Terms of Endearment," 1983) for best supporting actor
• 08:00 Sylvia Miles ("Farewell, My Lovely," 1975) for best supporting actress
• 08:00 Michael Shannon ("Revolutionary Road," 2008) for best supporting actor TBD 
• 08:30 Gladys Cooper ("My Fair Lady," 1964) for best supporting actress 
• 08:30 Anthony Quinn ("Lust for Life," 1956) for best supporting actor WON 
• 09:00 William Hurt ("A History of Violence," 2006) for best supporting actor 
• 09:50 Piper Laurie ("Children of a Lesser God," 1986) for best supporting actress 
• 10:00 Ruby Dee ("American Gangster," 2007) for best supporting actress
• 12:00 Viola Davis ("Doubt," 2008) for best supporting actress TBD 
• 14:00 Ed Harris ("The Hours," 2002) for best supporting actor
• 16:00 Anthony Hopkins ("The Silence of the Lambs," 1991) for best actor WON 

Other brief performances that still need to be clocked...

• Maria Ouspenskaya ("Dodsworth," 1936) for best supporting actress
• Basil Rathbone ("Romeo and Juliet," 1936) for best supporting actor
• Claire Trevor ("Dead End," 1937) for best supporting actress
• Maria Ouspenskaya ("Love Affair," 1939) for best supporting actress
• Ethel Barrymore ("The Paradine Case," 1947) for best supporting actress
• Gloria Grahame ("Crossfire," 1947) for best supporting actress
• Ellen Corby ("I Remember Rama," 1948) for best supporting actress 
• Gloria Grahame ("The Bad and the Beautiful," 1952) for best supporting actress
• Thelma Ritter ("Birdman of Alcatraz," 1963) for best supporting actress
• Cecil Kellaway ("Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?," 1967) for best supporting actor
• Beah Richards ("Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?," 1967) for best supporting actress
• Jack Nicholson ("A Few Good Men," 1992) for best supporting actor
• Glenn Close ("The Natural," 1984) for best supporting actress
• Tess Harper ("Crimes of the Heart," 1986) for best supporting actress
• Gloria Stuart ("Titanic," 1997) for best supporting actress
• Kathy Bates ("Primary Colors," 1998) for best supporting actress
• James Coburn ("Affliction," 1998) for best supporting actor WON 
• Robert Duvall ("A Civil Action," 1998) for best supporting actor
• Lynn Redgrave ("Gods and Monsters," 1998) for best supporting actress
• Jon Voight ("Ali," 2001) for best supporting actor
  
• Queen Latifah ("Chicago," 2002) for best supporting actress
• Patricia Clarkson ("Pieces of April," 2003) for best supporting actress
• Alan Alda ("The Aviator," 2004) for best supporting actor 
• Cate Blanchett ("I'm Not There," 2007) for best supporting actress

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Photo: Viola Davis in "Doubt" (Miramax Films) and Michael Shannon in "Revolutionary Road" (Paramount Vantage).

Comments

[steven rosenthal]

Ruby Dee was NOT nominated for American Gangster

[Kurt]

Ed Harris' performance in "The Hours" was right on the dot at 14 minutes

Cate's performance in "I'm Not There" is on YouTube but there are five 8-minute clips

[Scott Feinberg]

Steven: Yes, she was, believe it or not.

Kurt: Thank you for that -- I'll verify that and then update the post.

[Charles]

Ruby Dee WAS nominated for "American Gangster" last year. She was up against Cate Blanchett ("I'm Not There"), Ronan ("Atonement"), Amy Ryan ("Gone Baby Gone") and lost to Tilda Swinton in "Michael Clayton".

I'm surprised that you didn't mention Penelope Cruz's performance in "Vicky Christina Barcelona" She doesn't show up in the movie until 50 minutes into it and her screentime could not have been more than 15 minutes.

[Edward L.]

I wonder if anyone will beat Hermione Baddeley's two-and-a-half-minute nominated performance?! I've seen Room at the Top and she's very good, the way she comes into the room chattering away. I'd love to know how the Academy singled it out.

[Jon]

Jon Voight in 'Ali' clocks in at less than 8 minutes, if I remember correctly.