Lifetime Achievement

Scope of the 2004 Cosmique Movie Award Categories

The Lifetime Achievement categories allow Cosmo voters to recognize their favorite films and performers of all time and induct them into special Halls of Fame. Once inducted, a previous winner is no longer eligible to be nominated for the same category.

Three of these categories have existed in every year of the history of the awards. At the Fourth Annual awards, two additional categories were created to honor comedic performers. Although they were intended to be one-time-only awards, their immense popularity and intense lobbying by Cosmo voters resulted in them being retained for this, the Fifth Annual Cosmique Movie Awards.

Best Film of All Time Hall of Fame

Summary: Awarded to the film deemed by Cosmo voters to be one of the best films of all time. The winning film will be inducted into the Cosmique Movie Hall of Fame, and will not be eligible in subsequent years to be re-nominated to this category. There are no restrictions on the film's era, nationality, language, or genre. All films, except previous winners (The Wizard of Oz, All About Eve, Gone With the Wind, Citizen Kane, and Casablanca) are eligible for nomination. In addition, a film cannot be nominated in the same year that it is first released.

Comments: As a fan-based movie awards, the Hall of Fame and other awards are as much a measure of popularity among the voters as they are of the film's quality. This can result in some interesting nominations, with Harold and Maude nominated side-by-side with Citizen Kane and The Lion in Winter. One film in particular, The Women, has been nominated every year even though it is overshadowed in the minds of most critics by its more popular 1939 films, The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind (both of which have already been inducted into the Cosmo Hall of Fame). The regular nominations for The Women may tell you much about the sensibilities of the Cosmo voters. The suggested nominees that follow are purely illustrative; they are culled from the list of films that received nomination votes last year as well as films that have ever received a Cosmo Lifetime Achievement nomination. The films that have been nominated one or more times are bolded.

Ideas for Nominees: 7 Face of Dr. Lau; Alien; Amélie; The Apartment; Apocalypse Now; Around the World in 80 Days; Arsenic and Old Lace; Auntie Mame; Big Eden; Blade Runner; Bound; Breakfast at Tiffany's; Bringing Up Baby; Cabaret; Caddyshack; Chinatown; Chitty Chitty Bang Bang; Dangerous Liaisons; Dead Again; Doctor Zhivago; Double Indemnity; Dr. Strangelove; East of Eden; Elizabeth; The Empire Strikes Back; Gallipoli; The Godfather; The Graduate; The Grass Harp; Grease; The Great Escape; Harold and Maude; High Noon; Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte; Ice Castles; It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World; It's a Wonderful Life; To Kill a Mockingbird; The Last Picture Show; Laura; Lawrence of Arabia; A Letter to Three Wives; Lifeboat; The Lion in Winter; A Little Romance; Living Out Loud; The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring; The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; The Magnificent Seven; The Manchurian Candidate; Manhattan; Mary Poppins; Meet Me in St. Louis; Midnight Cowboy; Nashville; One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; Priscilla, Queen of the Desert; Psycho; Ran; Rebel Without a Cause; Rushmore; Shrek; The Silence of the Lambs; Singin' in the Rain; Some Like It Hot; Star Wars; The Sting; Sunset Boulevard; The Third Man; Vertigo; Victor/Victoria; The Way We Were; Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?; and The Women

 

Best Actress of All Time Hall of Fame

Summary: Awarded to the actress deemed by Cosmo voters to be one of the best of all time. The winning actress will be inducted into the Cosmique Movie Hall of Fame, and will not be eligible in subsequent years to be re-nominated to this category. There are no restrictions on her films' era, nationality, or language, nor whether she is living or dead. All actresses except previous winners (Katharine Hepburn, Maggie Smith, Bette Davis, and Meryl Streep) are eligible for nomination.

Comments: The nominees here have typically spanned all eras - classic screen legends like Bette Davis have been nominated side-by-side with contemporary legends like Meryl Streep and more recent actors like Cate Blanchett. Even silent-era actresses have received nomination votes (though none to date have received enough votes to achieve a nomination). The list that follows is culled from those who received votes during last year's nominations, as well as any actress who has ever been nominated in the history of the awards. Previous nominees are bolded.

Ideas for Nominees: Julie Andrews; Anne Bancroft; Kathy Bates; Anne Baxter; Ingrid Bergman; Cate Blanchett; Stockard Channing; Glenn Close; Jennifer Connelly; Joan Crawford; Judy Davis; Olivia de Havilland; Judi Dench; Sally Field; Greta Garbo; Lillian Gish; Audrey Hepburn; Linda Hunt; Anjelica Huston; Jenna Jameson; Diane Keaton; Grace Kelly; Jessica Lange; Gong Li; Sophia Loren; Shirley MacLaine; Marilyn Monroe; Julianne Moore; Agnes Moorehead; Julia Ormand; Dolly Parton; Mary Pickford; Rosalind Russell; Susan Sarandon; Norma Shearer; Sissy Spacek; Barbara Stanwyck; Hilary Swank; Jessica Tandy; Shirley Temple; Emma Thompson; Uma Thurman; Jennifer Tilly; Sigourney Weaver; and Dianne Wiest

Best Actor of All Time Hall of Fame

Summary: Awarded to the actor deemed by Cosmo voters to be one of the best of all time. The winning actor will be inducted into the Cosmique Movie Hall of Fame, and will not be eligible in subsequent years to be re-nominated to this category. There are no restrictions on his films' era, nationality, or language, nor whether he is living or dead. All actors except previous winners (Dustin Hoffman, Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, and Robert De Niro) are eligible for nomination.

Comments: As with the Best Actress nominees, the candidates here have included both screen legends like Cary Grant along with contemporary actors like Al Pacino. The following list comes from those considered for nomination last year as well as those who have ever been nominated, with the actual nominees bolded.

Ideas for Nominees: Humphrey Bogart; Marlon Brando; Jeff Bridges; Michael Caine; Jim Carrey; Montgomery Clift; James Dean; Johnny Depp; Albert Finney; Harrison Ford; Clark Gable; John Gielgud; Alec Guinness; Tom Hanks; Richard Harris; William Holden; Anthony Hopkins; Rock Hudson; Boris Karloff; Buster Keaton; Alan Ladd; Jack Lemmon; Bela Lugosi; Steve Martin; Ian McKellen; Robert Mitchum; Paul Newman; Jack Nicholson; Laurence Olivier; Peter O'Toole; Al Pacino; Gregory Peck; Sean Penn; Anthony Perkins; Claude Rains; Michael Rosenbaum; Rod Steiger; Donald Sutherland; Spencer Tracy; Denzel Washington; and Orson Welles

 

Best Comedic Actress of All Time

Summary: Awarded to the actress deemed by Cosmo voters to have delivered, across the span of her entire career, the best cinematic comedic performances of all time.  

Comments: Naturally, many actors will choose a variety of roles throughout their career, some dramatic and some comedic. For this category, voters must ignore the dramatic performances and focus solely on the comedies. Voters must also ignore television performances and focus only on those roles that made it to the big screen. In addition, as a Lifetime Achievement award, voters must consider the actress's entire career. Can a single comedic performance, however brilliant, match up against strings of successful comedies from another actress? This category's previous winner, Madeline Kahn, is not eligible for nomination this year. The list below comes from those who received nomination votes last year, with the actual nominees bolded.

Ideas for Nominees: Julie Andrews; Lucille Ball; Anne Bancroft; Kathy Bates; Eileen Brennan; Carol Burnett; Ruth Buzzi; Claudette Colbert; Doris Day; Phyllis Diller; Whoopi Goldberg; Goldie Hawn; Audrey Hepburn; Judy Holliday; Jenna Jameson; Diane Keaton; Queen Latifah; Cloris Leachman; Myrna Loy; Marjorie Main; Bette Midler; Marilyn Monroe; Gilda Radner; Debbie Reynolds; Thelma Ritter; Ginger Rogers; Rosalind Russell; Meg Ryan; Molly Shannon; Jennifer Tilly; Lily Tomlin; Tracy Ullman; and Mae West

 

Best Comedic Actor of All Time

Summary: Awarded to the actor deemed by Cosmo voters to have delivered, across the span of his entire career, the best cinematic comedic performances of all time.  

Comments: As with the Best Comedic Actress of All Time category, voters must ignore the dramatic performances and focus solely on the comedies. Voters must also ignore television performances and focus only on those roles that made it to the big screen. As a Lifetime Achievement award, voters must consider the actor's entire career. Can a single comedic performance, however brilliant, match up against years of comedies? This category's previous winner, Peter Sellers, is not eligible to be renominated. The list below comes from those who received nomination votes last year, with the actual nominees bolded.

Ideas for Nominees: Bud Abbott; Alan Alda; Woody Allen; Don Ameche; Mel Brooks; John Candy; Jim Carrey; Charlie Chaplin; Chevy Chase; Bill Cosby; Robert De Niro; W.C. Fields; Tom Hanks; Bob Hope; Danny Kaye; Buster Keaton; Jack Lemmon; Jerry Lewis; Harold Lloyd; Cheech Marin; Steve Martin; Walter Matthau; Eddie Murphy; Bill Murray; Leslie Nielsen; Donald O'Connor; Peter O'Toole; William Powell; Richard Pryor; Dick Van Dyke; Gene Wilder; Robin Williams; and Jonathan Winters

Additional Categories

Best Overall

Best Performances

Best by Genre