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They may live longer with an Oscar in hand or maybe they’re slated for divorce after the coveted win. After taking home Hollywood’s biggest award, there’s plenty of research on what’s next for the silver screen’s top actors and actresses.
During her acceptance speech for best actress, Julianne Moore cooed that her golden statue would extend her life by five years, according to a study. Does it hold any clout?
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Here are four studies about the outcomes of Oscar winners and losers in life and love.
An Oscar win potentially adds to life expectancy
Will Julianne Moore and Eddie Redmayne live well into their nineties with good old Oscar in their hands?
For over a decade, scientists have studied Oscar winners and losers. Their findings? Taking home the golden statue gives you four more years of life compared to your peers. And the more you win, the longer you live.
(There was no link between multiple nominations and multiple losses, as long as you won. That’s good news for Meryl Streep – she has 19 nominations under her belt and only three Oscar wins.)
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The first research was done at the University of Toronto in 2001. Some 1,600 Oscar-nominated actors and actresses were studied next to another 900 actors and actresses.
Noted epidemiologist Donald A. Redelmeier matched the actors up according to age and sex and who had appeared in the same films without being nominated.
“We wondered whether the Academy Awards might shed light on how social status affects all-cause mortality. We chose this event because it generates substantial attention,” the researchers wrote.
Turns out, most Oscar winners lived until 80 years old on average while second-place actors and those who weren’t even nominated at all died by 76.
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If actors snagged a second trophy, they’d tack on another two years to their lives, marking a six-year disparity.
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“We found that they died from the same things we all die from — cancer, heart disease, strokes — but they fought them a bit longer or their onset came a bit later,” Redelmeier told ABC News.
Steven Spielberg gets thanked more than God
They thank their family members, the Academy and their support staff as they wipe away their tears. But research also suggests that when Oscar winners deliver their acceptance speeches, they thank Steven Spielberg more than God.
In fact, the legendary director is the most-thanked person in Oscar history, according to a study that looked at 1,396 acceptance speeches ever given.
The Academy gets a shout out in 43 per cent of all speeches, while mom and dad are acknowledged 28 per cent of the time.
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Spielberg has been singled out “an outrageous” 42 times at the Oscar podium – and not just by celebs who starred in his movies, but by actors who say they were inspired by him.
Spielberg is followed by Harvey Weinstein, James Cameron, George Lucas and Peter Jackson. God came in sixth on the list.
Is there an Oscar curse for leading ladies?
If Julianne Moore is taking research to heart about extending life expectancy with her win, she should take caution about Canadian findings warning that an Oscar win could increase risk of divorce for leading ladies.
Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Halle Berry and Kate Winslet are all examples of an alleged “Oscar curse” – after their wins, they saw the end of their marriages. Then there’s Sandra Bullock, Reese Witherspoon and Hilary Swank.
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University of Toronto researchers say that winners in the Best Actress category are at a higher risk of divorce than their peers who don’t win.
You may be a shiny starlet, but you’re the breadwinner and that may not be okay with your spouse, the study authors explain.
“Studies have demonstrated that breaching this social norm within a marriage – for example, when a wife earns more than her husband – can strain the relationship,” co-lead researcher, Tiziana Casciaro, said.
“It appears that even the marriages of Hollywood actresses at the top of their careers are not immune to the consequences of violating social norms that affect the wider population. Our results suggest that the sudden success reduces the longevity of their marriages.”
The research is based on the 751 nominees in the best actor and actress categories from 1936 to 2010. Turns out, best actress winners have a 63 per cent chance of their marriages ending sooner than their peers. Their marriages tend to last about 4.3 years compared to their losing counterparts who had marriages last about 9.5 years.
And does Oscar trash your chances at further success?
This urban legend dates back to the 1930s when Luise Rainer – the first actor to win multiple golden statues – blamed her wins for her career’s rapid demise.
American researchers decided to test Rainer’s claims: do Oscar winners deal with a fall from grace after their peak performances?
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After combing through the career and life trajectories of all 1,023 actors who played lead roles from 1930 to 2005, University of Michigan researchers came back with several key findings:
Male actors, but not female actors, are more likely to divorce if their spouse is nominated for or wins an Oscar. Male action heroes are also more likely to divorce.
And if men won an Oscar, they were three times as likely as other male actors to divorce during their first year of marriage. (Watch out, Eddie Redmayne.) Even getting nominated doubled your chances of divorce during the first year of marriage if you were a man.
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But the researchers concluded that Oscar doesn’t tamper with your career the same way that he allegedly wreaks havoc on your love life.
“Our results emphasize an important conundrum for male actors – Oscar nominations and wins can help a career but can also ruin a marriage,” according to lead researcher Michael Jensen.
carmen.chai@globalnews.ca
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