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Jeanne Eagels -

The actress and former Ziegfeld Girl was famous both on screen and stage. She died suddenly in 1929, at the age of 39, which doctors variously attributed to alcohol, sleeping pills, and heroin.

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Jeanne Eagels -

In 1930, at the second-ever Academy Awards ceremony, she was nominated posthumously for Best Actress for her 1929 role in 'The Letter,' though she didn't win.

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George Gershwin - The renowned American composer died in 1937 after suffering a brain tumor.

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George Gershwin - At the 1938 Oscars ceremony, he was nominated for Best Original Song for his work on the film 'Shall We Dance?' which was one of many musical rom-coms starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

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George Gershwin - He composed all the songs in the score, with his brother Ira writing lyrics, but it was his famous foxtrot 'They Can't Take That Away from Me' that was nominated. Though he didn't win, the song remains one of the Gershwin's most enduring works.

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James Dean - When the cultural icon died in a car crash in 1955, the same year 'Rebel Without a Cause' was released, he left three finished feature films.

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James Dean - The actor received a posthumous Best Actor nomination, his first Oscar nomination, for his role in Elia Kazan's film 'East of Eden' in 1956, but he didn't win.

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James Dean - The following year, Dean received another posthumous Best Actor nomination for the Western drama 'Giant,' but again, he didn't win.

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Walt Disney - The genius behind so many beloved children's tales, however controversial these days, died of lung cancer near the end of 1966.

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Walt Disney - Three years later, at the 1969 Oscars ceremony, he was honored with a posthumous award for Best Short Film (Animated). The film awarded was 'Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day,' which was released in 1968.

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Walt Disney - The mogul won 22 competitive Oscars out of the 59 he received nominations for, making him the record-holder for most wins and nominations for an individual in Academy Award history.

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Spencer Tracy - A major star of Hollywood's Golden Age, Spencer Tracy died in 1967 of a heart attack.

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Spencer Tracy - He had completed his last film just three weeks before his untimely death. The following year he was nominated posthumously in the Best Actor category.

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Spencer Tracy - His role in 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner' (1967), alongside Katharine Hepburn and Sidney Poitier, did not get Spencer the posthumous Oscar.

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Peter Finch - The beloved English-Australian actor passed away in 1977 after suffering a heart attack.

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Peter Finch - His most famous role was as the crazed TV anchorman Howard Beale in 1976's 'Network,' which earned him a Best Actor nomination.

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Peter Finch - At the 1977 ceremony, the late Finch actually won the award, becoming the first actor to win a posthumous Oscar.

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Sir Ralph Richardson -

Sir Ralph Richardson was a prolific English actor with over 60 cinema roles who, alongside John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier, was one of the trinity of male actors who dominated the British stage for a large part of the 20th century. He was said to have died peacefully in 1983 at the age of 80.

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Sir Ralph Richardson -

A year after his death, 'Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes' was released, in which Richardson plays the 6th Earl of Greystoke. He was nominated the next year for Best Supporting Actor, though he didn't win.

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Massimo Troisi - Considered one of the most important actors of Italian theater and cinema, Massimo Troisi died in Rome in 1994 from a heart attack, just hours after the main filming on 'Il Postino' ("The Postman") had finished.

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Massimo Troisi - At the 1996 ceremony, his name was read among the Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay nominees, though he didn't win either.

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Anthony Minghella - The British film director and screenwriter, who had won the Oscar for Best Director for 'The English Patient' (1996), died in 2008 from a haemorrhage after an operation to remove cancer of the tonsils and neck.

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Anthony Minghella - The same year he died, 'The Reader' starring Kate Winslet was released. He had produced the film, and was posthumously nominated for the Best Picture award along with the rest of the cast and crew.

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Anthony Minghella - 'The Reader,' directed by Stephen Daldry, was the last film for both producers Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack, both of whom died prior to its release. It did not win the Oscar.

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Sydney Pollack - Pollack was a prolific director, actor, and producer, most famous for his film 'Out of Africa,' which earned him Academy Awards for Best Director and Best Picture.

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Sydney Pollack - The filmmaker died of cancer in 2008, the same year as his colleague Anthony Minghella. Neither were alive to see 'The Reader' listed among the nominees for Best Picture.

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Heath Ledger -

In 2008, the world was shocked by the news of the Australian actor's premature death. He was just 28 years old when he died of an accidental drug overdose.

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Heath Ledger - Ledger had already been nominated for an Oscar for his work in 'Brokeback Mountain' (2006), but didn't win the award. The year he died, Christopher Nolan's 'The Dark Knight' was released.

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Heath Ledger -

At the 2009 Academy Awards, he won Best Supporting Actor for his role as the Joker, and he became only the second actor to ever win a posthumous Oscar.

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August Wilson -

The Pulitzer prize-winning playwright, often referred to as the "theater's poet of Black America," was best known for a series of 10 plays called 'The Pittsburgh Cycle,' which chronicle the 20th-century experiences of the African-American community. Those 10 plays included 'Fences' and 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom,' which were both later adapted for the screen. He died in 2005 of liver cancer.

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August Wilson -

Wilson himself penned the adapted screenplay for 'Fences' (2016), which Denzel Washington produced years after his death. It earned Wilson a posthumous Oscar nod for Best Adapted Screenplay.

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Chadwick Boseman -

The actor died suddenly on August 28, 2020, after silently struggling with colon cancer for four years. His final film, ‘Ma Rainey's Black Bottom,’ co-starring Viola Davis, was released two months after his death.

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Chadwick Boseman -

At the 2021 Oscars, Boseman is nominated for his role in the Denzel Washington-produced film, making him the eighth actor to ever be nominated posthumously for an Academy Award.

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Chadwick Boseman -

His role, which some are calling the greatest of his life, already earned him posthumous awards including the NAACP Image Award, the Critics Choice Award, and the Golden Globe for Best Actor.

See also: These Oscar firsts mark the rise of the marginalized

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