Anne Hathaway’s Oscar-winning performance lasted little more than 15 minutes – but her relatively brief role is by no means the shortest to achieve Academy Awards success. The 30-year-old was named best supporting actress for her portrayal of Fantine in Les Miserables after she lost 25lb (11kg) and cut off her hair for the role. But the record for the shortest-ever Oscar-winning performance is held by Beatrice Straight for the 5 minutes 40 seconds she spent on screen in the 1976 film Network. After only three days’ filming, the few scenes which made it into the final cut were deemed impressive enough to earn her the award for best supporting actress. More recently, Dame Judi Dench’s best supporting actress performance for Shakespeare In Love clocked in at a mere eight minutes. Accepting her statuette at the 1998 ceremony, the star commented: “I feel for eight minutes on the screen, I should only get a little bit of him.” Throughout Oscars history, male actors have needed longer on screen to make their mark. Anthony Quinn’s eight minutes on screen as Paul Gauguin in Lust For Life earned him the award for best supporting actor in 1956. The shortest performance to win the award for best actor, however, lasted a full 15 minutes 38 seconds. David Niven’s appearance in 1958 film Separate Tables only just surpasses a far more famous role in terms of its brevity. Anthony Hopkins won the 1992 Academy Award for his portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in Silence Of The Lambs. His total screen time: a little over 16 minutes. Spare a thought, however, for British actress Hermione Baddeley. The actress received an Oscar nomination after appearing on screen for just two minutes 32 seconds in Room At The Top. But her failure to win the award at the 1959 ceremony left her unable to claim her place in Academy Awards history.
Obviously the author of this article has not seen the movie 'Les Miserables'. Anne Hathaway's role in the movie was pivital and not just 15 minutes as suggested in this article.
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