15. DONALD SUTHERLAND
Ordinary People (1980)

With Mary Tyler Moore playing so wildly against type, and Timothy Hutton hogging the psychiatric spotlight, Sutherland was People's only star ignored by the Oscars. Which is understandable: As the devoted husband and dad in Robert Redford's Best Picture winner, the actor exists in the movie's negative spaces — the ultimate middleman, he's the glue that can't keep the Jarrett clan from coming apart. The thankless role asked Sutherland to pour his heart out as a man who finally dares to confront his unfeeling wife and mourn his cursed sons. The result was hardly ordinary.