Watch Meryl Streep Struggle to Remember All of Her Oscar Nominations

Watch Meryl Streep Struggle to Remember All of Her Oscar Nominations

[contfnewc] Jimmy Kimmel might have just come up with a fantastic game for celebrities who need to k..

Jimmy Kimmel might have just come up with a fantastic game for celebrities who need to kill time as they wait at their tables for the Oscars to begin: just try and remember all the films you’ve been nominated for! Admittedly, this game is only really fun if you’ve been nominated a lot, which explains why the comedian broke it out for one of his most decorated guests: Meryl Streep. And for those wondering, yes, Streep has in fact received so many nominations that she’s lost track.

To be fair, Kimmel put her on the spot with a lightning round: the actress had one minute to remember all of her nominations through the years. That might sound like an easy task, but remember that Streep has been nominated a total of 20 (!) times. How many did she remember? Five.

Perhaps the best moment of the entire game came when Kimmel asked his guest to remember her first nomination. “I thought that was The French Lieutenant’s Woman!” Streep replied, having already correctly listed that film among her nods. “No, it wasn’t,” Kimmel said. “That was the third.”

The first, Kimmel reminded Streep, was The Deer Hunter. The second, which Streep had also recalled, albeit out of order, was Kramer vs. Kramer. The actress also recalled her nominations for Out of Africa, Silkwood, and Sophie’s Choice. She did not, however, remember any of her nominations post-1986. In all fairness, as Streep pointed out, “I can’t remember last Thursday; I can remember the olden days.”

Get Vanity Fair’s HWD NewsletterSign up for essential industry and award news from Hollywood.Full ScreenPhotos:Photos: Meryl Streep Before She Was a StarMeryl Streep in New York City’s Theater District,1978.Photo: Photograph by Duane Michals; From the DC Moore Gallery, New York.John Cazale and Streep during the filming of *The Deer Hunter,* 1977.John Cazale and Streep during the filming of The Deer Hunter, 1977.Photo: From the Core Collection Production Files of The Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.Justin Henry and Dustin Hoffman in 1979.Justin Henry and Dustin Hoffman in 1979.Photo: Photograph by Brigitte Lacombe.Streep in the film’s climactic courtroom sequence.Streep in the film’s climactic courtroom sequence.Photo: © Columbia Pictures/Photofest.Hoffman, Streep, director-screenwriter Robert Benton, and producer Stanley Jaffe with their Academy Awards, 1980Hoffman, Streep, director-screenwriter Robert Benton, and producer Stanley Jaffe with their Academy Awards, 1980Photo: © Columbia Pictures/Photofest.Meryl Streep and Dustin Hoffman while filming 1979’s *Kramer vs. Kramer.*Meryl Streep and Dustin Hoffman while filming 1979’s Kramer vs. Kramer.Photo: © Columbia Pictures/Photofest.Streep in New York City, 1979.Streep in New York City, 1979.Photo: By Theo Westenberger/Theo Westenberger Archives, 1974-2008, Autry Museum, Los Angeles.PreviousNext

Meryl Streep in New York City’s Theater District,1978.Photograph by Duane Michals; From the DC Moore Gallery, New York.
John Cazale and Streep during the filming of The Deer Hunter, 1977.From the Core Collection Production Files of The Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences.
Justin Henry and Dustin Hoffman in 1979.Photograph by Brigitte Lacombe.
Streep in the film’s climactic courtroom sequence.© Columbia Pictures/Photofest.
Hoffman and Henry in the film.© Columbia Pictures/Photofest.
Hoffman, Streep, director-screenwriter Robert Benton, and producer Stanley Jaffe with their Academy Awards, 1980© Columbia Pictures/Photofest.
Meryl Streep and Dustin Hoffman while filming 1979’s Kramer vs. Kramer.© Columbia Pictures/Photofest.
Streep in New York City, 1979.By Theo Westenberger/Theo Westenberger Archives, 1974-2008, Autry Museum, Los Angeles.

Laura BradleyLaura Bradley is a Hollywood writer for VanityFair.com. She was formerly an editorial assistant at Slate and lives in Brooklyn.

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