Today's question (a take-off on an earlier query): Franklyn Farnum holds the record for appearing in the most Best Picture winners (six). The films were released in three different decades (the 1930s, the 1940s and the 1950s). Name four other actors who have appeared in a Best Picture winner in three different decades.
Pictured: Gandhi (1982), one of three Best Picture winners to feature the acting talents of Sir John Gielgud (an Oscar winner himself). He's not an answer to today's question, however, because one of the other two films — Chariots of
Fire — also was released in the 1980s (1981). The third film — Around the World in 80 Days — premiered in 1956.
My guesses:
Jack Nicholson
Dustin Hoffman
Jack Nicholson
Dustin Hoffman
Jack Nicholson — Cuckoo's Nest, Terms of Endearment, The Departed
Dustin Hoffman — Midnight Cowboy, Kramer v Kramer, Rainman
Morgan Freeman — Driving Miss Daisy, Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby
Can't think of the fourth.
William Hurt?
… or maybe Robert Redford?
Nicholson, Hoffman, and Freeman are correct (for films, see answer by Lance).
William Hurt? Can't think of a Best Picture winner that featured his talents. (But I love BROADCAST NEWS!)
Robert Redford? He appeared in THE STING and OUT OF AFRICA. (He also directed a Best Picture winner — ORDINARY PEOPLE).
Three down, one to go.
I'm still guessing, but what about Laurence Olivier?
Bernard Hill – The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Titanic, and Gandhi
Bernard who? (That's what I said, anyway, when learning that he shares the same claim as Nicholson, Freeman, and Hoffman.)
Olivier? REBECCA and HAMLET.
Additional info (and the source material for this question) available here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_actors_who_have_appeared_in_multiple_Best_Picture_Academy_Award_winners