Waiting 20 times for anything is a painful enough, but going through 20 nominations for an Academy Award, with your win coming with the 21st, has to be downright trying. Just ask Kevin O'Connell, one of the three Sound Editors on Mel Gibson's Hacksaw Ridge, and a 21 time Oscar nominee. If you're doing the math at home, this is a man who could have said "third time's a charm" seven separate occasions, only to finally get it right on the seventh time. And his victory is a pretty damned sweet one, as you'll see him fulfill a career long promise below.
Through 33 years of Oscar nominations, O'Connell has seen himself put up for Sound Editing in a lot of films that possessed killer sound designs. And yet, through 20 nominations, the win just wasn't there. But all the while, he kept the promise in his heart to thank his mother, Skippy O'Connell, when he actually snagged the win. And sure enough, Kevin O'Connell made Oscar history by breaking the longest Oscar drought ever, and paying tribute to his departed mother.
Now, to put this into perspective, we'd like to present you with a full list of Kevin O'Connell's 21 Oscar nominations, including his 2017 win for Hacksaw Ridge. As you'll see below, there was even two years that O'Connell was double nominated for his work, with 1997 and 1999 bringing him better odds and yet no win. Marvel at his nomination credits below:
1984 - Terms of Endearment1985 - Dune1986 - Silverado1987 - Top Gun1990 - Black Rain1991 - Days of Thunder1993 - A Few Good Men1996 - Crimson Tide1997 - The Rock1997 - Twister1998 - Con Air1999 - The Mask of Zorro1999 - Armageddon2001 - The Patriot2002 - Pearl Harbor2003 - Spider-Man2005 - Spider-Man 22006 - Memoirs of a Geisha2007 - Apocalypto2008 - Transformers2017 - Hacksaw Ridge
For someone that's worked through the solid gold years of the Michael Bay canon, as well as putting in some prime work during Mel Gibson's earlier directing efforts, it's surprising that Kevin O'Connell has had to wait this long to take home some golden glory. But sometimes, the wait is what makes the journey worth it, and his supreme effort along side fellow winners Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie, and Peter Grace is definitely worth of the awards it's just netted. Here's hoping that O'Connell doesn't have to wait as long for a follow-up though, as patience can only take a person so far.
Hacksaw Ridge is currently available through Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD.
