Which 1955 film earned Sinatra an Oscar nomination for Best Actor?

The 1955 film that earned Frank Sinatra an Oscar nomination for Best Actor was The Man with the Golden Arm.

Directed by Otto Preminger, the film cast Sinatra as Frankie Machine, a Chicago card dealer and recovering drug addict who hopes to rebuild his life after prison. The role was a dramatic departure from the lighter musical and romantic parts that had defined much of Sinatra’s earlier screen career.

The film was controversial because it dealt openly with drug addiction, a subject restricted by Hollywood’s Production Code at the time. Preminger released it without the Code’s approval, helping challenge the industry’s censorship rules. Sinatra’s performance was widely praised and earned him a nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role at the 28th Academy Awards, although he lost to Ernest Borgnine for Marty.

A common mix-up is Sinatra’s Oscar-winning role in From Here to Eternity, released two years earlier. That performance won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor; The Man with the Golden Arm brought his later leading-actor nomination.