Peter Finch was the first actor to win a posthumous Oscar, taking Best Actor for Network. He died in January 1977, before the Academy Awards ceremony that March, and his widow, Eletha Finch, accepted the statuette.
Finch played Howard Beale, a veteran news anchor whose on-air breakdown becomes a television sensation. His performance supplied the film’s famous “mad as hell” outburst and earned him the Academy Award over fellow nominee William Holden, who played the network executive Max Schumacher.
James Dean and Spencer Tracy had previously received posthumous Best Actor nominations, but neither won. Finch remained the only posthumous acting Oscar winner until Heath Ledger won Supporting Actor for The Dark Knight at the 2009 ceremony. Finch’s victory is also notable because he became the first Australian actor to win a Best Actor Oscar.