Share

• Share on Facebook
• Post
• Google Preferred
• Pin it
• Show more sharing options
• Share to Flipboard
• Post to Tumblr
• Submit to Reddit
• Share on LinkedIn
• Share on WhatsApp
• Email
• Print This Page
• 9

Last year,Jessica Lange won aTony Award for her heartbreaking performance as the drug-addicted Mary Tyrone inEugene O'Neill's "Long Day's Journey Into Night." With that, she joined a group of 21 thespians who have won the Triple Crown. No, there is no horse racing involved in this honor. Rather, it refers to performers who have claimed each of the three major awards for achievement in American the film, television and theater: the Oscar, the Emmy and the Tony.

For those who know Lange only from the "American Horror Story" franchise, here's a quick review of her awards history. She kicked off this phase of her career auspiciously in 1982 when she became the first double Oscar nominee in 39 years for her leading role in "Frances" and supporting turn in "Tootsie. She won for the latter, although many saw this as a consolation prize for losing in lead for her searing performance as the mentally tortured actress Frances Farmer to Meryl Streep who prevailed for playing a holocaust survivor in "Sophie's Choice."

Related Stories

‘Something Very Bad Is Going to Happen’: Duffer Brothers drop trailer for new nuptials-from-hell Netflix horror series

‘Dark Winds’ Season 4: How the showrunner and cast paid tribute to Robert Redford onscreen and off

Lange racked up three more Best Actress Oscar nominations in just seven years: "Country" in 1984 whenSally Field won for "Places in Heart"; "Sweet Dreams" in 1985 whenGeraldine Page won for "A Trip to Bountiful"; and "Music Box" in 1989 whenJessica Tandy scored her Triple Crown with a win for "Driving Miss Daisy." Lange won the Best Actress Oscar in 1994 for "Blue Sky." She began her Emmy run in 2009 with a win for her lead role in the telefilm "Grey Gardens" followed by victories in 2012 for her supporting turn in the original "American Horror Story" limited series and her star turn in the 2014 edition "Coven."

Only two of the dozen people with theEGOT won their Oscar, Emmy and Tony for acting:Helen Hayes andRita Moreno (Hayes got her Grammy for spoken word while Moreno won for children’s album). The other 20 to have taken these three top honors for their skills as thespians are:Jack Albertson,Anne Bancroft,Ingrid Bergman,Shirley Booth,Ellen Burstyn,Viola Davis,Melvyn Douglas,Jeremy Irons, Frances McDormand,Helen Mirren,Thomas Mitchell,Al Pacino,Christopher Plummer,Vanessa Redgrave,Jason Robards,Geoffrey Rush,Paul Scofield,Maggie Smith,Maureen Stapleton and Tandy.

Lange is predicted to win her fourth Emmy this fall for her portrayal ofJoan Crawford in the limited series "Feud: Bette and Joan." Should she prevail, Lange will break her two-way tie for second place among the Triple Crown winners with Booth and Mirren and match Smith's record seven.[The original version of this post did not include Smith's most recent Emmy win, thereby mistakenly making it a four-way tie for first.]

There is a certain irony to Crawford being the key to Lange standing alone in the record books. After all, much of "Feud" is focused on the extraordinary efforts gone to by Crawford to prevent her "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane" co-starBette Davis from becoming the first three-time Oscar champ.

The awards won by Booth, Mirren and Smith are detailed below.

Shirley Booth
3 Tonys: Best Featured Actress (Dramatic) for "Goodbye, My Fancy," 1949; Best Actress (Dramatic) for "Come Back, Little Sheba," 1950; and Best Actress (Dramatic) for "Time of the Cuckoo," 1953;

Cancel reply

1. Smith has 4 Emmys. She won last year for Downton Abbey.

   Reply

   • Exactly. When I read the title I realized it made no sense because Smith has won 7 awards & Lange 6. Also, they forgot to include Viola Davis among the Triple Crown winners (although granted, she achieved the feat after Lange).

     Reply

2. What Audrey Hepburn? She’s in the EGOT club.

   Reply

   • Yeah, but she didn’t win the Triple Crown because her Emmy wasn’t in an acting category.

     Reply

3. I hope Lange loses. She didn’t do the real Joan any justice. Thanks Ryan Murphy the two turned Joan into two things she wasn’t: a hag and a crybaby.

   Reply

   • I felt that she did a excellent job playing Joan. Have you ever gone back and watched Joan’s old black and white movies? Susan was horriffic as Bette, I could never get past the appearence and feel that it was just Susan. She had no resemblence AT ALL to Bette. I thought overall Feud was really fun to watch tho.

     Reply

4. I’ve never heard of the “triple crown win,” which I think is made up for this article. The true gold is when an artists wins an Oscar, an Emmy, a Tony, and a GRAMMY. Someone like Barbra Streisand, for example, or Rita Moreno. Those performers are rare indeed.

   Reply

5. Although I preferred Susan Sarandon’s interpretation of Bette Davis to Lang’s Crawford, the series was told more from Crawford’s perspective which leaves the question of whether Sarandon should be nominated for supporting actress, which would make it much easier for both to win. Unfortunately, Judy Davis might also be nominated for supp actress and be in competition with Sarandon.

   Reply

6. Jessica Lange would be my ideal cougar.

   Reply